Winter trip to Spain

[Ingwe]

Well, today was start day. The weather forecast warned of strong winds, dying down by noon. As it happens we didn’t get to leave York until 12:30 and by then, there were still some string winds. Usual 20 minute delay around Doncaster and we took it slowly.

Horrible tram-limes on the M11 made us drive even slower and we eventually arrived at the Dog House at Smeeth, in the dark, at about 19.30.

We knew their restaurant was closed on Wednesdays but we had a nice pint and a half with the usual friendly and welcoming staff. However, they told us that we had to be away by 8a.m. This seems to be a new requirement and, while I except it isn’t the Dog House’s rule (apparently) this means that, for people like us with a tunnel crossing for 12:00, it is no longer very helpful.

There was one other van here, a couple on their first trip to Spain via France. They are having to get up at 4:45 for their crossing so the new diktat won’t really affect them. It’s difficult to see what, in the winter, the rationale is for getting vans who’ve spent the night, spent some money and intending to have breakfast in the Dog House, to leave by 8a.m.

So another possible stopping place, scratched off the list. I’m tired, admittedly, but such pettifogging rules really p**es me off.

More tomorrow when we cross into France.

 

[EuroTrotters]

It will all be worth it.

Happy & safe travels

 

[Jo662]

Hopefully you will sign in now and again so we can follow your travels?

 

[Tombola]

Wonder why they want vans to move on by 8am ? Do you know?

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Watch put for the road closures in France due to farmers protesting about everything.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[BikerGraham]

Don’t arrive till after 5 and away by 8 have been rules for a while. It’s to do with the craft village working hours I think.

Leaving by 8 is detailed on S4S page.

At the end of the day it is a free overnight with toilet facilities.

Have a lovely trip though

 

[Ingwe]

Wonder why they want vans to move on by 8am ? Do you know?

Not sure but BikerGraham may have an idea. Still, it’s been the third time we’ve stayed but won’t do it again. There are better alternatives.

 

[Ingwe]

Hopefully you will sign in now and again so we can follow your travels?

Will do. Cheers

 

[Ingwe]

After a reasonable night’s sleep at the Dog House, we were up and ready to leave at 8a.m. At 7:55 there was a gentle tap on the driver’s door and I got out of the habitation door expecting to see a man-mountain security guard. Instead there was tiny guy in a raincoat with ‘Security‘ on the back who politely said that we should be gone by 8.I said we would be and he gave a thumbs-up and scuttled off back to a warm dry hut somewhere. We drove to, and parked at, the nearby Tesco where we had cheese toasties and coffees at Costa next door.

The drive to the tunnel was shrouded in fog and when we got there (more than 2 hours before our scheduled train) we weren’t offered an earlier train. There is a lot of building work going on at the terminal which means that the car park was a fraction of the usual size and we parked up prepared to wait the 2.5 hours till our train. Five minutes later, an official tapped on the window and asked us to prepare to entrain. So we boarded a train more than 2 hours early. We think that the shortage of parking space was the reason for sending us out.

A pretty uneventful trip to our first night which was at an aire at Neufchatel-on-Bray. Aire Sainte Claire is €14 per night with 10amp electric hook-up. There were about six vans there, all Brits. The pitch was a neat hard standing with a little waterlogged patch of grass on one side. The facilities include a full laundry, one shower, two flush toilets, one wash-hand basin. There is also a black water dump, grey water drain, fresh water taps and waste bins. 100 yards away is a humungous E Le Clerk supermarket with fuel garage.
It rained all night but by the time I’d showered, recharged the toilet, filled up with fresh water to 50%, the sun was shining and it was mild (13°). We drove 188 miles to Ecommoy using the A28 mostly avoiding Rouen and it was a much more pleasant trip than navigating through Rouen.
Our destination was an organic cheese farm run by a Dutch family. At one point we were ordered off the motorway due to farmers’ protests and it was a 20 minute diversion before we rejoined but otherwise it was pretty uneventful trip.

We were warmly greeted by the Dutch owner and she connected us to a 16amp extension cable, before showing us the cheese shop. The charge is €12. The parking for motorhomes is a small income supplement but is adequate. The pitch is level on gravel over normal farm-yard mud. We bought a couple of cheeses; garlic and a little hard dark thing that tastes wonderful despite appearances!

So tomorrow, another fairly long drive to south of Bordeaux, exact destination not yet finalised. Anyway, here are some photos of the tunnel parking, the foggy aire just near Boulogne and then the cheese farm. The navigator, first office and chef is preparing cheese omelettes, with a green salad and I’m sipping a Famous Grouse on the rocks as I type this. Well it is Friday!

Tunnel terminal car park

Cheese Farm, Eccomoy

 

[oilrag]

Enjoying this thread ,keep it up please !
Cheers
G

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

We went through Rouen on Sunday from Dieppe. It was a doddle the road turned right behind some industrial buildings then out to a 3euro toll. Total traverse time about 5 minutes from the river bridge to the open road.

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

Currently parked up on a free aire with free electric and services at Amposta. Wall to wall sun all afternoon.

 

[Leith Laddie]

I would recommend stopping at Parentis en Born in the Landes south of Bordeaux easy drive on the RN10 which i as good as any UK motorway.

 

[Fragle]

Currently parked up on a free aire with free electric and services at Amposta. Wall to wall sun all afternoon.

Same here at Moraira. Beautiful day but would like free electricity and service as the cherry on the cake.
Unfortunately we need to get a move on and start the journey back

 

[Ingwe]

We went through Rouen on Sunday from Dieppe. It was a doddle the road turned right behind some industrial buildings then out to a 3euro toll. Total traverse time about 5 minutes from the river bridge to the open road.

We have passed through Rouen three times with no problem. However, on the last trip, in 2021, we managed to get it wrong and broke our Roadpro satellite tv dome when we found ourselves heading for the forbidden underpass. The warning chains did the damage and we were able to turn onto the right lane and carry on with no issue. The main reason we avoided Rouen is the recent designation of congestion areas in various cities including Rouen. So we decided to simply alter our route and we’re very pleased we did as today’s run was very pleasant.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[G-RMPS]

25 degrees today in a hilltop restaurant 50 minutes uphill from Denia. Three courses, €20, plus drinks. We’ll make sure to turn down the solar heating next week until you acclimatise

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

We have passed through Rouen three times with no problem. However, on the last trip, in 2021, we managed to get it wrong and broke our Roadpro satellite tv dome when we found ourselves heading for the forbidden underpass. The warning chains did the damage and we were able to turn onto the right lane and carry on with no issue. The main reason we avoided Rouen is the recent designation of congestion areas in various cities including Rouen. So we decided to simply alter our route and we’re very pleased we did as today’s run was very pleasant.

That’s really strange, we have been through Rouen about 20 times now with no problems. Probably jinxed it now. They have been moving roads quite a bit but apart from traffic no problems ever! Maybe we are just lucky.

 

[Sue and Rick]

25 degrees today in a hilltop restaurant 50 minutes uphill from Denia. Three courses, €20, plus drinks. We’ll make sure to turn down the solar heating next week until you acclimatise

Are you still there? Enjoy

 

[Mick and Ruth]

Crossing Monday will be interesting to see how the farming dispute affects your route. Safe travels.

 

[Tigertom]

That’s really strange, we have been through Rouen about 20 times now with no problems. Probably jinxed it now. They have been moving roads quite a bit but apart from traffic no problems ever! Maybe we are just lucky.

We always try and traverse Rouen on a Sunday, few lorries and light traffic………no hold ups, happy days

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[fifthwheel]

I dont understand drivers going into Rouen to head south. I use the D6015 east of the river from the A28.

Abbeville to Rte de Paris

www.google.co.uk

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

I dont understand drivers going into Rouen to head south. I use the D6015 east of the river from the A28.

Abbeville to Rte de Paris

www.google.co.uk

Because we cross Newhaven to Dieppe so go to the west of Rouen.

 

[fifthwheel]

Because we cross Newhaven to Dieppe so go to the west of Rouen.

Depending on destination but from Dieppe I would still use the D6015 its a nice quiet road.

 

[LesW]

I dont understand drivers going into Rouen to head south. I use the D6015 east of the river from the A28.

Abbeville to Rte de Paris

www.google.co.uk

Whilst a good route, it does go through the LEZ, which for owners of older vehicles like ours might present problems.

 

[fifthwheel]

Whilst a good route, it does go through the LEZ, which for owners of older vehicles like ours might present problems.

Good point.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Ingwe]

This will be a short post as there isn’t much of interest to post or to show. We had a peaceful night at the cheese farm at Eccomoy and then set off on the A 28 to do 4 hours to our next stop. Not more than a 45 minute drive, and a gantry sign told us to leave the motorway. This was due to farmers’ protesting and we followed a long line of mostly trucks and some cars along a diversion.
We saw burning piles of straw and steaming manure that had been dumped on the motorway. Lots of police. Anyway, the ‘deviation’ was so bizarre ( it directed us towards Nantes when we wanted to go to Bordeaux!)
To cut a long story short, we navigated our own route cross country and headed south on the RN10. This was fine until Angouleme when again we were directed off the road on a long loop diversion adding another hour to the already lengthened journey. We telephoned our campsite to advise we’d arrive late and so we did. After over 7.5 hours we arrived in the dark, had a quick supper, then went to bed. Completely zonked and a little frustrated. So today we set off from just south of Bordeaux on a much shorter trip towards Urrugne near the Spanish border. More later.

 

[oilrag]

Good luck, i have friends heading back north from albere to rotterdam ferry having similar issues,taken 3 days to do 800 miles because of the protests,diversions and queues.

 

[Basa]

Is the A28 from Rouen to Le Mans a toll route?
If so how much was it for your motorhome?

 

[varaizian]

I would recommend stopping at Parentis en Born in the Landes south of Bordeaux easy drive on the RN10 which i as good as any UK motorway.

But watch out for the speed camera at Sanguinet. Located as you are leaving town going south. With a French licence it cost me €90 and a point off my total. Presumably with a British licence it is not much of a big deal post Brexit?

 

[MichaelT]

This will be a short post as there isn’t much of interest to post or to show. We had a peaceful night at the cheese farm at Eccomoy and then set off on the A 28 to do 4 hours to our next stop. Not more than a 45 minute drive, and a gantry sign told us to leave the motorway. This was due to farmers’ protesting and we followed a long line of mostly trucks and some cars along a diversion.
We saw burning piles of straw and steaming manure that had been dumped on the motorway. Lots of police. Anyway, the ‘deviation’ was so bizarre ( it directed us towards Nantes when we wanted to go to Bordeaux!)
To cut a long story short, we navigated our own route cross country and headed south on the RN10. This was fine until Angouleme when again we were directed off the road on a long loop diversion adding another hour to the already lengthened journey. We telephoned our campsite to advise we’d arrive late and so we did. After over 7.5 hours we arrived in the dark, had a quick supper, then went to bed. Completely zonked and a little frustrated. So today we set off from just south of Bordeaux on a much shorter trip towards Urrugne near the Spanish border. More later.

That's likely to be blocked too, we came thru somport all OK.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}