Friday 11th March – Monday 2nd May
Part 1 : Home to Vilanova Park, near Barcelona
Friday 11th March
We are off to Spain in the motorhome for some winter sunshine …….. turns out the weather was not aware of this decision!
Why ‘Without a map’? I simply cannot find my two large, spiral bound Michelin maps of France & Spain. Did the thief who broke into my motorhome in 2020 take them?! Seems unlikely but, if not, where on earth are they?!
So much planning has gone into this trip, and a considerable amount of dithering on my part as to whether or not to go at all so, although there’s a plan, comparatively little is actually booked!
In the departure photo below you can see my (orange) cagoule is just behind me. Where, you may ask, is Husband’s cagoule?!
After a tedious journey around the M25 and down the M20, I managed to find sufficient space across someone’s drive to pull over at the chip shop in Hawkinge, just before the site. Husband was gone for ages. He described a very weird selection of people behind the counter; it was apparent chaos and took almost 30 mins to produce cod and chips twice!
As usual before crossing The Channel, we are staying at Blackhorse Farm Caravan & Motohome Club Site near Folkestone. https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-sites/england/south-east-england/kent/black-horse-farm-club-campsite/?utm_source=localsearch&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gmb – it’s very organised with separate area for ‘ferry pitches’ where units are arranged by ferry/train departure time, so your neighbour is getting up and leaving at roughly the same time as you, helping with the noise of departure. Also, you pay in advance so you can arrive late and arrangements are in place for secure site access / pitch location.
Mileage – 115 miles
Saturday 12th March
It’s 06.40 and we are ready for the off (well we will be when we open the blinds). It rained heavily overnight and blew a hooley – we are concerned as to the sea state for the crossing!
Arriving early at the port, we were diverted into the security building …. the couple in the car in front were asked to open bags/cases etc. For us, they briefly looked under the motorhome bonnet (which is rammed with engine so, what else could possibly be in there?) and asked if we had any knives …. “yes we do, sharp kitchen knives/eating knives”, they waved us through without further query. Not really sure what was achieved by that ‘search’. At least no one asked if we had any meat or dairy products which are no longer allowed to cross the border!!
We then got stuck behind the same car for 20 minutes at check-in – they didn’t seem to have a booking and were sent to the naughty building!
The ferry was 1.5 hours late due to another company’s ferry having to be refuelled using a tanker lorry due to the current fuel crisis.
We are travelling with P&O Ferries …. (before the management sacked 800 of their workers). Their food offer had gone a bit pear-shaped and non-customer friendly. We usually go to the Brasserie for a ‘posh’ cooked breakfast – nope, entirely removed. We tried the main food court – nope, not open until a few weeks’ time. There’s a longer version but, finally, we paid £15 each on one floor so we could get into the Club Lounge on another floor where we could get a microwaved sausage bap and WiFi …. oh and free ‘fizz’ – very handy for those about to drive into France. Apparently, this is an improved customer service offer – doh! However, we did make use of the it to gather some sandwiches and bits for our lunch!
Straight off the ferry and on to the easy French motorways. We stopped for fuel at a Carrefour; it was tight and involved several manoeuvres/shunts to get the motorhome adjacent to a pump. €138 euros for 3/4 of a tank of diesel at €2.20 a litre.
Following the success when my brother and I stayed at a Camping-Car Park aire in 2020, we are now set up with their location map, the app, a PASS’ÉTAPES entry card, plus a PACK’PRIVILÈGES package, which means you are able to book in advance to secure your spot on the day.
Many towns and villages offer aires to motorhomes (camping-cars) to entice people to spend money locally. They are most often a car park style area with fresh water, grey and black waste points, plus rubbish disposal facilities. Camping-Car Park seem to be signing up and helping towns and villages offer a quality, barriered aire, sometimes with electric hook-up, administered via a remotely controlled card entry system. The network is constantly expanding.
It works really well, however, just remember to pull right up to the barrier so the machine knows the vehicle is there and then it will work. Do you think we will remember that and save a phone call next time? Nope!!
Our first stay of the trip was excellent at La Halte Saint-Balsème, Le Chêne. https://www.campingcarpark.com/en_GB/stay/stopover-site-motorhome/grand-est/10-aube/le-chene-la-halte-ste-balseme.
The additional facility of this aire was the automated pizza machine just outside the gate …… the pizza can be ordered hot/ready to eat or ready to cook at home; it even comes out boxed-up. Amazing. I’m sure there must be a small human working inside! Shame we didn’t actually try it.
Mileage – 243 miles
Sunday 13th March
The downside of an aire is there is no loo / shower block. This is no problem since we have our own loo and shower. Husband, who said he wouldn’t make a fuss, is not keen on the motorhome toilet option so we stopped at a motorway service area for him for croissant and a poo!
I also took the opportunity to buy a mini, spiral Michelin map of France, not wanting to replace my large one as I may yet find it. Yup, the mini map is hopeless, it’s just too small.
It’s raining today! Husband is driving in his slippers.
On a travel day, after lunch, we begin to look for a suitable stopover site not too far off the motorway. We found an open full-facility site at Nevers, on the banks of The Loire. https://www.aquadis-loisirs.com/en/nature-campsite/camping-de-nevers. Lovely view across the river to Nevers itself as illustrated by a photo from the site’s website. Unfortunately, our view in the rain was not quite so good!
Husband wasn’t keen to go out in the rain, but I made him set off across the arched bridge to explore Nevers and perhaps to find a little restaurant for dinner that evening.
The reason he wasn’t keen was that he’d left BOTH his cagoules at home, thinking he’d like to buy a new one while he was away!! This was a poor decision in that buying a cagoule isn’t a simple purchase; we are travelling (not shopping) most days and it might well take some time to find the right one! Oh and it’s raining a lot in France!!
Anyway, dressed in his only slightly waterproof puffa jacket we discovered Nevers is a pretty town but we were so wet after our brief visit we decided to eat in among the wet clothes hanging all over the motorhome!
Husband emptying the loo the next morning (in the distance) was amused by the translation on the lid of the chemical disposal point.
Mileage – 204 miles
Monday 14th March
On departure we made a visit to Nevers’ Intermarché to top up with food, wine and well-priced fuel. Having made a sunny start, it was now raining very hard and we both suffered with ‘wet face-mask syndrome’ in the store!
The journey was going so well until we came to some truly major roadworks. At a very confusing major interchange with earthworks, bulldozers and a myriad of temporary signs, we took the wrong exit and realised we were travelling in entirely the wrong direction.
Having pulled over and looked at options, Husband was not keen to go back to the roadworks but, if we didn’t we would be going miles out of our way. I chose the next road on the left hoping I could turn around – unfortunately it turned out to be a single track country lane and there were no turning places for a mile or so. Fortunately, we only met one car (who was pretty suprised to see a motorhome!). We made it back to the roadworks and picked our way to the right road – ooops! A slightly stressful 30 minutes.
Then over the top of the Massif Central and into snow!
A quick stop at the services looking over the Garabit Viaduct designed by Gustave Eiffel (Eiffel Tower), which I had stopped at previously with my brother. https://www.bridgeinfo.net/bridge/index.php?ID=8
Overnight at our second Camping-Car Park at La Canourgue https://www.campingcarpark.com/en_GB/stay/stopover-site-motorhome/occitanie/48-lozere/la-canourgue. Handy site, quite large and with a fair few units. It was an easy walk into the village for a very nice dinner at the Logis Hotel du Commerce https://www.logishotels.com/en/hotel/logis-hotel-du-commerce-2051
Mileage – 227 miles
Tuesday 15th March
Today is ‘Millau Viaduct Day’ – such a beautiful structure and one of the reasons for coming down the central motorway (plus of course the motorway is, in large part, free). We stopped at the visitor centre / viewpoint, as my brother and I had done before, and parked in pretty much the same space. Note to self for next time, there are no coffee or snacks available (well only from a machine). They might have been setting up for lunch or maybe that will also open later in the year. Cuppa in the motorhome then!
We drove on to some proper services. They were weirdly laid out and had a crashed van on ‘display’ at the entrance. I’m guessing it was to warn drivers to be careful when there are workers on the motorway.
We saw the crushed van several times as we made three circuits of the services – the first for AdBlu – we discovered you can’t use the pump variety unless you are a lorry. Round again for the diesel. Round again for the LPG which powers the hob, oven and fridge. And finally round again after parking up for some lunch – phew!
We had picked out a site at Le Boulou – Camping Mas Llinas https://www.mas-llinas.com. To be honest, I don’t think we found them at their best. A steep, wiggly, almost single track road with poor signage to the site – “Surely it can’t be up here?!” On arrival they were taking delivery of two new static caravans so the entrance area was chaotic. It was raining. Even though the site was up a hill, their main touring pitch area was closed as the ground was flooded. They offered us a pitch in a sort of dead-end gravel area with steep sides, where we would have had to park with the habitation door up against the side. Eventually, they found us a non-flooded gravel pitch in a much better place; the people were very nice but were up against it!
It’s Winter season but, as the site is open, you’d think they’d have the heating on in the small toilet block up a steep set of steps – nope. Neither of us were brave enought to have a shower there!
Mileage = 179 miles
Wednesday 16th March
After a big shop in Leclerc in Le Boulou we followed the motorway over the Spanish border.
Husband’s turn to drive for the second leg – it was pretty windy so he tucked in behind this lorry from Portugal and followed it for miles and miles and miles.
We arrived at Vilanova Park site https://www.vilanovapark.com/en/ which was booked in advance. The receptionist found me on the system and asked if I liked where I was last time; I said yes, thinking she meant the area of the site, but she actually gave me the same pitch as 2020!
We had dinner in the site restaurant where we met Keith & Nicky who invited us back to their motorhome for coffee afterwards. A very jolly evening.
Mileage – 144 miles
Thursday 17th March
Today is laundry day – bed linen, towels etc – only items that will go into the tumble dryer as it is simply too wet to dry other stuff. Also time to tidy/clean/vacuum inside the motorhome after the long journey. We are shipshape once more.
When my brother and I visited in 2020 the site was comparatively busy for the winter season. There was a Camping & Caravanning Club Rally in progress with 30-40 outfits. This time there were only a dozen or so outfits with a few more arriving for the weekend.
In the afternoon we unloaded the bikes ready for a trip out. Just before we left home I realised I had lost the steel cable I had bought which helps secure the bikes to a post or similar, so we rushed to Halfords and bought another one. Whilst sorting out my panier bags ready for the ride, yup, I found the first cable, so now we have two!
We cycled on the back roads about 5km down (and I mean down!) into Vilanova i la Geltrú, the seaside town nearest the site. I think it must be an OK place in season, but lots of restaurants and bars were shut (it was mid-afternoon) and we couldn’t even find a place for a coffee. Nice sea front though and a marina. This is the only photo I took before the loooooonng climb back up to the site. Yay for the electric bikes!
Friday 18th March
Husband set off for a long walk and I mainly chilled before our onward journey tomorrow. A few shots from around the site. Four Spanish families arrived for a weekend jaunt, one with a tent on top of a 4×4 car. There was much jollity among the adults and the children. Lovely to see.
To see a map showing the location of the sites we stayed at and a few words describing each one, click Menu / Maps at the top of the page or click here – https://tiddleyompompomontour.com/tiddleyompompom-motorhome-stops/
Total mileage so far – 1,120
TiddleyOmPomPom on Tour 