Road Trip - France, Spain, Portugal

[willwander]

First day of our road trip. Me the Mrs and our two dogs. Heading through the tunnel in the direction of Portugal,. Not sure how long we’ll be away for or how far we’ll get. Might post some updates along the way if I can be bothered.

Day 1
Drive down from Yorkshire to Canterbury. 2 hour delay/detour getting across Dartford crossing. Staying night in Canterbury Park and Ride which is actually fine, nice and quiet even though it’s rammed full of great whites, must be over 50 of them. Popular place.

 

[willwander]

Day 2
Early tunnel. Pet reception brilliant, AHC’s all ok. Customs did a gas check but did not steal our cheese (or dog food) so dogs happy.

Drove to Chartres, about 4 hours, staying at Camping de Chartres, nice site 19 euro.
Going to stay here a couple of nights to find our feet and plan our next stop, if anyone has any suggestions?

 

[BrugseB]

next stop, if anyone has any suggestions?

Region Rochefort, Ile d'Oleron, La Cayenne, Royan. Then further on to Bordeaux and Dunes de Pilat.

 

[willwander]

Day 3
Mooching around Chartres, beautiful town, we loved it. Nice walk along the river back to campsite.

Heading towards Ambois/Montrichard in Loire Valley tomorrow to check out some Chateaux.

 

[Betsycalifornia]

Day 3
Mooching around Chartres, beautiful town, we loved it. Nice walk along the river back to campsite.

Heading towards Ambois/Montrichard in Loire Valley tomorrow to check out some Chateaux.

Caves Monmousseau worth a look around, it’s a little touristy (overpriced wines) but they are quite good quality.

 

[BrugseB]

Day 3
Mooching around Chartres, beautiful town, we loved it. Nice walk along the river back to campsite.

Heading towards Ambois/Montrichard in Loire Valley tomorrow to check out some Chateaux.

Chateau Clos Lucé, home of Leonardo Da Vinci, was interesting. Opposite Amboise castle.

 

[willwander]

Day 4
French roads are so nice. 2hr drive to campsite ‘Couleurs du Monde’ lovely site, 15 min walk to Montrichard, next door to a supermarket, even has a pool. 19 euro with ACSI. Will use as a base for next few days.
In other news we seem to have lost our one and only teaspoon.
Will have to steal one from the next cafe we visit.

 

[willwander]

Day 5 and 6
Chateaux hopping. Visited Château de Chenonceau, nice pad. Didn’t actually go inside as we have two dogs. Dogs are actually allowed in if you carry them, but ours are a bit big and would wriggle too much if we carried them, not too bothered since we were allowed to walk in the gardens and grounds which were beautiful. Must say so far we’ve found France to be very dog friendly.

Also visited Amboise, which was lovely, nice size, plenty to see, bit touristy, I can imagine it being a nightmare in the high season, but was perfect today. Nothing wrong with touristy places, often they touristy for good reason.

Started getting some error codes come up on the van, faulty abs sensor. 5 years trouble free and we get a problem 2 days into our big Europe trip, ha. Anyway hopefully not too much to worry about. Thankfully lots a lovely helpful people on this forum.

Starting to think about moving on, probably head over to Île de Ré or Île d'Oléron next or at least somewhere around that area.

 

[66tim99]

Camping Le Cormoran recommended on Ile de Re
(and Maison Devaux as you head south)

 

[willwander]

Camping Le Cormoran recommended on Ile de Re
(and Maison Devaux as you head south)

Thanks. Always appreciate recommendations, we’ve had some great ones from people on here so far

 

[willwander]

Day 7
Stumbled upon an aire in a small town called Arçais in the Marais Poitevin region,which turned out to be quite lovely.

Omelette’s for tea tonight which were also lovely.

 

[kurienp]

Is this an unscripted trip - taking things as they come? Seems like it also as you do not know when you'll return awesome. The best kind of trip! Enjoy!

I would love to do such a trip without touching a single motorway, which is what you seem to be doing.

 

[willwander]

Is this an unscripted trip - taking things as they come? Seems like it also as you do not know when you'll return awesome. The best kind of trip! Enjoy!

I would love to do such a trip without touching a single motorway, which is what you seem to be doing.

Yeah, nothing planned. We have to be back in 90 days, Brexit innit.

We’ve used some motorways, emovis tag has been great getting through the toll booths.

 

[willwander]

Day 8
La Rochelle, spent most of the day sitting in the harbour, drinking coffee and people watching, great spot.

Moved on to Ile de Re in the evening, struggled a bit to find somewhere, everywhere fully booked or won’t except two dogs. Ended up in ‘camping seasonova’, it’s ok, handy for town and beach, lots of brits!

Day 9
Ile de Re, we are near Les Portes-en-re, cute little town, I’m sure there are nicer sites/beaches on the island, but since dogs are not really allowed on the beaches and this beach is deserted it suits us. Not a bad place, would be nice to have more time to explore.

Starting to settle into van life, feels good.

 

[kurienp]

Starting to settle into van life, feels good.

yes, that's life. Enjoy!

 

[willwander]

Day 10
frustrating day turns good.
Tried 4 garages on the way to Royan to get the abs sensor fixed including 2 Vw van centers, no joy, one kept us waiting 3 hours only to tell us they were fully booked until October Grrr
Ended up getting 17:45 ferry from Royan and found an aire close by called ‘airepark Soulac-sur-Mer’ 5 euros. Got lucky, no facilities and busy but right on a great beach, fab dog walk, great pizza and bottle of red.

We were heading further south to Dune du Pilat tomorrow but have heard all the sites are fully booked, everyday’s an adventure.

 

[willwander]

Day 11
Beach walk, Soulac-sur-Mer. Awesome.
Then 2 hrs to Bordeaux. Arrive at ‘camping Beau Soleil’. Ok site, very busy, lovely helpful lady working on site, but this place is all about the bus stop into Bordeaux.

Day 12
Visit to Bordeaux, bus stop right outside the site, followed by a tram ride into city centre. Easy. Dogs were brilliant on the busy bus and tram. Bordeaux is nice, but, dare I say, nothing special. We still had a great day and it was an adventure visiting the city. Dogs are knackered, gin and tonic tonight.

Head south tomorrow, St-Jean-de-Luz maybe? We’ll decide on the way.

 

[willwander]

Day 13
Biarritz for the day, lovely beach, lots of posh shops, but thought the town would be prettier. Kinda reminded me of Scarborough. Got back to van hot and bothered.

Just arrived at ‘camping Suhiberry’ just outside Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Ok, nice quiet pitch, Mrs willwander has been for a swim in the small pool.

Adaptive Cruise Control worked all day today, what a joy. No idea why. We drove through a heavy downpour of rain today, maybe that helped?

 

[acer]

Re the abs sensor - are you with VW Assist? If so, I’d give them a shout. I’ve found them extremely helpful in the past - doing things that really you’d only expect a garage to do.

 

[willwander]

Re the abs sensor - are you with VW Assist? If so, I’d give them a shout. I’ve found them extremely helpful in the past - doing things that really you’d only expect a garage to do.

Yeah unfortunately not, just RAC cover at the moment, but I might try joining and see how I get on.

Should have joined before the trip, lesson learnt I think.

 

[acer]

Yeah unfortunately not, just RAC cover at the moment, but I might try joining and see how I get on.

Should have joined before the trip, lesson learnt I think.

Two experiences with them and both times outstanding. I was advised on here to ensure that I requested a VW specialist, or else a generalist may arrive.

Looking forward to tomorrow. What’s it to be? A tour through Basque villages? Bayonne? San Sebastián?

 

[Ch1pbutty]

Guéthary is nice.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Probably the first time anyone referred to Biarritz as the French Scarborough….

 

[The Tall Luthier]

It’s funny how we experience things differently. I was blown away by Bordeaux, the river walks, the ancient city walls, the connection to British maritime, the baroque art and music gallery house in a former submarine warehouse, the quality of the food halls.

Whereas Biarritz was more “meh” for us.

It’s enjoyable reading about your adventures, hope you get the abs sorted soon.

 

[willwander]

It’s funny how we experience things differently. I was blown away by Bordeaux, the river walks, the ancient city walls, the connection to British maritime, the baroque art and music gallery house in a former submarine warehouse, the quality of the food halls.

Whereas Biarritz was more “meh” for us.

It’s enjoyable reading about your adventures, hope you get the abs sorted soon.

Yes totally agree, fascinating how people experience a place differently, it’s so subjective, a lot also depends on other stuff, your mood, the weather, your interactions with people, is there wi-fi ha etc, etc. One of the most important things for me, and one of the most difficult, is to try have no expectations for a place, approach each one with an open mind. I’m also very conscious that we are doing a flying visit, there are so many places to explore you could spend a lifetime getting to know just a tiny region of France.
Fascinating subject, someone should write a book on it.

Anyway, please don’t let that put anyone off . Keep sending through your recommendations, I’m interested to hear your impressions of a place. we’ve had some amazing recommendations from people on here.