Stoke to Santander to Stoke

[keith]

Finish work in about an hour.

van is packed (allthough we have stripped everything down to essentials to give us maximum flexibility).

aires book packed
sat nav loaded with municipal POIs and more Aires (Cheers Rob)
beer in fridge.
fuel tank full.
Ferry ticket and docs stashed away.

plan is to gently meander to a small site in the Cotswolds tonight. after breakfast on saturday to carry on to Plymouth. spend Saturday and Sunday am in Plymouth and catch the afternoon crossing to Santander. Should land in Spain at Lunchtime on Monday.

rest of the plan is not yet written....

no campsites booked.
no route fixed...allthough the plan is to spend a few days in N Spain esp san sebastian, then to drive into the pyrenees...then to hug the west coast line up to La Rochelle (?) then across country to Loire, Paris (Disneyland!!! ) and then catch a ferry ( not booked from somewhere ?...back to UK)

My plan is to take some piccies and write a few notes when I get back in two weeks time.

Excited...little nervous...but desparate for a break from stress of work.

[MayaTheBee]

Safe trip! Enjoy and take a heck-of-a-lot of pics...

[keith]

cheers....

[keith]

All good so far.....now just into France....St Jean de Luz.

Stopped on Monday night at a place called is lay ...about an hour from santander. One of those places that you want to stay for a week.....but we have to keep moving.

Bit too hot sleeping in the van...wish I'd bought some sort of fan....not something that's usually an issue back home.

[fairwynds]

great trip - good for you guys. pics please!

[keith]

Now at pyla.....the big sand dune....its quite a site.

[keithNgill]

sounds great so far, enjoy the rest of your trip look forward to seeing some pics

[keith]

Last bit on the french side tomorrow..... about 180 miles to Calais.

Booked a cheap hotel on Thursday night to give us an early start for the tunnel crossing on Friday am.

I'm glad I booked my Tunnel crossing last week as there was no space on sat or sun.....and very limeted space on Friday.
I paid 90 quid......nest slot went up to 230.....and that's 1 way.

Still recovering from the gate price of two days at euro Disney....379 euros

[keith]

Were back now....

In total about 1700 miles covered.

Its been great....van drove perfectly and did really well on fuel.
I did find it a bit of a worry for most of the first week thinking of how far we were from home and of all of the things that could have gone wrong. Second week, as we got further into France I started to feel really confident that we were not going to have any issues....but it was still a great feeling to drive onto the tunnel this morning.

Pictures and places to follow.

[mark]

looking forward to the pics.

mark

[jed the spread]

Same here, lets have them

jed

[keith]

Need to transfer them onto pc....job for tomorrow....

One thing though.....Aires.....not for us.
Bought the book 18 quidd and never used one...looked at a few but didn't feel happy.

I do like the municipal sites though.....used one in sh Jean de Luz, one in vivionnes, one just outside samaroue....on the bank of the Seine.

For about 14 euros a night I think they are mostly good value and usually well placed.

Also found a great little hotel in escale s last night....60 euros for a lovely triple room place also has a super restaurant specializing in seafood....great end to a great two weeks.

[Ian Hulley]

One thing though.....Aires.....not for us.
Bought the book 18 quidd and never used one...looked at a few but didn't feel happy.

You're quite right mate, they don't suit everyone ... We've pulled onto 2 now where we just shuffled off again as quietly as possible and kept on going to the next one. Sometimes you get 'Slaughtered Lamb' syndrome where everyone just stops, turns round and looks at you, other times it's obvious the place is over-crowded as it is.

We stayed on one at Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine that was fantastic ... 5 miles away from the Chateau we stayed at so we could arrive at a time of our chosing rather than rushing around on the day before. We normally use Equihen-Plage for the night before the ferry, again so we don't have far to travel on the day of the ferry, nothing to look at but very convenient.

Good to see you're home ok

Ian

[T'Onion]

Yup ,Aires are not to everyone taste , however we have just spent 3 weeks touring about and used nothing but Aires , everyone we used where great,but we do have a shower in the LT

Infact I think the only one we have ever moved away from was in Aimens and thats cos it was £££££

Now about your unused aire book , mine is old and tatty and needs replacing , give you a tenner for it
EDITED , just seen your 'for sale' post , pm'd you

[Ian Hulley]

we have just spent 3 weeks touring about and used nothing but Aires , Infact I think the only one we have ever moved away from was in Aimens and thats cos it was £££££

If I'd known you woz so short Rigsby I'd have lent you a bob or two*



*interest charges apply ... Your property may be at risk if you fail to keep up payments on a loan secured against it, no salesmen will call.