A little disappointed
We came over to France over a week ago and we have had rain nearly every day. Today it rained until about five o'clock.We are wondering why we thought France would have good weather and would we come again.
We don't think we will TBH. I always wanted to come to Normandy as my father was here in 1944 in the armed forces and he always used to talk about his experiences here.Now I've been and I'm glad I have visited the area. But at the end of the day I love the
UK and there are a number of places I still haven't been to and many I could visit time and tiime again.
I wonder if it is because we live in the north of England and it is such a trek to the south coast. We also have beautiful scenery up in the north, the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, Northumbria and the whole of Scotland.What has France got that we haven't?
Well, go on, I'm waiting......call me an old misery...but....
Comments
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Would you go back if the weather had been good or are you just disappointed with the scenery? If its weather then you've been unlucky. June is usually beautiful. We've often found the Loire seems to be a dividing line between settled and dependable weather,
south of it that is, and mostly good but not always, to the north of it.We have in the past had to cut short our holiday in both Germany and France due to bad weather but we still return and this year had excellent weather. I don't think its right to judge it on one visit. Give it another chance.
Agree with your comments about the UK but sometimes you need a change.
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We have been to France many times in May and usually have better weather than we would have had in the UK so I think you have been unlucky. If you are comparing the scenery in Normandy to our best in the Lakes and Yorkshire then you are right there is no
comparison but you have to compare like with like. We go for a different culture, usually better weather and superb scenery. Having said that apart from the six weeks we spend in France the rest of our sixteen to twenty weeks away is spent in Yorkshire, Cornwall,
Wales etc which take a lot of beating but don't usually have such good weather to appreciate them in.0 -
Last year we had two weeks of lovely weather mixed with thunderstorms in Brittany. Loved it! As we're Scots, warm rain was a treat.
Just now in Oxfordshire, it's thunderstorms and I think I would rather be in France. Scotland has great places to go, but life is for experiencing difference too.
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The bad weather in Europe has been well documented in the press so surely it wasn't totally unexpected, anyway it appears to be turning hotter and drier now .
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By no means are you an old misery. If our recent two and a half months in France had been our first ever trip there then I doubt we would be going back. The weather, since late March, has been very changeable, quite cold, and as you comment, wet! This is not at all typical and something infected us on our first visit. Otherwise we wouldn't have been going back for thirty-five years and bought a house there.
Not everyone will like it, and of course that's down to each individual and what they're looking for - but you have been exceptionally unlucky with the weather, and that will affect everything you would normally do - no wandering slowly around a market savouring the lovely cheeses, no sitting outside a beachside cafe drinking the local cider, or a hot strong coffee, no meanders through lovely timbered villages, taking photographs of the stunning gardens,, no bracing walk along a beach early in the morning or watching the sun go down in the evening. You can't sit and watch the vultures soaring over the cliffs from your pitch at the top of the cliff, or the bee eaters swooping across the skies, a bright blue roller catching insects on the wing and taking them back to it's nest, flamingoes in the lagoons .......... You can't wander along a gorge, or around the walls of a town built in the 1200's, you can't sit and eat local patisseries overlooking the river and the kingfishers, sitting on a bench in the hot sun. You can't do any of those things with pleasure when it's raining and those are just some of the things which make our holidays in France.
I won't say 'give it another chance' but please don't let it colour your view of France. Your father's time there obviously affected you and now you've been there and done it. You don't have to go back at all - but if you want to you may be pleasantly surprised how different it all looks in the sun.
If the weather in the Lake District had been rain all week and if you couldn't see the tops of the fells would you ever think of going back again - probably not.
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I will also add some of the practical things - cheaper campsites, cheaper fuel, free parking alongside many beaches, free parking in many towns and villages, free access to places which in Britain would be National Trust monuments and for which you would
pay a fortune, lack of graffiti, better maintained roads, lack of traffic, and so much more.............We're going back again soon, as our both our sons........ who also both love France.
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I am sorry Pat has has had bad weather in France, but so have we here at home.
But regardless of the weather I have given up using the caravan here in the UK - too much traffic, and too little freedom has defeated that. The need to join this Club or that one, to have to plan ahead, to remember not to arrive before 12 and to leave when told to, to remember all the colours of all the pegs this Club has installed and pitch within an inch or two of them and face the correct way, to have to drive overnight to get in or out of Cornwall in the summer, to have to book ahead to get decent campsites or settle for a corner of a farm field with no amenities, to have to decide in advance whether to be awning or non-awning, to have to put the car only on the approved side of the caravan, and obey all the other rules.
Rgardless of the weather I will pay the ferry fare across the Channel to avoid all that - just for freedom to go as I please. That's worth a lot.
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Hi Path,
I agree with most of the comment already made but my take on it is that you are just stating your opinion.
For me the biggest factor is that whilst all the places you mention are lovely they are here,and France isnt!
Its the change that is one of the main appeals to me. I agree with ValDa in regard to most of the things that France has to offer but as others have said if its down to the weather then thats down to luck mainly. If I played a word association game with
my wife and said 'Lake District' or Switzerland her response would be-RAIN!0 -
We spent most of May in France which was our second holiday in the country after a few weeks last year.
Poor weather, riots and a shortage of fuel perhaps tainted our already poor view of France.
Luckily we spend time each year in most of the other European countries.
If only some of the amazing locations in France were in other countries!
Sorry, but I do enjoy a good moan about that particular country....it's an English thing!
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I am sorry Pat has has had bad weather in France, but so have we here at home.
But regardless of the weather I have given up using the caravan here in the UK - too much traffic, and too little freedom has defeated that. The need to join this Club or that one, to have to plan ahead, to remember not to arrive before 12 and to leave when told to, to remember all the colours of all the pegs this Club has installed and pitch within an inch or two of them and face the correct way, to have to drive overnight to get in or out of Cornwall in the summer, to have to book ahead to get decent campsites or settle for a corner of a farm field with no amenities, to have to decide in advance whether to be awning or non-awning, to have to put the car only on the approved side of the caravan, and obey all the other rules.
Rgardless of the weather I will pay the ferry fare across the Channel to avoid all that - just for freedom to go as I please. That's worth a lot.
Yes, I forgot that one. Once we stopped using Eurocamp/Canvas then we gave up booking anything apart from our ferry - and still don't. We can go where we please, when we please, staying as long or as little as we want, leaving on impulse when noisy neighbours arrive; staying longer if the weather is good, we like our neighbours and we haven't 'done' all there is to do in an area. An site planned as an overnight stop has turned into a nearly three week stay, and a site intended as a destination was visited, deemed disappointing, and we drove away without staying a single night - to find a lovely site just down the road a few miles.
We wait until we've picked up our caravan in central France, really, before deciding which direction to head - generally looking at a weather forecast on the way. If we'd had two weeks in France, starting two weeks ago, then I would have headed straight down to Provence and at least got some good weather.
The criteria that everyone uses to make a judgement about what has made a good holiday differs, but as I said before, if the weather thirty-five years ago had been like it has recently, then we would probably never have bought a caravan in the first place!
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free access to places which in Britain would be National Trust monuments and for which you would pay a fortune,
better maintained roads, lack of traffic
Write your comments
Which places are you thinking of in France which are free but would be NT "monuments" in Britain?
We certainly don't "pay a fortune" to visit NT properties, countryside or carparks. These are all included in NT Annual Membership. It is even better value if you join NT for Scotland....and you still have free access to all NT properties and sites.
After 8 weeks in France I think that your comments about better maintained roads and lack of traffic are great generalisations and, depending on areas/places, are not always true.
I usually find your comments interesting,thoughtful and constructive but not these upon which I have commented.
I think we all have to be realistic and recognise that over recent decades weather patterns have changed. We probably have never been able to guarantee having hot,dryand sunny weather in May and June...we certainlycan't now!!
Of course we enjoy such weather but for us it is a bonus.Wherever and whenever we make a trip in our campervan we are going to look at placesand/or buildings/museums etc and hopefully do some walking and possibly cycling.
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Wow!...assaulted by a Francophile!
My comment is a repeat of a well known and accepted cliche!
Also...why does every town, city and tiny village have a road or square named Charles de Gaulle?????
Not the Charles de Gaulle who consistently kept saying non to Britian.
few years ago we went to the village where he was born and decided to visit the museun. Never went in, they wanted €18 each, so my response Non!
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Wow!...assaulted by a Francophile!
My comment is a repeat of a well known and accepted cliche!
Also...why does every town, city and tiny village have a road or square named Charles de Gaulle?????
Because he's a national hero there!!!!
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I wonder if the bad weather in Europe (not just France) is a recent trend. When we worked used to take three week breaks and I don't recall having much bad weather. In 2013, our first year with the motorhome the weather was awful in May and June. Last
year mid September to mid October the weather was poor and this year it was worse. I can understand why people get fed up.Feeling a bit that way myself.David
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Why France, wellin addition to what has been already mentioned what about villages and towns that still have evidence of their past and have not been 'modernised',towns that are not full of charity shops, traffic islands that are a joy to experience,massive
rivers all over the country and a country with very little litter We have just returned from a day out in Avignon travelling by bus, approx 11/2 hrs for only 11/2 euros each the return journey through little villages was a fantastic end to the day.oh and we have been in France for 6 weeks and we have had very very little rain. Don't give up and try again next year
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But regardless of the weather I have given up using the caravan here in the UK - too much traffic, and too little freedom has defeated that. The need to join this Club or that one, to have to plan ahead, to remember not to arrive before 12 and to leave when told to, to remember all the colours of all the pegs this Club has installed and pitch within an inch or two of them and face the correct way, to have to drive overnight to get in or out of Cornwall in the summer, to have to book ahead to get decent campsites or settle for a corner of a farm field with no amenities, to have to decide in advance whether to be awning or non-awning, to have to put the car only on the approved side of the caravan, and obey all the other rules.
Oh dear !0 -
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I do hope I'm not going to be disappointed this year by not going to France. Off at the end of this week into the Yorkshire Dales, on to Northumberland before my first ever (!!!) visit to Edinburgh before crossing to the Scottish west coast.
So far booked the 4 sites and then playing it by ear...France is great and we love the lifestyle etc etc and will deffo return!
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traffic islands that are a joy to experience,
Write your comments here...
Even though many French drivers do not indicate at traffic roundabouts and because of their vehicle position it is sometimes impossible to know which exit they are ging to use??
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Wow!...assaulted by a Francophile!
My comment is a repeat of a well known and accepted cliche.
Write your comments here...
What a strange reponse.Are you aware that a cliche is " a hackneyed phrase or opinion"?
Who has assaulted you and who is the Francophile?
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We are just back from a 2 month trip taking in Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Germany and France. Mainly France, we went as far south as Millau this time. Last trip to France in 2009 we went to the Mediterranean coast.
Weather not great, but not much we can do about that, biggest downside was the pitches were very muddy where there was no grass.
We enjoyed the trip, plenty of interesting scenery and architecture. The paying motorways were very well maintained, the others not so good. Other roads were very variable.
One thing we did notice was that compared to the other countries we visited, a fair number of the houses were in a poor state of repair.
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traffic islands that are a joy to experience,
Write your comments here...
Even though many French drivers do not indicate at traffic roundabouts and because of their vehicle position it is sometimes impossible to know which exit they are ging to use??
On the contrary we have found that signalling to indicate leaving is very common, much better than at home.
The comment re roundabouts was that the vast majority are themed with trees, flowers, architecture etc - it's is a pity that we don't see similar here
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no, what we get here is 3 foot long grass on the approaches to roundabouts giving you nil vision of thraffic on your right...
this is obviously a 'safety policy' as ive seen plenty of new roundabouts where grass isnt present, fitted out with obstructing 'fence panels' obliterating view of the priority traffic.
i guess the idea is that everyone has to stop at a large busy roundabout rather than 'give way'....
most on the A303 in our area seem to heading towards this latest 'design'.....
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We like caravaning in France and this country. What weather you get is just luck. This May we picked Scotland and had exceptionally good weather. If we had done the same last year it was atrocious. We will probably visit northern France next May / June. so I am hoping the same thing happens again, and it is a good weather year. As too roundabouts, at least the French seem to slow down a bit more, at the mini variety, than we do in this country. There is one close to us where the traffic, on what would have been the major road, often doesn't slow below 40 mph. (60 zone)
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We have just returned from 9 weeks in Germany and Austria it was bad at the begining 19th April for a week rain, snow and cold. Used 10 kg of gas. Then when we got to the Romantische Straße it was good, dry and warm same at Regensburg. When we got to
Austria 1st May Nights were chilly but the days were sunny, warm and dry in the day with rain over night if any. Did not use a lot more gas just for cooking as it was warm all the way home with some lovely sunny hot days and some all day rain in the Voralberg,
Bodensee Sunny and hot most of the time, Odd rain showers in the Black Forest. Weather got wetter as we came north still warm. Stopped at Guines 2 nights Sunday sunny and warm tipped down 2nd night and all way to tunnel and all the way home in the UK.The weather is usually better the further east and south you go when you go through the Tauern and Katchberg Tunnels on the A10 in Austria we have found the weather improves was when we were there this year and around Salzburg too where we were for 4 weeks.
We only saw problems with mud on one site at Bodensee and that was with MH getting stuck.
We had a wonderful trip no illness, accidents with car or caravan have updated
website to dateDianneT
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free access to places which in Britain would be National Trust monuments and for which you would pay a fortune,
better maintained roads, lack of traffic
Write your comments
Which places are you thinking of in France which are free but would be NT "monuments" in Britain?
We certainly don't "pay a fortune" to visit NT properties, countryside or carparks. These are all included in NT Annual Membership. It is even better value if you join NT for Scotland....and you still have free access to all NT properties and sites.
After 8 weeks in France I think that your comments about better maintained roads and lack of traffic are great generalisations and, depending on areas/places, are not always true.
I usually find your comments interesting,thoughtful and constructive but not these upon which I have commented.
I think we all have to be realistic and recognise that over recent decades weather patterns have changed. We probably have never been able to guarantee having hot,dryand sunny weather in May and June...we certainlycan't now!!
Of course we enjoy such weather but for us it is a bonus.Wherever and whenever we make a trip in our campervan we are going to look at placesand/or buildings/museums etc and hopefully do some walking and possibly cycling.
The roads in our 'home' village in France are very much better maintained than those around our home here. Autoroutes are less busy almost everywhere except around Paris and some of the northern cities - and no I don't have my rose tinted specs on.
Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned National Trust in particular, but there are so many places in England where you have to pay. I could take you to waterfalls in France which put High Force (for instance) into second league, but where you can not just access, but swim in the pools beneath the falls.
Natasha2 highlights the positive experiences we have had of towns and villages, and also of our local one euro bus -- where you can go anywhere in the Aude or the Pyrenees Orientales for a one euro per journey (not per stage) so you can get from our home to Collioure on the coast for one euro in each direction!
We have found very many places that we can wander around free of charge - we NEVER pay (except in the largest Chateaux) and can almost always find somewhere roman, mediaeval or similar to do some sight-seeing wherever we are. There is a Roman aqueduct near us at Ansignan, where you can walk through the roman bridge, or even along the aqueduct. It's been restored and you can even dip your toes in the (very cold water). We have plenty of smaller Cathar castles where you can walk without a charge along 12th century paths amongst the ruins. You can drive through the Gorges of the Galamus, the Tarn, the Jonte, or along the top of the Ardeche or the Verdon, with a family of four, where here you would pay £45 to drive through the much more mediocre (and lit up!!!!) Cheddar Gorge..............
I could go on, but I'm sure others who have positive experiences of France could list many similar places even in the tourist honey pots.
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