Water Water Nowhere!!!!!!!!

prescott56

Guest
Morning,
We drove up from Sardinia last week, SWMBO wants to be with our son for Xmas...
We Ferried to Genoa (Italy) then did the south coast route, Monaco>Nice>Cannes then cut inwards to Aix en Provence. All went very well until we arrived at Avignon...then it got cold....very cold.
Coming up thro the centre of France i think we were hitting lows of -15. Our Butane didn't work properly....never thought of getting Propane as most of my time is in the med not in the cold frozen north. We worked around this by keeping the bottle inside until needed, I know, very naughty but hey needs must.
the worst thing though was trying to get water and emptying the dump tank.
All the Aires (the downloaded ones from camping car.info) were not in use. All the water taps in service stations (not on toll roads as we try not to use them) were turned off, or frozen maybe.

What do you hardened campers do for water, were do you get it from. Our last night in Reims we were desperate so filled up using a power wash thing in the car wash station at Hyper U...., 3 euro's for a full tank and lots of funny looks at me standing outside freezin my b***s off with a power wash lance attached to the side of the van...hehehehheheh....
Any advice welcome...and yes i have now got propane..
regards
Roy
 
we just pull into the service de aire they are all the way along highways every 2 miles or so (not the french aires just for motorhomes) just fill up in them with your hosepipe from the tap
 
our 140ltr tank is inside the van not underslung so nevar freeze over so we lucky that way and we run lpg tank now instead of bottled gas
 
bit of advice for waste water leave the tap just opened enough so it will drip out at night and no body will see it when there in bed
 
Some jet washes recycle the water! It goes through a filter first but it wouldn't be nice to drink.

To dump your toilet find a quiet road at night and lift the sewer lid, park so that you will stop any unsuspecting motorist from driving down the open hole!

I carry a selection of hooks and levers to do this job.

Water is available at lorry parks, cemeteries, and sometimes at the local Stade.
The motorway aires usually have water as well.

The bottled water at Lidl is so cheap I have used it several times to top up my tank.

Hallii
 
I always keep at least 2x5 litres bottled water for drinking, tea making etc. and refill 4 empties regularly as backup for the underslung tank.

Trick is to top up water tank at every oppotunity in winter months.

BW
 
French frost

When it is freezing very hard they cut off every non-protected tap in France.
They simply are not suited to coop very low temperatures.
You may always find water at gas stations; only ask (but these could be froozen too - they don't have heated cabins for taps as in Scandinavia).
Most small municipalities wil certainly be helpfull: there will be inside taps in towncentres, sports fields, elderly homes, hospitals.....
Only ask: 'Esque vous pouvez nous aider ,monsieur - madame. Il nous faut de l'eau potable dans notre camping-car, et les points de services sont tous gelées....' :eek:
Worth to try :rolleyes::p
 
Thanks for the reply's...
One question on the "service de aires" we seemed to see very few on the non toll roads thro france...D roads mostly. I have them all on mappoint pushpin'd. we found a few off the beaten tracks but as i said they were "closed".Would it be worth nipping on the toll roads at certain points just to fill up?
Take the point on the carwash using recycled water, after haveing a boat for so long we never drink tank water, we always carry bottled for consumption in between wine and beer :)
We will beheading back south mid Jan so will see how we go. Although we may run down the west coast of france and across to Barcelona..then up the riviera.

Regards
Roy
 
Water in Winter

When we are looking for water in France and Spain we always look for Lidl where it is so cheap to buy and at least you know it is safe to drink. When travelling in very cold conditions you would be lucky to find an aire with a tap turned on. We have even been on Toll roads when they have closed the aires altogether, not just the taps! The trick is, as has been previously said, carry a couple of 5lt bottles in the van at all times. We have seen people filling up their tanks at the petrol station taps (the ones intended for your radiator, washer bottle etc), but we have been told that this is not gauranteed safe water either, so we wouldnt do that.
 
prescott56 said:
Thanks for the reply's...
One question on the "service de aires" we seemed to see very few on the non toll roads thro france...D roads mostly. I have them all on mappoint pushpin'd. we found a few off the beaten tracks but as i said they were "closed".Would it be worth nipping on the toll roads at certain points just to fill up?
Take the point on the carwash using recycled water, after haveing a boat for so long we never drink tank water, we always carry bottled for consumption in between wine and beer :)
We will beheading back south mid Jan so will see how we go. Although we may run down the west coast of france and across to Barcelona..then up the riviera.

Regards
Roy
Click to expand...
Have a look at:
CAMPINGCAR-INFOS
for service points (however they don't give frozen service points :rolleyes:)
(do you still believe this 'warming-up..story.' ?,) :rolleyes:
 
we drive via non toll roads to south spain every yr and you do use the toll roads if you have a sat nav that tell you were to get off before the toll road they are the aires we use for water and never paid a toll in the 3 yrs we have travelled and always got water were ever we have been
 
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