Shopping in Calais with caravan hitched

Rod10
Rod10 Forum Participant Posts: 32

Planning an early tunnel crossing on Sunday 31st August and will (probably) be travelling to Du Vivier aux Carpes for 9 nights before returning home to the UK.

With a reasonably short journey in France, it will be too early to arrive at the site so we are considering going straight to Carrefour (or another store) in Calais for a spot of shopping...

If we put the wheelclamp and hitch-lock on (attached to car), is it reasonably safe to spend an hour or so buying goodies for our trip whilst leaving the van parked outside? I reckon if we do, then stop at an Aires en route for a spot of brunch in the van,
we will be fine for our arrival time at the site.

A secondary query: we don't fish(!), we cycle, we enjoy easy strolling with the dogs and would be happy to have some good restaurant food and wine, ideally without having to drive off-site, so being within walking distance of a village or town would be ideal!! If
there is an alternative site with an easy-ish drive of about 2-3 hours from Calais for the beginning of September, it
could be an option and any suggestions from seasoned Francophiles would be great!

Apologies for the convoluted questions but we are real novices when taking the van to France and our time there is limited.

Thanks in anticipation!