avongas Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Not impressed eh! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly58 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Did you travel during the night as you have nothing to report http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/images/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopesy Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Title was nice and catchy though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Way2Go Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 I think the title has taken it all out of them ;-)Maybe the 'thought' was the title? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Usinmyknaus Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 RobertandJean - you've used invisible ink! Or were you just teasing us? Bob :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertandjean Posted November 5, 2008 Author Share Posted November 5, 2008 Hi All, Glad you like the title. For some reason rest of what we have written seems to have been lost in the ether some where. But don't worry we are working on recovering it. To wet your appetite, or otherwise, first part covers aires from Audinghen down to St-Pourcain-sur-Sioule. So come back this afternoon and with luck we will have more than a blank page Robert and Jean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertandjean Posted November 5, 2008 Author Share Posted November 5, 2008 O.K. let's try again. First some background. Depending on family events we spend from 4 to 6 months each year in France in either 2 or 3 chunks. We stay on the camping car aires backed up by France Passion stopovers and only when we have to and with our arms well twisted stay on those strange things called camp sites! Our van is a Lunar Premier low profile, just over 6.5 m long. We use Le Guide National des Aires de Services camping-cars as our main guide, backed up with info from the excellent web site campingcar infos. Right enough of this general chit chat let's get down to the details of this trip. Our aim this time was to head south so that by the end of September we could be in Monaco so as to celebrate Jeans' 60th birthday. Crossing the channel on the 1st, by tunnel a la Tesco vouchers, we made for an easy first stop at Audinghen (dept.62). This we had used before having found in France Passion book but it is an aire which is open to all. We like it as a first/last stop as it is very safe (you park in owners courtyard). Overnight and water are free and you can walk into village for your bread. Owner also has a larg shop stocked with good quality goods and worth a browse, and a puchase or two. Electric hook ups are available for 5€ but there are no facilities for waste or toilet disposal. From Audinghen we moved to one of our favourite aires, where we always like to linger for a few days, La-Mailleray-sur-Seine(dept 76). As the name suggests here you park on the banks of the Seine watching the big ships sail past. Parking is on grass and although it can take around 60 vans we have seen it full; this time however only 50 vans were present! Overnight is free; water costs 2€. To reach here we cross the Seine on the Pont de Brontonnen, which is now toll free, and avoids the need to drive through Rouen. Our next stop was again at a favourite of ours, this time Brezolles (dept 28). We like the setting here, an old walled garden overlooked by the church and next to some small lakes. No charge for overnight or services. But again it can be busy, so as with many aires we always try to arrive before the end of the afternoon. But Jeans' birthday was creeping up on us so we had to move on. Ouzouer-sur-Trezee (dept.45) was our next stop. This is mabe our all time favourite. Set back from the canal, at the foot of a charming village with free overnight and free services including electric hook-ups and spotless showers why would it not be? In many ways it is being able to stay in places like this at no or little cost and with no advance booking nonsense that explains why we love France so much. In addition when we there this time we were able to visit a local market held on a farm and enjoy a lunch of local produce and wine whilst we impressed, sorry confused, the locals with our knowledge of French. O.K. there is one downside there are only 4 spaces, and they are close together, but you can also stay on the canal side car park. Our next destination was to be one we had not visited before, but what a gem it turned out to be. St-Poucain-sur-Sioule(dept.03) aire is on the site of a former camp site in a flower decked parkland setting on the banks of a salmon river. Parking is mainly on grass, with some hardstanding and this is certainly an aire where you can sit out on your chairs, glass of wine in one hand good book in other and just chill. Had enough of relaxing then town with historic centre is only a short walk away. Aire has a warden(!!) who lives at entrance and ensures service facilities etc are kept clean. For all this there is no charge to stay overnight whilst services cost 2€. There are 8 hook-ups which cost 2€ for 4 hours. This aire is certainly one to add to your must visit list,and is open all year. (It is this years French aire of the year). Right stopping now before it all goes again. Next part, following in next few days, takes down to Monaco and final part on the Med and back home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catinou Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Thanks Robert & Jean - Can't wait for the next instalment - I just love reading about other peoples' travels - especially when details of places to stay and observations about them are included. B-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly58 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Really good info looking forward to part 2.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 hi all. super post enjoyed reading it, we have used all of those Aires and agree with all you have said,except maybe BREZOLLES, we found that one a bit noisy with the road adjacent but that would not deter me from using it again ,many thanks for a nostalgic reverie . *-) *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred grant Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 oggie, oggie, oggie........................ farawayfred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Usinmyknaus Posted November 6, 2008 Share Posted November 6, 2008 Thanks Robert & Jean, really useful and I'm looking forward to part 2. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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