First time to France with caravan and as soon as we leave the ferry we want to go to Caen.(Dad was there during the Normandy landings)
Which route should we take? Should we travel all in one go? Any campsite suggestions please? Which french map should we buy?
Thanks for your help.
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Buy a Michelin Road Atlas, you can buy one in any UK bookshop. Also a large folding single sheet map of France is good for route planning. Route is dead easy if you are ok with paying for toll roads, motorway all the way & about 220miles so doable ok in a day.
Google maps is good for route finding. Put Calais into search then click directions, put in Caen & it gives you the route.
You can't really go wrong, out of Calais take motorway for Boulogne then just stay on there past Abbeville towards Rouen & well before Rouen take A29 signposted Le Havre Caen.
I suggested Portsmouth to Caen but he who knows best said it was much more expensive so its Dover to Calais.
What is annoying is we are heading north after Caen.She who is the navigator tried to explain cost of Toll and fuel would offset the extra cost but it made no difference.
Thank you for your help, at least I know the way now.
We did our first trip last year to that region of France staying just outside Honfleur.
We stayed at Camping Domaine de la Catiniere what was a lovely little site what we found ideally situated only a couple of minutes from the motorway set in the countryside.
Caen was within easy travelling distance for a day trip as well as Bayeaux and Dieppe and many smaller towns and villages in the local area.
Honfleur is definitely worth a visit especially on market day. Having breakfast sat watching the market set up on the harbourside was lovely.
We travelled down from the Eurotunnel to Honfleur, motorway all the way via Abbevile, Yvetot and across the Pont de Normandie bridge what is very impressive in its on right. We stopped at the Bay de Somme services for lunch and found the trip took about three and a half hours with lunch. Caen is about another forty five minutes on from there.
We stayed in St Aubin sur Mer (not far from Caen) at Camping Cote de Nacre. Large site which can get very busy in school holidays but is situated just a short walk (through attractive town) from Juno beach. Miles of beachside walking there too and central to a lot of the sites of interest.
Also makes sense to me to catch the ferry to Ouistreham but sounds like you're fighting a losing battle despite logic!
If you can, go in early June ... the whole Operation Overlord experience is much more moving in June!
Another vote for Martragny, a perfectly fine site midway between Caen and Bayeaux. You should also look into visiting the Bayeaux Tapestry while you're there, it really is a must-see.
As for maps, everyone has their own solution but typically we stop at the first super/hypermarket and buy a new spiral bound glovebox atlas (typically about 6 inches high and usually Michelin) for travelling and route planning. When we arrive we then get the local Michelin regional map (eg Brittany) or more likely the local map (eg Finistere & Morbihan) depending on how far we plan to travel. Regional maps are orange, local are yellow. You can see all these at http://travel.michelin.co.uk/
I would also always go Dover-Calais. Apart from the lower cost, it is much, much nicer driving (especially when towing) on the French side of the Channel than on the English side. For us the travelling is a part of the holiday.
------------- Freedom is a light caravan and an open road.