I'm not a very good driver, and I'd only driven abroad a couple of times till last year. Then in August I took the family in a campervan from Somerset via Dover right down to the Auvergne. 1900 miles there and back.
The only stressy bit? The last day, on the M25 near Leatherhead.
You'll be fine.
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Hi Tentz..don't get me started! Have you been there? I worked in Woolacombe North Devon when I was younger (1000 years ago) And have done endless miles back and forth, camping with my boys...did the "sitting on the beach,holding the towels and dog bit" and now I have this bit between my teeth that I want to spend as much time as possible in Hossegor as I can.I've never been there but I have numerous surfing cd's and there is always some surfing in Hossegor.I work at home on my laptop with the Dick's Sand bar webcam (Hossegor) running and it looks like North Devon with sun I've already worked out my route and a couple of campsites...if everything went o.k then great, but if I had a nasty accident then "I should have know better"..."taking risks" that's why I'm cautious.
TonyS99...Wow,that sounds great. I raised my boys with camping,VW campers and even used to sleep in a 2CV for the weekend when they were little if it was too wet to put up the tent and now two of them have VW campers and are planning a similar trip to you....how did it go and how long were you away?
Peggy, Hossegor's one of the places to be if you're into surf. That's worldwide, not just France. That whole stretch of coast from Bordeaux down to Bayonne/Biarritz is west-facing, therefore potentially fantastic for atlantic surf. Hendaye is good, right down near the border with Spain. Biscarrosse and Mimizan Plage are both well known.
I've seen other breaks, much further north though, in the area just west and north of Nantes that worked really well too.
I'll dig out my Stormrider guide for more info for you including best hire shops etc. if you like? I made notes! ;)
The only problem I have when driving in France is coming back to UK!!!!!!
I have no problem once in France but for several months afterwards I have to concentrate to decide which side of the road I should be driving on in UK!!
Hubby says, just remember 2 things in France - as a driver you should be driving next to the pavement and stop means stop. Police can fine you if you don't stop at a stop sign. Exagerate the stop, even down to putting the handbrake on. Also if you are coming off a motorway and get a 50kph sign it means 50 kph as invariably you end up disappearing up your own exhaustpipe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
One thing that the wife finds a bit dodgy is that traffic lights, especially in urban areas, may be way up in the air in the middle of the road - you can easily miss them if you're concentrating on the road in front.
Quote: Originally posted by Janet, WYorks on 07/3/2010
...........and stop means stop. Police can fine you if you don't stop at a stop sign. Exagerate the stop, even down to putting the handbrake on. .................