Now that we have been back for a few days I thought it may be useful to post about our experience. We went out Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to St Malo, overnight crossing booked via CAMC. My memory had played tricks and I had forgotten how many families are on the ferry in August. We weren't stopped or checked at Porstmouth and on arrival in St Malo had passports checked and stamped and we were away.
While we were away we saw 1 set of temporary traffic lights in 14 days, where a bridge was being repainted. We only came across roadworks in Caen on the way back.
We found that Bread, Water, Wine and Beer and parking were noticeably cheaper than UK, with clothing shoes etc more expensive. Food in supermarkets and local markets was more expensive than UK but the quality of the fruit and veg seemed better
It was particularly noticeable how menus now feature much more English below the French, and also how many of the young people working in the bars and cafes etc asked us if we would mind them speaking English, as they wanted to practice.
The site we stayed on staff spoke several languages , although it took 5 attempts to get the hot water boiler fixed in our showering shed, and there seemed a very relaxed attitude to the site rules, around pitches and the pool area,but overall we enjoyed ourselves and continue to wonder what the French go without that we enjoy in this country. They still close for 2 hours at lunchtime in some of the towns, and appear to have lots of new roundabouts on their well maintained roads
We came back on Brittany Ferries Caen to Portsmouth overnight, and were stopped and asked to open caravan for inspection both leaveing Caen and arriving in Portsmouth,there were a lot fewer families on the ferry back, I suspect because the little darlings had to go back to school.
The other thing I had forgotten was the French take their holidays in August , and by the end of the month the site was less than 1/3 full.
Other highlight was we needed to visit a caravan dealer for a new chair, and while there we looked at some caravans on the forecourt, most seemed to have fixed double bed across the front and a variety of differnt layouts in the rest of the van,but prices seemed reasonable for used caravans, although the dealership again appeared to be quite casual regarding their storage area, workshop and show room ,certainly not like the dealerships over here. Still amazed at the knife stalls in the markets, b einterested to find out how knife crime in France compares as they were freely available.
To come back we filled up with diesel at local supermarket, card only on the pump, but all instructions were available in English, price was more than UK after exchange rate, with the supermarkets offering slightly cheaper prices than roadside.
Still some evidence of Covid measures in places, but nowhere did we see card only signs for payment, in fact most shops seemed very happy to accept cash,although our site had a bracelet system that was used to pay in the bar, restaurant, shop, but you still needed cash for launderatte or games room.
We plan to go back in June next year, which is our usual time, but hope anybody thinking of going first time finds this helpful
While we were away we saw 1 set of temporary traffic lights in 14 days, where a bridge was being repainted. We only came across roadworks in Caen on the way back.
We found that Bread, Water, Wine and Beer and parking were noticeably cheaper than UK, with clothing shoes etc more expensive. Food in supermarkets and local markets was more expensive than UK but the quality of the fruit and veg seemed better
It was particularly noticeable how menus now feature much more English below the French, and also how many of the young people working in the bars and cafes etc asked us if we would mind them speaking English, as they wanted to practice.
The site we stayed on staff spoke several languages , although it took 5 attempts to get the hot water boiler fixed in our showering shed, and there seemed a very relaxed attitude to the site rules, around pitches and the pool area,but overall we enjoyed ourselves and continue to wonder what the French go without that we enjoy in this country. They still close for 2 hours at lunchtime in some of the towns, and appear to have lots of new roundabouts on their well maintained roads
We came back on Brittany Ferries Caen to Portsmouth overnight, and were stopped and asked to open caravan for inspection both leaveing Caen and arriving in Portsmouth,there were a lot fewer families on the ferry back, I suspect because the little darlings had to go back to school.
The other thing I had forgotten was the French take their holidays in August , and by the end of the month the site was less than 1/3 full.
Other highlight was we needed to visit a caravan dealer for a new chair, and while there we looked at some caravans on the forecourt, most seemed to have fixed double bed across the front and a variety of differnt layouts in the rest of the van,but prices seemed reasonable for used caravans, although the dealership again appeared to be quite casual regarding their storage area, workshop and show room ,certainly not like the dealerships over here. Still amazed at the knife stalls in the markets, b einterested to find out how knife crime in France compares as they were freely available.
To come back we filled up with diesel at local supermarket, card only on the pump, but all instructions were available in English, price was more than UK after exchange rate, with the supermarkets offering slightly cheaper prices than roadside.
Still some evidence of Covid measures in places, but nowhere did we see card only signs for payment, in fact most shops seemed very happy to accept cash,although our site had a bracelet system that was used to pay in the bar, restaurant, shop, but you still needed cash for launderatte or games room.
We plan to go back in June next year, which is our usual time, but hope anybody thinking of going first time finds this helpful
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