12 day break to Spain

[brianpilk]

Hi Tom, My friend has a place here, when I saw your post assumed this was where you were staying, my mistake. ihttp://www.lagrandechaume.com/en/about-us.php

 

[Amarillo]

Two days driving, and we’ve arrived. (26 hours from front door to pitch).

Today was less frantic than yesterday early evening and into the early hours.

At least five stops, one for breakfast, one for elevenses, one for lunch and one for tea - plus slash and dash comfort breaks.

Arrived on site at 5.15pm.

Undeniably the worst part of the journey was Paris. An overnight closure of part of the urban A10 meant traffic chaos and probably an hour delay.

Best bit was from 10pm to 1am with the boys fast asleep and empty motorway. Possibly over 400 Km gobbled up in that time.

 

[Adamvanman]

How's the weather down there ?

 

[Amarillo]

How's the weather down there ?

Sunny, low twenties.

Rain forecast for Friday and Saturday.

 

[Amarillo]

As we are planning to camp on one site for eight nights, I have set up the full tent kitchen.

 

[Amarillo]

Post breakfast detritus.

And a sparrow doing its bit to clear away.

 

[Amarillo]

It amused me greatly to find that we’d exported three packs of Sainsbury Serrano Ham and a bottle of Taste the Difference Cava for our Catalan break!

 

[Amarillo]

Brilliant day today.

We went to visit a Catalan family who stayed with us in London over the 2016/17 new year, shortly before delivery of Amarillo, and while we were still planning our year long pan-European tour.

The town in which they live, La Garriga, is fiercely nationalist, with yellow ribbons tied everywhere for their leaders in exile and imprisoned as a precautionary pre-trial measure. Catalan flags fly from most homes and public buildings.

We passed through Catalonia on 6 November 2017, only stopping when in the Pyrenees close to the border with Andorra. I explained to Artur that we passed Barcelona quickly due to fear of violence during the brief period between Catalonia declaring independence and Madrid suspending the Catalan administration. He quickly corrected me, “There was no violence.”

Artur, his wife Montserrat and the youngest of their three daughters led us around their town by bike, before returning to their home for a long lunch. We learnt that school children are taught Spanish as a second language throughout Catalonia, and in secondary school one main subject is taught in English. In the case of their youngest daughter this subject is biology.

Their eldest daughter is in Barcelona studying for a PhD, and their middle daughter teaches Spanish in Crystal Palace, a single bus ride away from our home!

As soon as we get back we intend to invite her and her Canadian partner for dinner one evening.

 

[DavidofHook]

Is there some regulation in France about not having speed camera locations on your Sat Nav, or did I dream that?

Alan

Yes, that is correct, you have to disable the speed camera warning thingy on the sat nav. I think they think it is cheating

 

[Joker 1299]

How's the weather down there ?

I’m not sure putting a political statement on one’s avatar is playing the game really, is it? The moderators allowed the Bre#it debate in a specific area to keep politics out of the everyday postings. Please think about changing it. Thanks

 

[Trev]

They are enforcing speed limits in France much more strictly these days, even on the autoroutes, even one or two kph over the limit. I would stick very carefully to 130kph if I were you.

Yes we got caught at half term near Geneva. We were 3kph over the leeway they give you and paid €44 for the privilege. Very efficient system - the fine notification almost beat us home!

 

[jts46]

Here is what the French think of speed cameras, near Villeneuve sur Lot, 2 others in this area have been completely removed, just wires and concrete base left

 

[Vantastic2]

We stay near Begur just up the coast frequently & having done the trip a number of times I reckon your timings for the first evening are optimistic & that's coming from someone who usually sets the cruise control at 90+mph in France.
We normally make it as far as Orleans before stopping.

The second days driving also always seems to take longer because of the long climb up & over the mountains & then the reduced speed limits on the downhill bit & then its always slow into the border crossing to Spain.

Enjoy your trip & be prepared for the locals looking at you as if you are completely mad - this time of year that far south I'm into shorts & T shirts with the kids swimming in the sea, the locals will still have fur coats, hats & scarves on.

That's almost 145 kph and French motorway speed limits are 130 kph lowered when raining ! the French are getting tough on speeding as we found out 6 months later,the only good side for us was, no penalty points and fine started from 45 € if paid in the time given. To add and that's for going just over 21kph and 16 kph and 7 kph we were hit hit 3 times in Oct last year !

my ex got a ticket at 71 in a 70 zone recently. (only €45, but still) they don't seem to have any margin at all any more. I've also been fined in the zone slowing down for the toll boths recently. It wasn't about being bored or looking for someone speeding, it was about making money. They trapped five of us in a row, and just directed us all into the car park near the tool booths and charged us €90 each. I guess on the main motorway it is both police and speed cameras, and as far as i know they don't have any deal with the UK for sending speeding fines back to the UK (they do with Belgium)

but yes, i guess if 140 on your speedo is in fact 130, then that's fine, just don't expect to get all the way across france at 133 any more without getting fined.

They do have a deal with Uk as we found,took the French 6 months to find us

 

[Vantastic2]

Here is what the French think of speed cameras, near Villeneuve sur Lot, 2 others in this area have been completely removed, just wires and concrete base leftView attachment 45389

That's what I (not sure on her LOL) feel like doing to them,if we go there this year,! Am so use to the 90 kph speed limit for 27 years or so visiting France then reduced to 80 kph was 90 kph for us in June last year by Oct become 80 kph ! nice 3 fines !

 

[Amarillo]

Just changed the gas regulator hose.

It’s always worth carrying a spare length of hose. It needs renewing every 18 months or so.

 

[Adamvanman]

I’m not sure putting a political statement on one’s avatar is playing the game really, is it? The moderators allowed the Bre#it debate in a specific area to keep politics out of the everyday postings. Please think about changing it. Thanks

I thought about changing it for all of 5 seconds.

 

[Joker 1299]

I thought about changing it for all of 5 seconds.

That was all I asked. Thanks for doing that. Time to test the ignore button.

 

[Amarillo]

Packed supper on the way home just south of Toulouse. 8pm (French time) and boys into pyjamas. Hopefully 3-4 peaceful hours of driving before camping on a motorway aire.

 

[chez786]

Packed supper on the way home just south of Toulouse. 8pm (French time) and boys into pyjamas. Hopefully 3-4 peaceful hours of driving before camping on a motorway aire.

 

[Amarillo]

Midnight + 35 and all in bed here:
(46.1588373, 1.3776094)

 

[gvick]

Great post and a Pictures Tom
Thank you for sharing

 

[jts46]

Midnight + 35 and all in bed here:
(46.1588373, 1.3776094)

Bessine gar Temp, beau village

 

[Amarillo]

Bessine gar Temp, beau village

Not quite: we were here:

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

 

[Amarillo]

For the princely sum of £8 we managed to switch our Sunday, 9.20am Eurotunnel ticket for Sunday 12:20am, and passed through an undersea timewarp, arriving on British soil the previous day at 11:55pm. Home at 1.05am.

 

[Amarillo]

So we managed to just squeeze in 12 days or part days in France/Spain out of 11 days or part days out of the UK.

I was a little concerned over the driving distances, but it was fine. Leaving home after school on Wednesday was good. It meant we could drive into the early hours on Thursday morning with the boys asleep in their child seats. When we did stop, in a motorway aire, we were able to all be in bed within 15 minutes.

We arrived on our campsite by 5pm on Thursday, and had 7 full days and 8 nights, leaving at 1pm the following Friday.

The campsite was perfect for our needs. Pitches about 7m wide and 10m deep. We parked across the width of the pitch, winding out the canopy fully, and attaching the driveaway awning to the fully extended canopy. We still had 3 or 4 metres of pitch behind the tent for an outside breakfast and dinner area. We cooked all our own meals except for one meal out.

During the day the boys spent their time in the swimming pools - the site has four pools, including one with slides and fountains and squirters and tumbling buckets of water and other features. They also went to mini club, where activities were professionally led, but we were not allowed to leave the children in their care, so not a babysitting service. However, on the night we dined out, we did pay the pool lifeguard to babysit the boys in our campervan. She was delighted with the €45 we paid her for three hours childcare.

We made good use of our bikes. Daily we cycled into town, and three times we cycled along a cycle route by the river with Meg trotting happily alongside. Unfortunately there is no safe route to the railway station, but our Catalan friend Artur, who coincidentally works as an urban planner in the town, tells us that this time next year this will be rectified with a new cycle link between the riverside cycle path and the railway station.

We made a slight error of judgement in booking our return trip.

Concerned about the distances involved we set aside two overnight stops for our return. A day and a half is plenty for the trip.

We left the campsite at 1pm, stocked up for lunches and dinner for the journey home at the local Lidl, had a leisurely meander over the Pyrenees, before having dinner then driving into the night, stopping for the night on the motorway. After driving through a long 2m high tunnel in Paris, with me constantly ducking for fear of hitting my head, we arrived in Boulogne at about 7pm. It would be pointless spending another night in France and luckily I was able to rebook our Eurotunnel at minimal extra charge.

Total cost of the holiday was no more than £1200 including about £330 on diesel, £150 on tolls, £200 on Eurotunnel and pet check in, £170 campsite (€23 per night plus local tax), food, treats and a meal out. This does not include van depreciation, or running costs other than diesel.