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Heading for Spain, overnight stop recomendations


Guest JudgeMental

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Guest JudgeMental

We are oft to Spain beginning of April via west coast route. First night will be south of Rouen, maybe Chartes, Poiters. can anyone recommend Aires on the N10 route south please. I have quite a few on my sat nav, but recommendations would save us time, as I can make a bee line for them.......

 

I cant find one of my caravan club site guides :-S So overnight places on route around Pampalona/Zaragoza would also be handy

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Hi Judge....i use the free aire at Saint Maure de Torraine, just behind the "high st" right in the centre, 100 yds off the old through route.....toilets, water & dump, very peaceful.

From there depending on how far the wish to drive is i use Ruffec or Mansle then on to Bisscarosse Plage or Cap Breton.

From there i put in a long day and head for Palencia - Caceres - Portugal.

Have stopped at a couple of truckstops on the route between Pamplona to Valencia via Zaragoza....no problem for one night.

Hope this helps, if not no doubt you'll shout, lol.

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Guest JudgeMental
wondering what pep's are doing regards the fixed safety camera issue as well in France... Best to remove from sat nav or take a chance?
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Guest JudgeMental
Mickt - 2012-03-23 2:28 PM

 

Nice free aire at MARBOUE on N10 south of Chartre

 

Thanks Mike..That may be better as only 4 hours from port and on route....

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Hi Judge

We stopped at a couple of aires on the way down in January. The first at Le Touquet,by the sailing school, all right but nothing special. It was however only 20 minutes walk into town. We also stayed at Vivonne south of Poitiers. The aire was in the town square and had a borne giving both water, dump & electric - there was also a serviceable toilet right beside. Pleasant little town with a couple of bars and a market on a Saturday morning.

We have stopped a couple of times at a campsite at Urrugne, just before the border. Very good & in the ACSI book. We also stopped at the ACSI site in Pamplona, it will be better now, it was a bit cold when we stayed but it is on a bus route to the city if you want to see where the bulls run. There is also a nice bar / restaurant by the bus stop.Wish we were going back in April too!

Bob

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Guest pelmetman

There is a newly built site, in the ACIS book a Bit Further South of Pamplona......about 4 hours from Biarritz .........that was open when we went through in January.......I've tried to find my post about it.... :-S

 

But we were the only people there on the 2nd of Jan with no hot water or anyone in reception 8-)........and we paid via a poo bag (lol) (lol)

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Guest peter

That would be Camping Bardenas Dave. We stopped on it both ways this year. Nice site and convenient stop on route from santander and also on return trip via biarritz. We did both, ferry to santander on way down and return from calais.

ACSI 16 euro site. It's brand new.

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Guest pelmetman
peter - 2012-03-23 10:21 PM

 

That would be Camping Bardenas Dave. We stopped on it both ways this year. Nice site and convenient stop on route from santander and also on return trip via biarritz. We did both, ferry to santander on way down and return from calais.

ACSI 16 euro site. It's brand new.

 

What were the pitches like Peter?..........as when we were there they had ploughed most of the pitches up 8-).......

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Hi Judge,

 

Sorry I don't know which satnav you have, but if it is Garmin then, I E-mailed Garmin and they advised me to disable the camera info in my Garmin Nuvii 650 because there was no software available to change the alerts from Camera to danger areas.

 

The following is an extract from Garmin reply to my question to them Safety Camers info in France :

 

""" I am happy to help with your enquiry. If the Garmin Safety Cameras are

un-ticked then it complies with the French law.

 

We've been releasing software updates since the change in law in France

regarding safety cameras to make our devices compliant with French law

regarding safety camera alerts but unfortunately there is no software

released yet and we are not sure when/if one will be released for your

device to enable you to download the software for the updated Cyclops

database, which now covers Dangerous Zones in France, rather than

specific safety camera locations.""""

 

If you PM me with your E-mail address I will send you a complete copy of the E-mail from Garmin.

 

Off to France myself in 10 days. Safe trip to you and yours

 

Mike

 

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Guest JudgeMental

Thanks Mike! I also rely on my son who is away at Uni now :-(

 

BUT! have have just managed to clear the cameras of my Garmin on my own! :-D

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest JudgeMental

we made it down in 4 days could have done it in 3. it is a long drive for a month, next year it will be 2 and will probably get boat down to Spain. was worn out when I arrived but the glorious weather (22-26) soon fixed that! Decent lager at 1 euro a pint and 3 course meals with decent bottle of wine and bread for 8-10 euro its far cheaper then being at home.

 

easter weekend town was packed with Spanish! can you believe that! I really think Benidorm suffers an unjustified bad reputation, there are a lager lout bars but for every one there are 20 or so normal establishments and I was surprised how nice a town it is....... The old town is lovely but you pay for the character in the restaurants as most expensive part of town to eat out...

 

many here for 6 months or so, thye heat has already made my hip and bad knee better and its lovely cycling around in decent weather.I will do a proper report when I get back in May

 

my daughters 21st in June and she wants a cocktail party and wants me to get spirits down here...Is there a limit as to how much spirits I can bring back? As we are probably talking 20 + bottles or so....I dont want to bother if it means trouble *-)

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Hi Eddie,

 

I thought you must be in Benidorm from the price of the beer. Not surprising that many of the bars have given up as they must be on very low margins.

 

I am wondering which campsite you chose, as they would all have vacancies by now as the main winter season is over. Someone once told me that the Dutch have to be back by April 1st to prove they are still alive or their pension is stopped.

 

If you like Chinese food we would recommend the Mandarin. Menus from 3.99€ including a half bottle of wine each.

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Guest JudgeMental

Hi James

 

we are on Arena Blanca, it is a small site by Spanish standards,but free wifi and TV on fully serviced pitch plus warm indoor pool. El Raco is across the road and this has a very good supermarket and restaurant.

 

You are right and many go home this month, I simply can not get over the weather.the night before we arrived we stayed up in a mountain top village campsite and wondered why everyone was dressed in winter clothes until the sleet blizzard started!lol

 

Yes you do wonder how they survive with these prices but it is so busy compared to most other towns during the winter....

 

Adiós Amigos!:-D

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The UK allow as much spirits "as is reasonable" for personal use. I interpret that as enough for a big party.

20 ltrs wouldn't be enough for my boozy family, my 91 year old mother can manage half a bottle by herself!

 

The French have different rules and I don't know how they work. I just drive through and hope. I have been stopped by customs twice, always well away from any border, they have never been interested in how much booze I have but checked passports and asked if we had been to Morrocco etc. so probably more interested in drugs.

 

H

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Arena Blanca is a bit far out for us as we like to walk everywhere, but we know it well and had a few friends there. The cycle path is useful for you.

 

We spent many winters on El Raco so have eaten in the restaurant many times. Some of the food there is a bit poor but their spag bol starter is a good one.

 

This winter we were back on La Torreta behind Benidorm Palace and hope to get back on there next year, as they have improved it at last, so it now has heated shower blocks which were being installed in February.

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Guest JudgeMental

Hi Syd we heard on the grapevine that you were arriving Friday, we are on pitch 5 just behind reception....

 

I cant fault the site bus stop outside a euro something into town, or 5 mins on bike. proper hot powerful showers in heated block etc etc....a good base

 

 

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