Coast from Calais to Cherbourg?

[dippingatoe]

Following on from my last post now Thebus is repaired and the scooter and lift in order, once I have Little Miss Phoebe's passport sorted I am thinking of crossing the channel.

As you all know I am not widely travelled so where would you suggest I headed for. I rather fancy Poole to Cherbourg, or maybe Portsmouth to Le Havre as then I would see Honfleur and Deauville but would I be missing lots of nice coast further North?

I am in no hurry and hot weather does not really interest me what does everyone think

I won't be starting until the end of Sept at the earliest

 

[chatter]

Little Miss Phoebe would have to stay on your vehicle on those crossings unless things have changed over the years, daytime crossing is about 4.5hrs, I dont know if they let you down to check dogs on those crossings. One reason why we use the shorter crossings, if going to spain though the boats on those crossings have kennels and one of the boats has pet friendly cabins where your dog stays with you.
Can appreaciate you not wanting to do the shorter crossing with all the immigrant troubles around Calais though

 

[onan]

We were in Normandy for four weeks earlier this year - between Caen and Cherbourg. Spent a lot of time visiting D Day landings, museums, cemeteries etc. Wonderful beaches, food, wine, countryside, churches and people. Although we stayed on an expensive site and used our tow car there were many camp sites and Aires in all the towns and villages so you could travel about in your Damon. Some supermarkets have water and dump facilities.

Can you take your RV from Poole to Cherbourg?

We don't do dogs, so cannot comment.

You will struggle to find sites after the end of September as most close down until next year.

ALAN

 

[dippingatoe]

Little Miss Phoebe is getting used to her crate (though prefers to sleep on the bed with me ) So that shouldn't be too much of problem - my lovely old Phoebe travelled from Orkney to Shetland which was a whole night and she was fine, even though she hated travelling.

I don't think any of the ferries sailing out of the uk would allow you to go below decks to check on them, and in any case that would just disturb her and make her need a pee or something.

I would do the Chunnel but I am not allowed because I can run on LPG, but somehow Poole to Cherbourg sounded more civilised ?

 

[chatter]

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/county.asp?region=France
a good starting point for your searches, on the left is a filter eg, unit, facilities requirred etc click what you need and the region and any campsites matching will be displayed on the map and a listing below the map. As stated not many are open all year etc but quite a few are open through october and some into November.
Also online ACSi and Camping Cheques where you can filter sites per requirement, although both sites are discount sites as such the sites are still open to general public as well.
Between these three options and aires you should have it covered, there are online sites and books for the aires with info on most of them
Also if in caravan club they do a book with sites and cl type sites for france etc likewise with the camping and caravaning club im sure they have select sites over there

 

[pepper386]

Portsmouth to La Harve one of the ferrys have dog friendly cabins, going the their way it's the economy ferry night sailing, hope this is of some help

 

[paul&debra]

Consider signing up for Passion France, they have a lot of overnight free stops in wine Chateaux and farm shops. A bit like brit stops but much more established and nice safe locations.

 

[dippingatoe]

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/county.asp?region=France
a good starting point for your searches, on the left is a filter eg, unit, facilities requirred etc click what you need and the region and any campsites matching will be displayed on the map and a listing below the map. As stated not many are open all year etc but quite a few are open through october and some into November.
Also online ACSi and Camping Cheques where you can filter sites per requirement, although both sites are discount sites as such the sites are still open to general public as well.
Between these three options and aires you should have it covered, there are online sites and books for the aires with info on most of them
Also if in caravan club they do a book with sites and cl type sites for france etc likewise with the camping and caravaning club im sure they have select sites over there

Thanks - I use this a lot in the uk but hadn't particularly realised it covered France as well.

 

[dippingatoe]

Consider signing up for Passion France, they have a lot of overnight free stops in wine Chateaux and farm shops. A bit like brit stops but much more established and nice safe locations.

Thanks I had forgotten that one I must start putting my brain into gear

 

[dippingatoe]

For some reason I always wanted to visit Honfleur and Deauville. Are they as interesting as in my imagination, or should I sail to Cherbourg and head south?

 

[chatter]

Depends on what you like, yes looking round the harbour of Honfleur with the buidings and masts it looks pretty, but from memory that was it. The aire is accessed via a metal bridge that devides the inner harbour from the outer harbour, from memory its not a wide bridge remember having to wait for a motorhome to pass over it before walking across it with the dogs, i was wanting to take a pic of one of those very long river cruisers which tie up in the outer harbour, you can also see the Pont du Normandy bridge from there, the aire i think was hard packed earth it did have a bourne though once again from memory as we didnt stop on the aire, i was on a municipal campsite close by as we had the 5th wheel then so had the truck for transport, but i cant recall the name of the site we used

 

[dippingatoe]

Depends on what you like, yes looking round the harbour of Honfleur with the buidings and masts it looks pretty, but from memory that was it. The aire is accessed via a metal bridge that devides the inner harbour from the outer harbour, from memory its not a wide bridge remember having to wait for a motorhome to pass over it before walking across it with the dogs, i was wanting to take a pic of one of those very long river cruisers which tie up in the outer harbour, you can also see the Pont du Normandy bridge from there, the aire i think was hard packed earth it did have a bourne though once again from memory as we didnt stop on the aire, i was on a municipal campsite close by as we had the 5th wheel then so had the truck for transport, but i cant recall the name of the site we used

Thanks - have been doing a bit on online and I think it would be a great place to stay in a hotel, but probably not that wonderful in a mh. Its useful hearing what others have to say

 

[LARRY99]

The aire at honfluer is huge and can easily accommodate the largest rv
( if you get there early ,around mid afternoon).
The town itself is very old and picturesque,

 

[chatter]

http://www.calvados-tourisme.co.uk/...es.php#dsbM[glGeo]=9~49~-1.587~50.0695~1.0443

another link for sites in the areas you mentioned

 

[LARRY99]

At honfluer aire a van comes around about 9am selling hot fresh bread and pastries ,listen out for his bell ringing , there is also electric available as well as the black/ grey dump, we stayed two nights ,exploring the town ,and a boat trip up the river in the day ,then moved on

 

[LARRY99]

Here's another link worth keeping

http://www.eutouring.com/french_campsites_open_all_year/campsites_open_all_year.html

If you look down the left hand column there's large rvs

 

[dippingatoe]

Thanks all some really useful information there

Here's another link worth keeping

http://www.eutouring.com/french_campsites_open_all_year/campsites_open_all_year.html

If you look down the left hand column there's large rvs

Thanks Larry

 

[Jaime]

Not sure if someone has already posted this link but it'll tell you most of what you need to know about which ferry companies carry pets and you can phone them to discuss:

http://www.aferry.co.uk/pets1.htm

If you want to come down to Portugal for the winter of 2016/2017 Dips let me know. I reckon you would get your RV to the place I am buying, albeit very slowly; weight over the little river bridge on the track is the problem, not size. I certainly plan to take Higgins and use him as an "annex" later next year when I am settled in.

 

[dippingatoe]

Excellent news that you have a place in Portugal. Will you be able to take your horses. Good luck with everything

I must admit I rarely plan to far ahead, and when I do try it all seems to go askew. The current idea is to set out sometime in October? Turn right on crossing the channel and see how it goes. Probably sticking to the coast as much as possible. But I think I might like to see Bayeaux and a couple of other places, on the other hand for some reason I fancy crossing from Poole to Cherbourg, heaven knows why. I will see nearer the time, and yes I have been exploring the AFerry site.

I would have said Little Miss Phoebe would be happy in her training cage, but the little rascal escaped tonight when I went out for a curry, on my return she was just mooching around inside Thebus, but (apparently) had done no damage - well non that I have found so far Little cheeky monkey