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Because we live in the North of England, we have a long journey to the ports in England before going anywhere in France.  Over thirty-one years, we've evolved what is a 'best plan' for us though obviously not ideal for everyone.

We set off from home at around 3.00 pm on a Friday (it used to be after the kids got home from school) and get a late night ferry from Dover.  That's our 'best option' choice of port because if we're early or late there's always another sailing which we can catch.  We spend our first night in France in an aire about an hour away from the ferry port (favourite Aire de la Baie de Somme - though we have tried lots of others) and then we're off to an early start the following morning.

Other timings would, for us, mean either a very late arrival at an overnight stop near Dover and arriving in France at lunchtime, or setting off the following morning and catching a lunchtime ferry.  When we had the children with us we tried to get as many days in France as we could and we've carried on with these timings since they stopped coming with us.

Quote: Originally posted by few cloudy on 06/3/2012

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Was the bit about night driving and the Vendee a question for me?

fc

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You are 'allowed' but some are better, in terms of safety, with plenty of space, and away from the autoroute noise, than others.  There are places we wouldn't stay overnight, and I'd never recommend staying somewhere that you haven't at least visited during day time, and preferably more than once!

We'd stopped at Baie de Somme several times, and investigated the area for caravans, talked to people who'd stayed there, and were therefore quite happy to stay there ourselves.

Other people prefer not to stay on Aires, and it's really down to personal choice.