enodreven Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 Hi, Everyone We had a problem on Wednesday morning and had to delay our start which meant we caught the 1:45pm ferry rather than the 8:15 am that we had booked. This meant we landed in Calais at around 4:00pm French time as they are 1 hour ahead of the UK. The late start put all of our plans out and meant that our plan of reaching Futroscope for the first night was going to be impossible so we reverted to good old plan No2 and headed for Le Touquet Paris Plage which for anyone who doesn’t know is a really posh town on the French coast about 25 miles south of Calais, Some would say Le Touquet is more English than French it is also home to more Golf courses than you can count, and some very very posh hotels I think its an absolutely fabulous place but I may be a little bias as I do like to play Golf ? but for anyone looking for a nice place to visit for a weekend near to Calais you really couldn't find a nicer place and I would recommend it to anyone even if you don't like Golf. Back to the journey, we have stayed at Le Touquet before and we used the Aire next to the equestrian centre last time but when we arrived at 6:00pm after picking up supplies and filling with Diesel at 1 euro per litre from the Auchan hypermarket in Boulogne-sur-mer we found that the builders were in! and the place was like you would expect a BUILDING SITE and to add insult to injury they had removed all of the electric hookup points bloody charming ??? just like all builders LoL. So Plan No3 (we make these up really we don't have any plans ha ha) we decided to go to Aire No 2 near the marina when we arrive at 6:30pm we were pleased to see another 10 motorhomes had the same idea, you will be pleased to note that we had a very quiet and uneventful night and left at 9:00am after having a chat with a few other English couples who were on their way back to the UK. The weather was very clear and sunny albeit the temperature was only 10 degs, we had decided last night that we would try to make it to our original first night stop at Futroscope which meant we would need to take the autoroute's (motorways) rather than the "N" roads as Futroscope is 350 miles from Le Touquet and we didn't know what time the campsite closed. We chose to take the A28 to miss Paris and this took us past Abbeville, Rouen, Le Mans, and Tours and we arrived at Camping Futuriste 5:30pm and found that it was open until 9:00pm so we could of taken the slower "N" roads and saved 40 euros in toll fees (I could have cried) LoL. Camping Futuriste is very well maintained and the toilet/showers are very clean, it approximately 3km from Futroscope and 1.5km from a Auchan supermarket albeit during the summer months the campsite has its own shop and bar. For any of you who want to visit Futroscope without a motorhome there are plenty of hotels at all price ranges and Camping Futuriste hire mobile homes which look very good. The charge for a motorhome with 2 adults and electric hookup when we stayed was 17 euros. We stayed 2 nights as I haven't been feeling well as I think I may have a tummy bug that I caught before we left so we decided to have a leisurely day and visit Futroscope itself. We drove to Futroscope albeit we found out later that we could of caught a bus from near the campsite, the Futroscope car park has areas set aside for motorhomes which I believe can be used for overnight stays but there didn't appear to be any facilities. Our parking for the day cost 6 euros but I’m not aware if we would have had to pay extra if we had stayed over night, but we didn't think it was worth doing as the campsite has all the facilities including security for 17 euros. Futroscope cost 33 euros each for a day ticket and includes all the attractions, its a bit difficult to explain what its like but here goes?. I would liken it to Disney in some respects the exhibits are contained within (I think) 15 very futurist buildings set around a number of lakes that also act as exhibits. The exhibits appear to range from rides on simulators which are very life like and robot arms that dance while spinning you in all directions to halls full of interactive computers that you can play, and then there are a number of water rides. and apparently every evening there is a spectacular water show which we believe is fountains of water and light and music that are constructed to form a cinema type show on water ? albeit we didn't actually go and watch. Overall I would say that it was great fun and I would think children would really enjoy it so even thought it was 33 euro I would recommend it to anyone you may need longer than a day to see it all and I would think there are queues in the summer, enjoy. We left Camping Futuriste at 10:30am on Friday and headed for St Jean de Luz, this time we chose the "N10" as it doesn’t cost anything ha ha, This was a far nicer road as it takes you near and through towns and villages albeit most of it is now dual carriage but you do see some life and its very pleasant. The journey around Bordeaux is worth a mention as its not quite as bad as London it none the less does get very busy in places, you just need to keep heading towards Bayonne, after clearing Bordeaux the road is very straight dual carriageway to the Spanish Border, just out of interest long sections of this twin lane dual carriage 60km in one case vehicles over 12 ton cannot use the second lane between 6 am and 10pm and they must stay a minimum of 50 metres apart and I can vouch they do comply??. This road is lined on either side for miles and miles with Pine trees which are cultivated as working pine forests and I would suggest if you decide to take any of the roads off into these be careful of the timber lorries as the roads aren’t that wide and the drivers are working so be careful, however that said between this main road and the Bay of Biscay there are so many fantastic places to visit it must be another one of France's well kept secret areas places like Mimizan, Parentis-en-Bonn, Castets there are two many to mention if you ever get an opportunity to visit this area take it you really won't regret it. We arrived at St Jean de Luz campsite Laroletta at 5:00pm and this is another great site albeit I think it could be called little Britain ? at least 50% are from the Uk either going to Spain/Portugal or coming from and heading home. We have booked in for 2 nights as my tummy is still not right hopefully it will be OK tomorrow, we have been into St Jean de Luz this afternoon (Sunday) by bus, and while we have driven through a number of times this is the first time we have stopped and had a look around and its a great place it has a very old part which is full of boutique type shops and a wonderful beach front which in within a very very large harbour wall which I think helps to protect it from the ay of Biscay, its certainly worth a stop for a few days and Biarritz is only a short bus ride away for those of you who have lots of money? All the best Brian & Barb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 Brain, Nice to here from you and that all is ok . Sorry you missed the planned take off but all seems well. you say that you ended up at the equestrian centre ? can you shed anymore light on why the buildres were in .As when last there at christmas they had just instaled bournes ?. I am being nosey as we use this quite alot especially as an over night going and coming. Would be grateful if you could shed anymore light on it. Ie, Building what ,maybe you dont know?. Glad the rest of the trip is going fine keep in touch and let us know the rest . Mean while take care & take it easy ... Are you using WiFi from a site ?. regards Michele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carioca Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 hi brian & barb we are doing exactly the same route starting this saturday futuroscope,bordeaux then biarritz area. never stopped in aires around le touquet but might after reading this. look forward to chapter 2 (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Carioca , theres always another two 1 at the airport really quiet and one at the yatch club. Lovely place le touquet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark lambert Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 thanks for the tip, i've never heard of futuroscope but now i can go there on the way back up from the biarritz area. have a great time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 When your at Biarittz go up the mountain to a place called Col de bardain it's right on the border between France & Spain this little mountain they speak basque .. And on this little mountain its duty free ... Fill your boots . We once bought a bottle of ?aniseed and when you fill it up had the crystals in it and the more you drink the more water you put in and the crystals turn it back to aniseed .. I hope that makes sense. like a geneie just keeps refilling itself ... ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carioca Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 hi michelle any sites you could recomend around the biarritz area that are open now would be a massive help. i carnt find many open at this time of year on this coast have tried camping france.com & ACSI eurocamping but not had much look. we leave on saturday probably get there sometime next week. any advice/help would be appreciated (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 I,m really sorry I blame the dyslexia we only went to one camp site and stayed for the whole three weeks static. i cant help you but also depending on what you are looking for . the last time we were there we also never had a caming car we had a trailer tent so we wern't really looking for Aires and the like ....Lots of people have been there hopefully someone will see your posting ...good luck .. Beautiful beaches take your boogy boards nice waves.... :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek500 Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 There's a couple on this site that are open or opening in the next week or so. Plus of course the aires at Biarritz and Saint-Jean-de-Luz are open all year. http://www.saint-jean-de-luz.com/hebergements/campings.html# The site that Enodreven was at, is of course open as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carioca Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 thanks for that derek 1 or 2 sites open so we should find 1 if not we'll try the aires (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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