We are heading down to the vendee france and was wondering if anyone had any experience of aires camping.The reason i ask is we want to travel down as far as possible and stop late evening there is 4 of us and loods of kit so was thinking of leaving kit in van and 2 of us stay up top bunk and the other 2 stay next to van in a little pop up tent,I know there only ment for campervans/motohomes.
So do you think i would be ok to pitch small pop up tent next to van
yeah probably, they are mostly unmaned so to throw a tent up late and dismantle early shouldn't be a problem. I think i remember a few people doing that when we past through some of them. As for the ones with a man/woman on the gate I guess just ask?
Many Aires have only hard standing, I would have thought pitching a tent would be frowned upon on many if not most. Sometimes there isn't even enough room to put a roll-out awning up.
If you buy the Aires book and are selective you may be lucky
Ian.
The Hulley's Bus 1989 2.1DJ Trampspotter LPG courtesy of Steve @ Gasure
Aires are for overnight parking, not camping - which means that you're not allowed to put up a tent or awning, or even have furniture next to your van.
horns wrote:Aires are for overnight parking, not camping - which means that you're not allowed to put up a tent or awning, or even have furniture next to your van.
Indeed, although many (if not most) Aires you go to have gin palaces with awnings out and tables and chairs etc set up.
The Hulley's Bus 1989 2.1DJ Trampspotter LPG courtesy of Steve @ Gasure
Personally, rules aside I wouldn't risk sleeping in a small tent next to the van, for fear of a huge motorhome arriving in the middle of the night, pulling into the gap between vans and squishing me.
horns wrote:Personally, rules aside I wouldn't risk sleeping in a small tent next to the van, for fear of a huge motorhome arriving in the middle of the night, pulling into the gap between vans and squishing me.
I agree entirely ... I wouldn't leave my gear out in one either for that matter.
The Hulley's Bus 1989 2.1DJ Trampspotter LPG courtesy of Steve @ Gasure
Horns i know what your saying but i would not be pitching at the side of the van,it would be off the hard standing area at the back of the van on grass
The the aires we would be staying at i stayedby last year and there was only 2 motorhomes even though there was room for 20 or so at end of luly,hard standing with grass around.
I have seen many aires with table and chaires outside motorhomes but not with tents YET.
I think we will give it a go anyway and if it looks dodgy try the campsite instead.
we travelled (3) and Ian Hulley travelled (4), through many countries without tents we all slept in the van... on Aires...that's what it's for in my opinion.
I have learned to travel light, the tour we had was utterly stress free regarding camping or staying over on an aire.
what on earth are you filling the van wi...... oh hang on is it a pop top with no trailer
i have stayed in aires loads of times in a tent. you dont usually stop till late and leave early so who cares. if they move you on, they move you on but i bet they dont.
billybigspud wrote:i have stayed in aires loads of times in a tent. you dont usually stop till late and leave early so who cares. if they move you on, they move you on but i bet they dont.
billybigspud wrote:i have stayed in aires loads of times in a tent. you dont usually stop till late and leave early so who cares. if they move you on, they move you on but i bet they dont.
jamie
That was my plan stop late.... leave early
Jed i have seen awnings and table and chaires outside vans on aires.I'm sure you have after all your wild camping trips
