[rebbyvid]

Going to L'ampolla Spain for 2 weeks which is in between Barcelona/Valencia in June.
I know there are seasoned travellers on here who go down this coast regular and would appreciate any tips plus the easiest/cheapest route.We are taking the mother-in-law(brother in law lives there) so a couple of stops en route are planned.We are also on the sunday night ferry 20.00 Dover-Dunkirk so will stop around Dunkirk sunday then off monday morning.
All tips appreciated.
Rob

[bob.M]

Hi Rob, in the previous runs to Spain I have been in a hurry so have used A26, AI>> Paris A3,Peripherique entering at Bagnolet leaving at porte D Italie for A6b,<< A6, A10,A71,A75(this is a free motorway right down to Beziers it may be finished now by joining up to the A9 you only make 1 payment when crossing the Millau Bridge approx. 8 euro). The A9 takes you into Spain and the coastal m/way to your destination. Try to hit Paris out of rush hours I find 80 minutes is normal from Charles de Gaulle Airport to A6. We tend to use the m/way aires for quickness, either petrol stations or rest areas and have only been disturbed twice, either alarm went off, I awoke with a splitting headache but could find nobody, in the morning I noticed the hatch to the diesel cap had been forced open. The other time the Van Bitz alarm went off, again a walk around the van produced nothing but in the morning I found my Hope safety bumper hanging down, missing 1 nut+bolt and the other 3 nuts almost off, the reversing camera attached to it was impossible to remove but the bumper was easy except I had threaded the Van Bitz external alarm cable through it.We always take the german sheperd with us, daft as a brush but they do not know.
The 2 sites I have used in France close to these routes are SALBRIS on A71 jnct 4, in the town on the N20 as you x the river heading back to Orleans you can see site on right, great fishing lake with places right on lake.
Jnct40 A75 a municipal site right by m/way and river, never found the shower block clean yet, mud + leaves but picturesque and a drive over dump,the village is BANANNSAC.
I think that might help you, am now retired so this year I can use the N roads and hope we do not get disturbed.bob.M

[rebbyvid]

Thanks for info Bob,
We will be spending a couple of days at Disney as daughter and family will be there and hoping to visit Oradour-sur-Glane so not in a rush to get there.Brother in law lives in L'Ampolla so will spend four or five days there.
Rob

[kontiki]

We're off next Sunday night & get back around mid May booked on Norfolkline £14 each way . Later than we wanted to go but had to finish our self build camper unless it would have been a blow up bed & camping stove (it's not much more than that anyway ) Thinking of coming back via Germany & looking at buying another van but with the way the € is might have to look a the second hand ones & see what's available.

We try to plan a route out but tend to change on our way, possibly heading towards Rouen, Bordeaux, Biarritz, Pamplona, Valencia then meet up with some friends at San Javier Mar Menor for a couple of weeks. Then do some touring around (much easier in a smaller van) last year we got stuck in the middle of a town in rush hour as we couldn't make a turn in one go so we had people at the front & back of the van shuffling us back & to to get around the turn (seems funny now but at the time my blood pressure must have been off the scale )

[DF5XG]

Hello Ed,

in the early April we are going to Spain as well.
I would like to visit Gibraltar for amateur radio reasons. (one time on the other side of a pile up)I have to argue Ingrid to go to the rock. Then Cadiz, Sevilla, Malaga, Granada,.....

Klaus.

[kontiki]

Hi Klaus,
Maybe we can meet up , we are thinking of travelling around the south coast of Spain then on to Portugal so we will have to see if we are in the same area at the same time.

[zulurita]

Rob

There is a good Aire de Service at Orudur sur Glane. I wouldn't use motorway Aire de Service as that is where most robberies/break-ins occur.

Best to use Aires de Service off the motorway or even village car parks or muicipal campsites.

Be careful if on the A7 through Spain, it is notorious for robberies so if at a service station best to keep eyes peeled when getting diesel or if stopping for food stay with motorhome.

[kontiki]

A bit late for us we were robbed in Valencia We were only travelling through Valencia & I had what I thought was a blow out. The rear offside tyre was completly flat, we turned into a side street where some helpful (well he helped himself to the wifes handbag) said we could park in front of his garage (again a lie) while we changed the tyre. He kept popping back & too while I was changing the wheel & the wife was making room to get the spare out of the backof the van. We tried to keep the rest of the van locked but he must have seen a small oppourtunity & grabbed the wifes bag from where it was hidden under the front seat. as I said he eventually disappeared & I felt safer when he was gone, the real owner of the garage we were parked in front of came back & started waving & shouting at us to move out of the way which we did. About half hour later we stopped for a drink & discovered that the bag was missing. There wasn't a great deal of money in the bag but all the wifes cards & driving license were in there plus a spare immobiliser key I got cut just days before we left.

We filled in police report at Valencia, they were very thorough getting all the details & said it was happening a lot. I now need to also buy a new tyre as I can see where they must have stuck a knife into the sidewall when we were in traffic. They must also have had people covering all the likely routes we could go to be on hand to help themselves. If I ever get another puncture in Spain I will lock the doors & ring for the breakdown assistance to come & change it.

[enodreven]

Hi, Sorry to hear of your problems, the b*****ds are everywhere, the main thing is you are both OK, try to enjoy the rest of your trip, we hope to be heading towards Marbella the early part of April so we will be on our guard

Brian

A bit late for us we were robbed in Valencia We were only travelling through Valencia & I had what I thought was a blow out. The rear offside tyre was completly flat, we turned into a side street where some helpful (well he helped himself to the wifes handbag) said we could park in front of his garage (again a lie) while we changed the tyre. He kept popping back & too while I was changing the wheel & the wife was making room to get the spare out of the backof the van. We tried to keep the rest of the van locked but he must have seen a small oppourtunity & grabbed the wifes bag from where it was hidden under the front seat. as I said he eventually disappeared & I felt safer when he was gone, the real owner of the garage we were parked in front of came back & started waving & shouting at us to move out of the way which we did. About half hour later we stopped for a drink & discovered that the bag was missing. There wasn't a great deal of money in the bag but all the wifes cards & driving license were in there plus a spare immobiliser key I got cut just days before we left.

We filled in police report at Valencia, they were very thorough getting all the details & said it was happening a lot. I now need to also buy a new tyre as I can see where they must have stuck a knife into the sidewall when we were in traffic. They must also have had people covering all the likely routes we could go to be on hand to help themselves. If I ever get another puncture in Spain I will lock the doors & ring for the breakdown assistance to come & change it.

[kontiki]

Almost everybody you talk to here has either been robbed or know somebody that has been. It is getting to be an accepted hazzard unfortunately, we always try to be careful but until you get done over you tend to think it's other people this happens to. I don't know how they managed to puncture the tyre the first I knew I thought the noise was coming from a car behind, he quickly sped up & past me but I thought it was because I had a flat & he was just avoiding me but he was probably the one who did it. When I saw where the tyre ws cut alarm bells should have sounded, I don't ever recall seeing a tyre punctured in the sidewall, sod's law it was the best tyre on the van as well.

[enodreven]

Hi,

We were approached last year by what we still beleive to be bogus police just outside of Barcelona, and while you think you will be aware and know what to do e.g. the camera and tell them you will go to the nearest police station or ring the police help line that speak English etc etc, that all goes out of the window when the situation actually takes place, hindsight is a great thing I only wish i had some ???, luckily that time we just drove on and even though they tried to stop us we got away, but ??

Hi, from all of the reports aparantly Spain is suposed to be a lot safer than the UK, but I'm not sure how they calculate these figures, it probably is less overall when calculated against the hole population, but if it were perhaps calculated against visitors the results may reflect a different point of view

What site are you staying on and is the Internet connection free ??

Look after yourselves

Brian

Almost everybody you talk to here has either been robbed or know somebody that has been. It is getting to be an accepted hazzard unfortunately, we always try to be careful but until you get done over you tend to think it's other people this happens to. I don't know how they managed to puncture the tyre the first I knew I thought the noise was coming from a car behind, he quickly sped up & past me but I thought it was because I had a flat & he was just avoiding me but he was probably the one who did it. When I saw where the tyre ws cut alarm bells should have sounded, I don't ever recall seeing a tyre punctured in the sidewall, sod's law it was the best tyre on the van as well.

[kontiki]

We are staying at Los Pinos just outside Denia, we stayed here last year. It is ?14 a night or less if you stay about a week last year it was ?10 a night if you stayed a week or more. This year the internet is ?5 a week or ?10 for a month.
We normally do quite a bit of wild camping but at the moment we are taking a bit of time to get our self confidence back. We did stay on the port at Vinaros on the way down quite a popular spot there were about 20 vans there. We had a internet connection there but I couldn't figure out where from as there didn't seem to be any buildings close enough.

[davebess]

Ed , i do hope you can enjoy the rest of your trip into the sun. we all need eyes in the back of our heads.!

safe travels Dave

[kontiki]

At the moment we are sort of in between vans, I sold my Frankia in November & bought a SWB Renault Master & did a pretty basic conversion so we could still get away. I deliberatley kept it looking like a van as much as possible except for side windows it doesn't look like a camper. The one tihng we can't avoid though is the number plate, I didn't put a GB sticker on as the number plate has the GB on it. They obviously knew to puncture the offside tyre so they could get at the sliding door, we should be grateful that they did grab something & go as who knows what they might have tried while we were both out of the van. We have even thought that the guy who came along just as we were finishing & rushing us to move off might have been part of it, he arrived at the very moment I was jacking the van down This all happened on a main road in quite heavy ttraffic in the middle of the day, a time when I would have felt reasonably safe, we always lock all the doors & keep the windows part up with nothing in reach from the outside. I think it is just the luck of the draw, you have to wish it happens to somebody else & not you but it is something I wouldn't like anybody to experience. It seems to be a risk you can't avoid if you come to Spain, on the other hand we have met people who have been coming for years & never had a problem.

[DF5XG]

Hello Ed,

sorry to hear from the raid in Valencia, but the main thing is you are both OK.
We will have eagle eyes and fingers cross on our way down to Malaga in April.

[ton]

Hello everyone!

Santander (Spain):

[Keith H]

According to a translation from Google, 'excepto turismos' on the sign translates as "except cars", so I would guess this excludes motorhomes?

Any Spanish speaking members out there to confirm this is so?