Adventures of a newbie caravanner Episode 3

France Here We Come

French sites booked, ferry crossings booked and the overnight site near Dover for the outbound and return trips booked.

As I busily plotted the routes, studied maps, loaded locations into my satnav and generally made sure that I had all the right bits and bobs for a caravan trip to France (including Red Pennant) my ladies (wife and daughter) were trying their best to max out the payload of the caravan and somehow compress three wardrobes of clothes into the ones fitted in your average four berth caravan.  I had to point out as the caravan already had a kitchen sink they did not have to bring another one along.

We had decided to visit Burgundy and explore the wine growing region.  So I had booked a site right in the middle of Burgundy.  As it was a longish trip from Calais we planned to overnight near Rheims and also spend a couple of nights there on the way back. 

The first day of the trip dawned bright and sunny.  The weather forecast for the Channel looked good, a fine omen for the rest of the holiday.  We finished loading the caravan, hitched up and left only an hour behind schedule.  The drive to the Black Horse Farm site was uneventful - I must allow more time for the Dartford crossing.  It was here that we discovered that one side of the motor mover was not engaging properly so the caravan was going round in circles instead of a straight line.  Fortunately the pitches were large and the roads reasonably wide so I managed to reverse the caravan in without too much bother. So much for fine omens!!

As described by the Caravan Club the site was convenient for the ferry port and we were in plenty of time for the 1015 morning ferry.  Loading was straightforward and we were soon in the cafeteria enjoying breakfast before exploring the ship’s shop.   With the crossing being so short we were driving on French roads in no time at all. 

It was at a rest stop where I learnt my next lesson.  I noticed a mark on the side of the caravan at about chest height and was coloured blue.  Just at the right height to be made by a lorry door.  Check your caravan before you leave the ferry!!!

We arrived at our first site near Rheims, which was a municipal site, in a small town called Guignicourt, only a short distance off the A26.  The site had spacious grass pitches and mains hook up but guess what?  They may have had 16amp sockets but they were reversed polarised.  Thankfully the management were aware of the situation and had some crossover cables to lend out.  It was a great little site with a small covered pool, bar and bread to order.  It was minutes drive to the petrol station next to a small but well stocked supermarket.  We looked forward to staying there on the return leg.

On the next door pitch was a tiny vintage caravan occupied by a senior Frenchman.  His English was nonexistent and my French was rudimentary but we managed to have a chat.  He was from the Bordeaux region but was working in the area for the summer.  We both had a moan about the EU, governments, taxation and fuel prices (the good news was that French diesel prices were lower than in the UK).  My French improved with the practice and I gained some valuable advice about wine regions and where to go to get good wines, advice I was to put to good use later.

An evening meal of local food and supermarket wine (decidedly cheaper than that available in British supermarkets) and a continental breakfast of a fresh baguette, croissants and French conserves.  We were turning native and were looking forward to the next part of our journey in France.