Back to touring France
Hi All,
Well after a number of years and following Brexit and also some changes within France regarding acceptance of twin axles and vans over 8m.
We've caravanned for over 45 years off and on with various vans (some twin axles) and have travelled to and through France many times. We used to basically follow our noses and just stop wherever we found, which back in those days was almost anywhere even if we needed a Municipal camp site now and again there were no issues.
I think its different now, Municipal sites don't accept twin axles and bigger vans arent able to get onto some smaller pitches of which there are a fair number in France.
We're off for a month from the 26th of April and have taken the decision to pre-book pretty much all our stops on sites we probably wouldn't chose (although they look very nice, or we wouldn't have booked them). However I would love to hear from anyone who has been to France with a bigger TA Van and if they have found France as easy as it used to be.
We even used to stop in Autoroute "Aires", as there are now I think, in those days there were always stories about people getting gassed or robbed (mostly on the Autoroute Du Soleil it seemed). Never witnessed any bother nor actually met anyone who had that misfortune though, in all our years and there were always many other Vans or Motorhomes around of all Nationalities.
We love the less commercial sites "CL's" and farm sites, electricity always being a bonus. Our Car and Van are both these days of a much higher value than those we used to have so I would imagine being a jucier Target for Criminals. Has France changed so much? Any news or advice would be welcome.
Thanks in anticipation.
Bob
Moderator Comment - Moved from Story Section. Bob, when asking questions you need to post in the discussion area so I have moved your post into Overseas Touring
Comments
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You say "bigger vans arent able to get onto some smaller pitches of which there are a fair number in France."
We must have been very lucky in our choice of sites in France over the last 20 years. I have generally found pitches to be on the generous size unless near the coast. I know our favourite site in The Loire readily accepts twin axle vans as there are always a good handful on these UK vans on site in the summer.
I'm guessing some sites may be resistant to allow these vans due to the "owners" of them. I'd have thought as travelling out of high season it would be best to e-mail your preferred sites just to see if they would accept these vans and not necessarily book your pitches.
Colin
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Bob, the main problem you will find is that the older French sites were not designed and laid out for caravans as big as yours. There will be occasions when access is difficult.
But other than that I don’t think you need advice. You have everything pre booked and you are obviously experienced and know what you are doing. So I hope it all goes well.0 -
We stayed at one site in Tarbes (now closed) which whilst it accepted twin axle vans it charged something like an extra €10 per night. Usually when you see extra charges like that you imagine they are in place to discourage? We have always found pitches in France pretty generous except for those on the Med coast when they tend to be smaller. Didn't someone say you could check in the ACSI book to see if sites accepted twin axles?
David
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