What time to pull into an Aire?

Robert Houghton

Robert Houghton

Joined
Jan 4, 2018
Posts
19
Likes collected
61
Funster No
51,853
Hello,
We've been motorhoming for 4 years but have got our first trip abroad to France and Spain booked via the tunnel at the end of the month. We've got to get to near Malaga and need to get there reasonably quickly (6 or 7 days?) but hope to enjoy the journey as well. Obviously to cover that distance in the time we'll have to do a lot of miles and hours of driving in a day. We're planning on just using Aires, as we only really need overnight stops.
My question is, what time will we need to be parked up by in order to be fairly sure of getting a space at this time of year. I realise it will vary from place to place and what's on offer there, but I'm just after a rough idea on average. I don't want to just assume I can just drive into the late afternoon, early evening, only to find everywhere has filled up early afternoon. Equally I don't want to unnecessarily park up early out of an unfounded fear everywhere will be full, given the need to cover several hundred miles each day. Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
I have only found one aire than never had a toilet dump but knew about it and always empty before leaving an aire
 
Upvote 0
Lenny HB said:

Yep, always travel with a full tank between November & March as most Aires will have the water turned off. Also we found last year I think due to covid a lot of Aites had the water permanently off.

I didn't know Covid also infected water supplies.

We've been told a trillion lies, of course, so having the water turned off would no doubt be to "protect" us in some way or other (and some would believe it!).
 
Upvote 0
Littlewheels said:
As you are intending to get to Malaga fairly swiftly l presume you are unlike to lay in bed on a morning,therefore,starting your daily journey at say 9.00ish with two short stops Coffee 20mins,Lunch 40mins you will cover a good amount of Mikes/Kilometres by 4.00ish, still daylight driving so no panic. Using S4S with very little planning you will not be far from a stop and in February you will have absolutely no problem. Done lots of times the most recent a week ago it’s not until you get seriously south Seville onwards that it’s a bit busier because of lots of people waiting for the crossing to Morocco to open.
Click to expand...
The Ferry to Bilbao is probably the easiest way to get down to Spain, it is an easy drive on the main roads from there via Madrid or take the coast road via Zaragosa and enjoy the great sites along the way.
 
Upvote 0
Kups said:
Yes it is but written just after England lost to Scotland so I was in a depressed mood,
Seriously though we've arrived at aires at all times of the day and night with very varied results. As people have said .... it all depends on....... so its very difficult to advise unless you narrow down the circumstances and even more difficult post pandemic. I usually try to be helpful but rugby grief got the better of me and the afternoon started so well with Ireland drubbing Wales :p :p
Click to expand...
Buddy hell was going to watch that
Match today on catch up.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
minesapint said:
The Ferry to Bilbao is probably the easiest way to get down to Spain, it is an easy drive on the main roads from there via Madrid or take the coast road via Zaragosa and enjoy the great sites along the way.
Click to expand...
Would be but lots of us have Dogs and obtaining a Dog friendly cabin is nigh on impossible as there are so few.
 
Upvote 0
popotla said:
I didn't know Covid also infected water supplies.

We've been told a trillion lies, of course, so having the water turned off would no doubt be to "protect" us in some way or other (and some would believe it!).
Click to expand...
No doubt it was in an effort to prevent cross contamination at the taps, rather than the actual water supply itself. :doh:

Regards,

Jock. :)
 
Upvote 0
If you haven't already, get a fuel app, very handy when you're driving a long way. They display prices and will use Google maps to navigate you there. Mine is called "Essence" but can't see it in Google play any more... There'll be others.
 
Upvote 0
Spike is spot-on; we have used Camperstop Europe books for about 10 years, invaluable. Some aires are simple park-ups in or close to small villages and may only have 3 or 4 places. Many are a dozen or less. We stopped at one near the French/Belgian borger last November, took over 60 vans and it was practically full - but it was free! So actually, how long is a piece of string is a good answer, they vary hugely. Some are run-down, we've turned away from a couple in less savoury parts of northern France. But there are so many of them that the next one is never far away. We usually avoid the closest one to an Autoroute junction (often the obvious on the map so most likely to be full) but target the next 2 slightly further away. Depending on your channel crossing time, I'd expect to do Malaga in 3 days.
 
Upvote 0
We have just done that journey and arrived at Malaga friday evening. It took us 6 days max 6 hours driving but certainly not each day. I have a thread running France, Spain Portugal ) which gives you a bit of a clue where we stopped etc, quite casual so yourll be fine (y)

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
Jock said:

No doubt it was in an effort to prevent cross contamination at the taps, rather than the actual water supply itself.

Thanks, Jock. The thing is, we are all fully capable of deciding for ourselves about when to go to taps, when not to, and stuff like that. If there's someone else there, for example, wait til they've gone.

In March 2020 my wife and I crossed from France to Germany, finding there that a site we sometimes use was marked off (closed) with that striped, reflective tape and the water machine bound with the same kind of tape. "They" wanted us to be at home, "safe from the virus". OK, at that time not much was known about the virus (we'd seen, for examples, images - now known to be fake - of people in China dropping dead in the street). In point of fact, though, the site was a very safe place to be: one could stay in one's van or walk or cycle out, where there was no-one else. There was no need for a government to be telling us what to do, to be taking control of what should be our own decisions. That the site was closed didn't make sense. Closing it did not help protect public health.

That day I smelled a rat. Day by day, since then, nothing has changed to take that smell away. On the contrary, I know now that it's a big live one. My sense of smell hadn't let me down. I understand the bigger picture. The pandemic isn't about health.

I know I've gone way off topic and that further discussion of this matter isn't likely to help. However, I wanted to say it.
 
Upvote 0
A lot of aires have there water turned of in winter nothing new there and nothing to do with covid it’s to do with freezing pipes we always travel with a few days supply in winter
 
Upvote 0
Robert Houghton said:
Hello,
We've been motorhoming for 4 years but have got our first trip abroad to France and Spain booked via the tunnel at the end of the month. We've got to get to near Malaga and need to get there reasonably quickly (6 or 7 days?) but hope to enjoy the journey as well. Obviously to cover that distance in the time we'll have to do a lot of miles and hours of driving in a day. We're planning on just using Aires, as we only really need overnight stops.
My question is, what time will we need to be parked up by in order to be fairly sure of getting a space at this time of year. I realise it will vary from place to place and what's on offer there, but I'm just after a rough idea on average. I don't want to just assume I can just drive into the late afternoon, early evening, only to find everywhere has filled up early afternoon. Equally I don't want to unnecessarily park up early out of an unfounded fear everywhere will be full, given the need to cover several hundred miles each day. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
It’s busy in southern Spain atm.With Morocco closed due to Covid there are many French Vans that would normally go to Morocco staying in Spain.we aim to move on from Autocaravanas area about 9 or 10 to arrive at 11am
 
Upvote 1
Sillious Sodus said:
I want to be parked before dark including time to drive to a Plan B, also I don't worry about water as there's always an Aldi, Lidl or supermarket enroute - servicing the loo is more important to us.
Click to expand...
Do you get water from Aldi and Lidl?
 
Upvote 0
denisejoe said:
A lot of aires have there water turned of in winter nothing new there and nothing to do with covid it’s to do with freezing pipes we always travel with a few days supply in winter
Click to expand...
Yes Joe, as most of us are aware of, but during the pandemic, many Aires themselves were closed with water supplies completely isolated, and not just turned off for winter. :(

popotla said:
Jock said:

No doubt it was in an effort to prevent cross contamination at the taps, rather than the actual water supply itself.

Thanks, Jock. The thing is, we are all fully capable of deciding for ourselves about when to go to taps, when not to, and stuff like that. If there's someone else there, for example, wait til they've gone.

In March 2020 my wife and I crossed from France to Germany, finding there that a site we sometimes use was marked off (closed) with that striped, reflective tape and the water machine bound with the same kind of tape. "They" wanted us to be at home, "safe from the virus". OK, at that time not much was known about the virus (we'd seen, for examples, images - now known to be fake - of people in China dropping dead in the street). In point of fact, though, the site was a very safe place to be: one could stay in one's van or walk or cycle out, where there was no-one else. There was no need for a government to be telling us what to do, to be taking control of what should be our own decisions. That the site was closed didn't make sense. Closing it did not help protect public health.

That day I smelled a rat. Day by day, since then, nothing has changed to take that smell away. On the contrary, I know now that it's a big live one. My sense of smell hadn't let me down. I understand the bigger picture. The pandemic isn't about health.

I know I've gone way off topic and that further discussion of this matter isn't likely to help. However, I wanted to say it.
Click to expand...
Sorry popotla, I'm not going to get into this conversation with you as to the "for and against" as to why actions was taken the way they were. It was difficult times and unchartered territory, with everyone doing their best to either comply with WHO and Government advice, to keep themselves and others safe. OMG, never again in my lifetime please. :pray:

Regards,

Jock. :)
 
Upvote 0
About not getting into conversation about this, Jock, you are right.

As I said, ........ and that further discussion of this matter isn't likely to help ....

Happy travels!
 
Upvote 0
popotla said:
About not getting into conversation about this, Jock, you are right.

As I said, ........ and that further discussion of this matter isn't likely to help ....

Happy travels!
Click to expand...
You and yours too. (y)

Cheers,

Jock. :)
 
Upvote 0
helzie2020 said:
Do you get water from Aldi and Lidl?
Click to expand...
Yes we have. During the winter in northern/central France the water is turned off at the older Aires, which may only have a standpipe tap or similar, in case of freezing. We used to drive for miles looking for one with a newer blue pillar where the water is protected. However, water in supermarkets abroad is ridiculously cheap so now we don't panic if we get somewhere and it's off. Being able to service the loo is a much higher priority and this facility is rarely locked off.
 
Upvote 0
We've only ever struggled to find an aire to camp in peak season when in SE France or near the coast. We would probably base our evening park up place based on the weather; if is a nice evening, we would aim to park up before sunset. If poor weather, we would continue driving until later into the evening and gain an extra 3 hours on the road.
 
Upvote 1
denisejoe said:
I have only found one aire than never had a toilet dump but knew about it and always empty before leaving an aire
Click to expand...
There are 100's of them.
popotla said:
I didn't know Covid also infected water supplies.
Click to expand...
They turned off the water all year at a lot of Aires to discourage people going out or travelling far.
 
Upvote 0
Jock said:

BTW, we love touring Germany, especially August/September time. (y)

Yes, it's really very good here, with a wonderful autumn - and a wide choice of sites, just paying - normally - for water and electricity. Last year we were on the road here until mid-November and expect to be out again as from April 1st.
 
Upvote 0
Reading these suggestions, I am surprised no one has mentioned carrying a spare toilet Cassette.

As long as we have bottled water for drinking, we only need enough water in the tank to flush the loo, and not forgetting the obligatory weekly shower(y):giggle: well it keeps the flies at bay.:giggle: Just imagine you have a PVC or Van conversion like many Vloggers, without a shower, they have to make do with strip washes, rivers, or the sea.:eek:

Thanks for sharing the travel tips, I would never have thought of a fuel map app, other than the LPG.EU one, always relied on just spotting a garage then deciding if prices were fair enough, brim it up.

As for Morocco being shut due to ferries, causing overcrowding in Spanish resorts, I had no idea that many campers went over there in normal times, must be braver than we are about getting stuck, even though Covid problems may have started to reduce, or will shortly. It raises another question from me, do the EU citizens struggle these days to get a Green Card from their insurance companies to go to Morocco?, do they have to pay the extra daily/monthly fees that some of us are being asked to pay? Do they get breakdown cover?

This is all great stuff, especially on travel experience since things started to open up in EU, I am sure the OP will have a good time if the weather behaves itself, might even find many lovely surprises in France, Lakes, Gorges, wine regions are all lovely.
LES

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
Lots of good points above. We have used aires/stellplatz etc all over Europe and discovered (stumbled upon) some beauties. So I would suggest you stop about 3pm (ish) and give your self chance to have a look around. There’s nothing nicer than to stretch your legs by wondering through a pretty village, or along a canal. We have always felt very safe using them, but I would suggest you avoid using motorway service stations as a stopover as these can be quite a different story. We carry just enough water to get us out of trouble if taps are turned off, which has happened at times in winter. Have found the Campercontact book/app useful, but prefer the Search for Sites app. Happy travels!
 
Upvote 0
PlatypusKiwi said:
It’s busy in southern Spain atm.With Morocco closed due to Covid there are many French Vans that would normally go to Morocco staying in Spain.we aim to move on from Autocaravanas area about 9 or 10 to arrive at 11am
Click to expand...
What month do all the Germans and Cloggies start making their way back.
I was told it's something to do with their pension they have to sign on?
 
Upvote 0
Sillious Sodus said:
Yes we have. During the winter in northern/central France the water is turned off at the older Aires, which may only have a standpipe tap or similar, in case of freezing. We used to drive for miles looking for one with a newer blue pillar where the water is protected. However, water in supermarkets abroad is ridiculously cheap so now we don't panic if we get somewhere and it's off. Being able to service the loo is a much higher priority and this facility is rarely locked off.
Click to expand...
Ah, okay, so you buy water from Aldi or Lidl — I thought you meant that you could top up from a tap or something. Doh! I'm with you now.

:thanks3:
 
Upvote 0

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Join us

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top