First Year done!

[Martin81mk]

thought I’d say hi!

Just finished our first year caravanning. After many years of being in a caravan as a child with my parents (has been a few years since those days) the wife and I brought a van at the caravan show in October 22 a swift challenger X850.

We have managed weeks away in Cornwall and Dorset and many weekends away, and I’m still trying to find a winter break. Our 3 year old is fully loving caravan life and the wife who has never done it has enjoyed it.

Already planning next year and have a week in Cornwall for a wedding and booked to go to France next August with our son and the wife’s 13 year old. Came across the forum researching the ferry from Portsmouth.

Looking forward to reading and learning more!

 

[Mel]

Hello and welcome to the forum. So glad you are enjoying all that Caravanning has to offer. Keep posting.
Mel

 

[otherclive]

Welcome to the Forum, you have made a good start to your new hobby.

 

[Buckman]

Welcome and enjoy your new hobby. Travelling to France is a breeze. Travel down to Portsmouth, stay over night on a nearby campsite and then catch the ferry from Portsmouth to Caen at either approximately 8am or 1.30pm. If the later ferry stay the night at Caen before travelling on the next day.

 

[Martin81mk]

Welcome and enjoy your new hobby. Travelling to France is a breeze. Travel down to Portsmouth, stay over night on a nearby campsite and then catch the ferry from Portsmouth to Caen at either approximately 8am or 1.30pm. If the later ferry stay the night at Caen before travelling on the next day.

Yeah that’s the plan. Booked the 8am crossing so heading down over night. Got a site just outside Caen booked for when we arrive. Plan not to rush and just take our time and enjoy it.

 

[Buckman]

Yeah that’s the plan. Booked the 8am crossing so heading down over night. Got a site just outside Caen booked for when we arrive. Plan not to rush and just take our time and enjoy it.

We stayed at Riva Belle for the overnight and then moved on to stay at Campsite Au Port-Punay just south of La Rochelle and it is right on the beach. Lidl and other supermarkets are about 4 miles away. Wed have also stayed at La Falaise at La Turballe. You roll out of bed onto the beach. The motorways in France seem empty in comparison to ours and in a better state.

 

[Beachball]

Hi and Welcome to the forum glad you are enjoying your Caravanning and many more happy breaks to come

 

[Dustydog]

Welcome to the forum Martin. Hopefully one year on you have mastered the art of caravanning and are enjoying every trip. Caravanning for a lot of is all year round. Hopefully you can enjoy winter trips too. As a matter of interest have you had any warranty issues with your new Swift?

 

[Martin81mk]

Welcome to the forum Martin. Hopefully one year on you have mastered the art of caravanning and are enjoying every trip. Caravanning for a lot of is all year round. Hopefully you can enjoy winter trips too. As a matter of interest have you had any warranty issues with your new Swift?

Thank you. And yes, we did manage a few trips over winter last year but with the current work schedule it will be a last min booking. On the warranty yes, had the standard pano roof crack. Took about 4 months to get the new one but had it all replaced at the start of November with the first service.

 

[Raywood]

Welcome to the forum. Good to hear your wife loves the caravan, as far as I can tell children always love it.

 

[woodsieboy]

Sound like you have had a great start, ref France just bear in mind that August is likely to be very busy, as the French all seem to holiday then, also might be worth investing in a Crit'Air sticker, which costs approx 4 euros and lasts for the life of your car, it allows the French authorities to check your emission ratings when visiting certain towns/cities, and they impose temporary traffic restrictions depending on air pollution readings. If you don't have a site booked yet you may like to reconsider, as sites will be very busy in August as already said, also bear in mind that a lot of places still close for lunch and Sundays in some areas you may find most shops shut. If you are in a tourist area you should be OK , but many supermarkets will only be open for card payments if buying fuel.When we went earlier this year we only encountered 1 x set temporary traffic lights in 16 days, and hardly saw any potholes. Price wise clothes were more expensive than UK, and food was pretty much on a par,in our view supermarket produce seemed better that UK and mostly French grown. We also found that most young people working in bars or cafes asked us if they could speak English with us, saying they wanted to practice as they were studying, they may just have been being nice to us, as we are not great French speakers, but is more noticeable how mush English is spoken than a few years ago. Hope this helps and that you have a great time. We use Red Pennant for insurance when we go and woudn't risk travelling without some form of insurance, French garages can be notoriously slow when it comes to repairs, and many may be closed in August, we know from experience.

 

[Martin81mk]

Sound like you have had a great start, ref France just bear in mind that August is likely to be very busy, as the French all seem to holiday then, also might be worth investing in a Crit'Air sticker, which costs approx 4 euros and lasts for the life of your car, it allows the French authorities to check your emission ratings when visiting certain towns/cities, and they impose temporary traffic restrictions depending on air pollution readings. If you don't have a site booked yet you may like to reconsider, as sites will be very busy in August as already said, also bear in mind that a lot of places still close for lunch and Sundays in some areas you may find most shops shut. If you are in a tourist area you should be OK , but many supermarkets will only be open for card payments if buying fuel.When we went earlier this year we only encountered 1 x set temporary traffic lights in 16 days, and hardly saw any potholes. Price wise clothes were more expensive than UK, and food was pretty much on a par,in our view supermarket produce seemed better that UK and mostly French grown. We also found that most young people working in bars or cafes asked us if they could speak English with us, saying they wanted to practice as they were studying, they may just have been being nice to us, as we are not great French speakers, but is more noticeable how mush English is spoken than a few years ago. Hope this helps and that you have a great time. We use Red Pennant for insurance when we go and woudn't risk travelling without some form of insurance, French garages can be notoriously slow when it comes to repairs, and many may be closed in August, we know from experience.

Thanks for this. Going to look at Red Pennant as I have heard this a few times. Managed to get a site booked in Brittney plus an overnight site just outside Cean to break the drive up. So I think we wont be going to any main cities, go through France a fair bit but this will be the first time with the van. Looked at the pricing and we are going towards the end of August and the price dropped so I presume some of the schools seem to be going back with the difference in the rates from the last week of August to the first week of August.

 

[woodsieboy]

We were there this year for the weeks either side of August Bank Holiday, and there was a mass exodus over the BH weekend, mainly Brits left on site, and some of the facilities were closed or reduced opening times. One thing that caught us out last year, was passports, when we arrived the French customs did not stamp our passports, which led to us being held up at the port on the return journey, so this year we made sure they were stamped on the way in to France. For Brittany we prefer St Malo on an overnight crossing as you get into S M about 7.30 in the morning and can then get to site just after lunchtime, as we are not allowed on pitch until 1 pm

 

[otherclive]

We were there this year for the weeks either side of August Bank Holiday, and there was a mass exodus over the BH weekend, mainly Brits left on site, and some of the facilities were closed or reduced opening times. One thing that caught us out last year, was passports, when we arrived the French customs did not stamp our passports, which led to us being held up at the port on the return journey, so this year we made sure they were stamped on the way in to France. For Brittany we prefer St Malo on an overnight crossing as you get into S M about 7.30 in the morning and can then get to site just after lunchtime, as we are not allowed on pitch until 1 pm

By next Summer the new EU entry system could be in place requiring biometric identification. As of yet I haven’t seen any firm decision on how those using ferries will be managed, unlike at airports or Channel Tunnel. Watching with interest.

 

[Buckman]

We were there this year for the weeks either side of August Bank Holiday, and there was a mass exodus over the BH weekend, mainly Brits left on site, and some of the facilities were closed or reduced opening times. One thing that caught us out last year, was passports, when we arrived the French customs did not stamp our passports, which led to us being held up at the port on the return journey, so this year we made sure they were stamped on the way in to France. For Brittany we prefer St Malo on an overnight crossing as you get into S M about 7.30 in the morning and can then get to site just after lunchtime, as we are not allowed on pitch until 1 pm

We tried the St Malo crossing once and never again if w can help it. Kept awake most of the night due to rumble of engines and I do not like to drive when tired especially when arriving in a foreign country where they drive on the RH side.

After that crossing we always used the Caen crossing as arrived and stayed at a site near Caen and woke up refreshed the next day.

 

[Martin81mk]

We tried the St Malo crossing once and never again if w can help it. Kept awake most of the night due to rumble of engines and I do not like to drive when tired especially when arriving in a foreign country where they drive on the RH side.

After that crossing we always used the Caen crossing as arrived and stayed at a site near Caen and woke up refreshed the next day.

Found there was a price difference too. The savings covered a night near Cean and a chunk of the fuel cost even with the additional mileage. I don’t think the wife would do well on an overnight one so going to head to Portsmouth for the early hours and try and get a couple of hours in the lanes. Got a cabin booked for the 8am crossing so again can try and get an hour or too.

 

[Buckman]

Found there was a price difference too. The savings covered a night near Cean and a chunk of the fuel cost even with the additional mileage. I don’t think the wife would do well on an overnight one so going to head to Portsmouth for the early hours and try and get a couple of hours in the lanes. Got a cabin booked for the 8am crossing so again can try and get an hour or too.

There is a CAMC site nearby so why not stay there as they have an overnight area. Book a cabin for the crossing so that when on board to can shower and freshen up and also have a bit of a lie down.

We used to be members of the Brittany Voyage club so we could get a "free" cabin plus a reduced cost for breakfast for the crossing plus of course the discount. Worth paying the membership fee if doing the crossing at least twice a year.

 

[Beachball]

We were there this year for the weeks either side of August Bank Holiday, and there was a mass exodus over the BH weekend, mainly Brits left on site, and some of the facilities were closed or reduced opening times. One thing that caught us out last year, was passports, when we arrived the French customs did not stamp our passports, which led to us being held up at the port on the return journey, so this year we made sure they were stamped on the way in to France. For Brittany we prefer St Malo on an overnight crossing as you get into S M about 7.30 in the morning and can then get to site just after lunchtime, as we are not allowed on pitch until 1 pm

if we were going to to St Malo i would prefer the overnight ferry and a cabin so i would be refreshed when arriving and take a steady drive to the place where we are staying .

 

[Martin81mk]

There is a CAMC site nearby so why not stay there as they have an overnight area. Book a cabin for the crossing so that when on board to can shower and freshen up and also have a bit of a lie down.

We used to be members of the Brittany Voyage club so we could get a "free" cabin plus a reduced cost for breakfast for the crossing plus of course the discount. Worth paying the membership fee if doing the crossing at least twice a year.

Yep that the site we have booked. Want to take our time and enjoy it as much as possible with a 4 year old and a teenager. Yeah will look at the Voyage club after this trip if we enjoy it!

 

[woodsieboy]

I am sure that it is the diversity of views that keeps this forum so helpful and friendly, and thank goodness it does, can't imagine the chaos if we all wanted to use the same ferry and crossings, at the same time! It is good to hear the experience of other people and helps to inform decisions, and in the words of Beachball, 'to each his own'

 

[Paullus1959]

Over the years I've crossed to France from Dover, Portsmouth, Plymouth and Poole sailing to Dunkirk, Calais, Caen, Le Havre, St. Malo, Cherbourg and Roscoff.
My favourite departure port is definitely Poole. The route to the port is really straightforward. We arrive there at around 10:00pm the night before the sailing and stay overnight alongside the boarding lanes. There used to be a £5 overnight parking charge but now it's free. There are also free toilet and shower facilities which are spotless and a great little cafe which serves hot drinks and breakfast. Cherbourg is probably the easiest port to leave and get onto the major routes but, it is at the tip of the Contentin Peninsula which adds significant mileage to your journey if planning to into Brittany, Vendee or further South. My least favourite French port is probably Le Havre which is always busy and the road system with its underpasses can be a bit daunting. Your choice of port also depends on the most convenient sailing times as they all have different timetables.

 

[Buckman]

if we were going to to St Malo i would prefer the overnight ferry and a cabin so i would be refreshed when arriving and take a steady drive to the place where we are staying .

Have you ever travelled over night on the ferry to France?

 

[Buckman]

Yep that the site we have booked. Want to take our time and enjoy it as much as possible with a 4 year old and a teenager. Yeah will look at the Voyage club after this trip if we enjoy it!

You will be eager to do the next trip once you have done the initial trip.

 

[otherclive]

Have you ever travelled over night on the ferry to France?

We once travelled Caen to Portsmouth overnight. Never again. There was a constant stream of announcements on the tannoy in most of the languages of Europe. The family in the cabin next to us couldn’t keep the children quiet. I’m used to sleeping on ships but this was a step too far. Since then we used the morning ferry out, and the mid afternoon ferry in.

 

[Buckman]

We once travelled Caen to Portsmouth overnight. Never again. There was a constant stream of announcements on the tannoy in most of the languages of Europe. The family in the cabin next to us couldn’t keep the children quiet. I’m used to sleeping on ships but this was a step too far. Since then we used the morning ferry out, and the mid afternoon ferry in.

Never done the overnight Caen to Portsmouth. We did the overnight Portsmouth to Santander and no issues sleeping as it seemed a lot quieter engine wise. Perhaps it was because we were a distance away from the engines which were a quiet murmur.