Staying at a Municipal Aire with no toilets.

[s2bear]

Any tips please?

2+2 in an Ocean.
Leisurely heading down through France to Spain and planning to stop at a municipal aire just over the Spanish Border.

It’s Canfranc Estation and I believe it’s a modern tarmac affair with water / Hookup but as far as I can tell, no toilets.
(According to Park4Night)

We have a Thetford porta (green fluid), we have the roll out awning AND an Outwell Backroads Awning room.

Option 1. Assuming there’s sufficient space, do we roll out or half roll out the awning room for the night and put the Thetford in there? If so how do I secure it/peg awning and sides out if it’s tarmac?

Option 2. Do we get a pop up toilet tent and weight it down? (Not really sure of tarmac aire etiquette)

Option 3. Do we somehow squeeze the Thetford into the van and hope for the best?

Any advice or extra options gratefully received.
Like does anyone make a potty tent that kinda hangs under the Thule rollout or is there a 30 second tailgate awning solution I haven’t seen?
We’re not noobs and we’ve passed through Canfranc before - we just haven’t stayed in a municipal minus toilets before.
So many questions…
Thanks. S2


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[secret lemonade drinker]

I think you are over thinking this, how many times in France have you seen blokes lined up on the side of the road having a wee wee, In Germany in a traffic jam we have seen women wandering off and returning looking very relieved. All the tenting bits you have mentioned are to protect your modesty.
Its a bodily function, and its only one night and you have a receptacle so just rig a screen and get on with it! In Portugal at a similar sort of location the views of lovely young ladies using campervan showers without screens was Amazing!

 

[acer]

I almost agree with R Whites in that it depends on what the individual feels comfortable with.

I’ve used a lot of municipal aires and don’t think I’ve ever seen people using a toilet tent or full awning. However, if I did see it, it wouldn’t surprise me. Equally, I wouldn’t go off into the bushes, or send my wife that way out of respect for the country that has me as it’s guest, but I’m not surprised when I see other people do it.

We have the Thetford inside. There’s just 2 of us these days, but when the kids came we did the same right up until they were young adults. (We’re close and it’s the easy to close your eyes!)

 

[Neuromancer11]

i stayed at a Aire mid France a few weeks back, it wasn't the sort of Aire (basically some parking spots in a little town) you could role the Awning out anyway, we just but it at the bottom of the bed, I've done this several times in the UK too on overnighters, its not ideal, but doable (i don't have an awning room, yet...) - speaking of which, how do you find the Outwell Backroads? do you have any pictures of it by any chance?

 

[s2bear]

i stayed at a Aire mid France a few weeks back, it wasn't the sort of Aire (basically some parking spots in a little town) you could role the Awning out anyway, we just but it at the bottom of the bed, I've done this several times in the UK too on overnighters, its not ideal, but doable (i don't have an awning room, yet...) - speaking of which, how do you find the Outwell Backroads? do you have any pictures of it by any chance?

Hi thanks. I’ve only used it the once but first impression - like it!
Here are a couple of photos with banana for scale:

I’ve been in touch with Thule about a rafter for the front end of the roll out awning (from their subsola awning pack) and I’ve got the part numbers but no one seems to be able to find the actual part (including the local Thule store). I reckon this would give quite a bit more room as it would bring the top of the front wall forward toward the wing mirror. It’s pretty decent as it is though tbh.


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[Mehdime]

Have the porta potty at the bottom of the bed. Pee in there. That’s it. You can collapse on top it in the middle of the night to pee and climb back onto the bed without having to even wake up at all.

We’re also a family of 4 and never use campsite facilities at night because it’s so much easier and nicer to use your own toilet in the van (and you’re not waking up everyone in the van and around your van by opening and shutting doors in the middle of the night).

 

[s2bear]

Think I’m sorted for all eventualities now. Thank you.

Pop up Shower tent for £30 tagged to the bike rack if it’s naff weather.
If I swear at it enough it should pretty much fold itself back into the bag and be completely flat for stowing under the rear mattress next day .

Will be handy to have for campsites anyway - we had one of these before but it used poles and I can’t be *rsed doing that for a night.


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[Neuromancer11]

Hi thanks. I’ve only used it the once but first impression - like it!
Here are a couple of photos with banana for scale:

I’ve been in touch with Thule about a rafter for the front end of the roll out awning (from their subsola awning pack) and I’ve got the part numbers but no one seems to be able to find the actual part (including the local Thule store). I reckon this would give quite a bit more room as it would bring the top of the front wall forward toward the wing mirror. It’s pretty decent as it is though tbh.


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looks great, and packs down small too... i was under the impression you could just move the front arm on the awning toward the front and the only reason its stepped back is that when its at the front you have to be more careful using the drivers door as it can catch it when opening/closing....

given the need to have the awning pretty flat, would the center brace that you can get that gives the roof a small pitch be beneficial, i had a incident with a huge bulge (that's what she said ) in the roof once when it filled with rain i wasn't expecting!

 

[andyinluton]

I’ve been in touch with Thule about a rafter for the front end of the roll out awning (from their subsola awning pack) and I’ve got the part numbers but no one seems to be able to find the actual part (including the local Thule store). I reckon this would give quite a bit more room as it would bring the top of the front wall forward toward the wing mirror. It’s pretty decent as it is though tbh.

Do you realise you can move the rafter of the awning right to the front? just loosen the fixings both ends. It's important to move both ends exactly the same amount. We needed to do that when using the Thule safari room.

 

[s2bear]

Do you realise you can move the rafter of the awning right to the front? just loosen the fixings both ends. It's important to move both ends exactly the same amount. We needed to do that when using the Thule safari room.

Nooooo! How in the name of Bertie Whatnots did I not know this?!?
I am now slightly more excited about this than actually going on Holibobs!
Thank you!


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[acer]

Do you realise you can move the rafter of the awning right to the front? just loosen the fixings both ends. It's important to move both ends exactly the same amount. We needed to do that when using the Thule safari room.

This is news to me also. Can you confirm that once moved, you can leave the rafters in the newly widened position permanently? (It doesn’t cause a problem winding the awning back into the cassette for example).

 

[andyinluton]

This is news to me also. Can you confirm that once moved, you can leave the rafters in the newly widened position permanently? (It doesn’t cause a problem winding the awning back into the cassette for example).

Yes, leave it there permanently. I will repeat though it is important that you move both ends of the awning by the same amount if you don’t you will get creases in the fabric as one side will wind in slightly quicker than the other.

From memory the only downside is that the front rafter is then catches on the top of the drivers door unless you extend the leg at the front a bit more than you normally would.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Have you thought about one of these…

 

[secret lemonade drinker]

Have you thought about one of these…

View attachment 139496

I did but I got one of these: