Ouistreham - Motorhome aire de service

[Derek Uzzell]

We were in Ouistreham last weekend and I noticed that there are now automated barriers at the entry to (and exit from) the motorhome aire de service off Boulevard Maritime by the ferry-port.

 

Although the entry/exit system is probably comprehensible (even for non-Francophones) if you arrive at the aire in the dark expecting to just drive in as used to be the case, you’ll be in for a surprise!

 

The Ouistreham aire was mentioned in this March 2016 forum discussion

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/overnight-at-Caen/41075/

 

but I’m doubtful that the barriers had been installed then - certainly they looked very new to me.

 

The Brittany Ferries website still says about the Ouistreham ferry-port

 

“Cars, caravans and motor homes may park in the car lanes overnight after the last departure of the day, if travelling on the first departure in the morning. There is 24 hour access to toilet facilities”

 

but that’s not going to help much if you are disembarking at 22:00 and want somewhere reasonably ‘safe’ nearby to overnight.

 

When we arrived for the 08:30 ferry to the UK yesterday morning, there were steely-eyed armed soldiers patrolling the embarkation area and the customs officers were checking vehicles very carefully - clearly looking for ’stowaways’ - so overnighting in the car lanes may be less peaceful than in the past.

 

(Incidentally, the barriers at Seasonova “Riva Bella” campsite now open at 06:30.)

[malc d]

Derek Uzzell - 2016-10-26 2:45 PM

 

 

When we arrived for the 08:30 ferry to the UK yesterday morning, there were steely-eyed armed soldiers patrolling the embarkation area and the customs officers were checking vehicles very carefully - clearly looking for ’stowaways’ - so overnighting in the car lanes may be less peaceful than in the past.

 

 

 

 

I assume that vigilance will be increased at all the other channel ports now that the people desperate to escape from France have been dispersed from Calais.

 

 

;-)

[Derek Uzzell]

The customs officer at Portsmouth asked me if I was sure that none of my motorhome’s external storage lockers had been opened while the vehicle was on the ferry and to confirm that there was no possibility that anyone might be hiding in the washroom or beneath the bed. He added that there had been instances of people gaining entry to motorhomes through roof-windows during Channel crossings.

[MagHal]

We've never used this aire. On the way home for an overnight we always used what was Les Pommiers but is now under new ownership.

[malc d]

Mag&Hal - 2016-10-26 8:13 PM

 

We've never used this aire. On the way home for an overnight we always used what was Les Pommiers but is now under new ownership.

 

 

That's the site that Derek mentioned above.

 

It's now called " Seasonova ". - and, I'm told , is to be re-furbished.

 

A lot of the people who appeared to be permanent residents have gone.

 

:-|

[PJay]

Derek.

We came back on 10th October , on the overnight ferry. Lots of lorries and plenty of armed soldiers . They actualy found a boy , in the lorry next to us in the queue ,. He must have boarded when driver stopped, as the back door swung open as he pulled up next to us,obviously the guy (s) got in the lorry, but when inside could not close the back door. Did not see what happened after, but they did start searching inside, as we had to move onto the ship.So they are starting to try other ports, and now that the calais camp has/is being raised, I guess Caen /Dunkirk, possibly Cherburg, (though not many crossings from there at this time of year) will get immigrants trying there.

Re the aire, it was pretty full on the night we crossed, did not notice if there where barriers.

There have been reports in our local papers that a couple of rubber dinghies have been found abandoned along our coast line!

PJay

[Derek Uzzell]

Details of the Seasonova “Riva Bella” campsite at Ouistreham can be found here:

 

http://www.vacances-seasonova.com/les-destinations-seasonova/camping-normandie-riva-bella

 

The special tariff for motorhomes is (currently) 12€ per ‘day’ from 1 April to 8 July and from 28 August to 15 November, or 14€ from 9 July to 27 August. Those prices are for a motorhome and 2 persons and include 6Amp 230V electricity. There is a supplementary “taxe de séjour” charge of 0.55€ per person.

 

This gets you a fairly large parking spot on a tarmac area in the north corner of the campsite opposite the roundabout on the main road (so not that quiet!) Selecting the satellite view on this webpage

 

http://www.vacances-seasonova.com/camping-riva-bella-3-etoiles-plan-d-acces

 

and zooming in will show the tarmac area (with twelve motorhomes parked on it and one at the servicing-point.)

 

The area has 20 marked and numbered emplacements and, historically, you used to drive there and park on any emplacement with no vehicle on it. Nowadays the site-warden logs which of the 20 emplacements have been assigned to motorhomes and (in principle at least) once you’ve been assigned an emplacement number, if you leave the campsite temporarily during your stay there the emplacement with ‘your’ number on it should still be free when you come back.

 

On-line information states that the reception office’s opening hours are 08:30 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 19:00. However, recent reviews here

 

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/reviews.asp?revid=3858

 

mention that the office stays open to process people disembarking from the Brittany Ferries ship that docks at 21:30. This may indeed be the case in summer, but I saw nothing to indicate that it happens. It’s pot-luck how quickly one can disembark from the ferry: sometimes I’ve been clear of Ouistreham by 21:45, but I‘ve also been still on the ship at 22:00 and – in one case when Brittany Ferries engineers’ industrial action delayed sailings by 4 hours – was still on the ship at 01:45. Somehow I can’t see Riva Bella’s reception office staying open indefinitely to deal with really late arrivals.

 

As “Detnor” warns on the above link, if a ‘cheapo’ motorhome-specific emplacement is all you want, you need to make that clear at the reception office.

 

[Tony Jones]

On the way out in August, we used the Aire. The barrier system was operating but wasn't too hard to make sense of.

On the way back in September, we slept in the lanes, but just outside the checkin booths, and had no problems. Going again in February, will let you know how we get on then!

[Derek Uzzell]

The point of my caveat was to inform people that automated barriers had recently been installed at the entry and exit of the Ouistreham aire which previously had an unobstructed entry/exit.

 

Although the entry/exit system may (as I said above) be reasonable comprehensible, if you arrive at the aire from the 21:30 ferry, in the dark with (perhaps) it bucketing down with rain, gaining entry may prove challenging if you’ve anticipated that getting in will be simple as in the past.

 

It’s also worth mentioning that the entry-barrier is some little way off the road and overshadowed by the bushes at the aire’s entrance, so if you drive up to the barrier, then decide you don’t want to use the aire or can’t handle the automated system, you’ll need to reverse out (in the dark, in the rain!) I can’t find any photos of the entrance that show the barrier, but it should be simple enough using Google Maps to envisage the potential problems.

 

I don’t know exactly when the barriers were put there, but the local authorities were seeking bids for their installation in March 2016. As Tony confirms that the barrier-system was in place in August, the job was plainly done quite quickly.

[Dave in Kendal]

We used this aire in August. There is indeed a barrier and an automated toll booth at the entrance which wasn't too difficult to use even though it was dark. However after paying our 10€ by credit card and driving onto the aire we found out that all spaces were full up and we had to squeeze onto a grass verge to get a place for the night. My advice is to walk around it first to see if thee is space before shelling out your 10€. It is very much a car park type aire, quite crowded but quite convenient.

[spospe]

Just as a general point concerning barrier systems (and not one that I am recommending as normal practice), is that they can be manually raised simply by pushing up. This takes a moderate amount of strength, but is easy to do.

 

I was once stuck on an Aire when the wretched paying machine swallowed my €10 note and would not give me a barrier ticket (it demanded another note instead). The barrier was pushed up, where it remained and I was able to drive out. My wife stood by the barrier, just in case it tried to lower. The system was under video surveillance, but I never heard a word.

[Derek Uzzell]

I recall having difficulty leaving a French municipal campsite where the barrier was triggered by a card provided by the campsite warden. The card I had been given the previous day failed to operate the barrier and the campsite warden could not be contacted. There were no other campers there, so other cards could not be tried. Finally, after many attempts to get the card to work, a municipal workman agreed to push up the barrier manually (and a good deal of strength was needed to do this) and hold it up as I drove through.

 

Out of curiosity I did experiment with lifting the exit-barrier at the Ouistreham aire just to see if there was any ‘give’ in it, but It seemed very solid to me. As you say, a judicious application of brute force would probably have raised it if there were no alternative.