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Head for Rouen, Evereux, Dreux, Chartres and then onto Orleans. Then take A71 autoroute to Vierzon the A20 (free) to Toulouse then over to Narbonne and south to Perpignan. Now getyour map out and see what you think. No doubt others will also offer advice.

Cant find Benicassim though

harryb

Harry's route looks OK (1024m).

Benicassim is a little north of 'Castellón de la Plana'

The route we are taking is Abbeville, Rouen, Chartres, Orleans, Bourges, Cleremont Ferrand, Millau and on to Narbonne then Perpignan and into Spain.

Two overnight stops planned at the Municipal at Chartres and the Municipal at St Just.

We are setting off from Zeebrugge  and this roughly splits the journey into chunks of about 300 miles.

My trip this year is camping municipal brecey near mont st michael (5 nights) camping municipal la fauche perre on Isle de oleron (8 nights) camping international near Lourdes (7 nights) and then 7 nights on the costa brava at camping Begur return through massif centrel then Paris before doing our parental duty and taking the kids to disneyland.

As of yesterday all booked.

Hi HarryB. thanks for the info .was looking at that route myself, confirms my theory that is a good way to go .think i will use it .no rush as i have 5 days to get there before my rally booking.

Ninja overload2

That sounds like a lovely trip, have you used the site on Oleron before?

Weve used the oleron site 3 times before but not since 2000 and not with the kiddies.Its preatty cheap 12 euros for 3 people ,under 1 euro for under 10s,six of us for about 16 euros a night.

Facilities are good has a little playground but the best bit is its on a lovely sandy beach which is great at high tide for swimming and at low tide has lots of rock pools.

Its a very French site,ive never seen another brit there in 3 visits and they dont speak much anglaise.

Some of the pitches are a little small and some dont have much shade,they vary a little.

Its quite come nightime,no bar or anythink but its a shortish walk to la continere town.

Hi

We stayed at Benicassim last year. 17 October - 15 December.  Our lesuirely route from Eurotunnel included an overnight at Manoir de Senlecques, Pernes les Boulogne (due to late crossing) 1.Camping Marrionners, Municipal site, Pont Authou, near Brionne (s. of Rouen), 2. Camping les Acacias, Tours 3.Camping la Prairie, Lissac sur couze, (West of Brive) 4. La Nautique, Narbonne.  5. Camping La Masia, Blanes.

Return: 1. Camping Salata, Rosas 2. Camping Panoramic, Payrac, 3.Le Futuriste, Poitiers, 4. Camp Le Salverte, Le Gros Theil, (s. Rouen)  5. Camping Brighton, Cayeux sur Mer. All camps except Narbonne were open all year.

As I said, a leisurely route, mainly for the 2 dogs we took with us, (we didn't want them to be shut up in the car all day).  We also decided to try a different route having done the Rouen, Evreux, Chartes etc. SOOOO many times.  Although eventually you end up retracing your steps.  We also opted to pay the Tolls on the newly opened section of the A28 towards Le Mans and had the autoroute almost all to ourselves, understandly, it was a very expensive stretch at 29.60 euros. Just to give you an idea, total tolls for the outward journey came to 128.54 euros and return 121.95 euros.

Tips: Whichever route you take try and plan your longest journey particularly if using N roads on a Sunday. There are hardly any HGV's on the roads in France.

At Rouen consider using the N15 - signed to Evreux (you can join the A13 at jcts 20 or 19) instead of driving through Rouen which can be a bit of a nightmare depending on the time you hit it.

On approaching Benicassim on the N340 there is an alternative route signed Benicassim par la costa on the left. (approx 3 miles from exit 45)  This will avoid the town centre of Benicassim but please be aware there are speed bumps (from memory about 5 ) as your near Benicassim so slow right down.  This route drops you on the Av. de Barcelona, almost at the turning for Camping Azahar and Bonterra Park is a few hundred yards down the road on the right.

Enjoy.....

We'll be setting off again for Spain at the end of February, this time overnight to St Malo and a west coast route.  Any suggestions!

Vera