Travelling to France
Just to let anyone know who is interested we crossed over Sunday morning via the tunnel and everything normal except the check in booth was manned. Usual checks passport stamped but not interested in vaccine certificate or anything else. No check for contraband bacon etc.
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Now on our first site in France for 2 years, its good to be back.
Like Michael we came by tunnel, no problems there, we even got put on an earlier train.
We didn't get our passports stamped, no checks for contraband, didn't ask for entry form or Covid passport by French border force.
Weather is great blue skies and its mid 20s.
We are on a Camping car parks aire for the night then heading for Nancy tomorrow for the weekend.
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Alright, alright, don't rub it in.
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We had to show vaccination status when checking into this site (not required on aires) they were happy with our printed NHS certificate.
Scotland now has a digital version hurray. Phil downloaded it to our phones. We have a QR code for each jab, does the English version?
Weather is great 27c again today. Been warned of storms and flooding next week so keeping an eye on the forecast.
Lots of Dutch vans on this site, a few French, German and Scandinavian but we are the only Brits. Didn't see many Brit LVs driving here but quite a few cars.
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Thanks David, good to know. Ours is valid for 12 mths from date of download.
There was a few families on site when we arrived on Friday but all gone now. Still mostly Dutch, many of them stopping just the one night. Not sure if they are heading home or just on their way somewhere.
We are off to the Alsace tomorrow for a few days.
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just back from 5 weeks in France. Zero hassle going out.Just show you vaacination certificate a ferry check-in. Great weather. It was wonderful. Less hassle than in UK. Very few Brits, lots of happy Germans, French and Dutch.You have to show your NHS Vaciantion certificate to get in to restaurants, bars and museums Mask use is widespread in shops and markets. No reason not to be there!
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I should have added the process for return to UK is not that difficult. A load of hassle but not hard..
i) Get an antigen test 48 hours before ferry return. Very many French pharmacies in most towns do this either walk in or online booked. Takes 15 minutes. Paper certificate provided with a nice big official stamp. Cost 25 euros.
ii) Book Day 2 test for when you return. Total waste of time and money in my opinion, but it has to be done. You can book this online. We used Express Test who mail a test kit to await you at home. Do the test, package it up and Yodel collect it.
iii) Complete your UK Passenger Locator Form online and save to phone or ipad. You will need to show this at ferry check-in together with NHS Jab certificate and French antigen test cert. You wont get asked for this again at UK passport control thank goodness.
Join ferry queue. Get on boat. Have a drink!
Well worth it for a lovely time in France.
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We too are in SW France enjoying the 32 degree sunshine 🌞 . We have used a print out of the NHS app certificate when asked, one restaurant she scanned it but at this site just a cursory glance, one bar did not ask but it was outside (like the restaurant) so not sure.
Quite a few Brits on site (3) but mostly French, a few cloggies and several Germans 😀
Going to try and get into Spain tomorrow heading to a site near Tarragona, from what I can make out from the Spanish government site we do not need anything specific to enter as we're not coming direct from UK so no tests etc. needed but let's see what Pedro says if there are any checks at the border, going to be crossing at Irun.
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Great weather here to in the Alsace 27c today. Arrived at the campsite Turckheim at 2pm when it opens after lunch 4 vans in front of us
site very busy, quite a few empty pitches but all reserved. Seems more folk are booking ahead this year. Again lots of Dutch on site but also German, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland a few French and 2 brits. At last we are not aloneJamsdad, thanks for the info on returning back to UK.
David and Michael, enjoy the weather I think there's a bit of bad stuff coming your way.
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Bonjour mes amis campeurs, Little bit OT but it was 28.5C here in Cornwall yesterday.
On a rally, by the sea and great weather-but it’s not the same as you are all enjoying so hope you all continue to have a great time!
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The site where we store our caravan in the Ardeche has had no visitors at all from the UK this year. They were very sad as they have a few regulars who visit. They commented that 'It's odd that the British are not travelling even though they can, but the French have been travelling all along even though they couldn't'! They wanted to see our Passe Sanitaire, and it's actually been requested at every venue we've visited - scanned in some, and glanced at by others.
France actually feels very safe compared to what friends are reporting from the UK. Masks are still worn in public spaces, including the whole of some towns, and with the Passe Sanitaire being checked it does make you feel that you're not sitting next to someone spreading Covid.0 -
Val
Interesting what your site owner says. I wonder if COVID and Brexit has been a double whammy for touring aboard for many? The stalwarts that post in this thread who have decided to travel have obviously felt that most of the perceived obstacles are easily navigated which is great. However I wonder how many who would have travelled are putting Continental travel on hold? For most COVID has provided two years of disruption to their travel plans and the unanswered question is how many of those will go back to Continental touring? Having said that away from the main tourist haunts it is unusual to see that many Brits anyway and the further you travel the less likely you are to meet fellow countrymen?
David
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We have been in France for just over a week now with 3 more to go. It is a hard life but someone has to do it. so far temperatures have been above 30 every day. Yesterday was the hottest. The van’s dashboard thermometer showed 42, with a generous margin for error it was still in the high 30s.
Travelled via the tunnel booked through the club. It is now a requirement that you pre-register your passport details before travel. However, if booked via the club, the Eurotunnel website does not recognise the booking. A conversation with another club member on a site near Chatelaillon-Plage identified that if you ring Eurotunnel and enter your details manually.
What it meant for us was we had to go into the Eurotunnel office and register our details and show the vaccination certificate. French customs waved away the Declaration of Honour and the vaccination certificate. there were no checks for illicit dairy/meat products.
Most, but not all, venues have asked for the certificate. I downloaded the French Tous Anticovid app and scanned in the barcode. This app has the advantage that it also downloads to an Apple Watch.
English vans and caravans are few and far between. So far the majority of site residents have been Dutch.
The cheapest diesel I have seen so far is 1euro 35 and the dearest was 1.50.
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The site we are on now didn't ask to see our Covid pass, I didn't hear her ask for anyone elses either but I did offer to show her my papers, the reply was have you had 2 jabs, oh that's ok then I will just put that on the computer.
When we visited Equisheim all the cafes had signs out saying you had to show your Covid pass. In Colmar they were there but not as obvious.
Just a bit of info, we still have some Overseas night vouchers that are still valid. I checked on the club website to see if this site should take them. It is not on the list of sites who don't, so I had a 'chat' with a club staff member who is of the opinion that if they are not on the list then they should. According to him they are accepted at almost all sites in France.
Well they are not accepted here, so I will keep trying other sites we go to and pass the list back to the club to add to what's on the website. Hopefully we will find one, we were going to use them at L' Almfora in Spain but they close fairly early before we aim to be there.
Hotter today around 30c got the washing all dry before lunch
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