Western Route South Spain

[Iain Strachan]

Hi all, can someone please, send me the thread that has the route, with aires, and no Tolls in France, that I have been hearing so much about. We are looking at south Spain, leaving Scotland first week in Jan. heading for the tunnel. Using up the Tesco Points.

Thanks.

 

[Bojitoes]

Iain

I have it in hard copy but if you can access MMM online it appeared in the December 2011 & January 2012 editions, the French Leg in December , the Spanish leg in January.

We followed the route a lot of the way but found that a couple of the aires no longer existed , one of the campsites was a building site and another although advertised as open all year, was in fact closed so some careful planning needed. We intend to follow a pretty similar route again in January.

if you can get access PM me and I will try to scan it & e mail

bob

[Iain Strachan]

Thanks Bob, look forward to perhaps meeting up, with you and others next year in Spain.

Cheers Iain

[gwyn]

Didn't use the campsites on this route but the actual route is brilliant, this was the first time we've negotiated Rouen without going wrong!!!!!

[vindiboy]

Dover , cheapest crossing, stay off the toll roads, easy drive through France to Spain and on to Portugal, lots of very good aires too all free on the route we go, stay the night at Canterbury Park and ride, before we cross Channel £2.50 24 hrs or a night on the parking area at the Calais ticket office in the Dock, free, we leave Calais about 9am and drive towards http://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/attachments/wild-camping-motorhome-chat/9647d1352061066t-cheapest-way-spain-portugal-10-1.jpghttp://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/attachments/wild-camping-motorhome-chat/9647d1352061066t-cheapest-way-spain-portugal-10-1.jpghttp://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/attachments/wild-camping-motorhome-chat/9648d1352061300t-cheapest-way-spain-portugal-portugal-1-024.jpghttp://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/attachments/wild-camping-motorhome-chat/9649d1352061331t-cheapest-way-spain-portugal-portugal-1-027.jpghttp://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/attachments/wild-camping-motorhome-chat/9650d1352061359t-cheapest-way-spain-portugal-portugal-1-039.jpghttp://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/attachments/wild-camping-motorhome-chat/9651d1351806653t-cheapest-way-spain-portugal-portugal-1-045.jpghttp://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/attachments/wild-camping-motorhome-chat/9652d1352061422t-cheapest-way-spain-portugal-portugal-1-047.jpghttp://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/attachments/wild-camping-motorhome-chat/9653d1352061456t-cheapest-way-spain-portugal-portugal-1-050.jpghttp://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/attachments/wild-camping-motorhome-chat/9654d1352061489t-cheapest-way-spain-portugal-portugal-1-051.jpghttp://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/attachments/wild-camping-motorhome-chat/9655d1352061518t-cheapest-way-spain-portugal-portugal-1-059.jpghttp://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/attachments/wild-camping-motorhome-chat/9656d1352061550t-cheapest-way-spain-portugal-portugal-2-003.jpg Rouen,good Aire near at Forges Les Eaux, often free depending on time of year, if you choose to stay on the PAY Motorway here for 2 junctions it cost about 2 Euros and is easier than going through Rouen ,we then overnight at VIVONNE on the free Aire, nice town to wander, then on towards Evreux and Dreux, Le Mans, Poitiers and Bordeaux onwards to Bayonne,and St Jean de Luz where there is another good Aire, you need to get on this one early ish as it can be busy, we have always got on with an 8 metre van,great town to wander and eat.We then cross into Spain and head for Vitoria Gasteiz where there is a good free Aire, super town to visit too, onwards to Palencia , another good free Aire and another great town [ City ]Salamanca ,Caceres.Great free Aire here, super town to explore,onwards to Valverde del Camino.Good free Aire here lovely town to explore and next day about 40 miles to Portugal for the free Aire at Castro Marin or Ville real de San Antonio,you are then on the Algarve, I do not claim that this is the best route ,but we have used it many times with lots of deviations as we like to take our time going down even in Winter there are lots of Aires on this route and all are open even in winter, you may not always get water but you can empty the Loo and get water where it is available.we seldom do more than 250 miles a day, this may seem a lot to some, not a lot to others, but the roads are very good, free Motorway or dual Carriageway most of the time, plenty of fuel stations and rest areas ,we go towards the Coast before Bordeaux as there are some good Aires there and Supermarkets for goodies, lovely drive in the Pine Forests in this area. I have a Tom Tom Sat.Nav and I just set it to stay off Toll Roads, Fastest route and sit back and enjoy the trip. I hope you will too.  I copied this from a post I made on another Forum hope it may interest you.

[T8LEY]

On the 'western route to Spain' at the moment.

 

Trying something new to us we intended overnighting at the 'early arrivals' location off the M20. Motorhomes can park 2hrs for free??? Onward to the streets of Dover for the night!

 

Apart from remnants of recent snowfall and evidence of flooding throughout northern France we had no serious problems, until Rouen. The Mathilde bridge across the Seine is closed (chaos).

 

Travelled all iterations of the RN10 today, from the Loire to the Adour and its still raining! Camping Du Lac at Ondres has always been happy to receive us out of season.

 

Bayonne to Madrid tomoz and Pico de la Miel at La Cabrera. Grubby little touring site in the most fantastic location. Views of the northern sierra to die for. Can't wait to smell that air.

 

Heading for Murcia, ultimately, and a bit of winter sun.

 

 

 

 

 

[Iain Strachan]

Thanks all for replies, Yes Rouen is some place to get through, we have friends that live just outside, but even after many tries we always get it wrong! This time though we will be joining the route from North East side of Paris as we have promised to see some folk in Vic sur Aisne before we head south.

Thanks again, now going to order 2013 ACSI book and aires Spain.

Cheers

[BGD]

Iain Strachan - 2012-11-06 3:19 PM

 

Thanks all for replies, Yes Rouen is some place to get through, we have friends that live just outside, but even after many tries we always get it wrong! This time though we will be joining the route from North East side of Paris as we have promised to see some folk in Vic sur Aisne before we head south.

Thanks again, now going to order 2013 ACSI book and aires Spain.

Cheers

 

 

Iain - in my view the ACSI book/discount card is a must-have for mainland Europe; but I ain't so sure about the Spanish Aires book.

We live in Spain and trundle around all over the country on a regular basis.

When not wild-camping we tend to consult this website to find aires here, and it seems to be kept pretty much updated month by month.

It's in Spanish, but pretty easy for non-Spanish speakers to understand I think:

 

http://www.areasac.es/v_portal/apartados/apartado.asp?te=4

 

 

[PJay]

Have to agree with Bruce, re the aires book, we bought it a couple of years ago, would not bother again

 

Thanks for the link Bruce, have saved it in favorites

[KeithR]

good link bruce, better than the others i have. many thanks (lol)

[Iain Strachan]

Bruce, thanks for this link, looks good! Have already received All the Aires Spain, and agree does not look like its worth the money, in comparison to the French book. Just waiting for my ACSI book and card, expecting before Christmas! Our first trip to Spain really looking forward to it.

Cheers

[PeteH]

Hi

 

The "trick" with Rouen is to make SURE you get the right exit after the Tunnel. I got it wrong once and finished up on a D road towing a car behind 32ft of R-V!! fighting the traffic for road!! Some Aires which are posted as "open all year" are not. Beware. We have parked outside the gates of a couple. and once in the car park of a cemetery!!

 

Its a few years now since I done it. But I have the route(s) still on "auto-route". which is generally via Rouen - Le Mans (A16-N1-A28-N28-A13-A154-N154-N12-N154-N10-E606-E70-A63-E5-D12-N10) to St Jean de Luz.

Beyond the Border. we used N10-A63-N121-A- (if there is no snow its OK. I have followed the snow plough!!) A68-N330-A23 Takes you to Valencia. From where you can access the coastal road(s) . I have also used the route via Vitoria - Burgos -Madrid. which is OK but I got stopped twice for "A" framing on that leg!!. IF it`s snowing in the Pyrenees then the Toll Road is the better "bet".

 

I no longer do it as it is cheaper to go to the USA. and R-V there. less hassle, and currently (still) cheaper to live than in Spain!! (for an Ex-pat). We keep a Winnebago in store and go out twice per year, since we have a 10 year Visa. when we are not there My son and family use it too.

 

We did enjoy our years doing it. as well as going out driving all the way we came back by the Bilbao Ferry. (its not operational in January) the last time. Taking into account the cost of Diesel @ 12mpg there is not much to choose cost wise!!

 

Pete

[Iain Strachan]

Pete, thanks for that, will be our first time as we have just retired. Enjoy your next trip in the Winnie!

Cheers

[Matrix Meanderer]

Bruce - thanks for the aires website - looks far better than other sources.

 

Used the (free) Google Translate feature on the Google toolbar and hey presto instant translation of most text page after page.

 

Makes life so much simpler even if the translation is occassionally a bit iffy :-D