Part One – France

So after a few pleasant days with Mum, we left on Tuesday morning after New Year headed for the Eurotunnel Terminal at Folkestone for our 5.40 pm booking. We did not have to rush which was just as well because it wasn't the most pleasant of journeys, mainly due to the persistent rain showers we encountered not long after our departure. Nevertheless we arrived in good time and after checking the usual train time options decided on our booked slot to give us time to do a few things before we left.

Once across we had already decided to overnight in the motorhome parking area of Citie Europ, quite a popular stopover and we joined several other vans parked up. However it had now turned very stormy with gale force winds rocking us about despite some protection from other vans! This continued throughout the night and we got little sleep. Pity the poor people who had elected to cross the Channel by ferry!

Next morning it was still very gusty, something which actually lasted almost all the way through France together with frequent rain showers. We refuelled at the Auchan hypermarket near Boulogne before taking our normal route south; Abbeville, Rouen, Evreux, Dreux, Chartres, Tours, Poitiers, Angueleme then Bordeaux and the Spanish border. We should perhaps point out that, apart from Tours, the route kept us away from the centres of these busy towns and cities.

On Wednesday evening we stopped at the free (in winter) aire de camping-car at Pont de L'Arche, earlier than we normally do but we were tired after a disturbed night and it's a very pleasant town, even in the wet, for stretching our legs. Sheltered from the wind, it was a more peaceful night although the rain continued.

Pont de L'Arche

Pont de L'Arche

Thursday saw us heading south into a stiff headwind, which wasn't conducive to a good fuel consumption, even at the reduced speeds we drove, shown by the fuel calculations we keep. Lunchtime found us at Chateaudun, one of our favourite spots, before pressing on towards Tours. It wasn't long before we realised our reduced speeds meant we were not going to make Tours before dark so Bren checked our campsite information and found another aire a little bit off our track. TomTom promptly tried to take us under a low bridge, for no apparent reason, but then behaved and took us to Villaines les Rochers, really a village where the motorhome parking was in the square outside the Mairie. A slightly touristy place, it was however out of season so mostly closed, but it was in a sheltered valley and also felt a bit warmer – we were getting quite on south by now.

Jamie normally travels very well and is no bother during the day, however he does demand attention once we are stopped. He is also pretty good during the night but occasionally he gets upset, possibly due to being uncomfortable for some reason, and asks to go out, this time at 3.45 am! He took ages to settle down and was still fractious at 8.30.

Until you have to cross it, you don't realise just how large France is. The roads generally are good, fast and apart from the larger towns are traffic free. We don't use the autoroutes – toll roads – as generally there is no need and anyway we prefer the scenery through the little towns and villages. Yes, it's slower and overall probably doesn't save us much but it beats miles and miles of long boring motorway. Thursday became a bit of a slog, still fighting headwinds with just the occasional heavy shower, and our lunch stop was getting longer each day so that we had to forego our intention of getting past Bordeaux today. Instead Bren spotted another aire we had used a couple of times before at Montguyon, again just a short way off our route but quiet and free!

At this point we had to decide where we were going to cross into Spain. Last year we used the Somport Tunnel through the Pyrenes, a lovely scenic route but very subject to weather, rather than the standard route around Bayonne and Irun (Spain). Checking the various weather forecasts showed some doubt about the Somport area so to play it safe we chose the old way, deciding to use the motorway at this point because our experiences on the ordinary roads were, well, pretty awful even in the best of weather. As it turned out this was a wise decision; later weather reports showed up to 2 metres of snow in the mountains!

So Saturday saw us heading to Bordeaux, looking for a hypermarket to refresh our supplies as everything is closed in Spain on Sunday. Le Clerc was the first major store we spotted as we were approaching Bordeaux so we called in, managing to keep our visit down to half an hour for a change. It was absolutely manic in there, we've never seen a French hypermarket so busy! Once clear we again headed south, eventually joining the autoroute when the ordinary road disappeared. Lunch at a service area as the weather deteriorated again until by the time we reached the Spanish border it was mixed snow and sleet.

On several occasions we have found ourselves in this area at stopping time and have tended to use an aire on the outskirts of San Sebastion, but today is a national holiday in Spain and our experience has been that the Spanish like to come out in droves, taking up all the parking spaces. So Bren checked a few others and spotted a likely, if not particularly attractive, official m/h parking area on an industrial estate in the small seaside town of Zumaia, just a few miles west of San Sebastion. TomTom had some difficulty getting to it – we could see it but not how to get there – but after a couple of false moves we found a quiet riverside spot with a couple of other vans and parked up. It was indeed an industrial estate but being a holiday weekend was otherwise deserted.

But at least we had arrived in Spain after one of the worst transits we can remember through France.