Road Trip - France, Spain

willwander · Sep 8, 2024

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 · Sep 9, 2024

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 · Sep 9, 2024

willwander said:
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 · Sep 10, 2024

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 · Sep 10, 2024

willwander said:
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 · Sep 10, 2024

willwander said:
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 · Sep 11, 2024

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 · Friday at 3:55 PM

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 · Friday at 4:24 PM

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

willwander · Friday at 4:42 PM

66tim99 said:
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 :thumb

willwander · Saturday at 8:35 PM

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 · Sunday at 7:08 AM

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 · Sunday at 7:40 AM

kurienp said:
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 · Monday at 2:07 PM

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 · Monday at 8:46 PM

willwander said:
Starting to settle into van life, feels good.

yes, that's life. Enjoy!

willwander · 2024-09-17T20:46:22+0100

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.