Travellers on French Municipal site
This is the first time in 35 years of visiting France that we have come across this. A small, attractive municipal in central France (I will just say "North of Dreux") was virtually taken over by six enormous twin axle vans. The families were British/Irish and the vans and cars were very new.
They had connected semi-permanent extremely long hoses to the two main water points. One was being used for a washing machine but when that was finished the taps were left permanently running so the kids could play with the water. I disconnected one to fill up a water container;it was soon reconnected. The site manager was aware but clearly didn't want to interfere.
One van had a very long extension lead connected to another van and trailing across the access road so they were clearly sharing electricity.
The teenagers dominated the small WiFi room and the clothes drying area was full of their washing with a large number of items having fallen onto the grass.
Apart from the above they appeared neat and tidy and were busy washing their vans and the site went quiet early, however, they clearly did not want to interact with any of the other campers. Overall, although there was no real interference with the enjoyment of the other campers it all felt rather intimidating. Talking to our immediate neighbours the general feeling was that we wished that we had stopped elsewhere.
Interesting experience.
Comments
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Had a very similar experience in Chateauneuf-sur-Loire about 2 years ago. Same - British/Irish, about half a dozen units. They too seemed to have a lot of washing to do, one machine was in the toiletblock connected permanently to the water supply. Same story, they kept themselves to themselves and weren't interested in talking to anyone else. Must admit that we too felt somewhat intimidated though.
We've had experience of French travellers too on other sites in the past, once at Saintes and once at Clamecy.
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Couple of years ago we turned up at a site in the Czech Republic and the owners were reluctant to admit us but after seeing we had a single axle van and my brother in his motorhome they allowed us in. Talking to the owners son he told us that a dozen Irish travellers vans had turned up, trashed the camp and wouldn't leave. The authorities didn't bother with court orders etc., they just called the Army in to sort. The owners told us the clean up costs were in thousands, they lost a lot of customers and were very reluctant to accept Brits, especially if they have a tag axle van
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Sorry it spoilt your enjoyment of the site.
We were on an Aire, Mailleraye-sur-Seine, last year and a similar group were there with three large Motorhomes and toads.
They all went to the restaurant nearby and, after putting a deal of cash behind the bar, had a meal and long drinking session.
We had a meal there at the same time and the group, about twenty of them including children, were just out to have a laugh and a good time.
They rolled back to their vehicles about four hours later, full of drink but not aggressive, disappeared inside and weren't seen or heard of until they departed early morning.
Why their use of water should worry you I don't know, especially with a Manager on site, and many people use a splitter for their electricity in France.
So unless they actually caused distress then surely let them get on with their way of life and you yours.
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As I hope I indicated, there was nothing in their behaviour to criticise. They appeared well behaved but the whole atmosphere of the site was changed. Also, it distresses me that water was extravagantly wasted (even though I wasn't paying). It was also clear that many of the other caravanners/motorhomers were reluctant to get water as they would have to disconnect the hoses which had been very firmly attached.
Its a shame that they were self contained and apparently reluctant to engage socially with anybody else on site. Maybe they were conscious of possible bad press with some groups of travellers and for that reason preferred to keep to themselves.
Effectively they were living on the site so it is understandable that they would commandeer the site facilities. Not so good for the visiting tourists though.
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We came across a group for the first time this year. It was on a site at Lake Geneve, there was 5 TA caravans all with very new towcars 4x4. The families kept to themselves, we weren't aware of any issues with them. The site owner did have them pitched right in front of his house though.
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I'm not sure why it was felt necessary to post this in the first place. Why anyone should feel intimidated from what you report I can't imagine.
We've come across travellers on French municipals once or twice and it hasn't bothered us in the slightest.
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