French Campsites Re-opening May?
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Now that's where I would turn into a tin pot revolutionary, I doubt whether people with no under lying health issues will accept an age related lockdown (see Guardian Newspaper Conversation). Advice yes, avoiding crowded places, shops etc but told you can`t sit in a caravan in a field will be a step to far.
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If you are referring to going abroad rather than just the UK the matter could well be out of our hands if the insurance companies decide that for people of a certain age it is too risky to insure anyone over 60? Underlying health conditions may be neither here nor there!
David
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We've just received a renewal of our Travel Insurance, and whilst it has gone up, it's really not too bad - and certainly less than we were expecting. Of course it excludes Corona Virus, but then who would insure against it (or who would expect insurance to cover it)!
We both have more than one 'pre-existing conditions' and are both over 70.1 -
i thought the virus 'knew no boundaries'...
why would touring the UK (if we get to that point) be 'safer' than anywhere else if the same 'precautions' are taken?....
do folk currently go out for a daily walk in the UK, we certainly do? we avoid contact as much as possible...and accept the minimised risk.
would travelling on the Chunnel (inside your own van) increase risk?
would being on a site (or in a MH on an aire or remote spot) and taking a daily stroll/bike ride be any different to what we do every day here?
if one got infected would treatment be different/better at home or anywhere else?
perhaps none of these questions can be answered and, for some, are best avoided...
at some point, we will have to manage our lives going forward and managing risk (all risks including some new ones) is part of that.....
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My friend, who has a holiday home in France, tells me that her French friends have told her their government has told them not to book any foreign holidays until September which suggests to me their borders will not be open to incoming holiday makers until then.
I think the camp sites may be open just for French residents.
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BB,
at some point, we will have to manage our lives going forward and managing risk (all risks including some new ones) is part of that....
The point is that our lives are not going forward, now or in the [foreseeable] future ... We're going nowhere, other than a fraught daily walk dodging dog walkers, joggers and cyclists and parents of young children, all shielded by the reflections from the screen of the ubiquitous mobile phone ...
Steve
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I think that camp sites are problematic in UK, France, wherever. In a hotel you have your own bathroom and can spread out in dining rooms. Common site sanitation blocks are an issue unless you use your own facilities. The French organisation seems to suggest keeping a spacing of one sink/basin between campers but with all the surfaces it would be impossible to stay safe. Ridiculous.
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Given what we know and the risk of a second spike as we go into winter I am not sure anyone should be thinking about travelling abroad until next Spring at the earliest?
David
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Steve, we are going forward, one day at a time...
if we are to reach the end (in whatever form that might initially be) it will take many days (months) but we only cross them off one day every 24 hrs...
re the 'fraught' daily walk, perhaps, having mentioned your condition previously which presumably places you in a more vulnerable position than some, i can see that it concerns you more than i feel that way.
if not cycling a bit further afield, we walk daily and have no problem dodging dog walkers, joggers/cyclists nor parents of young children...
while this is a popular spot for those in the above categories, almost everyone seems to be pretty careful about maintaining the required distancing..
i certainly would describe our daily stroll as 'fraught'...
perhaps we have more space, perhaps folk are pretty courteous here, perhaps the situation is more stressful generally for yourself...
im careful when out walking (20 mins or so) and give others the courtesy and space they give me...
if i felt 'fraught' (stressed) at the thought of going for our stroll, id stay in the garden....though it is blooming hot here at the moment..
I thought the idea of getting out is to relieve the stress of being stuck at home not add to it.
i hope everyone gives you plenty of space as one should not be 'dodging' folk, merely maintaining appropriate distance which is easy just by looking ahead and taking a common sense approach.
good luck.
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The risk of "over there" is probably no greater. The issues are when it all goes pear shaped and your travel insurance doesn't cover you and you can forget about a medivac back to Blighty. Do you want " a corner of a foreign field" to apply to you?
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Yes, that’s the worrying thing. At the first cough you need to pack up and drive hell for leather, non stop, back to Blighty, not passing Go on the way.
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BB,
It's quite a fraught process,because other people tend to lose focus and drift towards us, as if on auto pilot. It's perhaps a natural human reaction to socialise, but we've noticed that other walkers do the pedestrian equivalent of 'lane drift' and we have to move away to maintain the distance. There is one couple who we have encountered 2 days running at almost the same spot [to within about 50 metres] in the old aluminium rail area of the harbour who moved from one embedded set of rails across to the next set, drift of 3 or 4 metres in a distance of about 15 metres. We were at the point of thinking that we may be taking a quick swim before the man looked up and then corrected his line of travel. Quite bizarre, and in other circumstances, quite funny.
Elaine and I were saying this afternoon [when we chose to stay in the garden] that last year we were able to amble along the promenade, planning our upcoming cruise and caravan trips, without a care in the world. Now,we have no trips to look forward to, we have to maintain concentration to ensure that distance is maintained and dot back and forth to avoid closing down the space.
We aim to emerge unscathed from the lockdown so that we shall be able to resume travel when it is safe to do so. 'Better safe than sorry' has replaced 'wandering without a care in the world' ...
Steve
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+1, I can see a multitude of issues with touring in a different country too soon(pre vaccine) from a logistics point of view.
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Who knows what 'normality' will be when it arrives. We will, I am sure, be more cleanliness orientated. (I can hear my late Mum asking if I have washed my hands!) The problem is that a virus is invisible and that makes it hard to shy away from.
Maybe sack-cloth and an 'unclean' bell for anyone with the sniffles will become the new norm?
We will resume activities, including France, again!!!
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im not sure the 'logistics issues' are any worse for (say) a Hampshire/Sussex/Kent resident touring Northern France over a trip to Scotland...
at the 'end' of all this, will there actually be an 'end' where we can all breeze about as we did a few months back?
hopefully there will be a vaccine (but this will take for ever to administer to 'all' worldwide) and/or drugs to treat/cure quickly, but im pretty sure i heard one 'medical advisor' (cant remember his name) suggesting the virus would never be eradicated...
in that case, there will need to be some risk management deployed and therefore will vulnerable folk ever be able to confidently leave their homes, let alone go camping?
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Maybe sack-cloth and an 'unclean' bell for anyone with the sniffles will become the new norm?
Forget that. My Ramipril tablets cause a permanent cough and I already stink of bleach and Imperial Leather ... There also needs to be a place in the process for the 'Eat a peck of much before you die' immunity process which has been [rightly] sidelined during the control phase of the coronavirus pandemic.
A vaccine, a stable R score around 0.5, permanent social distancing, and perhaps permanent face mask wearing, is about the best we can hope for at this stage. But things might improve, pigs might fly and the price of bacon will inevitably go up.
Steve
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n that case, there will need to be some risk management deployed and therefore will vulnerable folk ever be able to confidently leave their homes, let alone go camping?
For those venturing to France, BB, 'Qui peut dire?'
. A cynical view might be that the vulnerable will have little choice once the Building Society and Bank repossessions get underway.That will signal the new normality; we'll stop applauding the NHS, we'll moan about how much public services cost hard working private sector workers and we'll grumble about the cost of the extra taxes, the rise in interest rates [for borrowers], whilst worrying about the negative impact of repossessions on house prices. Allof this, of course,whilst polishing the caravan or m/home in preparation for the impending trip to our next site.
Steve
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Logistics BB-stuck in a foreign Country with borders shut, unable to get home then one of a couple get sick(as covid) it’s easier for extended family members to help whilst in Hampshire/Sussex/Kent than in Northern France was my thinking re Logistics
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We have a rearranged visit to France booked on the ferry for September but I know we won't be taking it up, even though I could do with seeing how Big Brother and SiL are coping.
Technology should allow us to get around that but he can't be bothered with email so there's no chance of Zooming/Whats Apping.
I'll roll our ferry forward as can be done with Brittany Ferries. Next year is too far away to be planning at this juncture in time.
We may cross a border this year but it will be from North Wales to Cheshire or Derbyshire I suspect.
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why would the borders be shut if they were open to allow you in?
from Kent to France is a 40 mins train ride, not a few days from Scotland.
yes, things may change (worsen) and borders might have to shut again but, as in February onwards, travellers were (and will be) allowed safe passage home, as happened to JK and many, many more
Im only talking about times after a decision has been take to allow 'movement'following the passing of the 'five tests'...
not this weekend
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There also needs to be a place in the process for the 'Eat a peck of much before you die' immunity process which has been [rightly] sidelined during the control phase of the coronavirus pandemic.
Steve, ive mentioned this before, a couple of times and it wasn't picked up..
for a few years now ive seen folk obsessed with washing and cleaning things from shop doors to taps, toilets, credit card machines....
anything 'someone else' might have touched, God forbid...
while i understand someone '(really) at risk' having to be very careful, it seems that our obsessive aversion to that 'peck of muck' might have not helped.with general immunity
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when the 'French' let other vehicles journey, why would the police be stopping them?....
in fact vans from any country, if travelling legally?
im not sure your memory of vanning in France is one i recognise, although we were only there in Feb during the pandemic
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I think JVB still lives in a different time zone to the the people who frequent France these days.
Anyway it will be a moot point soon. When last abroad, admittedly in Germany and the Netherlands for over 6 weeks we didn't see a single UK lorry of any description. About the only Nationality that was missing.
Nobody will be going to France to holiday until they lift their International Exemption Certificate and as they are still suggesting that certain parts of France will be in lockdown after 11th.May then the Brits are not going to get in, or anyone else for that matter.
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Why would the borders shut if they were open to allow you in?
the same way it happened a few weeks ago BB-Coronavirus. There was a mad dash to the tunnel as borders were closed. Some are still locked down over there. I don’t want an argument BB it was merely a comment👍🏻😊
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sorry, perhaps my English wasnt very good...
perhaps i should have said....why would they close the borders having just taken the decision to open them for touring?
i know about the mad dash....i was there, dashing (as ever)
if the french border opens, and folk go there, its unlikely that they'll shut again without notice unless something even worse happens....
and if it does, EU allows/guarantees safe passage home....as in February.
im not saying im going....plenty of time to decide that...merely that i dont see any specific difference in going through the tunnel over the M5/M6 south.
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France announced closure/cessation of flights, other than within the Schengen Area, during the last week or so. Brit expats living in France are reporting episodic vandalism in a variety of locations as the 'Gilets Jaunes' supporters/sympathisers and other people who feel that they have lost out during the lockdown because of reduced employment mount protests. And France threatened UK with closed Borders in the week before the UK lockdown was ordered, because of the prior lax approach in UK to coronavirus.
I was caught up in the Gilets Jaunes protests over the weekend of 14th November 2018 and to a lesser degree when we made a 2nd attempt to travel on 3rd December. I have no wish to run the risk of another encounter, so, even if France opens up again, the threat from Coronavirus, expanded by the decision to allow the Tour de France to operate with numerous nationalities travelling across the country makes French holidays an eminently avoidable risk for at least 2020.
Steve
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Ok thanks.
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"Suite au discours d’Edouard Philippe, Premier ministre, et à l’échange de Nicolas Dayot (president de la fédération de l'hôtellerie de plein air) avec Emmanuel Macron, la date de réouverture des campings sera connue fin mai, après la première phase de déconfinement du 11 mai au 2 juin.
Le Conseil Interministériel du Tourisme, présidé par Édouard Philippe, se tiendra le 14 mai, et précisera le plan sanitaire à mettre en place dans les établissements, notamment sur la base des propositions formulées par la FNHPA - Fédération nationale de l'Hôtellerie de plein air."
The french are saying that a decision will be made at the end of May on a reopening date for sites. The first phase of a reduction in lockdown restrictions is due to last from 14th May – 2nd June. Proposals have been made by the industry for measures to be implemented at all sites – distancing, sanitation etc.
Don’t hold your breath!1
