France 2008
I set of for Dover
on sunday 22nd June 2008 with a stop at Canterbury
to store up on food i caught the 10pm
ferry to Dunkerque. A trouble free crossing had me docking at 11pm French time. Setting of towards Abbeyville /Paris i drove for about an hour
before coming off the A16 with the intention of a few hours sleep at the aire
at St Valery sur Mer but i found a quiet layby on route so got my head down
there. Up at 5.30 for my trip down to Charles-de Gaule airport, with the satnav giving me problems
i found my way to terminal 3 where the family were arriving. Here my problems
started as my phone which i had recently taken a new contract with Virgin did
not change to roaming. I now had the problem
of how do i get in touch with daughter when she arrives. I had got there about
8 ish and knew they were due about 10 but with no means of getting in touch how
would i find them, luckily the terminal was most probably
the quietest so i set about finding a route round the terminal. I sussed out
you could do a circle of the terminal in about ten minutes and as i could not get in the car park for hight
restrictions i decided i would just circle the terminal and hope i spotted
them. After about forty circles to include a couple of stops at the terminal
building parking in the taxi bay i found them or should i say they found me as
the saw me on one of my circles.
I spent 3 days on the hotel Cheyenne car park in Disney
where the daughter was staying, i had asked at reception if it was ok and was
told yes, not sure if they thought i was staying at the hotel but on the fourth
day i found a ticket on the windscreen telling me i had to move from the car
park. There is a garage outside the Cheyenne
that’s listed as an aire in the aires book so i went and filled up with diesel
and used the services and asked the attendant if it was ok to park
overnight and was told no problem.
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| Disney |
As daughter and family were only there for 4 days i dropped
them back at the airport and set off round the ring road of Paris
heading for Oradour -sur glane.
After leaving the airport i headed down the A10 towards Orleans
and with the intention of sampling the
pleasantries Loire River.After consulting the aires book i opted for a little
village just through Orleans and
not too far out of my way for Oradour. I arrived at the aire and found it full
but with a couple of vans parked on the road outside i opted for parking with
these and so settled down for here the night. A stroll into the village
revealed a typical sleepy French village and a couple of glasses of the local
brew put me on course for a barby back at the van. The next morning a few vans
had moved on and as it was a glorious sunny day i moved the van to the front of
the aire overlooking the river and decided to stop a couple of days and do a
bit of cycling and explore the area.
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| Beaugency |
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| On the Loire at Beaugency |
After a pleasant couple of days at Beaugency and meeting a
few new motorhoming friends ,French and Dutch i carried on to Oradour. The
story behind Oradour sur Glane is that on Saturday the 10th of June 1944. an attack was carried out
by soldiers of the Der Führer Regiment of the 2nd Waffen-SS Panzer Division Das
Reich. On that day they killed a total of 642 men, women and children without
giving any reasons for their actions and to this day there is no universally
accepted explanation for the massacre. The village was left as it was as a
memorial and a new village built. I stopped here a couple of days toured the
village and visited the memorial and found the experience very sombre. The aire
at Oradour i must say was one of the best i have stayed on and was a typical
example of the way the French cater for the tourist
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| Oradour |
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| with the doctors car |
I left Oradour and made my way to the Atlantic coast and to
La
Rochelle arriving late at night and helped by the
Vicarious books All the Aires France i found the Aire at Esplanades des Parks
which stated was within walking distance
of the town centre. The Aire was just a car park but with water and waste
facilities (although the waste facility was not one i would use as it must have
been the most unhygienic i had seen it
looked as though a motorhome with a large black waste tank had not bothered to
open the waste cover and had just dropped it on top) but there were about 50
vans parked here so it seemed very safe. I parked for the night had a brew and
then as it was
ten o'clock ish
decided to have a wander and explore the route to the centre. I strolled
through the park that the car park backed onto and was surprised to find many
people out jogging and walking at this time of night even though it was a
summer evening, because of the location i was half expecting it to be a hangout
for local dropouts but i was so wrong and it just confirmed to me why i prefer
to be in France than in my home country. As the book said the centre was a 10
minute stroll thro the park and the harbour maybe another 10 minutes.
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| La Rochelle harbour |
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| La Rochelle |
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| Aire in centre of La Rochelle |
The following morning i had decided that i would spend 2-3
days here and maybe take the bike to the Ile-de-Re' i did not fancy three days on the car
park so found a nice little campsite at Marina des Minimes which was one of the
10,12,15 euro sites in the Camping Card book, very cheap and 2 minutes to the
beach, there is also a Motorhome service point across the road for anyone in
the area that needs these facilities. La Rochelle
was a wonderful place and i enjoyed the three days i spent there and would it
recommend it to all
I left La Rochelle
with no particular destination in mind but as the Loire
Valley was on my route home
and the recommendations i had from fellow travellers on how
nice the villages on the Loire were i headed off to Poitiers
via Nort. After a whistlestop tour of Poitiers
it was Tours next stop. I took the
motorway which was toll free, I came off the m/way before Tours as i dislike
large towns /city's and headed for Blois
via St Avertin and Mont Lois and intended to stay at Chaumont. On arrival at
Chaumont the town centre aire was very busy so i then decided to head on a bit
further to Blois.
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| Blois |
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| Loire at Blois |
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| My view at Blois |
This decision got
me a great parking spot with a fantastic view on the Loire in a delightful
little town .I also again met some fellow very friendly fellow motorhomers with
whom i spent a couple of delightful days and then continued my journey back up
to Calais and sadly back home to await my return trip.
After breakfast i was away for 10.00 and heading into 
Xmas day i ventured out on bike again and this time
took right route and ended up at main station in 15 mins so did get to spend a
few hours in the city, with visit to Dam Sq and Rembrandt Sq and met a geordi who had been there for 7 years and now resorted to begging .Back to site for xmas lunch via the windmill brewery for
a few pils. Asked site if they would do a deal if i wanted to stay another
couple of days but was told no it was high season and they would be busy (THERE
WERE 2 VANS ON SITE ME AND AN ITALIAN VAN.) So decided that even though i would
have like to see more of 
