Touring in September and October
I have toured several times in the past with a caravan in France. However, after a 15 year gap have bought a smallish motorhome. We hope to leave in the second week of September and travel for 31 days. The plan is to cross the channel using the EuroShuttle
(we have a golden retriever and it seems simplest). We hope to go through France using the occasional autoroute but ending up in the Biarritz area before crossing the border and staying with friends in Almeria and Granada before going north via the Lot Valley
and home.
I have an ASCI book and card and also the Aire guides for both countries.
The question is:
Do I need to book sites? I understand you cannot book aires but are sites likely to be full - I appreciate some will close before we return. One of the attractions of the motorhome was to be able to move around relatively quickly and a little more impulsively.
I would be hugely grateful for any advice.
Thank you in advance.
Comments
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You will not need to book sites.
You are clearly aware sites can and do close with little or no notice for the season. As long as you are flexible this is not a problem
It's a really special time to go touring (in France especially)and I wish you all the very best.
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I always take the view that if the site is open and offering an ACSI discount then this can be read as "low season" for that site and therefore no need to book. Outside of these dates then the site has no problem attracting custom so you may need to make
enquiries.The Spanish high season tends to run until the second week in September but you won't be there then so I don't see a problem. We should be in France and Spain for Sept and some of October and I have no intention of booking sites.
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Actually, Fy, we wish were going to our beloved Norfolk and Suffolk for autumn but we booked this trip on a whim last year as we expected little or no decent weather on our Baltic trip but we were lucky and had better than could be hoped for.
If you had booked East Anglia we might have swapped with you!
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Thank you so much for putting my mind at rest. I had visions of arriving and driving around for hours just trying to find somewhere. We love the idea of the flexibility travelling at this time of year should give us.
Incidentally, "Wherenext" our first two experimental trips were to Suffolk and Norfolk. Love it there and used some great CLs. (at least we thought they were great but having only used about 10 CLs in 15 years, we have not much to judge them by).
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Do you have a toilet and/or shower in your MH?
If not you'll probably need to use campsites as very few Aires have toilet facilities.
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We too are off to France for September. We have done this for many years now (the joys of retirement). To echo what has been said there is no need to book. However, some sites in France will be closed by late September but with a little planning you will
be ok. ACSI book and CC book and you will be fine.0 -
We never booked in August so don't worry about September. We will be heading to Italy in Seotember. One of our favourite sites does close fairly early in September because it's in a valley and it gets dark early. The "sister" site by the lake stays open
later.0
made other plans for this year but wished we were going now, this summer hasn't been the best
