New Member saying Hi and I have a query

[bazzle]

Hi everyone
Myself and my wife are hoping to travel to Almeria, Spain next April, taking in Easter. Although we have driven to the South of France by car and motorhome, this time we are taking the caravan, which we might be leaving at the camp site if it is suitable for us. We are hoping to live there during the winter and return home for the summer. We are travelling with our dog. What advice would you give us novices on which route to take and any stopovers you can recommend. We want to avoid Paris, the route we used to take was via Rouen, Orleans stop over at Cleremont Ferrond then down to the South of France.

Many thanks

 

[Raywood]

We would not drive but take the ferry to Spain. It looks costly, but when you take out the additional fuel and motorway charges it is more equal and a lot less tiring. You do have to have some resistance to seasickness though as the Bay of Biscay can be rough.

 

[RayS]

Hi and welcome.
While not staying for the length of time you suggest, I have taken a touring van close to Almeria for the past 16 years New Year Until around Easter. From choice we have always taken overnight ferries to France and driven down. Using the long ferries to Spain is the chosen route of many of our friends, including some with dogs, but one of us not being a sailor by choice and the other having a 60+year love affair with France (if not it's politics) that's how we do it.
Not knowing your starting point in UK cannot suggest the best ferry for you. We are in Somerset equidistant from Portsmouth and Poole. However, if you main purpose is to get to Almeria, and you want to ferry to France the route we follow is down west coast of France from Roscoff, St Malo or Caen as arrival port, two stops in France, a into Spain at Irun/Biarritz then Pamplona towards Zaragoza to site near Calatayud, next day via Valencia to Jumilla, next (short trip) day to near Mojacar about Almeria itself.
This is about 1200 miles from UK port and quite difficult to find campsites open all year. If you care to ask one of our Moderators Steve or Damien for my email address I would be very happy to conduct a one to one with you with full details (pretty boring for the rest of the forum and some details i would prefer not to post on an open forum).
There wold be plenty of places to stretch legs and walk dog on the way - pet friendly cabins or dog accommodation are very much in demand on ferries I understand.
If you are in the east of UK then Eurotunnel is worth a look as crossing is easy and very pet friendly.
Then I would still head fro west coast of france - say towards Bordeaux - rather than go to the eastern border and down past Barcelona. . We did this once but never again - confusing, route and cold around New Year in inland France.
Many will doubtless disagree but that's what the forum is all about - very boring if we all thought the same.