The big Euro adventure! Help/advice needed!

[LucyRV]

Having bought our Winnebago Vista 26p (2009 reg and 27ft long) and driven around the UK, we now have a ferry booked and are about to hit Europe in a few days time!!

Any advice/tips on good places to stop to break up the journey on our way from Roscoff to Portugal would be appreciated!

Thank you in advance and happy to be part of the group

 

[vwalan]

avoid m,ways and just park sensibly in many places . villages are always good .
might be an idea to buy an aires book when you get to brittany. it will be in french but easy to understand . far better price than bought in uk.
across northern spain there are loads of places but again stay off main roads . well when you want to stop get on the smaller roads .
very often it depends if you like coastal roads or a few miles inland . inland can be easier for parkups .
plus you find water etc in the villages .
you might never get to portugal . brittany is fantastic and keeping to the west side of france then along the north coast of spain could take years . galicia is fantastic as well.
have a good one .

 

[stunette]

Hello & welcome to the Forum.. If you tell us which route you are thinking of taking, i'm sure people on here will be able to point out places to stop, see or avoid.. Try looking at http://monstermoovers.blogspot.co.uk

 

[stunette]

Should of said it's the Big Pitch guide you need to look at on Monster movers..

 

[RRV]

We’ve driven through France a few times on our way down to Spain and we stayed off toll roads all the way down

BUT we found the bottom of France was really slow going off tolls with a lot of narrow but fast roads where the France lorry drivers really didn’t give a f**k about your mirrors

So my advice for what it’s worth looking is go off toll until somewhere near Limoges then hop on tolls down to the Pyrenees then the choice is yours

How long are you going for? If you’ve got plenty of time stay off tolls where possible and have fun on the way down

The journey is as important as the destination xx

 

[chatter]

hi and welcome

for aires you need 'all the aires' france,spain & portugal, you can find some online websites with aires on as well.
also online is ACSI and Camping Cheques you can find campsites that will be open on them if thats your preference once you decide on your route, not all campsites are open all year over there.

 

[vwalan]

did use a campsite in 2009 but usually manage 5 months a year travelling over in eu and dont use them.
have difficulty remembering the last airre i used but thought they may be handy for a new traveller to use.
for the last ten winters have travelled with a mate in his converted prison cell truck plus me in my mini artic . camp site would let us in but we dont use them . unless it suits us .
leave or use nothing outside park . dont camp. works for us .
there,s enough places with tables and benches as picnic places to use . if need be .

 

[Martha's Vineyard]

Make sure you take the right adapters to fill up your domestic gas tanks, they are different in each country and hard to source en route.

 

[LucyRV]

Thanks all!! Some great replies there!! We're in panic mode at the moment, bought a ton of stuff we may never use but "might need"!!
Polarity reversers, LPG adapters, travel kits you name it.
Thought we were prepared to travel... then, out of the blue, our LPG tank starts leaking today and we had to have an emergency call out today to get it fixed!
Seems we can't ever be prepared for everything, but we can try!!

Hope thats the last bit of bad luck we get for the time being (or ever... if I dare to hope!!)

 

[LucyRV]

Oh and we're thinking of stopping at St Pol de Leon Aire the first night to gather thoughts and get heads straight after the ferry, before setting off for real.
After that... no plans yet other than head south

 

[chatter]

dont forget your High Viz jackets that have to be in vehicle with you and you must put on before stepping out at the side of the road for any reason, and 2 warning triangles (just in case)

 

[Chris S-S]

As well as 2 breatherlizer kits answer a full set of spare bulbs!

 

[Steve Martin]

You may find the full version of CamperContact app will come in handy as you can find places to stay offline.

 

[Martha's Vineyard]

Take a saw for getting rid of overhanging branches on narrow lanes, unless you want designer scratches down the sides of your RV (and for sawing off French bollards that are in the way, oops )

 

[LucyRV]

Thanks
We have two high viz jackets, a warning triangle, and 3 breathalyzers

Thanks for the tip about campercontact though, I only had the free app, so I will buy it now

 

[chatter]

you need 2 triangles, one has to go a short distance from the front of vehicle to warn oncoming traffic if on ordinary roads and one for at rear of vehicle to warn approaching traffic should the worst happen.
And dont forget that in some rural areas traffic emerging from a side road on the right has right of way over the main road, there is usually a warning sign so look out for them