Our First Major Outing 3000+kms.

[campandfly]

First major outing in the Cali

1934 miles driven from Cornwall to the South of France and back

We spent about £95 on Tolls
and about £240 on Gazole (Diesel)
our fuel costs also include our use of the parking heater which was used every night and occasionaly during the day.

Used a couple of Aires on the Toll roads (mostly Vinci)
absolutely fantastic and in our opinion safe as anywhere else.
They were mostly spotless well lit modern with various facilities including showers in some if needed. Some also had regional products which are handy for those last minute presents. All for free and we always managed to find a quiet spot to spend the night. If you are not happy with the Aire just travel another twenty or so Kilometres and you will find another there are loads and very well signed. On this trip we used ACSI campsites outside the Toll roads and we have found out to how to filter the campsites that are closed.

As you would expect the Toll road service stations are more expensive for Fuel approx 1.24 euros compared with town service stations where fuel was approx 1.07 euros per litre. So when you pop in 50 or 60 litres there is quite a saving.

We used the Toll roads for quickness and ease to get to and from our main destination. Travelling off Toll roads would be slower but more scenic, cheaper fuel, stop in some nice small towns and of course no tolls.

Our euro card worked in some Toll stations but not others so had to use my UK debit card as back up. Never bothered to try coins or cash.

Review of the Cali
We have 180 DSG 4 motion 15 plate.
Absolute pleasure to drive especially on the Autoroutes where you can make full use of the cruise control, arm rests, lane change indicators, we even found some English speaking radio stations to keep up with the news. Comfort for sleeping was excellent we were upstairs for all but one night before the ferry crossing when the roof was a bit sticky and would not come down straight we rang Euro customer service and after I put the phone down it worked perfectly. So that night just to be safe we slept downstairs which is much quieter and warmer but better if you leave a window open for ventilation.

We encountered quite a few height restriction barriers visiting supermarkets and car parks and one jetwash place. The Cali sqeezed under most of them so that was a plus too.
If like us your GPS / Sat Nav decides to take you on a little trip through a major city with tiny streets you will be glad you are in a Cali and not one of those white Motorhome jobs.

We found driving around France sometimes at 130kph was very pleasant and most drivers courteous and patient especially when we were slow and trying to navigate around.

Looking forward to our next trip. Hope the above may help any venturing over to France/ Europe.
When on the ferry we closed all the doors opened the drivers door and pressed the alarm button on the pillar so it went yellow then one click to lock with the fob key. Don't know if this is correct but it gave us no trouble.

 

[campandfly]

Our First Major Outing 3000+kms a bit more .....

Water - we never purchased any water for topping up the Cali tank. We filled up before we left and took a 5litre old water bottle with a short piece of hose < 2feet and a funnel. Works a treat, quick and easy. You can find water (eau potable) in campsites and aires for free, we did not drink straight from our Cali tap but probably could. We just used the water for Tea,Coffee, Hot Choc and cooking and washing up. There are lots of places to dump your waste water too. Aires, Campsites and some towns have dump points and we even found one at a Tourist information centre. By the way the tourist information centers are many and highly recommended.

Security - As it was our first trip and listening to all the stories on forums about gassing, robbed at service stations etc we were as you would imagine on our guard. But really it comes down to just like being in your own country. On the Toll road aires we travelled on, most peoples cars are on video entering and leaving and if you take the usual precautions it will be fine. One of us was in the vehicle most of the time when using the loo's. My other half just locked herself in when I popped out or to pay for fuel.
The campsites we chose seemed very safe with security gates with keys or codes and quite a few friendly people doing the same thing. Again don't leave anything lying about lock up properly. We felt it was safe to leave the Cali for the day and pop out for a bike ride or use public transport, Trams, Trains, buses etc. to explore the area. Most campers are doing the same thing and it pays to chat to your neighbours and find out about the local area and of course you can watch out for one another.

Bikes - we travelled with 2 folding Bromptons in the back, no bike rack. So no security issue there. We had the bikes in those cheap laundry bags to keep everything clean. We are set up so that we can just move them to the front inside the Cali if we need to sleep downstairs.The bikes were excellent for travelling around and seeing more of the towns and country, also for popping out to do some shopping.

E bags / Bago bags

Hard bags, suit cases are cumbersome and a pain to pass around the cali and can scratch stuff. We also did not want boxes. So we opted for Ebags and Bago Bags. These are brilliant. They are soft take almost no space, airy and you can sort out and find your stuff easily. You can shift them around everywhere and pass them over the head rests on the back seats. Highly recommended we will probably buy a couple more. We found the Medium Ebags the most usefull I had a couple in the Airplane locker plus other stuff and a Medium Bago duffle on the parcel shelf. Sleeping blankets were also put in one of those cheap polypropylene laundry bags, again this can be pushed around anywhere you want without scratching cupboards etc.

Well there is a bit more of things we did on our First Major outing hope you may find some of it useful.

 

[campandfly]

Camping

We used the ACSI Club iD card.
This little card was excellent and I would highly recommend it if you plan on using Campsites.

Some of the little campsites we arrived at unnanounced did not speak English but they all knew how to say ACSI just hand over your card which some will keep until you leave and or pay your bill.

No need to mess about with passports and filling out lenghthy forms.
We did find campsites that did not advertise taking ACSI but as soon as you show them the card they accepted it for iD and security.

There is another Card called the CC Camping Card ACSI which will offer you a discount at participating Campsites.

As we were travelling out of season we mostly had discounts anyway. I just handed both cards over together and waited to see what happened.

We never paid more than 25 euros for one night for
The Cali with Hookup
2 persons with sanitaires.
Cheapest we paid was 17 euros and of course the Aires were totally Free

Some asked how many Amps we required, 6 amps were fine for us.
We only took a small travel kettle and told them we had our own heater. For the amount of driving we did I think we could have survived the whole trip without hook up.
We were running the fridge on 5 the whole trip, parking heater at night, interior lights, occasional radio, charging mobile devices, charging an electric bike battery and just keeping the batteries topped up.
The small travel kettle was quite handy as well as saving gas it allows you to keep the work top down when just brewing up, that gives you a lot more bench space.
I suppose some of the larger campers use a lot electric with all their fan heaters, toasters, air con, hair dryers, telly's etc

We also used the ACSI camping app on Android. Very useful for finding campsites that accept your card and the map facilities are quite good. I did take the relevant books that come with the card but never found the need to use them. The app worked very well and we found out how to filter the closed campsites out.
When its out of season you can expect a lot of campsites to be closed or with less facilities eg. Pool, Entertainment, Food etc.
Half the campsites we stayed at you could order fresh bread, croissants, pain au chocolat etc for the morning. It was very cheap and a nice little service and the products were always fresh and good.

That's about it for notes on our First Major Outing 3000+kms. Happy to answer any questions if you are planning a first time trip of your own.

Happy California-ing
Happy California-ing.

 

[Hotel California]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the trip , France is very good to travel with a Cali.
Overnightplaces are in many , each two or three nights take a campsite to shower,...
Like you said , no big challenges , keep your eyes open and enjoy!

Watch out for speed traps....
Got me a 45euro fine last trip to the Mont Saint-Michel.
Doing 78 km/hwhen 70 allowed ( actually i did 84 but they correct it to 78)

 

[campandfly]

@hotel california T5
Thanks, how does the speeding ticket find you? do they send it to your home address in the mail? We are off for a few weeks away nothing in the post as yet.
Was it an on the spot fine or if it came in the post how long did it take between getting trapped and receiving it?
Our Cali shows 2kph over the top on the speedo according to our trusty GPS. We found the cruise control helped to keep us within the limit on the long stretches.

 

[Hotel California]

Was a fixed camera , captured me from the front .
Was on a exit from the tollroad and was looking at the gps to much where to go instead of the road ....was a recent placed camera not visible on google earth! Went and searched the place aftherwarts on the web.
They send the papers to your home adres , in a few days ....was even a Dutch copy!
You just pay it with your online banking , no probs.
On an other occasion the fine was waiting in my postbus when i arrived home...
This time it took them about 12 days before it came to me , think they had they're hands full chasing bad guys in France
They do correct it a few ( lower the actual speed ) if you stay within 10 km faster than the allowed speed it is 45 euro if you pay within 30 days afther recieving the fine.
I not gonna try and not paying them fines , would like go back in France ....don't know what happens if you don't pay and they stop you finding out you got a unpayed fine

 

[campandfly]

Was a fixed camera , captured me from the front .
Was on a exit from the tollroad and was looking at the gps to much where to go instead of the road ....was a recent placed camera not visible on google earth! Went and searched the place aftherwarts on the web.
They send the papers to your home adres , in a few days ....was even a Dutch copy!
You just pay it with your online banking , no probs.
On an other occasion the fine was waiting in my postbus when i arrived home...
This time it took them about 12 days before it came to me , think they had they're hands full chasing bad guys in France
They do correct it a few ( lower the actual speed ) if you stay within 10 km faster than the allowed speed it is 45 euro if you pay within 30 days afther recieving the fine.
I not gonna try and not paying them fines , would like go back in France ....don't know what happens if you don't pay and they stop you finding out you got a unpayed fine

Thanks for the heads up. We never saw any police on the Toll way must be all by remote cameras. Nothing in the post as yet. Not really expecting anything. Hopefully nothing comes in the post while we are away again. We will definitely be going back to see more of France and Europe.

 

[shudycamps]

Camping

We used the ACSI Club iD card.
This little card was excellent and I would highly recommend it if you plan on using Campsites.

Some of the little campsites we arrived at unnanounced did not speak English but they all knew how to say ACSI just hand over your card which some will keep until you leave and or pay your bill.

No need to mess about with passports and filling out lenghthy forms.
We did find campsites that did not advertise taking ACSI but as soon as you show them the card they accepted it for iD and security.

There is another Card called the CC Camping Card ACSI which will offer you a discount at participating Campsites.

As we were travelling out of season we mostly had discounts anyway. I just handed both cards over together and waited to see what happened.

We never paid more than 25 euros for one night for
The Cali with Hookup
2 persons with sanitaires.
Cheapest we paid was 17 euros and of course the Aires were totally Free

Some asked how many Amps we required, 6 amps were fine for us.
We only took a small travel kettle and told them we had our own heater. For the amount of driving we did I think we could have survived the whole trip without hook up.
We were running the fridge on 5 the whole trip, parking heater at night, interior lights, occasional radio, charging mobile devices, charging an electric bike battery and just keeping the batteries topped up.
The small travel kettle was quite handy as well as saving gas it allows you to keep the work top down when just brewing up, that gives you a lot more bench space.
I suppose some of the larger campers use a lot electric with all their fan heaters, toasters, air con, hair dryers, telly's etc

We also used the ACSI camping app on Android. Very useful for finding campsites that accept your card and the map facilities are quite good. I did take the relevant books that come with the card but never found the need to use them. The app worked very well and we found out how to filter the closed campsites out.
When its out of season you can expect a lot of campsites to be closed or with less facilities eg. Pool, Entertainment, Food etc.
Half the campsites we stayed at you could order fresh bread, croissants, pain au chocolat etc for the morning. It was very cheap and a nice little service and the products were always fresh and good.

That's about it for notes on our First Major Outing 3000+kms. Happy to answer any questions if you are planning a first time trip of your own.

Happy California-ing
Happy California-ing.

 

[Dottie]

E bags / Bago bags

Eagle Creek SPECTER pack-it cubes for us...really light weight and lots of colours....they just slip and slide into spaces.

 

[WelshGas]

If you plan on visiting France a lot and using the Toll Roads then to make life a little easier you can apply for a Sanif Toll Tag. English site to apply etc. Makes life a little easier and you don't even have to stop just slow to 30KPH. See here for more details https://www.saneftolling.co.uk

 

[Skylark2.0]

If you plan on visiting France a lot and using the Toll Roads then to make life a little easier you can apply for a Sanif Toll Tag. English site to apply etc. Makes life a little easier and you don't even have to stop just slow to 30KPH. See here for more details https://www.saneftolling.co.uk

Wish we'd had time to get one of these before we went to France (we we're going to Germany but the weather was pants so we went to France instead!)
There were loads of peage stops on the way to the balmy South.

Once it detected us as a lorry and the ticket came out way up above us. It took us ages to find the ticket, we kept pressing the button (Are you sure you pressed it right?! Minor domestic)
We were worried we would be charged as a lorry. Fortuitously (Ok I had a blue fit ) I accidentally came off the toll road at the next exit and when we went back on I parked closer and the ticket came out of the bottom slot. Oh what a relief!

All of this would have been so much easier if we had bought a Sanif toll tag in advance. Presumably you just registered as a car and Bob's votre L'Oncle.

 

[campandfly]

The tag is a great idea. I wondered how you would get on if you were travelling alone having to get out and go to the passenger side to pay and or get your ticket.

 

[campandfly]

Wish we'd had time to get one of these before we went to France (we we're going to Germany but the weather was pants so we went to France instead!)
There were loads of peage stops on the way to the balmy South.

Once it detected us as a lorry and the ticket came out way up above us. It took us ages to find the ticket, we kept pressing the button (Are you sure you pressed it right?! Minor domestic)
We were worried we would be charged as a lorry. Fortuitously (Ok I had a blue fit ) I accidentally came off the toll road at the next exit and when we went back on I parked closer and the ticket came out of the bottom slot. Oh what a relief!

All of this would have been so much easier if we had bought a Sanif toll tag in advance. Presumably you just registered as a car and Bob's votre L'Oncle.

I am glad someone else was having a mild domestic at the tolls. It was our first trip and our euro card sometimes worked and sometimes not, I blamed the other half for not putting it in correctly so after trying the four different ways to insert the card it still did not work and so I had to apologise . What with learning all the French road signs on top it wa quite an experience. Should be much easier next trip.

 

[Skylark2.0]

I am glad someone else was having a mild domestic at the tolls. It was our first trip and our euro card sometimes worked and sometimes not, I blamed the other half for not putting it in correctly so after trying the four different ways to insert the card it still did not work and so I had to apologise . What with learning all the French road signs on top it wa quite an experience. Should be much easier next trip.

Oh yeAh, I forgot the whole intermitent card thing. We did that too

 

[greyplague]

I can't believe uou got an ACSI i/d card without the discount card which goes with it. That card would have saved you tons of money - and anyone else who reads this. Maximum charge with the card (out of high season) is €16, and usually less, which includes van, 2 people, unlimited hook-up and free showers, plus kids are free (I think). A no-brainer really when you see how much the standard charges can be, particularly in Italy. I even know of a site in UK which offers the ACSI discount and only charges £11/night - for everything! Mind you, I am a Yorkshireman with short arms and deep pockets.

 

[campandfly]

I can't believe uou got an ACSI i/d card without the discount card which goes with it. That card would have saved you tons of money - and anyone else who reads this. Maximum charge with the card (out of high season) is €16, and usually less, which includes van, 2 people, unlimited hook-up and free showers, plus kids are free (I think). A no-brainer really when you see how much the standard charges can be, particularly in Italy. I even know of a site in UK which offers the ACSI discount and only charges £11/night - for everything! Mind you, I am a Yorkshireman with short arms and deep pockets.

You may need to go back and read the posts again. We had both cards and presented both cards. We had discounts with the campsites that took the CC card.

 

[Hotel California]

Think ACSI got a member card and there is a other card witch gives discount in low season .....
Don't mistake on the difference

 

[greyplague]

You may need to go back and read the posts again. We had both cards and presented both cards. We had discounts with the campsites that took the CC card.

Oops - sorry about that. Thought I was doing people a favour. I'll get my coat!

 

[WelshGas]

If you have CC Travel Insurance you also get a card, which on my travels in Scandinavia gave as good a discount and was preferred by many campsites . I was travelling outside the main season.
I think mainly, because when they swiped it it transferred all the details to their computerised booking system, I think.