Two hours from Calais and beyond - First timers abroad (in MH).

We’re currently in Le Touquet staying at Camping Stoneham. I can certainly recommend it. The site is lovely and only 1km to the town centre which is a great place. Very clean and tidy. Quite well to do. Macron has a house here. Quite a few armed police around his house.
 
daveclare said:
Mind you, your stayed three times and liked it, trumps our half hour experience!
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Love the Friday market , been going about twenty years now on coach tours and stuff, reputed to be the biggest in Europe and I have no reason to doubt it, even if it does keep repeating the stalls over again.
And the restaurant against the sea really is good even if expensive, and the bar on the site is reasonable price as well.
 
Will definitely do Ventamiglia part 2 next year.
Have now left St Pierre ( address down as St Julien le Montagnier) and are staying in Cassis for a few days. Stunning blue sky. Ignore the funny shaped shadow I don't really look like that.
Site has over 100 pitches, one other UK MH.
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Last night in Cassis before moving inland again tomorrow. Thought we'd cracked it! So far eight out of the nine places we've stayed have had EHU. So close, tripped the electrics again tonight. Thirty minutes before was feeling cocky and switched on the AC and hey presto it worked. Then I forgot to turn the water heater off again before putting on the kettle. That's a 100% record so far.
 
daveclare said:
Looking forward to checking them out thanks.

Now reached Lake Annecy after stops in Tours and Claremont Ferrand.

View attachment 535488
100 metres from the lake isn't too bad.

Some school of life lessons:
1. Claremont Ferrand CF aire is within walking distance of Police raids in the ghetto.
2. When buying milk from the Local arabic supermarket in such area. Just because it has a cow on the bottle, it doesn't necessarily mean it's got milk inside.
3. Really thick yogurt from a bottle does not mix well with tea.
4. Learning fluent French for " I worked 40 years to get this" helps when replying to verbal abuse from locals in CF.
5. Small towns and villages are much nicer to visit than main cities.
6. Even 1200km from home you can still pitch up next to a fellow scouser!
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We were also at Lake Annecy, we had fantastic weather, much better than predicted!

I saw your MH at the top of the row, sorry I didn't investigate further:(

have fun on your travels (y)

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daveclare said:
View attachment 539543
Photo of where we are in St. Pierre. Nice little aire. Still learning about turning off water heater before plugging in kettle with only 6amps supply.

Good job the access flap to the reset button isn't locked. Must've known we were coming.

With data run out, managed to get 'Free' French network sim with massive data for €29.99

Must remember to cancel before we leave for Spain.
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Can I ask where did you get the French sim, Bloody 13GB data on 3 soon runs out.
 
daveclare said:
Last night in Cassis before moving inland again tomorrow. Thought we'd cracked it! So far eight out of the nine places we've stayed have had EHU. So close, tripped the electrics again tonight. Thirty minutes before was feeling cocky and switched on the AC and hey presto it worked. Then I forgot to turn the water heater off again before putting on the kettle. That's a 100% record so far.
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If you have Alde I put a load monitor on mine, not had any issues as it switches off the Alde if it detects an overload.
 
I did a search for best sim cards for data in France and this and an orange one came up. Luckily found a 'Free' mobile shop with a helpful assistant who got us a massive data sim. Got to be careful as it's a pay monthly, but he typed out a letter for us in French for when we want to cancel. €29 initially then 19.99 a month.

Free shops aren't in every town/city, we were lucky that there was one near us in Aix-en-Provence. Now in a nice site just outside St. Remy de Provence.
20210926_135655.jpg
 
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daveclare said:
Having spent 5 days at Annecy at a site we will definitely return to, a check of the weather showed some heavy rain for a few days. We decided to head for Embrun. Sat nav programed and we left making a steady pace. Early school of life lesson time:

Always check the sat nav when your route could run close to another country.

Along the route we picked up signs for the Frejus tunnel. The distance matched our turn off, so I assumed we'd turn off just before. What's that old saying about ' never assume........' Well Mr Ass here, drove Elsie the MH right up to the front door of the tunnel!

We did check before leaving as we'd eventually go to Italy, after doing a bit more France. We also read about needing a locator form for Italy. So I thought we'd print one out once we'd decided to ţurn that way. So with no locator forms filled in, we thought what's the worst that could happen:
A fine
A U turn costing another 60 odd euros

Fingers crossed we approached the booth, trundled past the border police and.....

Hey presto, we were in Italy. No covid vaccine questions, no checks, not even a sideways glance.

Now settled for the night just outside Turin. Had a ride in on the Vespa and was pleasantly surprised by how nice the old town was.
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We have travelled to Northern Italy several times. After Turin we went to Mantova this is a medieval walled town with lots to see we park up on an air beside the three lakes just outside the town 18 euros a night inc ehu modern showers toilet block fresh water and dedicated grey waste drive over large concrete and stainless steel point etc entry to the air is all electonic and your ticket is the card you use for entry to all the amenities ,you can pay cash or card we had no trouble with HSBC or Post office money cards . Great walks round the lakes and into the town about 7-8 minutes walk crowded in summer but Sept hardly any one there after our third visit we discovered a fire engine museum in a back street well worth a visit the market is every Thursday and takes over the whole town. Beware prices can be the same as in the shops. plenty of places to eat out hope you have a great time.
 
Thanks for that, passed there on the way to Adria on a Lambretta euro trip, but didn't go in. It's on the list.

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300 gts super. Not really a modern scooter buff. But absolutely brilliant for getting around. My vintage lambretta and motorbike can stay in the garage. :) last bike was a Tracer 900 and Clare prefers the Vespa. More comfortable even after 2300 miles two up.
 
Yes it's very comfortable - we've got the 125 GTS Super and I use mine most days. I am a Scooter newbie having gone to MSC to get a 50cc for the back of the Motorhome and then we both saw the GTS and that was it. A1 licence 4 years ago having never been on a powered bike before as I needed it to carry Sara. Great engineering and handling. Tricked out with Scorpion exhaust, front and rear bars and a Vespa top box. Love the old scooters but these modern versions are absolutely brilliant 😎
 
Went to an amazing show today in a disused quarry near Les Beax de Provence. It was called Les Carrieres de Lumieres. Where images of artwork and more from Cezanne and Kandinsky were projected onto the walls of the quarry Chambers, accompanied by music. Truely, amazing spectacle. The photos don't do it justice. What you can or can't see are two massive pillars either side of a huge wall.
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We've now left St Remy de Provence and are currently just across the border from Spain in a 'funcional' aire, which is now slightly flooded, outside Perpignon. Which reminded us of Napoli, but without the charm and less rubbish on the road in. Well the bits we visited were anyway. What is it with us being magnetically drawn to ghetto's. Thankfully this time we didn't buy thick yogurt thinking it was milk!

Some school of life lessons.

1. Ordering a replacement window, one thinks would be easy. Especially when you're in the country where they're made. Oh no. "It'll take six weeks, as it needs to be delivered to Autoglass here in the UK for shipping over to you, so Car Glass can fit it." I then asked if it would be quicker, us just going to the Florium factory and asking for one. "Good question" was the reply. "I'll get onto Car Glass and ask them if they can get one direct, as you say they're made in France."

What's the saying including the words 'Rocket Science'. Two weeks later still waiting. Good job the cracked window is structurally sound at present.

2. Just because you did French at school and learned the perfect pronunciation for 'Lait', doesn't mean a French man and woman can understand what you mean, when asking "avais vous du lait" in your best Serge Gainsborough and Jane Birkin accents. Mais non! They got the picture when we stopped short of mooing and said "de vaches". Result, they knew exactly what we meant. But did they have any in Aldi? Non!

What is it about us and our failure with milk related products.

Thankfully the clever one of us did Spanish at School. So I'll switch to coffee now :). Off to somewhere near Blanes tomorrow, to hopefully experience dryer weather. Record of tripping the EHU is still intact. I'll blame the biblical downpours for now. Moved it to another connection and it seems to be ok.
 
Heading from Millau to the coast today. Staying near Montpellier for a day or two, then going down towards the Spanish border. (y) River running past our campsite looking very high.
 
Sapper520 said:
Site details at Annecy please? We may be heading that way the week after next. (y)
Sapper520 said:
Site details at Annecy please? We may be heading that way the week after next. (y)
Click to expand...
Sapper520 said:
Site details at Annecy please? We may be heading that way the week after next. (y)
Click to expand...

Lac Bleu | camping 5 étoiles | Annecy | Haute Savoie

Camping familial et convivial, 5 étoiles situé à Doussard au bord du Lac d'Annecy en Haute Savoie
www.camping-lac-bleu.com www.camping-lac-bleu.com
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There are two side to the campsite. The side next to the lake and the other is across the access road.

Lac Bleu | camping 5 étoiles | Annecy | Haute Savoie

Camping familial et convivial, 5 étoiles situé à Doussard au bord du Lac d'Annecy en Haute Savoie
www.camping-lac-bleu.com www.camping-lac-bleu.com

We have been going for almost 20 years. It gets incredibly busy now, even out of season. So book or be prepared to be disappointed
 
EuroTrotters said:
There are two side to the campsite. The side next to the lake and the other is across the access road.

Lac Bleu | camping 5 étoiles | Annecy | Haute Savoie

Camping familial et convivial, 5 étoiles situé à Doussard au bord du Lac d'Annecy en Haute Savoie
www.camping-lac-bleu.com www.camping-lac-bleu.com

We have been going for almost 20 years. It gets incredibly busy now, even out of season. So book or be prepared to be disappointed
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We’re on The Med Coast at the moment. (y)

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A lot of you on this thread must be in the vacinity of canet plag , I would really recommend a detour to it if you are, don't know if it's the same this year but when we have been other years there is a free park on the beach, and it's a nice little town with loads of restaurants.
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We’re here……..no sign of the sun at the moment. 🤷‍♂️

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Sadly too late. We're now in Spain not far from Lloret de mar. Looking for the bright yellow thing in the sky, which seems to have disappeared.
 
Visited Lloret and Tossa de mar yesterday, along with Blanes.

Moved on again to a plush site with its own private beach amongst the usual posh extras, a few kms out of Tarragona. Pitched about 15 metres from the Med. Nice to hear the waves at night. But not too distracting to keep you awake.

Restaurant on site was very nice last night. Nice and sunny Today. Had a good walk around. Surrounded by zee Germans. Herman and Helga next door are quite pleasant. Others, who we've smiled at and said 'Hallo' to, are just plain miserable.

Took a ride to Salou this morning. School of life time.

Catalonians like it when you ask for the bill in their language. Even though you can't utter a single other word.

Salou may be nice and quiet this time of year But it pays to be alert, just in case you need to avoid a knife wielding nut job:oops::oops::oops:.

Back listening to the waves after a calming plate of tapas and an ice cold Radler.
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daveclare said:
Visited Lloret and Tossa de mar yesterday, along with Blanes.

Moved on again to a plush site with its own private beach amongst the usual posh extras, a few kms out of Tarragona. Pitched about 15 metres from the Med. Nice to hear the waves at night. But not too distracting to keep you awake.

Restaurant on site was very nice last night. Nice and sunny Today. Had a good walk around. Surrounded by zee Germans. Herman and Helga next door are quite pleasant. Others, who we've smiled at and said 'Hallo' to, are just plain miserable.

Took a ride to Salou this morning. School of life time.

Catalonians like it when you ask for the bill in their language. Even though you can't utter a single other word.

Salou may be nice and quiet this time of year But it pays to be alert, just in case you need to avoid a knife wielding nut job:oops::oops::oops:.

Back listening to the waves after a calming plate of tapas and an ice cold Radler.View attachment 545660
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Nice site what is it called please daveclare ?
 

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