first time in France

[3.0ghia]

Just back from three weeks in France thought i would share my views and thoughts as it was out first time touring abroad
and i was very apprehensive about going.....
we used LD lines from Portsmouth on the morning three hour crossing to le havre rating rough crossing but excellant....
two sites we stayed at booked through the caravan club chateau de martragny and camping la hallerais Taden/Dinan
Now i was very apprehensive about france so i have either been lucky with the sites or i am easily pleased..
both easy to find and withing a couple of miles of the main road
both with excellant size serviced pitches
one with a two pinned connection ( martragny)
the other a euro three pinned connection
both correctly wired
both excellant toilet/showers cleaning facilities, and both with well trained staff on hand for any queries
satellite reception was easier to set up than at home, and the weather was superb
in general the french were very accomodating and if you havent been to Dinan i would reccomend it for culture,sights, food/wine
and relaxing we were fortunate to be there when the tour de france was using the town as a stage and the place was electric
through other forums,trip advisor, and general negativity/ignorance i was nearly put off going, thankfully i didnt and we have allready
booked a week in sept to re-visit hope this helps any first timers thinking of travelling

regards

Chris

 

[ValA.]

I'm so glad that you had a good time! It's good for first-timers to report how their holiday has gone, and it's very reasuring to others to know that yours went well. Dinan is certainly a lovely place - we visited there a few years ago. It must have been amazing with the Tour de France using it as a staging post - that's something that we've missed as we're usually back by the time it starts.
I did see that you'd booked your sites through the Caravan Club. We've found that one advantage to going in June or September is that you don't need to book. We've been holidaying then for many years, and have never booked a site. We like sunshine, and tend to buy a paper and head in the direction of the best forecast. We use a combination of an ACSI Card, and Camping Cheques - and use municipal sites and sites which accept ACSI or Camping Cheques, for our overnight stops. It's a very difficult concept for most British people to accept - because in this country we're so used to booking so far in advance, and always having to book sites. Not booking, though, enables you to use your caravan for what it was designed to do - tour! We usually spend a week or so on two or three campsites, and perhaps a couple of days at overnight sits that we particularly like, but again it depends on mood and weather!
Were you using Camping Cheques? Chateau du Martragny accepts them up until the 10th July, and then again after 27th August - and a pitch would cost £13.95 per night, for two adults, car and caravan, awning, and electricity. Camping Cheques may be useful to you in September, too, depending on which site you want to stay at.

 

[loadsadogs]

Val, that sounds like a good way to tour. Are the Camping Cheques and ACSI card roughly similar?

We've just had our Sept booking cancelled by the Caravan Club, because the site hadn't passed its inspection (wonder if the spiders in the shower had anything to do with it

), so we're now in the process of rebooking elsewhere. Looking at the prices, the saving wouldn't be enormous, but it would give you flexibility if you landed on a site that's unsuitable for whatever reason.

We've only been abroad once, so it was reassuring to hear that you don't need to book for Sept. That was our impression last year, but not sure how insecure I would feel just launching out without booking first.

BTW what do you do about spending money? We had a Nationwide debit card last year, which had no charges for use at ATMs or paying for meals/petrol etc, but they've introduced charges now. What do other people use, I wonder.

Jenny

 

[3.0ghia]

being our first time abroad we deceided on paying up front for the sites,as we wernt sure about the roads and how the sat nav would behave on some of the tight twisty by-roads ect ,but having been there the camping cheque scheme would definately appeal to us next year .Regarding the atm`s and paying for meals we used a debit card at the atm`s and wernt charged however my visa card was hit with a £1.25 charge per transaction i have heard if you use a pre-paid card card you dont incur any charges so i think that is the best way forward

 

[ValA.]

We carried on using our Nationwide debit card for cash withdrawals and as I posted elsewhere, on a total withdrawal of £650 in cash, we benefited to the tune of eight euros compared to the best rate available before we went - and that was after charges had been taken off. The rate locally before we set off was 1.11 and for one withdrawal in Barjac we got 1.152 to the £. We appeared to still get the inter-bank rate which was quite a bit higher than the Bureaux de Change/Banks/ or others were offering. We used this cash for most spending, but put fuel on our Nationwide credit card which is still transaction fee free.
Camping Cheques have to be bought in advance - £13.95 each, and used on participating sites within two years (paper cheques) or four years (but extendable) on a Gold Card. ACSI Card - you just buy the book from ACSI themselves, or from Vicarious Books, fill in your details on the detachable card and present the card when you book in at reception (or mention it if you want the security of pre-booking). However, the whole idea of these schemes is that you don't need to pre-book. The sites are filling places which would otherwise have been empty - so better £13.95 or the ACSI rate than an empty pitch.

 

[Jennifer2]

I think the NW card is still good for cash withdrawals, but I would not use it for payments due to the extra fees.
This year we tried out the Halifax Clarity credit card, in previous years we have used our NW credit card for purchases, and NW debit card for cash.

The Clarity card allows cash withdrawals without fees, but you do pay interest. The rate is however very reasonable, it seems to work out at 3.5p per £100 withdrawn per day until it is repaid. You can repay as usual in full on your statement date, or pay earlier to minimise interest. We did the former, so all the charges are not in yet as we are not long back. Once I have all the costs I will post the results, but so far it is looking quite reasonable. We had to withdraw more cash than usual as credit cards are less widely accepted in supermarkets in Switzerland and Germany than in France or UK.

We were away almost 2 months (29/04 to 21/06) and only booked our first site as there were no alternatives nearby. After that we used the ACSI card, plus 4 Camping Cheques left from last year. Having now tried both, we prefer the ACSI card, mainly as you don't have to pay a large amount "up front", and you don't have the problem of left over cheques. However, if there is a specific site you want to stay on that takes the cheques, they are still a good idea.

In the 2 months, which included 2 busy holiday weeks where we were (mainly Switzerland) we only found one site that had no space for us (always good to have a "plan B"!). In 2009 in France for almost 3 months (02/09 to 26/11) , we had no problems at all with sites being full, our problem was that the majority of French sites close by late September, many even earlier.

 

[JohnGriffiths]

We've only been abroad once, so it was reassuring to hear that you don't need to book for Sept. That was our impression last year, but not sure how insecure I would feel just launching out without booking first.

No need to feel insecure, we have NEVER been refused a pitch in May or June and I've been told September is even quieter. The only busy sites we have come across are Bien Assise, near the Channel Tunnel and a some in Provence. We always book the first and last nights as we stay near to the ferry port (due to dogs and distance from home to Dover). Then we don't try to do too much travelling in one day and always arrive at a site mid afternoon. Then if the worst should happen such as it being closed or full there is always enough time to travel to another.

 

[loadsadogs]

Really like the sound of the ACSI card. OH is already saying we won't be able to afford France next year, so I'm going to stash that little idea away to help with persuading him otherwise. Not that I'm cunning and devious obviously - moi??? - but once he gets negative thoughts in his head, they're hard to shift, so I have to have a plan ready

BTW, for those who use Nationwide cards, I see they have a place on their website now where you can tell them about upcoming travels, in case their fraud people are tempted to block your card for 'unusual activity'. I tried and tried by phone last year to get someone to make a note on my account, just in case, but the best they could up with was 'well, why don't you stop off and use your card in Folkestone, then we'll be able to see you're on the move, but even then, we can't guarantee not to put a stop on your card'. Pleased to say we had no mishaps.

 

[Jennifer2]

We always let our banks/CC providers know when we are going abroad, and like you have had no problems. This year we used the NW on-line form, and afterwards OH sent them a note saying they should change it as you cannot leave one country and arrive in another on the same day.......which is no use for a touring caravan trip!!

You need to point out to your OH that a holiday in France could well be cheaper than one in UK. ACSI 15 euro site is only about £13, so most likely less than sites here. Petrol/diesel is less than here. Wine is certainly less than here. Food is reasonable too.
Get a cheap ferry crossing, and remind him of how the weather is much better over there!

 

[HOVIS1]

Like you we used Nationwide Debit Card last year, but as they now apply charges to them this year, I was offered and accepted their Credit card, which they assure me NO charges will be applied to whilst being used abroad. I have just paid a deposit for a site in France, using the Credit card and for € 120 deposit the exchange rate charged to me was £ 108.66p - No bad at all!!

 

[HOVIS1]

Like you we used Nationwide Debit Card last year, but as they now apply charges to them this year, I was offered and accepted their Credit card, which they assure me NO charges will be applied to whilst being used abroad. I have just paid a deposit for a site in France, using the Credit card and for € 120 deposit the exchange rate charged to me was £ 108.66p - No bad at all!!

 

[chrisbee1]

I think you’ll find that charges WILL be applied to the NW credit card from next month. You will be able to get charge free credit abroad from then on by building up “credits” based upon the amount of use the card gets in the UK.

 

[Jennifer2]

We have the NW Gold credit card, haven't had anything from them about charges being applied soon. Are there several different cards? Maybe it only applies to some?

 

[barrychas]

I made it through France many years ago all the way down to Cahors in the Dordogne...what a fantastic time we had . I was a little aprehensive as to what we would do to occupy us in the middle of the countryside. I have never experienced such an active and pleasurable holiday. One of the highlights was a trip to the incredible medieaval town of Sarlat. Also was a side trip to Cognac to visit the Brandy factories where the Hennessy factory provided one of the most incredible ( apart from the tipples ) experiences I have been to ...thoroughly reccommended.
Don't ever be worried about France ...there is no traffic wherever you travel and the sense of freedom is wonderfull. You are so chilled out that when you come back, driving in GB is a shock to the system

 

[anotherDavid]

Regarding booking, we always book sites in England and never abroad. We have been travelling for up to 4 months each year (April-June Sept-Oct) for the last 10 years and only once ever been remotely close to being turned away from a site. I firmly believe that the clubs encourage booking through them purely for commercial reasons, playing on natural caution of members who are judging site availability by UK experience. Being locked into staying at a pre-booked site is not what our hobby is about. We have left sites early or not even stayed at all for reasons (usually to do with the other campers) that would not be apparent on any brochure or site guide description. I even think camping cheques are something of a limitation on the freedom to choose and although we use an ACSI card and appreciate the savings we don't let it dictate where we go, we have have found ACSI sites fairly full and crowded when for a few €more we were able to experience proper low season camping close by.
David