This year, we’re off to France again, did we mention that already? If you’re interested in our journey there and back, we’ve detailed it below.
Leg One – Dover
We start off from home in Essex and board the 23:20 Ferry from Dover to Calais. Boarding a Ferry with a caravan is easy, there is sometimes a bit of a ramp, other than that you’re directed where to park. The Ferry gets us into Calais at 01:50 local time. Dover is about 2 hours – 90 miles drive from our home.
Leg Two – Chateau de L’Eperviere – Day One
From Calais, it is approximately a 9-hour drive to Castel Camping Chateau de L’Eperviere. This is a 410-mile drive from Calais and we do this in one hit. As the journey is part of the holiday we make plenty of stops and even allow for a little sleep break in the time we’ve allocated. As we use Autoroutes where possible there are plenty of good quality rest areas (Aires) en route. One of the great things about travelling with a caravan, or motorhome, is that you can pull over and cook breakfast, have a cup of tea and just relax.
Our plan is to arrive at our first overnight stop at around 3 pm, giving us enough time to go and have something to eat and rest well, before the next days travel. By getting to France at such an early hour it gives us 13 hours to do a 9-hour drive. We’ve learnt from experience everything takes longer when towing, so we like to give ourselves plenty of time.
The first site is Castel Camping Chateau de L’Eperviere costs 41.50 Euro for 1 night, which is the length of our stay. As with the vast majority of our bookings, we book direct, by their website. The email confirmation in English. We had one last year who emailed in French, however, google translate is very good and we were able to hold an email conversation with just school French. In fact, I did German at school, so even less than school French!
Leg Three – Camping La Sousta – Day Two
The next day we continue to head south onwards to Remoulins, which is a 212 mile trip taking approximately 4 hours.
We stay at a campsite called Camping La Sousta. We stay here for 3 nights as it’s close to Pont Du Gard and a few other places we’d like to visit. This site costs €150 for the 2 nights.
Leg Four – Camping Le Soleil – Day Five
After Pont du Gard, you guessed it we continue to head south onward to our final destination Argeles Sur Mer, which is about 155 miles, so our shortest trip of the journey down. We estimate this should take around 3 hours.
We stay at Camping Le Soleil for 3 weeks before returning home.
So, the trip down is 865 miles from home, and about 18 hours driving time.
Return Journey
Return Leg One – CAMPING MUNICIPAL DE MÂCON
From Argeles, we head north to Sance, which is a 338 mile drive taking about 6 hours. We stop at CAMPING MUNICIPAL DE MÂCON for 1 night which costs €26
Leg Two – Camping Au Bord L’Aisne
Then it is onto Guignicourt which is a 277 mile journey taking about 5 hours. We stay at a site called Camping Au Bord L’Aisne for 1 night £26.77. This was booked through the Caravan and Motorhome Club, the rest were booked direct.
Leg Three – Camping La Bien Assise
Our final leg takes us to Guines (which is near Calais) and just 151 miles taking about 2h30. We stay at Camping La Bien Assise for 1 night, costing €54.52
Leg Four – Home
The next day we head to Calais and depart at 09:50 Saturday for Dover. Then it’s a 90 mile drive back home.
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