In my last post I mentioned I had got the return date wrong. It was only one day! Of course it would have meant turning up at Eurotunnel and them charging us an arm and a leg to change the booking on the hoof. I am still smarting at the cost of the last time when we came back in the snow in December. It had to be done then as we may have got stuck in France!
Last time it was well out of season and we only booked a few places and used the Camping-Car Park sites more than actual campsites. This time I have opted to book ahead. It's June and apart from the first few nights on the way down to St Etienne, I have booked two nights at a time at a variety of places.
Even though we live near the sea in Kent, We rarely have a trip that there isn't at least one day where we can sea the ocean or even paddle in it. This time no different. A couple of nights in the Camargue near to the Mediterranean and then we turn northwards and inland. France is a relatively large country compared to the UK. The campsite at La Brise in the Camargue is around 1140kms (708 miles) from Eurotunnel. In the past I have done it in a day when on the Suzuki Cavalcade LX.... But never again!
So this time we are going to go "up the middle" as it were. Keeping to the east of the way we went down and back up to Spain before Christmas. I usually plan using Google Maps and then look for suitable campsites or aires around the route. This time I decided on places to stop and then looked at the ACSI website where I have taken up a year's membership. It seems the best rated and included in the ACSI system, and bookable online, are in a chain called Flower Camping!
I have a two night stop near the Millau Viaduct. The chances of paying to go over it are very very slight. We should be able to get a good view of it in all it's glory.... The next stop will be somewhere we have stayed before, but only for one night in a hotel in the upper town - Saint-Nectaire the Puy de Dôme locale. This time another Flower site at La Vallee Verte.
It so happens that my favourite cheese is Saint-Nectaire fermier. Hopefully we'll get to sample a few whilst there! Three nights there to have at bit of R&R and unwind..... and consume cheese....!
I have been looking at vets that can do Reggie's worming and have been recommended a couple of vets in Belgium that will do that and also are able to provide a pet passport for Reggie. It's something I looked into when we were in Spain in November and a local vet in Alcossebre would have done it. With two trips this year across to the EU it would have saved us £69 each trip this year. In the end we didn't do it. One of the vets is in Bruges and she can do the worming and pet passport for us. It's a fraction more than another £69 for Reggie in August. But the passport is valid for three years. Reggie is no youngster but it should be better for him in the long run. And us in the wallet!
Where after that? I have yet to think about it too much. But I expect with around 550 toll free miles left to do to get to Eurotunnel and 5 and a bit days to do it that we won't be biting off too many miles each day. So probably single nights at Camping-Car Parks.
It's a month today before we are away. I prefer the non-toll routes and not have to pay the tolls on the motorways. But, the first day I think we'll need to get some shopping done once across into France and then pay the toll on the A26 to kill off some of the mileages to the first overnight stop. Hopefully Picard will have some of their dogador raw food for Reggie. It seems that very few of their stores stock it. We have been lucky in Calais!
So the countdown has begun.
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