The pea-souper fog we
thought we’d left behind near Toulouse had in fact stalked us overnight.
Thinking we were waking to a bright day as the sun popped its head up over the
tree line at about 8.30, the thin wintery light quickly disappeared to be
replaced by one of those cold, foggy, damp days we know and love in England –
perfect acclimatisation for our penultimate day!
With two days to do the
remainder of the drive north, we’d decided to get the bulk of the distance done
today – partly to take advantage of the free and fast A20 between
Brive-le-Gaillard and Vierzon, and partly to leave us a nice easy final day. As
we stashed the miles away, the weather improved briefly, only to be replaced by
heavy rain as darkness fell and we joined what seemed like an endless HGV
convoy heading toward the coast. Stuck behind so many HGVs whilst waiting to
overtake, we were struck by what seems to be a clear hierarchy of national ‘who
tows whose trailers’ – something we’d noticed more on this trip and was very
visible on this long march north. German trailers seem to be towed by Dutch
tractor units; the Dutch by the Spanish; the Spanish by the Bulgarians and
Romanians, who, along with the Portuguese, Poles, Czechs, Slovenes, Estonians
and Macedonians also towed themselves – perhaps an indication of the relative
wealth of different EU countries. We weren’t sure what to read into the fact we
only saw one UK HGV in the entire trip…
And to add to the fun, we
were also navigating our way (Mr B’s idea…) to an Aire we’d never used before
at Brezolles, near Dreux. Described as being set in a pretty location in a
picnic area, near a lake and church, we eventually found it tucked away behind
a wall adjacent to the busy main road, watched over by Baby Jesus and chums in
a very French and brightly illuminated nativity scene. Of course, the coolant
warning light that had been flashing at us for the final hour simply added to
the mix, but could wait for an investigation in the daylight…
Wondering how much sleep we
might get because of road noise, but too tired to contemplate driving any
further, we settled down for the night serenaded by the gentle rumble of trucks
whizzing past, and the church bells, apparently on speed - we gave up counting after
about 50 chimes – which pealed across our rustic hide-away. Luckily, the bells
stopped at 7.00pm and the lorries not long after, allowing us an unexpected
break until about 4.00am when the convoys started again, followed by the bells
at 7.00am. Checking the coolant level before we set off, it seemed that we had
indeed lost some fluid – not too much though and a job for England, having
topped up under the watchful eye of Baby Jesus.
Arriving at Dieppe by early
afternoon, and after the obligatory shop-a-thon at Auchan, we went off to
explore the re-vamped Aire on the beach. We’d used it in its previous
incarnation and had been underwhelmed by the cheek-by-jowl parking and noise of
the ferry arriving at night, but having suffered HGV noise last night instead,
we thought we’d have another look for a future visit. The new Aire is not cheap
- €12 for 24hrs, but it does have decent sized bays, good chemical toilet dump
points and fresh water taps, and free electric included (1 hour per van as
there are only about 12 points for about 30 vans, but there were fewer vans
than points when we visited and they probably weren’t going to be unplugging
after an hour…) For another winter trip we’d likely give this a go, especially
with 230v available.
As we took a walk along the
prom, we saw our boat arriving and noticed just how filthy the van had got on
our final day’s drive – as good an indication as any of the change in the
weather!
So, our short trip of five
weeks has come to an end, in which we’ve teased out some of the joys and
challenges of travelling by campervan in the winter. It’s been great fun and
here are some of our thoughts on the pros and cons for subsequent winter expeditions…
Pros
A feeling of an almost
‘endless summer’ for some of the daytime in the south; shorts/T shirts and BBQs
included;
dipping into longer term
communities of peeps making a conscious decision to get away from the cold weather
of northern Europe and into the warmth and light further south;
stepping away from the life
we live in the UK for a bit;
lots of time outdoors – and
a feeling of leading a much healthier lifestyle. We walked and/or cycled somewhere pretty much every day;
a sense of adventure in
exploring new places, meeting new people, jabbering in other languages;
visiting places we probably
wouldn’t have explored in hotter weather;
the fun of shopping and
cooking with winter ingredients that are unusual or hard to get/expensive in
the UK;
making the most of more
indoor living than we’re used to with our summer trips, including watching DVDs
(we’ve caned almost two seasons of House of Cards on this trip!) listening to
music, reading and playing board games.
Cons
Keep an open mind – and lots
of costume changes for varying weather conditions;
the colder nights need
careful planning for – reliable heating is essential and ours wasn’t –
something we will be reviewing;
shorter days force more time indoors – our van is not
hugely comfortable for long periods sat indoors – something else we will be
reviewing;
fewer sites are open
(especially ACSI), leading to some pretty dense populations of happy campers in
the warmer climes and a distinct lack of sites in northern France;
some sites are not that well
equipped for very cold weather, when showers can become tepid, and getting
dressed an exercise in speedy dexterity!
Overall
It’s a great escape for sure
– but if you want proper warmth and sun, go at least as far as southern Spain,
with probably October/November delivering better and more reliable weather.
S&J.
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