jmit1234 Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 going to france next year to south west place near pau can anyone help with route, also a stopover halfway near main route advice on tolls on way. grateful for any advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 jmit1234 - 2011-07-26 4:14 PM going to france next year to south west place near pau can anyone help with route, also a stopover halfway near main route advice on tolls on way. grateful for any advice. You will need to give a bit more information than this to get any decent answers. Where exactly are you going, do you want to use all toll roads, how long do you have to get their, do you wish to have any other stops on the way, do you want to use campsites or aires, maybe both, etc. Welcome to the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 You haven't said where you will start off: will it be Calais? Not intended to be rude, but do you yet have a map? Open out the map, place a ruler between the port of arrival and Pau, and look for roads and places that seem to make up a reasonable route. That is a good start. Then, sift the toll autoroutes from the free ones to taste, according to what you want to pay in tolls. Or do you want to meander gently via secondary roads and small towns? Have you tried this? http://tinyurl.com/ao9lo It allows you to select routes against a number of criteria. Or go here, http://tinyurl.com/3o483ed and just play around a bit. It will give you the approximate toll charges for a motorhome if you select heavy vehicle and two axle truck. If your van has three axles, select three axle truck, because you will be charged more for the extra axle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Hi John, and welcome! There are lots of possible routes, and everyone who's been over a few times has their personal preferences. Speed, cost (tolls & fuel), scenery, and choice of channel port all affect which one might be "best" for any particular visit. So as "Rupert" (who's really Henry!) says, tell us a bit more and everyone will pitch in with their advice! Just to prove it, I see Brian is on your thread at the moment too! In heading for the SW you've certainly chosen a beautiful region for your first trip. Make sure you allow plenty of time for the drive down though, even if you use the motorways. France is ALWAYS bigger than you expect! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter lambert Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 If your intended route takes you anywhere close to Le Mans, there is a lovely Municipal site at a place called Beaumont Sur Sarthe. It is in the village, only a few minutes drive from the Dual Carriageway. First time we stopped there, we were pitched front on to the little river that runs past the site and spent a lovely couple of hours watching a Kingfisher. We would definitely stop there again if going that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopesy Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Hi and welcome, are you new to motorhoming or just new to driving in France? As has been said more specific requests will lead to much more help on here. If plans are a bit vague at the moment don't worry just say the first thing that comes to mind, the plans will change as suggestions come and that the beauty of motorhoming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treborsiwel Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Just wanted to say that is a really useful link you posted. http://tinyurl.com/ao9lo Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmit1234 Posted July 30, 2011 Author Share Posted July 30, 2011 thanks for advice this is first time abroad with van would plan to leave from calais, have comos sat system any problems getting signal,hope to get there in latter part of june and first 2 wks july what can i expect weather wise. place called beau rivage campsite near pau. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Madge Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 You might find the following sites useful. For comparing fuel prices in France see http://www.prix-carburants.gouv.fr/ Another site that might be useful to you is the school holiday calender for France. We have found this site very useful at times. http://www.education.gouv.fr/pid25058/le-calendrier-scolaire.html Safe travelling. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 jmit1234 - 2011-07-30 8:05 AM thanks for advice this is first time abroad with van would plan to leave from calais, have comos sat system any problems getting signal,hope to get there in latter part of june and first 2 wks july what can i expect weather wise. place called beau rivage campsite near pau. If it is the site at Navarrenx, about 20 miles west of Pau, it looks quite smart on Google Earth! Intermarche supermarket 0.5 mile west, on D936. About 700 miles from Calais. Small fortified town with its (Vauban, at a guess) fortifications more or less intact. It is a smallish ex-municipal site (52 pitches) on the banks of La Gave d'Oloron. (Apparently) free WiFi on site. About 24E per night peak season in 2010 for 2. Should be OK when you arrive, but will fill up more in July. Should be hot, possibly quite humid. Small place for four weeks! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 We went to my wifes sisters near Pau in April this year taking four weeks over the whole trip we also started from Calais we used the following camp sites all from the ACSI 2011 site book and a couple of Aires . 1) Licques - Pommiers des Trois Pays (946) This was OK but not great. 2) Jargeau - L'ilsle aux Moulins (1293) Nice site by the Loire river and in a typical French Town. 3) Equzon - La Garenne (1290) Lovely Site run by Dutch family short walk to village. 4) Beaulieu sur Dordogne - Des iles (1347) Fantastic site and area. Spent 5 nights here. 5) Reaup - Camping du lacde Lislebonne (1202) Not fully open but would be good Mid May onwards. 6) Mortange sur Girode An aire on the Harbour side 7 euros in elec. Very good, 7) La Courade sur mer - Les tourdes Prises (1129) great site, excellent cycling. 8) Concourson sur Layon - La Vallee des Vignes (1074) Good Stop over. 9) Montreuil-Bellay, An Aire in the centre of lovely village No Electric Hook Up token required for water. 10 Les Andelys De I'lle des Trois Rois (971) Great site on bank of the Seine. 11 Guines - La Bien Assise (945) Large site great facillities would stop here first and last next time. We avoided toll roads when we found out the cost and how little difference they made to journey times. Hope the above helps I would certainly use the ACSI Card again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertandjean Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 jmit1234 - 2011-07-30 8:05 AM thanks for advice this is first time abroad with van would plan to leave from calais, have comos sat system any problems getting signal,hope to get there in latter part of june and first 2 wks july what can i expect weather wise. place called beau rivage campsite near pau. Re sat reception then we have Oyster, but main problem suspect you will have are trees. Many sites in sunny climes do tend to have a lot of trees, and if this is the same then this could cause you problems. Are you sure about spending 3/4 weeks on a site? Might it not be an idea to tour a little into the Pyrenees? There is an excellant aire, with hook-ups, at Cauterets, south east of Pau. Cauterets is an "old fashioned" ski resort with charm and lots to do (cable car, walks, bus to Lourdes, trip to Pont D,Espagne etc) Cost of aire around 10 €/night. Also nice aire, again in good area to use as touring base at Laruns (free, no hook-up), whilst west of Pau, St-Jean-Pied-de-Port is well worth a visit (aire 5€, no hook-up). Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddies104 Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Hi We had to get back home quickly last year, from South of France, so had to use Tolls.. As a rule of thumb the cost worked out to around 1 Euro for 10 km.. (1300km for 130Euro) Thought this may help *-) Derek * Pauline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnK Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 We're just back from 3 and half weeks in France and loved it. Even tho it was high season we found little difficulty in finding sites using France Passion, Aires and Camp Sites. Not connected with sites but if this is your first time to France and you intend to use hook ups, do take a device to indicate whether the supply is earthed and or reversed polarity and take adapters so that you can plug into continental sockets - we found a few needing this one and correct the reverse polarity. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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