Stopping over when travelling though France
Hi Everyone
We are planning our first European trip along with our Daughter and family with their own caravan and three grandchildren and wanted to break up the journey to northern Spain via Calais. I have been told that overnight stays in 'service areas' are possible in France but hoped someone could give some advice along with any preferred routes or do's and don't's, possibly minimising tolls. We are also looking to stay over near Dover as we are commencing the journey from Yorkshire. prior to taking the ferry and wondered if anyone knew of suitable services or similar were available. Other than that and if advised any advice on campsites in lieu of services that would accept single night stays at the end of July and middle of August return.
Quite a lot but any help would be appreciated
Thanks
Keith
Comments
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Honestly Keith, forget services. Stay on campsites, stop about 4 pm. and let your grandchildren run around and play.
The minimal toll toute from Calais is via Rouen, Orleans and Clermont Ferrand. There are dozens of campsites along that route and all accept one night stays. Just buy a copy of the Touring France site guide from Club HQ and decide how you want your overnights to be spaced. It depends how far you want to drive each day and I don't know that., Even in August an arrival at 4 pm will see you in at most places and a phone call will make sure. If you know absolutely where you want to stop then e mail and reserve.
If your first night is near Dover you will need to book that - Club sites and CLs are in your handbook, all the others are on UKCampsite.co.uk. But with children on board do forget about overnights at services.
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I'd agree with Eurotraveller, and with the route he outlines. We use that route several times every year, and there are lots of lots of municipal sites just off the main roads, where you can have a great overnight stop. There are even some where you get
free use of the municipal pool if you're staying overnight - ideal for when you're travelling with children.What's your ferry arrival time? That will help with recommendations for overnight sites.
We're just booking a journey for February, without the caravan, and looking at just how far we can realistically get with an arrival time in Calais of 10.15 am.
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Keith
Its perfectly possible to make use of motorway service areas, although perhaps best to avoid the smaller rest aires for overnight stays. Some service areas even have dedicated parking for caravans and motorhomes. However service areas are busy places so
I doubt they would be relaxing places to stay depending on layout. You have also mentioned that you might like to avoid tolls which might make it more difficult to find suitable stopping places. A better bet would be to makes use of the many Municipal campsites
you will find on whateven route you decide on. Invariably they have a high turnover of pitches each day so providing you are happy to stop by mid to late afternoon I somehow doubt you will encounter full sites. They are usually quite inexpensive which is a
bonus and often within walking distance of a town or village should you wish to eat out.David
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Keith. Which part of Northern Spain? Jul - mid Aug is peak holiday time and as you are a large party it would be prudent to pre book. Would not recommend using Service Areas for overnight stops; there are plenty of sites (municipals and others) all over France and if you stp at say 4 - 5 pm youshould have no problem. Near Dover there are many sites (Club, Certified Locations and others) but again would recommend you book.
More info please and you will be certain to receive lots of good info. There is lots of good info already on this forum so a little searching may well answer most of your questions.
See advice is already here and we all seem to be singing from the same hymnn sheet!!!
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Thanks Guys
Great advice. We haven't decided on the ferry crossing times yet as i want to sort the route to take best advantage, but initial thoughts were we could travel on the Friday evening from home to Dover staying somewhere late (around 11pm) then get an early
ferry from dover say 7 or 8 am and go from there. It may be that we therefore revise that to get to a cl by 8pm? Alos caould you avise what is the most driving you've found to be good per day. the Archies website says around 250-400km but i was probably looking
at double that?Regards
Keith
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Under normal conditions 300 miles + a day is easily possible but we use the 6 hour plan: drive for 2 hours, coffee, another 2 hours lunch, final 2 hours and that's it. You can do about 250 miles + dependent upon roads (more on autoroutes). BUT Saturday driving late Jul will be dreadful in France and most of us try to avoid this at all costs. If you can go mid week you will be much happier.
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I don't know of anywhere that will let you in as late as 11pm and you are not allowed to stay on Dover docks.
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I don't know of anywhere that will let you in as late as 11pm
Does Hawthorn Farm at Martin Mill, Dover not allow this any longer?
They used to have a night duty man at the entrance long ago, then they saved his wages and gave us the gate entry code if we warned them of late arrival. Is that not still the case ?
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I'd agree with Eurotraveller, and with the route he outlines. We use that route several times every year, and there are lots of lots of municipal sites just off the main roads, where you can have a great overnight stop. There are even some where you get
free use of the municipal pool if you're staying overnight - ideal for when you're travelling with children.What's your ferry arrival time? That will help with recommendations for overnight sites.
We're just booking a journey for February, without the caravan, and looking at just how far we can realistically get with an arrival time in Calais of 10.15 am.
Write your comments here...What is the best way of finding out about municipal sites in France? We used to use them a lot back in the 1980's and early 90's but they seem to have given way to camping car aires which are no use to us as we tow. Any ideas
appreciated.0 -
I don't know of anywhere that will let you in as late as 11pm
Does Hawthorn Farm at Martin Mill, Dover not allow this any longer?
They used to have a night duty man at the entrance long ago, then they saved his wages and gave us the gate entry code if we warned them of late arrival. Is that not still the case ?
I wish I had known that when we got badly delayed and turned up too late for the site we had booked and ended up on the docks thinking we could stay there. We ended up in the pouring rain, hardly could see a hand in front of us, in France at midnight not
sure where we were going.0 -
Qashqai, Many French municipal campsites are already in your CC Touring France guide. The full list of them is in the French published Guide Officiel Camping-Caravanning, or on line at www.camping-municipal.org. although more and more are being privatised as each year goes by.
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Here's a link directly to municipal campsites - sorry Eurotraveller, didn't see you'd referred to it already.
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No worries, Val, my typing must be speeding up.
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We're just booking a journey for February, without the caravan, and looking at just how far we can realistically get with an arrival time in Calais of 10.15 am.
At the risk of stating the obvious to one as experienced as yourself, for the benefit of newbies, arrival and disembarkation time can come as a surprise. Lose an hour off the clocks, add a bit because you were last man loaded and your mid-morning start
begins to look a bit nearer mid-day. It needs to be borne in mind.0 -
We're just booking a journey for February, without the caravan, and looking at just how far we can realistically get with an arrival time in Calais of 10.15 am.
At the risk of stating the obvious to one as experienced as yourself, for the benefit of newbies, arrival and disembarkation time can come as a surprise. Lose an hour off the clocks, add a bit because you were last man loaded and your mid-morning start
begins to look a bit nearer mid-day. It needs to be borne in mind.Agree CY. It's another reason we use the tunnel; with that all formalities are carried out BEFORE boarding in the UK (or France of course on the return journey). Once on 't other side, it's straight off the train onto the platform and off down the Autoroute,
as quick as that!0 -
Keefy, if you intend to arrive near Dover very late, I have stayed in the Ashford Tescos car park just off Junction 10 a couple of times when I had a caravan. It is 24hr supermarket and is very noisy so it is not the best of places to stay. The owner of Capel Farm CL maintains a few “ferry” pitches. Give her a call to check arrangements. The Club site Black Horse Farm also maintains “ferry” pitches, again call the warden to check arrangements.
Once in France, a route south which minimises tolls is via Rouen but if you intend to travel long daily distances, in excess of 300miles, I recommend you use the toll roads as much as possible.
peedee
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We often used to arrive Dover at 11 pm then stop on the Autoroute services - caravan and two children, setting off at about 10.30 am next morning due to the time difference. Use the toll sections and the 24 hour services where you will find caravan spaces.
If lories are parked there you may have to use lorry parking areas. Unfortunately, if you are going via Rouen. I am not sure whether there are any toll roads near Calais but if going towards Reims stop one hour from Calais on the A26 at Aire Souchez or Aire
Barralle.0 -
Blackhorse Farm club site if you want a overnight pitch but do book a ferry pitch then you can come and go when you want, it's no more than half an hour from Dover. As to overnighting in France, we have used service stations on the toll roads without
any problems, if you are worried about security put your hitch lock on and the wheel clamp but your not likely to have any bother thief's wont want to pay the toll charge. Do take water with you most have a shop/cafe but no outside taps. You will travel quicker
on a toll road and save on fuel as there is very little stop start and you can pay the tolls in advance here in the UK0 -
Of course it makes sense to book a site somewhere and manage your time to suit but when you are working every hour is precious and we always preferred to get to France asap. If you get the late crossing you will sleep soundly at an Aire and the rumbling
of the traffic will lull you off to sleep. We always slept like logs!0 -
The drawback of Blackhorse Farm Club site is that the wardens won't admit people after 8pm. - even to the ferry pitches - if they are going outbound from UK to France. We always drove straight by and aimed to cross the Channel that first evening, however late it was.
But with things as they are in Calais these days I really don't know whether to recommend all the free late night parking places we used to use there for midnight+ arrivals. I just don't know the current situation there.
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The drawback of Blackhorse Farm Club site is that the wardens won't admit people after 8pm. - even to the ferry pitches - if they are going outbound from UK to France. We always drove straight by and aimed to cross the Channel that first evening, however late it was.
But with things as they are in Calais these days I really don't know whether to recommend all the free late night parking places we used to use there for midnight+ arrivals. I just know the current situation there.
Write your comments here...We have arrived later than 8 in the past and as we had already paid the wardens left pitch details in the glass locker.
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The site details for Black Horse Farm are clear. Arrivals after 8pm are only for people coming FROM France, though how they check I don't know.
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The site details for Black Horse Farm are clear. Arrivals after 8pm are only for people coming FROM France,
though how they check I don't know.I wondered that, when you book do they ask? does seem unfair as folk might have to travel late due to working.
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How on earth do they know which country you've come from? I don't understand how this can possibly be enforced. People must drive in from the same direction, with a caravan on the back. It wouldn't be obvious to me where the caravan had come from before
it arrived on site.0 -
Agreed, Val, but I'm waiting for the "rules are rules and must be obeyed" comments to come in. We are nearly up to 500 comments on the thread about arrival times. Perhaps they haven't noticed this one yet because it's in the Overseas section
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Agreed, Val, but I'm waiting for the "rules are rules and must be obeyed" comments to come in. We are nearly up to 500 comments on the thread about arrival times. Perhaps they haven't noticed this one yet because it's in the Overseas section
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How crass is that? If you are going to admit vans to ferry pitches after 8pm, the origin of the journey is of no relevance whatsoever.
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The site details for Black Horse Farm are clear. Arrivals after 8pm are only for people coming FROM France, though how they check I don't know.
Perhaps they ask you for your booking details on arrival
Seriously though, I've noticed that "rule" has been there for a few
years, and have always thought it daft. Not that we've used that site, we normally cross over late afternoon/ear;y evening and stay on a site in France. Cheaper and no pegs!!0 -
We have used service aires in France on auto-routes untill we were mugged just outside Reims. The intruders used gas into the Van to ensure we did not wake up. They were after credit cards. When we came too bout 10 the next day we found my wife's hand bag
in the waste bin next to the Van. The Police were called and insisted we go to the local hospital for a check. We were parked next to another Van and they didn't hear a thing. Fortunatly we had another credit card so we continued on. Its just not worth staying
on auto route aires find a camp site.0
