Winter trip to Spain

[Riverbankannie]

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

A MH is Class 2
ViaMichelin is a great resource for planning. I put in my Ducato which is also Class 2 and it says toll will be €35.20

 

[DAC and Jan]

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 parkView attachment 858910

View attachment 858914
Cheese Farm, EccomoyView attachment 858921

View attachment 858916View attachment 858918

Hi, we travelled down through France last week,
Done a 4 day layover in Seville at the marina at
Gelves . On the way down I kept driving to get past Bordeaux before Sunday evening so was cream crackered. Jan found a lovely new Aire/site at a disused coal pit but now a nature reserve which you can walk right round with facilities, and cafe with toilets.

 

[Ingwe]

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

It is a toll road but without accessing our tag (which is currently problematic as it seems not to register our home postcode) I can’t give the amount charged.

 

[Ingwe]

Hi, we travelled down through France last week,
Done a 4 day layover in Seville at the marina at
Gelves . On the way down I kept driving to get past Bordeaux before Sunday evening so was cream crackered. Jan found a lovely new Aire/site at a disused coal pit but now a nature reserve which you can walk right round with facilities, and cafe with toilets. View attachment 859600View attachment 859601

View attachment 859603
Nice photos and suggestions, thanks. We spent a delightful two nights at the marina at Gelves in 2019 on the return trip from Spain. Took a bus from right outside the marina into Seville and had a lovely day exploring this fabulous city.

Plage du Lac looks like a must for next trip. Hope you continue to have an enjoyable trip.

 

[Ingwe]

A good night’s sleep is a definite salve after a rubbish day. We awoke after a reasonably good night marred only by the all-night whirring and rumbling of some kind of heating (presumably) from our singleton, Polish neighbour, in his Transit van complete with mattress thrown in the back.

Setting off at (for us) an early 10:30 it was a mild 11°c as we rolled onto the A63. We badly needed some diesel so were pleased to see a services only about 5 miles. We were dismayed to find the pumps for cars and caravans had height barriers of 3 metres. As our van, with the satellite dome pimple standing at 3.10m, we didn’t risk it so headed for the lorry pump. Not so easy as the French design the access roads to their services as a challenge for Theseus hunting the minotaur and that ancient Greek Labyrinth is as nothing to this services. We eventually were reduced to going the wrong way down a road past loads of exhausted would-be Theseuses who looked up at us with a mixture of hatred and hysteria. Still we put in €50 in the fastest pump I’ve ever used. The 27 litres took about 20 seconds to disgorge including the mandatory splash of evil smelling diesel on my shoes.

Still, it was a Sunday morning, it wasn’t raining or cold, and the A63 was smooth and mostly empty. We stopped for a cuppa and noticed that every single aire, both serviced and green, were completely full of parked up trucks.Never seen anything like this since operation Badger or whatever it was called on the M20 after Br***t.

There was then a compulsory message to leave the A63 due to protesting farmers but strangely, after leaving the A63 and going round one roundabout, we were back on the A63 until just 30 miles from our campsite destination at Urrugne. This time it was a slow deviation through the up-market, zi-zi, French seaside towns of St Jean de Luz, Bidart, Anglet etc before we able to rejoin the A63 for the last 10 miles to Urrugne.

And here we are, parked up in 24° heat, blue skies, gentle breeze and three hours still left of daylight. The restaurant, as heavily touted on the site’s webpage is, predictably, closed. ACSI prices now only offer 5amps so we lashed out the additional €5 for an additional 5 amps, after all, we’ll now have to cook for ourselves this evening again after all.

Cuppa stop

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[Just smiffy]

Still, it was a Sunday morning, it wasn’t raining or cold, and the A63 was smooth and mostly empty. We stopped for a cuppa and noticed that every single aire, both serviced and green, we completely full of parked up trucks.Never seen anything like this since operation Badger or whatever it was called on the M20 after Br***t.

Trucks not allowed to drive on Sundays, except refrigerated trucks and special license…..

 

[DAC and Jan]

Plage du Lac looks like a must for next trip. Hope you continue to have an enjoyable trip.

Thank you
We have arrived in Cabra today, lovely town
There are 2 camperstops showing but the one next to the Olive trail ( old railway line) has been enlarged now, go past the Aire sign ( pointing right) and take the next left, in front of a long brick wall Go up to the roundabout and take the first right in to the car park camperstop is above the car park

 

[GIZMO1020]

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 parkView attachment 858910

View attachment 858914
Cheese Farm, EccomoyView attachment 858921

View attachment 858916View attachment 858918

Hello out there - you have the same motorhome as us . Unfortunately, only had ours for a year and have several things go wrong whilst in Spain. Have you had any issues with your motorhome?
Ours is 2012.
Would greatly appreciate if you could offer any advice on our problems below;
1 - our water started flooding out the bathroom and flooding out from underneath the van.
2 - heating keeps making a noisy whirring sound when turned on with gas choice. Electric or electric/gas combined, it keeps flickering red.
3 - the cassette toilet flap door lock fell apart when opened.
Any advice, if known, greatly appreciated.
I’ve attached a photo of the broken flap door lock - there is more parts to go back in but want to make sure we put them back in the right way.
Plus, photos of boiler under seat and wondering what the blue reset button is for.

 

[varaizian]

Hi, we travelled down through France last week,
Done a 4 day layover in Seville at the marina at
Gelves . On the way down I kept driving to get past Bordeaux before Sunday evening so was cream crackered. Jan found a lovely new Aire/site at a disused coal pit but now a nature reserve which you can walk right round with facilities, and cafe with toilets. View attachment 859600View attachment 859601

View attachment 859603

View attachment 859604

We are going down that way this week. Our normal first stop is Parentis-en-Born but that looks better: albeit without electricity. I rather resent the longish diversion off the A63 to Parentis and this looks quicker. Strange place to find an old coal mine though. We too have stayed very happily at Gelves and travelled into Seville on the bus but that was between dogs. We now have the one in the avatar who is impeccably behaved but rather large! Still watching the reports of road blocks and rolling obstructions before deciding which way to jump. Thanks for the info.

 

[Ingwe]

Hello out there - you have the same motorhome as us . Unfortunately, only had ours for a year and have several things go wrong whilst in Spain. Have you had any issues with your motorhome?
Ours is 2012.
Would greatly appreciate if you could offer any advice on our problems below;
1 - our water started flooding out the bathroom and flooding out from underneath the van.
2 - heating keeps making a noisy whirring sound when turned on with gas choice. Electric or electric/gas combined, it keeps flickering red.
3 - the cassette toilet flap door lock fell apart when opened.
Any advice, if known, greatly appreciated.
I’ve attached a photo of the broken flap door lock - there is more parts to go back in but want to make sure we put them back in the right way.
Plus, photos of boiler under seat and wondering what the blue reset button is for.



View attachment 859759

View attachment 859760

View attachment 859761

Hi, glad you’ve got such good taste in vans!
Ours is 2012 and we’ve done over 45,000 miles since we got it in 2015. We had a few issues but everyone has issues to varying degrees with any make. On the whole, we’ve been very happy with our Bailey.

As to your issues, the only one on which I can comment, is the flickering red light on the Truma. You can only ise gas and electric if you’re on mains hookup. If you are not on hookup and you choose has and electric, the red light will flicker.

With regards to your water flooding issue, I don’t know about this but there is an excellent Bailey Users’ Group on Facebook. I don’t use FB but my wife does and the group’s technical experts can address almost every issue.

Also don’t forget the Bailey section on this excellent forum. Let me know if I can help further.

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[DAC and Jan]

We are going down that way this week. Our normal first stop is Parentis-en-Born but that looks better: albeit without electricity. I rather resent the longish diversion off the A63 to Parentis and this looks quicker. Strange place to find an old coal mine though. We too have stayed very happily at Gelves and travelled into Seville on the bus but that was between dogs. We now have the one in the avatar who is impeccably behaved but rather large! Still watching the reports of road blocks and rolling obstructions before deciding which way to jump. Thanks for the info.

 

[DAC and Jan]

. As the aire is newly built and now government appointed I believe, according to the sign there, it may have electricity, as many aires do now! Usually 12/14 Euros per night all inclusive with a card you top up as you go.
Works well because you only get charged for the hours your in the site, The rest are carried over to the next Aire you go to.

 

[125BEER]

Hello out there - you have the same motorhome as us . Unfortunately, only had ours for a year and have several things go wrong whilst in Spain. Have you had any issues with your motorhome?
Ours is 2012.
Would greatly appreciate if you could offer any advice on our problems below;
1 - our water started flooding out the bathroom and flooding out from underneath the van.
2 - heating keeps making a noisy whirring sound when turned on with gas choice. Electric or electric/gas combined, it keeps flickering red.
3 - the cassette toilet flap door lock fell apart when opened.
Any advice, if known, greatly appreciated.
I’ve attached a photo of the broken flap door lock - there is more parts to go back in but want to make sure we put them back in the right way.
Plus, photos of boiler under seat and wondering what the blue reset button is for.



View attachment 859759

View attachment 859760

View attachment 859761

Hi gizmo
In your 3rd photo where does the connected white pipe go or attach to it looks like your infill for fresh water"whale"....pump.should it not be connected to the tank.....

Cheers

 

[Orion]

A MH is Class 2
ViaMichelin is a great resource for planning. I put in my Ducato which is also Class 2 and it says toll will be €35.20


View attachment 859539

Interesting that the ViaMichelin webpage has the Ducato listed but the app doesn’t!

 

[varaizian]

. As the aire is newly built and now government appointed I believe, according to the sign there, it may have electricity, as many aires do now! Usually 12/14 Euros per night all inclusive with a card you top up as you go.
Works well because you only get charged for the hours your in the site, The rest are carried over to the next Aire you go to.

Just looked it up and found that it is a new Camping-Car Park site. We have had one of their cards for years. As you say they all have water and electricity. That is very good news as far as we are concerned.

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[Atsen]

Hi, we travelled down through France last week,
Done a 4 day layover in Seville at the marina at
Gelves . On the way down I kept driving to get past Bordeaux before Sunday evening so was cream crackered. Jan found a lovely new Aire/site at a disused coal pit but now a nature reserve which you can walk right round with facilities, and cafe with toilets. View attachment 859600View attachment 859601

View attachment 859603

View attachment 859604

Hi Dac and Jan, this stop off looks pretty good at plage du lac Morcenx. We ve had a look on Google and tried co ordinates but couldnt find exact location, did you use different ones or was it easy to find? We re travelling down next week and this would be a great location before crossing over into Spain. Many thanks

 

[DAC and Jan]

Hi Dac and Jan, this stop off looks pretty good at plage du lac Morcenx. We ve had a look on Google and tried co ordinates but couldnt find exact location, did you use different ones or was it easy to find? We re travelling down next week and this would be a great location before crossing over into Spain. Many thanks

 

[varaizian]

Look at my post #45 above and look up the Camping-Car Parks site which has full details and photos etc. If you are not familiar with CCP sites there is plenty of stuff on here or let me know. You can buy a card and add some credit upon entry at the barrier. They have a good helpline and can speak English if you are not confident in French.

 

[DAC and Jan]

Try ARJUZANX! french prounce it ‘gaseon’?
We use Camping- Car Park app
It is across from Dac and a little up, you can see the lake on the map.
We were going to San-Sabatian afterwards and on to spain
Jan has found it, or close to on Google maps

 

[DAC and Jan]

Try this, it is the actual location, the camperstop is at the top end of the car park.
Straight road that seemed to go on forever, but I was tired!
next day was cross country but came on to good roads and a lot lower down
We used the N1 via Biaritze to avoid the many lorries on the motorway and more scenic

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[varaizian]

Try ARJUZANX! french prounce it ‘gaseon’?
We use Camping- Car Park app
It is across from Dac and a little up, you can see the lake on the map.
We were going to San-Sabatian afterwards and on to spain
Jan has found it, or close to View attachment 860027on Google maps

Hello Atsen, I tried that but then found it on there as "Morcenx". When I looked this morning there were 22 free spaces out of 25 in total so doesn't look like you need to book ahead. I plan to be there Wednesday afternoon so feel free to ask me any questions then. Don't forget to check on the VINCI Autoroutes site for the latest information on the whereabouts of roadblocks and rolling obstructions en-route. Bonne Route!

 

[Carpmart]

Have you lot not found what3words yet? Makes these kind of dialogues way easier!

 

[MichaelT]

Hi, we travelled down through France last week,
Done a 4 day layover in Seville at the marina at
Gelves . On the way down I kept driving to get past Bordeaux before Sunday evening so was cream crackered. Jan found a lovely new Aire/site at a disused coal pit but now a nature reserve which you can walk right round with facilities, and cafe with toilets. View attachment 859600View attachment 859601

View attachment 859603

View attachment 859604

Hi DAC and Jan was the marina in sevilla busy, currently in cordoba so thinking of going there tomorrow afternoon after visiting the town here in the morning?

 

[Ingwe]

This morning we left Camping Larouletta at Urrugne after a balmy night at 23°. There were a lot of Brit vans there and from the few chats we had, all had had the same diversions and delays.
Camping Larouletta is an ACSI site and is very well equipped. The toilets have paper and everything is very clean. The showers have taps rather than those pressure thingies that pop out after five seconds stopping the water flow. So you can enjoy a plentiful, hot shower.

There is an E le Clerk about 3 minutes away where did a shop and filled up with diesel. Then we set off for the short distance to Spain. We crossed the border at Irun and the number of lorries reduced significantly. Nice smooth roads, tunnels every five miles or so it seemed.

After an hour we stopped at a services for breakfast. We had two small bacon rolls with a slice of green pepper in olive oil. Tea and a coffee all in came to €10.10. Delicious! When we paid, the card (or operator) went on a frolic of its own and debited our account €101.10. When we pointed out the error, the operator apologised and asked whether we’d accept €91.10 change. Skeptical and cynical on the look-out for a scam, we cautiously agreed and checked the notes for €90 and bit the €1 coin. All was well. Or at least, the ink on the notes was dry.

Our destination today was a free park up at an olive oil farm near Tedula. They gave us directions to find it off the A68 not the AP68 to which sat navs erroneously direct you. And a lovely spot it is too. There is another Brit van here; a humungous Burstner Elegance tag axle. Other than that, just us so far. There are 10 free spaces.

We decided we’d buy some of their olive oil and were given a detailed but thankfully short talk on the history of the olive oil company, what to look for in an olive oil and how the different types of olives give different tastes. To my crude palette, there was some difference between the olive types, but it was difficult to discern which was ‘better’. We bought one €14 bottle and didn’t buy any of the other goodies available, like bags of roasted almonds, wines, soaps etc.

Tomorrow, we will head to Tereul for another free parking. Estimated journey time is 2.5 hours which is normally our maximum daily journey time. Then one more stop, possibly at Oliva, before our ultimate destination, Denia.

It is a lot cooler today. A high of 11° with a low of 7°. Also, a bit overcast today which is a bit disappointing after yesterday.

Free parking at Artajo Olive-oil Farm near Tedula

 

[varaizian]

Now, there is a difference between you and me; and not to my credit I have a very bad habit of not checking the sum requested and just paying and walking off in blissful ignorance until much too late. Looks lovely there.

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[DAC and Jan]

Hi DAC and Jan was the marina in sevilla busy, currently in cordoba so thinking of going there tomorrow afternoon after visiting the town here in the morning?

They come and go but always seemed to be a couple of spaces, I would suggest arriving after 12.00 as that is the cut off.
Bus runs to Seville every 20 mins, €1.45 each 141 Bus Seville district
As you leave the bus station in seville cross the first main rd on your left and just a little further on you will find an information booth, again on the left, map and information available there.
Tapas quarter, ask where it is However, a street beyond, just of to the right is the Jewish quarter, and again some lovely food available but a little more unique and individual
Also a back door to the park and the palace, a must simply for the size and majesty
Amazing architecture with a boating lake in the
what we would call a moat
Bus journey back, look for a Mercadona on the left ( after you have stopped at the Metro station) then a Aldi on your right, the next stop is the marina . Enjoy

 

[G-RMPS]

Many moons ago I landed my wee plane at Blois to refuel. Paid the bill of 600FF with a credit card. When I got home I found they had charged me 6000FF. Took me 6 weeks of hassle to get the change back from BP.

 

[G-RMPS]

Are you planning to stay opposite the police station in the centre of Teruel? No facilities, but tons of space and a Mercadona supermarket next door.

 

[Pete D.]

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.

We use The Drum in Ashford when we use the Chunnel. Reasonably priced with hook up and food available in the pub.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

We are following your Travel blog with great interest. Our plan is to do something similar next January and I wondered whether you have booked any sites in Spain or are going to risk taking things as they happen?

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