Wilding in France

Pollik

Guest
Finally managed to get a French dongle sorted out, so I am sort of back on line.

We are in France at the moment, wilding for the most part.

Something I have noticed is that when we are stopped in a layby or a hardstanding area on the edge of the forest, some drivers will toot their horns...not aggressively and maybe only one car in ten (we choose quiet roads). We are always some distance from houses, we are always neat (I mean we don't set up a camp, we just park).

Now, I don't know if they don't like motorhomes, don't the British or just don't like dirty motorhomes. It is not a problem, but it is a bit of a puzzle. On one night, I noticed that on two occasions, the tooting was by another motorhome, but other times it is definitely cars. Most of the time, with the blinds down, I can't see what it is.

Anyone else had experience of this?


Polly

PS The weather is terrible, just at the moment, but we are hoping for some sun later in the week.
 
Can't be the French not liking motor homes as about half the population of France has one, or so it seems in September time. ;):D
 
I never thought of that!!! :eek:

Hmm...maybe I need to be a bit more careful on those times I am travelling solo. Either that or increase my prices!!


Polly :p
 
Hello Polly ! what dongle are you using and what area of France are you in ?
regards Stephen.:D
 
Motorhomes parked at the edge of a wood are usually open for business!!!!
 
they do that

The french love to toot, they are just saying hi , enjoy your day, enjoy your lunch:)
 
ellisboy said:
Hello Polly ! what dongle are you using and what area of France are you in ?
regards Stephen.:D
Click to expand...

Saint-Lary Soulan, on the edge of the Pyrenees National Park.

I have a PAYG with SFR, but there is a problem with recharging it...it won't take it online and various SFR franchise outlets have been less than helpful, in addition to the language barrier. It is OK at the moment though.


Polly
 
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I usually manage to find free wifi connections, there is always McDonalds & Flunch who both have free wifi (you can pick it up from the car park) & now I find Orange gives you 30 minutes free which you can renew indefinitely.
 
Oh, that's worth knowing, thanx. I knew about McD, but not the others.
 
I bought one of these SOLWISE ROCKET it does increase the range significantly. I also made an extra large WINDSURFER PARABOLIC REFLECTOR (basically a double height one. This again gives a bit of extra signal strength, the software that comes with the aerial is also good at giving the signal strength & quality.
As I said in another post I am currently on the web from the aire at Capbreton, the nearest houses must be at least 50 - 100 metres away & the signal could be coming from either further (might have a wander round sometime with my PDA using WiFiFoFum :rolleyes: to find where the signal is coming from)
 
Dongle

Hi Polly please can you tell me what dongle you are using as we are going down in our motorhome in April abd it woukd be great to have the internet.

Also regarding the tooting things have defdinatly gone up in the world, when we used to go to the South of France the used to pick up in a layby jump out and use a bush
 
Hi Anne

I just went into SFR and said I wanted a PAYG (ie no contract) dongle with SIM.

It hasn't been without its problems - I am supposed to be able to recharge it online, but I can't. Three SFR shops just shrugged and pointed towards McDonalds. The SFR forum suggested I buy a top up in a supermarket, but that didn't work, either. Later, we recharged it in another SFR shop (where the man said that the cards don't work for dongle sims).

Another route, which I haven't tried but might work depending on how technical you want to get, is to either buy an unlocked dongle, eg Huawei, (or have an existing dongle unlocked) and to just buy sims in whatever country you visit. There can, however be issues with the driving software and you do need to have the information to enable the sim card + dongle to log on to the network. There is a website or forum somewhere which gives a lot of this info...if I can remember where it is!!
 
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