chick2 Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Here is a link to a video of the Aire at Soubise - If you liked this clip you'll find more Youtube videos of Aires by searching 'keithchesterfield (one word) youtube' (lol) (lol) (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly58 Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Excellent contribution !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowie Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Good link chick2; I'm working my way thro' the YouTube vid's! I suppose some would say that the pleasure of aires is in finding nice surprises. But I like the idea that you can have a peek before you make a detour. Combined with Google Earth this is great. As an aside,........ from the YouTube vid's, it looks like a good many users stay more than just the one night. What's the norm these days; I thought aires were generally transit stops? regards alan b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chick2 Posted August 10, 2013 Author Share Posted August 10, 2013 There doesn't seem to be much enforcing of the regulations on how long you stay at an Aire. There can be signs indicating that only 24 or 48 hours are permitted but it doesn't seem to deter many MH owners. Some MHs seem to park up for weeks on end, and we stayed four nights at one Aire this summer and a couple of nights at another, without being moved on. There were the same half dozen MHs parked for at least a couple of weeks at the Aire at Le Portal over the Christmas and New Year period, we stopped at the start and end of our Winter break and the same ones didn't look as if they'd moved an inch in a fortnight. If you like the Aire then stay as long as you want or until someone looking official asks you to move on seems to be the rule of thumb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 snowie - 2013-08-10 3:15 PM Good link chick2; I'm working my way thro' the YouTube vid's! I suppose some would say that the pleasure of aires is in finding nice surprises. But I like the idea that you can have a peek before you make a detour. Combined with Google Earth this is great. As an aside,........ from the YouTube vid's, it looks like a good many users stay more than just the one night. What's the norm these days; I thought aires were generally transit stops? regards alan b When in Rome do as the Romans do, we primarily use Aires, we have never yet come across any where anyone takes a blind bit of notice how long you stay, having said that the majority of Aire users are nomadic by nature, hence their popularity, no booking in, no arrival or departure times, and despite what others on here may say, some amazing and beautiful spots, as well as sheer convenience. Our last trip of 47 nights we used Aires for 43 nights, and met some nice folk as we always do along the way. Of course just like sites you get some duff ones, but if it's only to get a nights kip so what, for us the use of Aires is a means to an end, that being that they facilitate staying anywhere from a major city, to a quiet village in the Pyrenees, in short we love this great resource provided by the French, and back again in two weeks time for 8 weeks. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 snowie - 2013-08-10 3:15 PM ...it looks like a good many users stay more than just the one night. What's the norm these days; I thought aires were generally transit stops? regards alan b You may be thinking of the France Passion scheme where a one-night limit is the norm. Parking for the majority of French aires involves free car-parks and the advice in a booklet circulated a while back in French motorhome magazines was that (unless there were signs limiting the duration of a 'stay') seven days should be considered as a rule-of-thumb maximum on a public car-park. I doubt if people would want to stay very long in such places, though I know of one motorhome that is continuously lived in (presumably with official sanction) on a French car-park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easyliving Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Hi Interesting link, thanks Chick2. I was just looking on ebay at these forward facing in-car cameras, ridiculously cheap at about £15 each. I assume this is the sort of thing Keith used to record his videos but probably a better quality one. On the subject of staying more than a couple of nights on aires we also found that most of the time no-one cares how long you stay. The only exception we found on last year's trip was the smallish aire at Annecy when the police arrived to tell the long stayers to leave. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chick2 Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 There are many cameras for less than was paid for mine - on Ebay for around £90. You get what you pay for with anything you buy and the £15 cameras probably work ok but the quality of the video is certainly much less than the one I use. There are cameras that cost considerably more and I presume they produce even better pictures but I'm very happy with the clips I'm getting. The quality of the Youtube videos are nowhere near as good as the originals which I watch full screen on my PC – they really are good. The camera I have is a Driving Recorder DR 32 and has been reviewed by Techmoan - (lol) (lol) (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w1ntersun Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Hi, Try this site http://www.aire-service-camping-car-panoramique.fr/ You get 360 degree panoramic of each site Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowie Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Derek Uzzell - 2013-08-11 8:38 AM snowie - 2013-08-10 3:15 PM What's the norm these days; I thought aires were generally transit stops? regards alan b You may be thinking of the France Passion scheme where a one-night limit is the norm. Parking for the majority of French aires involves free car-parks and the advice in a booklet circulated a while back in French motorhome magazines was that (unless there were signs limiting the duration of a 'stay') seven days should be considered as a rule-of-thumb maximum on a public car-park. Hi Derek; I'm probably thinking back to when we bought our first copy of the " All the Aires" reference book? and maybe I misunderstood it at that time. I seem to remember reading that generally speaking, one night was the basis on which a free pitch was provide. I didn't think they were competing with commercial sites and offering long-stay facilities. Getting tourists into the distant parts of France was the aim. I'm not thinking of France Passion; we've used FP's on all of our holidays in France, and I've sung their praises (generally) regularly on these forums. We'll certainly be researching aires on future routes around France, looking for the nice ones tho'! regards alan b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowie Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 w1ntersun - 2013-08-11 9:51 AM Hi, Try this site http://www.aire-service-camping-car-panoramique.fr/ You get 360 degree panoramic of each site Richard Tried that one a couple of times Richard, and had trouble with moving around the sites, may not like Macs, alan b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly58 Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 When in Rome do as the Romans do, we primarily use Aires, we have never yet come across any where anyone takes a blind bit of notice how long you stay, having said that the majority of Aire users are nomadic by nature, hence their popularity, no booking in, no arrival or departure times, and despite what others on here may say, some amazing and beautiful spots, as well as sheer convenience. Our last trip of 47 nights we used Aires for 43 nights, and met some nice folk as we always do along the way. Of course just like sites you get some duff ones, but if it's only to get a nights kip so what, for us the use of Aires is a means to an end, that being that they facilitate staying anywhere from a major city, to a quiet village in the Pyrenees, in short we love this great resource provided by the French, and back again in two weeks time for 8 weeks. ;-) My sentiment entirely we seem to mirror you way of touring France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertandjean Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 1footinthegrave - 2013-08-11 7:25 AM When in Rome do as the Romans do, we primarily use Aires, we have never yet come across any where anyone takes a blind bit of notice how long you stay, having said that the majority of Aire users are nomadic by nature, hence their popularity, no booking in, no arrival or departure times, and despite what others on here may say, some amazing and beautiful spots, as well as sheer convenience. Our last trip of 47 nights we used Aires for 43 nights, and met some nice folk as we always do along the way. Of course just like sites you get some duff ones, but if it's only to get a nights kip so what, for us the use of Aires is a means to an end, that being that they facilitate staying anywhere from a major city, to a quiet village in the Pyrenees, in short we love this great resource provided by the French, and back again in two weeks time for 8 weeks. ;-) Could not agree more, great to see more people praising and using Aires. Videos a great new resource Kieth, thanks for that. We have found very few Aires enforce the stated time limits, unless there are clearly long started or local people are keeping their vans on the aire. This happened at Le Havre, so a nightly charge has now been introduced to deter this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilmac Posted August 17, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2013 These videos are a great idea. With Keith's kind permission I've included them in the relevant stopovers that are listed on Club Motorhome. For example Equihen Plage http://www.clubmotorhome.co.uk/articles/reviews/motorhome-sites/france-stopovers/792-equihen-plage-northern-france.html Its an idea that I hope catches on and more motorhomers take some video when travelling about. With mobile phones these days its never been easier :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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