France Part 3 - Nice Aire & free Pavement Parking With EHU!
And now it is day eight as I write this from the small coastal resort of Hauteville-Sur-Mer, population seemingly 700. It’s a lovely little place with two nice bars with friendly staff and people. In the second bar, would you believe we got speaking to a guy from Swinderby, a small village in Lincolnshire built on the old RAF base where I did my basic training back in 1981, who says it’s not a small world? To make things better, his friend had a Border Terrier. And if you haven’t visited the website, please do and take in ScottytheBorder, my wee dug, with an Instagram account of the same name! It’s all for a smile and a laugh!
So, what can we tell you about motorhoming or travelling in a vehicle of your choice? Well, when we bought Mary McHarg two years ago, Charlie the sales guy, told us to make sure we kept our water inlet cap locked, as ‘you don’t want anyone messing with your water.’ And he had a good point; however, what I find is that with the motoring vehicle fraternity being like-minded people, I do believe it is very unlikely that anyone would mess with your water supply – but you never know! So, we make sure ours is kept locked, as is our gas supply storage door, something else you don’t want anyone else messing around with. Sometimes it's best to play it safe, especially when abroad, as we never know who might not like us Brits.
And now on day nine, we are at our campsite in Saint Briac-Sur-Mer, and what a difference a few hours make, but a loveley place to prk and wake up to and a nice cheap Aire. And while checking our future stops, we believe we may have planned too many miles until our 3-night booked stop in the Loire Valley starting on day 15. So, we are just going with the flow for a couple of days, because the planned route can easily be shortened quite easily if needed. It may mean not visiting the very northwest of the country near Brest, but we’re not going to see all the country anyway, so if we miss that, then so be it; we shall see, and as I write at 7:00 at night, my wife is contemplating where I will be driving to tomorrow.
It is a very quiet little village, but it looks quite affluent with lovely properties, some for sale near the €2m mark. Not sure selling Mary McHarg will get us anywhere here, so best we keep going!
We also found this, and seemingly you can just park up on the pavement with electricity and chill out for the night!
We had originally planned to stop overnight in the area of Le Mont-Saint-Michel for two nights, but we didn’t even make one. Researching the village, I do believe the prices made it a 'rip-off:' €16 to park. We couldn’t take the dogs on the shuttle unless they were in an ‘appropriate bag,' meaning a 45-minute walk from the parking to the Cathedral. Though we could have left them in a local kennel for €9 each. With €14 each to get into the cathedral, we decided against it.
Blackpool on steriods - we’ll never know!
I’m kinda glad we did, as while we have given ourselves a decent holiday budget, that is too much. And when speaking to an English guy later in the day, he had been, and he told me it was like ‘Blackpool on steroids' with all their tat. Not my kinda place! Even though it looks interesting.
And so, we decided on Saint-Malo as an alternative, but as I write this, we still haven’t seen it. It was yet another town that was just frustrating. Driving around, seeing car park after car park with those low barriers. And again, not being able to find somewhere safe to park the motorhome, we just gave up! There is only so long you can search for parking spaces. Personally, I would rather be out of town driving along these nice smooth roads than getting frustrated in a town I wanted to see. There will be other options; at the minute it’s chill time with a very nice French lager, and that is 1664, something I see occasionally on draught back home but never drink. I’m sure that will change moving forward!
But before I move on, just another couple of motorhome tips. Now if I’m stating the obvious, then I apologise, but some things don’t come to us that easily when we are living a new lifestyle. We have discussed certain topics with friends who have just purchased a motorhome, and on a couple of occasions they have said ‘good idea’ or similar. They may be thinking to themselves, 'That's blooming obvious,' but they have given us the polite answer. We don’t all know everything!
When in a traveling vehicle, things get repetitive, such as arriving on a site anywhere. Fill up with water if required. Park up, wheel chocks if needed to keep the vehicle level, and hook up with electric if chosen, (I will come onto ‘wild camping’ later in my posts.) Internal power on to check all is okay and transfer from vehicle battery to mains, putting the anti-mist screen cover on, and so on. And there is general sorting out of how you want things to be. It’s not like a hotel or Airbnb, where you unpack the bags and go to the pub.
To start, a checklist is a must (all are available online;) at least it was for us. The good thing is that the checklist eventually gets into your head, and you won’t need one – or will you? Just a couple of days ago we were all set up, ready to chill out, and we remembered we hadn’t filled up with water. The last thing we needed was to undo everything just to drive round the corner for water. We gave it a go and just made it to the next day!
It’s all easy, and you get into routines, but if you are staying here and there for one night at a time, it is every time you get to a site. But it is also the same when you leave. Everything you do on arrival in reverse, maybe also empty your toilet cassette, empty wastewater, empty general rubbish, do the washing up, etc. etc. It all needs doing, and it needs doing every time you stop, and it's all repetitive but all part of the travelling vehicle lifestyle. Just something to point out: it all takes time, every time. So, if you don’t fancy that, then go with the Airbnbs or the hotels - it’s just a thought, as it isn’t always so simple, especially when it rains!
So how about buying an old-fashioned flask? Because when you make your early morning cuppa, make up the flask of your favourite hot drink, because when you fancy a drink late morning when you’re on the road, it’s ready-made, and there's no need to look for a cafe! We can’t use our standard plug points unless we are hooked up to mains electric, so we can’t stop to boil the electric kettle. When you’re driving, you’re advised to switch the gas off. So do you want to be stopping switching gas on to make a brew and then switching it off again – not really! So do it all when you’re making brekkie, and make up a flask. The wife often does a lunchtime baguette (or a sandwich when in the UK) when doing brekkie too. And that’s lunch sorted! However, two days running, we made up the flask and never used it! By the time we remembered the next morning, it was too cool, and someone forgot the microwave option!
And back to driving in France, well, as we are still in the same area, that being the northwest and along the coast, it’s pretty much the same as previous posts. Pothole-free roads with very little traffic and still flat and still miles and miles of straight, empty roads with acres and acres of agricultural land. But one thing I do find strange and have come across a couple of times is you will come across traffic lights like this one, kinda not doing very much except stopping you and letting you go. Sure, there was a junction over to the left, but just a small junction joining a main road, and in the UK, it would simply have been a ‘give way’ junction for drivers joining the main road. But just to show you how different things can be here in France! And the best bit, the small lights at driver head level? Have you ever stopped at a set of lights and found it difficult to see the lights above you?
On that note, you will see many photos looking out from the front of the motorhome, but you will also see that they are taken from the left-hand side of the right-hand side of the road, meaning it is my wife, the passenger who has taken them!
It is easy to do 60 mph instead of the statutory 50 mph (80 kph) with the roads being as they are, and I have never used my cruise control on A-class-style roads as much as these first 7 days, due to the difference in the roads, and remember it’s not the letter of the road as A is a toll road! But the D’s roads here are pretty much the same as our A-class road style and departmental roads. An N class can is a strategic truck route, probably a dual carriageway.
It is still a beautiful country to be driving in, but being an ex-shepherd's son. I am looking forward to going inland to the Loire Valley and seeing hills and forests and the like. I do have a fondness for the sea and the coast, maybe because my grandfather was a fisherman from Helmsdale, I don’t know, but Saint Briac was a lovely place too, with a very picturesque, harbour and estuary area, as you can see from the photos. Unfortunately, and something else to remember, being a Monday, most of the bars were closed; fortunately, one was open, and we managed to find it! But for note, we have noticed in smaller towns and villages, many places are closed on a Monday.
Thanks for reading
DJ
