F.A.O. rob_jax

[mikeE]

Robert,

Many thanks for the Brugge info. I was really looking for a place for an overnighter before making the final run to the ferry on the way home but having read your post I think we will make it more of a stay and take in Gent and Damme too. Just off to re-shuffle the timetable . . . . .

Mike E

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Mike,

Fuel in Belgium is a bit cheaper than France, but if you forget to fill up before heading off - there is a brand new Total filling station on the E40 motorway just before the border with France. It's very caravan friendly with angled, wide, filling islands.

Damme is great for eating in the evening - lively street scene in the Markt - but it's like where I live, small and you can see all of it in an hour.

Brugge will keep you occupied for a day or more, but it's very commercial

If you need any specific information, let me know. I've got some business meetings in Middelburg (just over the border in Holland) in early March, so I'll be staying in Damme before catching the Eurotunnel the next morning.

Robert

 

[cooky1]

Robert, we are doing a day trip to Brugge later this month. It is an overnight crossing from Hull. We will probably travel down into France to get some 'goodies' at a hypermarket and then drive back up to Bugge and spend the rest of the day there. Do you have any advise on the best place to park or drive to visit Brugge. We did the same trip last Feb. but could not find a way into the centre of Brugge with the car. We ended up parking on the outskirts near a canal and walking in. This meant we did not see much of the town centre.

Any advise would be helpful so we may maximise out day trip.

Graeme.

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Graeme,

Enjoy your trip.

French Hypermarket - the Auchan at Grande Synthe / Dunkerque (exit 25 "Centre Commercial" but they are renumbering the exits on this section of the E40) would be my choice - good selection of regional products (but wrong time of the year for fruit & veg) - if you like cheese, Mimolette (Boule de Lille) is good.

Brugge - by car - your best chance is to park in the enormous underground car park at the railway station (follow the big Park and Ride P+R signs) - and then either walk in or take the transfer bus.

Take exit 7 from the A10 - keep straight on towards the city centre - the station P+R is on the right at the intersection with the ring road. Show your car park ticket to the transfer bus driver and you get a free ride to / from the city centre

Robert

 

[cooky1]

Thanks Robert. I think we used the Auchan last year. A lot of the people on the ferry were using the same hypermarket. It was funny at the checkouts, with the French trolly's piled high with toilet rols and bottled water and the English with wine, beer and cheese!

On the way down the E40 there were police doing speed checks. The car was hidden in the bushes on the central reservation monitoring vehicles heading North. We kept to the speed limits and noticed on the way back North, police bikes waiting to stop vehicles that had been caught by the camera.

I will try the park and ride.

Thanks.

Graeme.

ps Yes I love cheese so will try wour recommendation.

 

[KeithM]

Robert - you wrote "there is a brand new Total filling station on the E40 motorway just before the border with France. It's very caravan friendly with angled, wide, filling islands."

We will be travelling from Calais to Delft on the 1st May (a Public Holiday). I know there are no service stations on the A16 between Calais and the Belgique border and am concerned about finding an off-autoroute filling station that will be open. My Michelin 2006 road atlas for Benelux & Germany does not show autoroute service stations. Whereabouts exactly is the Total one on the E40 and is there one on the eastern side?

 

[mikeE]

Wow ! That query of mine generated some interest - which is one of the joys of forums like this. Perhaps we should all carry the latest edition of P.C. Mag. as identification.

Mike E

 

[cris_408518]

If you need fuel before the Belgium border there is a 24 hour Elf station truck stop off the dual carriageway that you exit on from Calais ferry port. You take the ramp onto the dual carriageway from the port and the road bends around to the right and you then go off down slip road and around the roandabout to the ELF station that is to the left.

I've never known that garage close but you need to get past all the trucks around to the far side pumps for car fuel.(truck pumps have large quick fill diesel nozels and can blow back if you try and fill a car) As its a truck stop you can easily get a caravan through. At night time you have to lodge your keys or cc at the till befire they release the pump due to night time drive offs. If you can make it acrross the Belgium border there is a similar station to the one Rob mentions with easy angled access on the north bound side.

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Keith,

The Fuel station on the motorway is 25 miles past the Auchan turning - about 15 minutes over the Belgian border - and yes it's on both sides of the motorway. And it's either a Total or Texaco station.

Couldn't be any easier - you can see the new fuel station for miles (dead flat country)

As an aside, those of you travelling in Belgium should know that Total Belgium has just announced a free road side assistance program - fill up your tank (25 litres or more), get your Total Loyalty card stamped (pick these up in all Total stations) and you get three weeks of free coverage (car / car + caravan)

Link http://www.be.total.com/content/documents/Press%20release%20EN.pdf

Robert

 

[KeithM]

Hi Robert,

Brilliant. Thank you for the two pieces of very useful information. Now I know for sure I will not need to fill up in Dover before sailing.

 

[cris_408518]

E40 - A18 (Calais > Brugge)

8433 Middelkerke - Mannekensvere

Phone: 058/23.23.53

Services: Shop, Sandwiches, LPG

E40-A18 (Brugge > Calais)

8433 Middelkerke - Mannekensvere

Phone: 058/24.17.95

Services: Shop, Sandwiches, LPG

Texaco according to Sat Nav

 

[sue_5094052]

Definitely Texaco.

We always fill up there en route to Blaarmeersen. No problem getting car and van alongside pumps due to angles. Very easy exit and entry to motorway, which is not usually very busy, even when we get there at 8am.

The shop is good, and there is a very pleasant cafe, by Mway standards.

Both garages, on opposite sides of the road, are spookily identical.

Sue