Motorhome travel through France to Spain
Hi all, can any member offer advice on safe traveling to Spain via France,
Taking our motorhome to Spain (Costa Blanca) for 3 weeks in June/July, traveling from Eurotunnel Calais, via Bordeaux, Le Mans, crossing the border at San Sebastian, then via Pamplona to Valencia & on down to Calpe,, will be taking 2/3 days to travel there & back & have heard horrendous stories about being people in motorhomes & caravans being gassed & robbed when parked overnight.
Can any one offer a solution or advice, other that staying awake all night with a baseball bat to hand.
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As David says I think they are just stories. However, I would opt for a proper Aire away from the Autoroute. We found those of the camping car park group very good. LINK. You buy a card before leaving home, which you can charge up online. This gets you through the barrier and pays for your stay. Many have 6 amp electric and a few complimentary WiFi. You can also check online that they have space available.
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My view is that if "wild camp" or on unpopular "aires" then the chances of a problem increase - though I am sure many comments here will tell you that you should not worry.
To be 100% sure - I would recommend that you look to stay on proper sites; bookable through the Club.
We are "tuggers" not "chuggers" as someone once said to me - so with a caravan you realistically have to go to a site. We only had one visit of uninvited guests and that was on the car at Bilbao awaiting the early morning boat (we overnighted there with many others but that was quickly sorted out by the local police).
Hope this helps but go and enjoy yourselves
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Hi
The gassing urban myth was created by that voice of reason the Daily Mail about 20 years ago and once every so often is regurgitated by them in the summer months when not a lot is happening, just think logically it would take an awful lot of gas to subdue a human without blowing themselves up. Think Russian cinema and how that ended.
Phil
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Given that you're only going for 3 weeks, you might need to use the fastest roads i.e toll roads. Toll roads are regularly patrolled by police both in France and in Spain, more so than in UK. Furthermore, thieves tend not to operate within toll sections of motorways because of surveillance and no easy escape. While you're en route, only stop for rests at service stations within the tolled sections if you can. Leave the autoroute/autopista at the end of each day to take on supermarket fuel and to stop at a campsite for the night.
Way back in 2012 we were accosted by robbers when we stopped at a service area on the non-toll section of the A7. This is what we did - Robbery Foiled
p.s We once met a Polish motorhomer who had been burgled overnight on an aire near Avignon. What really upset him was that they took his Euros bit left his Zloty!
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This is no way to help new members. Posts have been Deleted User for less.
Aye it is terrible that anybody should give their own views rather than agree with everybody else. Oxfordeagle suggested that there (he felt) greater chance of problems when wild camping or on 'unpopular 'aires. There is no reason why he should not comment thus if that is his view. Obviously some posters views and opinions that don't gel with the majority are wrong and such posters in need of moderation should they not run with the herd
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at the start of this trip, we were using the N137 from Rennes to Nantes, heading for our usual aire stop just the other side of Nantes, but i was feeling a bit tired and just looked for the next aire close to the route.
Grand-Fougeray looked fine, just 4 ml or so off the route, so we pulled in there at this lovely Village Étape and arrived at the aire with just one other van (Brit) there...
3 min stroll into the lovely village centre followed by a great night's sleep.
back onto the N137 and continued to Irun....another 'car park type' aire but a really popular one where we were part of a dozen or so vans heading over the Pyrenees the following morning.
as far as i know, they all slept well too...
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There is an element of risk where ever you overnight including on sites in this country. I am another who has made many trips down through France to Spain and I have used all kinds of sites without experiencing any personal incidents at all although I have witnessed some. I would just rate some overnight stops riskier than others as well as some countries being riskier than others and apply common sense and don’t leave valuables on show. If a place doesn’t feel right move on and find somewhere you feel happier about.
Places I avoid are motorway service areas near borders especially on none toll sections and those close to major urban areas. It is much safer to use official stopping places in these areas.
While I have in the past used motorway service areas when I had a caravan, with a motorhome it is much more pleasant to find an official aire or site for an overnight stop.
peedee
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Like many on this forum we have, in our case, towed to Spain many times and never had any trouble. It is a long way to Calpe 1790ks (nearly 1200 miles) from Calais and will take you 3 days. You are planning the west route but there is of course the centre route via Rouen, Chatres, Orleans, Clermont Ferrand then A75 to Beziers and then autoroute south into Spain. There are plenty of sites on either route and we never book overnighters just stop when we have had enough driving (get the Club books or join ACSI for lists of plenty of sites). As caravanners, we use sites but many motorhomers use Aires. The best security advice I would give is just be cautious if an unmarked car tries to flag you down or, should you have a breakdown and a car stops to offer 'assistance'. In the first case well you should know if you have a flat, in the latter case ensure that you lock your doors and just tell them 'thank you but go away!' I too am suspicious of the gassing stories.
Relax, you are 99.99999% sure to have no problems.
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There is an element of risk where ever you overnight including on sites in this country.
Indeed. Last time we were at Baltic Wharf a chap had his van broken into and looted, inc a bike. ( he said he locked it) They had a go at another bike chained to a tree and failed, just pinching the lights.
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Alan
I started to remark on that post too but W2G beat me to it and put it so much more succinctly that I didn't bother . I am not a motorhomer so don't have the experience of Aires that others do and normally only use sites. I have however at times when the need arose spent the night parked on a dockside or motorway services with the HGV's and come to no harm.
The poster remarked that he felt wild camping and unpopular aires may be less safe. I can see why he might feel that depending o locations. He did not say that aires were generally unsafe.
I have in 54 trips certainly never felt the need for the club to take over choosing my sites and strongly feel those who do are doing themselves a disservice. With over 35000 sites in Europe glad to have ones business there is no need whatsoever to sacrifice the "freedom to roam" to the commercial interests of the club or other middle men.
The poster did not say book through the club only 'To be 100% sure - I would recommend that you look to stay on proper sites; bookable through the Club.' He suggested that to be a 100% safe a proper site was his recommendation - we all know that nothing is %100 safe'.
I see no scaremongering or lack of responsibility David. To say that somebody has made an irresponsible statement is to say that they acted irresponsibly rather than having a 'mistaken view'.
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Someone else has alluded to the tendency of the Daily Mail to repeat stories about gassing. These stories have been discredited countless times. The Mail is, in my view, irresponsible to perpetuate this myth.
Of course these gassing stories (or at least those that I have read) are bunkum. Family of five, babe in arms, a youngster, mum and dad and an older grandparent with a breathing condition. All receiving a dose of gas, all maintained in sleep mode and nobody dies. That is some trick
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