It’s always exciting going on an road trip adventure, even when it’s one you’ve done before. Getting ready to go camping is always a bit of a nightmare for us even though most items are stored ready. It’s worse when you’re camping in a different country. This time, when we have a lot less money coming, it’s been even more important not to forget anything. Our destination is a little bit of France tucked away down a road to nowhere but a small summer village with a large campsite and a beach.
Surrounded by water on 3 sides it’s a little bit of paradise. But from previous experiences we know that there aren’t any camping shops near us to buy replacement tent poles. So we have learnt to pack gaffer tape, spare poles and guy ropes. With the help of the RAC we’ve swatted up on the current and new French driving laws and received our Crit’Air sticker to enable us to drive through the towns that are part of the new air quality measurements.
Once the lovely house sitter arrived we were ready to leave for our overnight stop in Folkestone. Boy, did we pick the wrong day to travel! Accidents and congestion delayed our journey by over an hour – even our sat-nav was outwitted at times! Unusually for a summer Friday, we zoomed happily right over the QE bridge at the Dartford Crossing which was a plus!
Our destination for the night was the 3* Wycliffe Hotel on Bouverie Road West. It’s easy to find and has reasonably good free parking. It’s been our hotel of choice for the last 12 years. The new owners Sharon and Trevor gave us a large comfortable 5 bedded, en-suite family room with a double bed, single and bunk bed on the second floor. It’s a 10 minute walk to find a good choice of food outlets. We had freshly cooked pizza and kebabs from a local 5* food hygiene takeaway and while it was cooking we had a stroll to the seafront gardens at Lea Cliffs.
The beds were comfortable and we slept well to the background noise of the seagulls. We crept out just after 5 am for the quick journey to the Dover ferry port. The French have stepped up their passport controls in recent years and we had around a 30 minute wait at the border control. Check-in at P&O was quick and simple thanks to their number plate recognition system and with no queues there we went straight through to our boarding lane.
Boarding started very quickly and we were soon on board the new P&O ferry Spirit of France. There seemed to be plenty of a space for everyone to spread out with short enough queues in both eating areas. There were also plenty of toilets dotted around. We headed to the Food Court on the top deck, where we could choose from cooked, continental, porridge, cereals, sandwiches and yoghurt granola and plenty of different varieties of teas to choose from!
The outside deck had lots of seating and the sea was calm without much swell and a pretty shade of green. I’m a terrible sea traveller and the slightest swell has me heading for the open deck so I can see out the crossing in the centre of the boat!
Too soon we were back on the road for our 800+ km journey to the Midi-Pyrenees. We always stop off at Marquise, around 12 km from Calais, to grab food for the day. I’d recommend using the Lidl there, but if you need the loo, then use Intermarche. Both supermarkets are just off the autoroute, so they are quick and easy to access.
The towns fly by: Bolougne, Abbeville, Rouen, Evreux, Dreux, Chartres, until we hit the payagé at Artenay, north of Orléans. Rouen to Artenay is always a bit of a drag, but it avoids Paris and it is a free route, bar a little stretch of payagé. South of Orléans we change autoroutes and head SW along the Occatiane to our destination of Cahors. The autoroutes are always fairly empty and easy to navigate.
Rest area (Aires) are plentiful throughout the route, around every 15 miles or so. Most of them are simple grassy picnic areas with tables and toilets (from bad to very good). Every 40-50 km is a ‘big’ service area with better toilets, a shop and petrol. The French keep to meal times and by 12.30 pm in high summer each aire is full. A good tip is to pull off around 12-12.15pm to grab a parking space. Lunch is simple, we eat as the French do – fresh. Slice your baguette and fill with cheese or ham and add cucumber or tomato.
We eventually arrive in the beautiful city of Cahors and meet up with our friends at their home for a late evening meal and a catch-up. Our French drive takes from around 10.30am to 9pm. It’s 837 km through some gorgeous countryside and easy driving roads. If we don’t stay with our friends in Cahors, we go straight down to Clement Ferrand, through the volcanos of the Auvergne and onto the Massif Central, over the stunning bridge at Millau, though a couple of tunnels and out into the south of France!
2 Comments
I love the idea of driving to the south of France, but I have been a bit worried to do it with small kids. I had no idea they had so many rest areas, it would make it more manageable!
Give it ago! With the rest areas being so frequent, they makes it really easy to do the long haul motorway journeys with smaller children. Some of the Aires are spectacular, they certainly become part of the trip!