France Site Bookings Summer 2022
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Interpret it is as you will, but maybe it’s nothing more than just an observation.
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Checking back through my log, I see that my last two trips 'over there' were both ten stops, one of three weeks duration, the other four weeks. Looking back further, the frequency of stop/duration of holiday aren't that dissimilar for UK trips nor when I did longish journeys with the caravan.
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That's a very rude thing to say and shows ignorance. We have a small caravan and after a few years owning a campervan (8M Hobby), find the caravan suits our needs nicely, as we like to get about when we arrive at our destination. We have friends who prefer their campers.There are people who faff about in all walks of life aren't there? Goodness knows how many campervan drivers we've seen revving their engine up and slipping the clutch trying to mount the levelling ramps. Now that's faffing! We often sit enjoying a glass of wine watching the antics. However, we are not campervan critics and often help them with a lift to the local shops.
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No need to be defensive. I am not caravan critic. I might be rude & ignorant in your view, but like you I observe antics on campsites so that makes us the same. I don’t take pleasure in the misfortune of others either as accused by vbfg. You drive people to the shops, I help caravanners manoeuvre into position - it’s what any of us would do to help a fellow camper. Perhaps my choice of the term ‘faffing’ doesn’t suit you, but it’s not intended to be offensive, I’m just as good as faffing as the next person when the occasion arises.
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Good to see you get it JV 👍
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David, as you say, whatever suits you best. My perception of caravanners is that most want to get from A to B and once at destination stay put for several days and use their cars to get out & about. Whereas motorhomers tend to use the journey to explore places en-route, stopping off by day or staying briefly at places of interest. The latter is obviously easier in a MH than a caravan, but the advantage reverses if the MH wants to explore an area more intensively. We’re all the same and we’re all different, whether to faff or not is optional.
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You've hit the nail on its head there David. As you know we have both caravan and a MH.
We like them both equally but it depends where we are going what we take.
On this trip we have the MH and have done a fair amount of time bouncing around. Quite a few 1 nighters and currently staying on this site for 10 days, mostly its been 2/3 days.
With our previous MH we did tow a big scooter on a trailer which was great for days out. However since OHs shoulder op he's not confident that he could safely hold it with us both on board so we sadly had to let it go.
We have been known to faff on occasions 😂😂😂
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Surely our needs change as we age. When with children a caravan and a nice long pitch is a joy. When a little older and children off hand we welcome a bit of freedom and short breaks, with either a caravan or MH. Older still most of us will have made our decision, either MH and a short stays or a caravan with slightly longer pitches.
We are just turned 60, retired early and forced into UK "mini-breaks" as France has in reality been off limits for two years. We have enjoyed our UK breaks but with a van find anything less than 4 or 5 days on a pitch a bit of a faff. We welcome the opportunity to return to France and spending up to a couple of weeks on one pitch before moving on, but also the chance to continue with those shorter breaks in the UK and learn more about our wonderful country.
I want the best of both worlds and why shouldn't I.
Colin
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“We are just turned 60, retired early”
Does anybody work full term these days? Just about everybody I get taking to on campsites seems to have retired early. I confess I’m one of them having opted out at 54. Have all of these folks gravitated to leisure vehicles?
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Interesting debate about caravans v MHs in this thread, though I suggest somewhat off topic.
Nevertheless, I’ll add a different consideration. We are caravanners who, until the last 2 COVID years, have split our trips between numerous ‘few days’ breaks in UK, and 6 weeks on Mediterranean coast. If we only toured the Med, I may be tempted to have a MH, simply due to the fact that I’d walk or cycle more in the better weather. Here in UK, the (often) uncertain weather necessitates the use of the car (I don’t like getting wet!). This isn’t just due to the weather directly, but also that we tend to search for more indoor activities (NT homes for example) which require transport to access. Abroad, we do more reading sitting in the sun, or strolling aimlessly, or swimming/sunbathing.
It may be due to the type of sites we use, but it often seems European sites are nearer facilities (shops, beaches, towns, villages, historic sites etc) than many UK ones. I’m often frustrated by booking a UK site that seems near something, only to find that walking to somewhere is risking life and limb, due to no paths on the adjoining road and some racetrack drivers speeding along the country road.
Just a view, but……
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I've found that many caravan sites are seldom close to anything, even a bus stop. For motorhomers, that is the attraction of aires/overnight parking when they are usually close to where you want to be. Yeah, I know - my choice.
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Try the park4night app or the CAMPING-CAR-infos website. literally thousands (upon thousands) of overnight stopping places.
When we first started going overseas we used the Dover Calais ferry, dont quite know why, living in the SW....However the 'accepted' route south involved heading towards Rouen and a stop at Neufchâtel...we liked it there, it now use a Western crossing instead.
Do you need to book to stay on the aire next to the campsite?
https://www.campingcar-infos.com/view.php?id=23627
we stayed here, literally next door, at Mesnieres en Bray, free and very nice.
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Why not do a bit of both?
whilst finding a fantastic 'destination site' (or two) in France, Italy, Spain or wherever is great, breaking the trip up and mooching about discovering different areas along the way seems logical if one has 'come all this way'...
with the MH, we can doodle about but keep moving in the general direction whereas we don't have to keep returning to site to collect the caravan, which makes hedgehopping an easier thing to manage.
having said that, our winter jaunt south is just that...early January through France isn't the most inviting stint, so we get cracking....but on the return, slow the pace with lots of exploring.
best wishes to all setting out for their first 'sojourn' in a while...
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David, 'tis certainly a dilemma..but a nice one to have😀
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Good points, and more-or-less sums up our approach. Weather does play a big part and you certainly feel less isolated in a MH when the sunshines. We do a lot of research to mitigate the downside of longer MH stays e.g. public transport options, shops/pubs/restaurant locations and walking routes. ACSI site information is quite good for distance from town/shops etc. I do wish more folks mentioned those aspects in reviews for CMC and other site descriptions. Generally we can find a site/aire/stopover that meets 90% of our needs. In the UK NT car parks tend to be MH friendly so we often do them in day trips from the site. The Apps mentioned here are also extremely useful for MH parking locations. Agree that continental sites are generally better served even if it’s just a visiting baker - fresh crusty bread is an absolute must for us in France,
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Yes, ‘fantastic destination’ sites are a mixed blessing given the temptation to return too often. It’s nice to set off to somewhere familiar that you know will be really good, but you then risk missing out on so many other places. Also, with social media and sites like this, so many other folks get to know about them and some of what was special can get diluted. We try and keep it fresh and rarely go back.
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There is certainly something about pulling on an old pair of slippers when returning to places we all love...it takes but a few moments to be part of our new home...
I also agree that one can spend (valuable) time exploring...but it's something we like doing...we may just come across that next 'destination'...we tried a new one on recommendation last time and it's on the list..
Having said that, our return journey north in Spring usually gives us plenty of time to enjoy the trip with some offshooting along the way, for sure.
just glad to be back doing it....at least booking the ferry...!
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Hi BB, OK, so our preferred 'mooching' involves getting to the furthest point and, as we have gone all that way, exploring the area. Our fave site in on the Southern shore of lake Garda and if we went there every year, which we wont be doing, we could find plenty of new places.
We do revisit to places that we love, for one reason or another, as well but just find the site, the locality and wider area such a pleasure to be in.
If we fancy a mooch then it will be on the way back if staying at the destination for a few weeks, or we split the holiday with about two weeks on one site and the rest, a week to ten days, on a second site.
But so far as returning to Garda then, paraphrase a well known quote;
"If one is tired of sitting, glass or red in hand, temp in the mid 20s, lake lapping on the shore, swans a swimming, hydrofoil skimming, evening meal awaiting, etc etc, then one is tired of life"!
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We set off a few years ago intending to tour Brittany but we got within 50 miles of Montpellier before the rain stopped and the sun appeared.
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We can top that, in that we were once heading to Italy, via the French Riviera (unbooked). When we arrived in France we kept an eye on the weather forecast, and in Italy storms were forecast for the next five days. At the bottom of the Rhone Valley we turned right instead of left, and went to Spain instead. That week Italy had some of the worst storms on record, with flooding and landslides.
We sat on a beachside site in Spain with sunshine, a good restaurant, the best shower blocks I've seen anywhere, and a supermarket which sold really good bread. We stayed there for three weeks, before going home!1 -
Allan, I agree with everything you say...we do love going back to favourites.. .after all, they're our favourites for a reason....we love 'em!
im using a different route down to Spain this winter, as others have said it's a bit different to our usual easy one, hoping to stop at a few new places for coffee/lunch/overnight and, if ok, add them to the list.
we still have much to explore (down there) and our later trip next year might see us a bit further afield...east...
enjoy
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