1st France Trip - Top Tips Wanted!

[California Dreamin]

As he said ^^^^^ I have noticed a few warnings about reversed polarity on here.... but in 7 years of European camping travels have never seen/experienced or even known of an issue associated with polarity.

Have a good trip...

[oorwullie]

avoid france at all costs, tis full of of asshole feckin englanders with satnavs that land them in a field of caulifloweres.

[Splurt]

Thanks a million for all the tips everyone. Just about to get of the boat now, fingers crossed all goes smoothly. Will keep ye's informed!

Ryan & Eimear

[OXI]

Thanks a million for all the tips everyone. Just about to get of the boat now, fingers crossed all goes smoothly. Will keep ye's informed!

Ryan & Eimear

Excellent. Enjoy your holiday.

We are going in June - can't wait.

Frank.

[16vmini]

drive on the other side of the road...

[Charlie1950]

I've been going to France every year since about 1990. The last 10 years I've used Irish Ferries Rosslare to Cherbourg or (better IMO) Roscoff. I live in Belfast.

I would say, buy the Rough Guide or Lonely Planet and read them every night to plan the next day or two.

All the above advice on where to go is excellent. Loire and Dordoyne are both lovely.

I hope you enjoy yourselves.

One more very important point and hopefully I'm not teaching you to suck eggs! If you intend using electric hook-ups, I would thoroughly recommend taking a polarity tester with you, as quite a few of the French sites have reversed polarity (live & neutral reversed). They cost very little to buy (£5 to £10) and they not only tell you the polarity, but also earth faults etc. If it shows reverse polarity all you need to do is reverse the live and neutral wires in your hook-up lead. Alternatively to save frigging about each time you stop at a different campsite you can make up an adaptor that has been wired up in reverse to take with you.

Regarding the quote above - and without meaning to offend Charlie1950, forget about this issue. It really doesn't matter about reverse polarity unless the fuse goes AND you poke your fingers where they shouldn't be after the fuse blows. It'll work fine with reversed polarity.
I'm an electrical engineer with 30 years experience (and a time-served electrician before that) and I don't check polarity and I don't even care if it's reversed. Just don't poke your fingers into electrical circuits if you don't know what you're doing. Relax and enjoy your holiday.

Frank.

If you weren't already aware I hope this is of use,

Charlie.

No offence taken, and I don't wish to get embroiled in an ongoing discussion about this subject, all I would say in my defence (perhaps being paranoid about safety) is that it is a recommendation by both the Caravan Club, the Camping and Caravan club that polarity testers and adaptors are used. Additionally there are literally thousands of threads on the internet about this subject and for the sake of less than £20 for a polarity tester and adapter I feel that safety should always come as a top priority. Unfortunately, unlike OXI a lot of people do not know what they're doing, and I think the most damning part of OXI's reply is the phrase "unless the fuse goes AND you poke your fingers where they shouldn't be after the fuse blows". Unfortunately, people and I include children and grandchildren in that description do poke their fingers where they shouldn't. So as far as I'm concerned it's always safety first and bugger the expense.
Charlie.

[ronsrecord]

Make sure you have good insurance cover - breakdown and holiday. Some idiot just tried to break into our vehicle while we were on beach in the south of France this evening - broken window. Knackered lock and door.

Also - make sure your bank knows you're going, and you're phone is set up to use in europe.

[OXI]

I've been going to France every year since about 1990. The last 10 years I've used Irish Ferries Rosslare to Cherbourg or (better IMO) Roscoff. I live in Belfast.

I would say, buy the Rough Guide or Lonely Planet and read them every night to plan the next day or two.

All the above advice on where to go is excellent. Loire and Dordoyne are both lovely.

I hope you enjoy yourselves.

One more very important point and hopefully I'm not teaching you to suck eggs! If you intend using electric hook-ups, I would thoroughly recommend taking a polarity tester with you, as quite a few of the French sites have reversed polarity (live & neutral reversed). They cost very little to buy (£5 to £10) and they not only tell you the polarity, but also earth faults etc. If it shows reverse polarity all you need to do is reverse the live and neutral wires in your hook-up lead. Alternatively to save frigging about each time you stop at a different campsite you can make up an adaptor that has been wired up in reverse to take with you.

Regarding the quote above - and without meaning to offend Charlie1950, forget about this issue. It really doesn't matter about reverse polarity unless the fuse goes AND you poke your fingers where they shouldn't be after the fuse blows. It'll work fine with reversed polarity.
I'm an electrical engineer with 30 years experience (and a time-served electrician before that) and I don't check polarity and I don't even care if it's reversed. Just don't poke your fingers into electrical circuits if you don't know what you're doing. Relax and enjoy your holiday.

Frank.

If you weren't already aware I hope this is of use,

Charlie.

No offence taken, and I don't wish to get embroiled in an ongoing discussion about this subject, all I would say in my defence (perhaps being paranoid about safety) is that it is a recommendation by both the caravan Club, the Camping and caravan club that polarity testers and adaptors are used. Additionally there are literally thousands of threads on the internet about this subject and for the sake of less than £20 for a polarity tester and adapter I feel that safety should always come as a top priority. Unfortunately, unlike OXI a lot of people do not know what they're doing, and I think the most damning part of OXI's reply is the phrase "unless the fuse goes AND you poke your fingers where they shouldn't be after the fuse blows". Unfortunately, people and I include children and grandchildren in that description do poke their fingers where they shouldn't. So as far as I'm concerned it's always safety first and bugger the expense.
Charlie.

Fair enough Charlie,

I can't disagree with your argument really. I'm not suggesting that you should put yourself and others at risk. It's correct that reverse polarity is bad and could be dangerous in certain circumstances and those caravan organisations can obviously only ever recommend the safest approach even though the risk is miniscule.

So, although for me I will continue to ignore the reverse polarity issue, I'm going to withdraw my previous advice and say that you should take Charlie's advice and test polarity and carry a reverse-connected hook up adapter.

There, I feel better now.

Frank.

[Ralf85]

I know that you are out there now. As regards reverse polarity, I have been assured that if you have the original westie hook up system your circuit breaker should protect you from damage. I must say I have never had a problem. I hope you are having fun. Enjoy et bonne route!

Patrick

[sarran1955]

Hello,

You're welcome to drop by.....

Plenty of space, shade, hook-up,

Full workshop....

Cordialement,

[Bowton Lad]

I'm driving down to Dover tomorrow & the over to Calais on Monday. I'm going to camp for one night on the northern bank of La Seine near Petit Andelys/Les Andelys & then push on down to La Creuse. I'm going to camp near Bourganeuf/Soubrebost for 3 - 5 nights while I tour the area & then I'm going to camp somewhere near Aubusson for a few nights. On the French Bank Holiday weekend I will be staying with friends at Etampes about 30 miles south of Paris. After that, I will slowly meander back to Calais for the ferry back to Dover.

[Splurt]

Back safe, sound and all in one piece! Van developed a squeak and clunk towards the end of the month but nothing that turning the radio up didn't solve, it got us home and thats the main thing!! Absolutely loved it, didn't take long to get into the swing of van life french style. 9 France passion, 9 wild and 3 Aires stopovers as far as i can remember! Not even home a week and really missing the daily fresh bread and actually using an awning for shade rather than shelter, may not happen again this year. I will try and pick the best of the photo's and get them posted up with a breakdown of where and what we got up to, any big learning points should come back to me then!

Thanks again for all the tips, a great help.

Ryan

[Ralf85]

Shhhhhhh don't tell everybody how good it is. Seriously though I'm glad you enjoyed it. The weather is one of the reasons we go every summer. In 28 years of holidaying over there rain has never been an issue in the summer and the food, people, countryside, roads (their roads make ours look third world. They upgrade them all the time), campsites and historical buildings have been brilliant too. French garages kept us going when broken down in a way British garages dont' compare with too. Just found out, as well as my daughters three others are flying out to join us on site down in South West France. We will all meet up with our French and Dutch buddies who we all met over there on holiday over the years.
. Shorts, t shirts and sunshine too. Bring on then end of July!

Patrick