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Europe Tour April 2005 Part 1- Touring France.

 

It took us longer to get started than we had planned due to needing to get work done on the campervan's brakes, which we eventually had done in Canterbury. New front disk pads and new disks, new rear wheel cylinders (one was leaking) and new rear brake shoes. Cost £150 for labour and parts came to around £140. We were eventually pleased with the job after having arranged it the day before but been so unimpressed by the unsupervised apprentice who was left to do the job and who couldn't even jack up the van properly to get the wheels off, that after complaining that after two hours in the workshop he hadn't even been able to start and been told he was "being supervised" which he wasn't because I was present and watching what happened, I tightened the wheel nuts and just drove away to find a better repair shop. And the bastards had the cheek to want to charge me £64 an hour for this untrained child to stuff around with my brakes!! No thanks you very much!

I went to a place that had done the clutch on my Transit van in 2000 for the first Europe tour and although they couldn't do it as this van was too big for their hoist, they recommenced a small repair shop nearby. The owner sduggested I get the parts myself and he would do all the work for a fixed £150. Getting the right parts was the only difficult part, the local supplier gave me the wrong pads, disks and brake shoes , and the mechanic had to order others in from another supplier. I watched the job and was so pleased with his performance we gave him a bonus bottle of French wine from our cellar under the seat of the van. That done we were off the Dover to the ferry to Europe.

March 31 2005. Thursday. Calais. Crossed from Dover on P& O for £109 booked by phone after they wanted £196.50 to book the same ticket at the port. The 1730 hours ferry was two hours late due to earlier fog delays. Captive market says the booking clerk. Not if you know how it works says me! Previously I booked a crossing at the port last July for £119, but this time P&O wouldn't deal, and Seafrance's best offer was £130 return for the 14th June after 9PM. So you need to check prices and book P&O by phone or Internet, or try SpeedFerry, who charge less. about £88 return for a small camper last time I checked in July 2004. The only extra problem I see with SpeedFerry is they only have only one ferry, and if it breaks down, as it was at the time of my last trip in 2004, you could find yourself stuck for a return trip, and have to buy a single with P&O or Sea France which would no doubt cost near as much as a return, in accordance with the best principles of Capitalist exploitation, that we have all been taught to love and cherish.

Stopped overnight at Calais harbourside Camping Car fee parking area. Free dump site, water coin in slot, but doubtful if it works, last time it didn't and the texta color inscription in German warns that it takes money but gives no water. Noisy because of harbour fog signal hooting all night, but as we were tired it didn't bother us until about 5 AM.

Traveling south from Calais avoiding the tollways via backroads calls for some complex navigation until you get a long way south and you may be better on the tollway as far as about Abberville, unless you have GPS navigation as we do.

April 1 2005. Friday. Abberville. Stopped overnight at Géant supermarket carpark, undisturbed.

April 2 2005. Saturday. La Bozoge ( North of Lemans). Heading rapidly south towards Portugal, we remember to fill with diesel and stock up on perishables as everything is closed in France on Sundays. Stopped overnight at an excellent SONP at La Bazoge where we had stopped in Aug 2004.

 

Some small French towns have excellent FREE facilities for camper vans and south of Le Mans before Tours we came across this at Neuille Pont Pierre, where we stopped for lunch. Free electricity, water and dump station beside the pleasent little park right in the village. Such places are fairly common all over France which is a country generally very well set up for camper van holidays.

 

 

 

April 3 2005. Sunday. Broiux s Biutonne. [Photo] Stopped overnight at roadside rest area. Fuel at Jet S of Tours, few stations open Sunday except for credit card sales at supermarkets. Stopped at rest area near Broiux s Biutonne. Travelling via the "N" and "D" class roads may be a bit slower than the tollways but the roads are generally very good, much improved since our tour in 2000, and traffic is light. We had considered using the tollways if necessary but unless you are in a great hurry you don't need to.

April 4 2005. Monday. Bordeaux. Stopped overnight at Le Clerc supermarket carpark near motorway exit 43. Quiet. Bypassed the town, too big. Crossed over into Spain.

April 5 2005, Tuesday. Puerto Etxegarate, N1, Spain. As usual in Spain a Puerto, or mountain pass, provided a parking area to stop the night. Numerous trucks overnight, but fairly quiet area. Big Carrefour in Burgos. Shortage of stopping places along Spanish roads. Rubbish. Burgos.. Scotch Whisky at €2.93 a bottle if you buy 3 or €4.95 for one, and it is a very respectable young Scotch, far better than some of the cheaper "brands" and comparable with the better mid range "brands". Spain is "the" place to buy your whisky.Unable to find LPG at service stations.

 

April 6 2005, Wednesday. Barcial del Barco Spain. [Photo] Generally good roads but sometimes badly repaired in small villages that often look poor and run down. Stoppong places are few and roadside facilities scarse.

 

 

 

 

NEXT - Tour Highlight - Braganca, NE Portugal.

"The ignorance of the masses is profound." - DB Philosopher B. 1944.

"Prophesy - To observe that which has passed, and guess it will happen again." Elbert Hubbard American author and publisher [1859 - 1915]