scaredycat

Hello everyone,

We're still waiting to sell our house in the UK so we can make a permanent move to France but nothing is moving at the moment so we're back to the next best thing.. a long visit in our motorhome.
We know we'll be travelling South to the coast and then back up following the West coast but other than that we just play it by ear. We're signed up to the 'France Passion' scheme which is great, we get to stay on farms and vineyards overnight for free. Also, we use Aires which are basically motorhome parks often provided free and lots of towns have them. Most are excellent but some even better than others providing free electricity.

I'm opening this thread to ask.. 'do you have a good Aire near you'?
It makes travelling easier if you know in advance that you're heading for a good Aire, especially if you've left it a bit late in the day.

snoopycat

Hi Scaredy,
A few Aires here which look quite nice......I'm sure others will have more info for you.

We have been in Beziers for 2 months now and are enjoying the lovely weather. Hope you sell your house soon.

Regards, Snoopy

http://www.abelard.org/france/motorway-aires10.php

scaredycat

Thanks for that link Snoopy,
I hope you're enjoying France, I often think of you and hope you've settled in well with no problems. This waiting is awful but I do believe that if it's meant to be then it will happen when the time is right.
Meanwhile, we're looking forward to a 5 week holiday over there.

Best wishes

dmu

I wouldn't recommend sleeping in an Aire d'Autoroute. There are too many motorway pirates operating, targetting foreign vehicles in particular. And I think the aires near towns are usually full up with "gens de voyage" aka gypsies. If you want to sleep well, you'd do better to stop off in Campings Municipaux which aren't expensive. Bonne route!

scaredycat

Thanks dmu..
we are aware of the dangers of the motorway Aires, we've heard lots of horror stories. People are even gassed in their motorhomes, not to cause permanent injury but to induce unconciousness while you are robbed. We try to avoid them and find smaller towns which offer facilities. There are some really nice ones. We do use camp sites too, I like my comforts too much to live rough for too long!

Le Chant

Call me an old cynic if you like Scaredycat, but I believe the 'gassing' incidents are nothing more than urban myths. There've been no fatalities caused by 'gassing', there have been no medical reports on 'victims' that have proved that they were gassed. There can't be so many folks wondering round armed with a) the gas itself, or the means of mixing such a gas in situ, b) the knowledge of anesthesia to such a high degree so as not to kill the occupants, and c) the basic mechanical knowledge of how to (and where) insert the gas into the motor home. It beggars belief that so called 'victims' of these sorts of crimes usually report having had huge sums of cash, jewelery and such lifted from their 'vans without their even feeling a thing. Hmmm. I smell an insurance scam, don't you?

There has been a report carried out on this by an eminent anesthetist which I'll dig out, who pours scorn on this method of robbery. I've been camping/caravaning for nigh on 30 years without having one single problem like this happen to me, or indeed anyone I know. I've also been the owner of a campsite here in France for the past three years and never had a client relate to me such a thing happening to them or indeed anyone they know. The story is usually that 'someone we know knows someone.....'

Sorry, as I said at the beginning - call me an old cynic if you like.....

themoose

You old cynic

scaredycat

That's really interesting Le Chant (and also reassuring).
It's funny how you can take what you read as gospel. We've read the warnings in camping magazines and never thought to question them.
However, on our very first trip to France when we'd only been there two days, we were 'held up' by gypsies. We were parked in a lay-by in Abbeville and a white van came along and parked across the front of us so we couldn't move. For half an hour two young men demanded money in a very threatening way saying we were illegally parked. I was shaking like a leaf but hubby stood his ground (you know how a Yorkshireman doesn't like to part with his money)! It was only when we shouted for help from a passing cyclist that they jumped in their van and drove off. We spoke very little French then, understood enough but couldn't argue. We didn't get our mobile phones out because because I think the gypsies would have stolen them. A frightening experience but also an early warning to be aware.