Dora’s homecoming, where she belongs

Coming to France has been a bit of a cultural shock. Not the language, nor the food but the Aires. Dora has finally come home!

While  in the UK we scrabbled around trying to find places for Dora, places to sleep or just to stay during the  day. We were surrounded by caravans  and tents which are just so culturally different from Dora. The car parking spaces are just too small, her rather large behind protrudes beyond, slightly ungainly.  Even while in the UK, as we would pass another motorhome a friendly salute would be given. Susana recreated this subtle gesture into a flamboyant Spanish wave. Now on the continent, things begin to make more sense, Europe is made for motorhomes.

We never stayed at our first Aires, just outside St Briec, on the coast, beautiful, but quite full and free! Aires are car parks specifically for motorhomes, and usually for no one else. They might also come with facilities; a tap to fill with water, a drain to get rid of grey water and the toilet waste, and maybe even electricity. Lunch, that was it before we headed on, but it gave us a feel for what they were like.

Our first proper Aires, where we stayed the night, was a large affair, and we were late, so it was already pretty full.

We had to take a couple of tours of the site before we could find a place that we thought Dora would like, among her eighty companions. The children have already gone back to school (ecole) but there are still quite a few families on the road.

The scale of  the Aires really surprised us, this one even had it’s own Moules et frites stand, but at €9.50 this was too pricey for us as you can get them in a restaurant cheaper. Susana got told off for photographing the motorhomes. They are quite protective of their privacy these motorhomers!

Cost €5.00 included water.

Next, this one was just outside St Malo, but motorhomes get (and stay) everywhere, a side street close to the centre of St. Malo offer a prime site;

In fact according to the French decree of 19 October 2004 ‘parking on the public highway is permitted day or night, whether or not the vehicle is occupied’, no surreptitious wild camping for us then, not like in the UK.

The next one we tried was similar both in scale and cost. In fact this one was €12.50 but this included water and electricity and the location was Mont St. Michel, so you wouldn’t expect anything less. Here there were fewer other motorhomes, two others with UK plates, we didn’t really converse though.

Another beautiful sunset after a hard days sightseeing at the Mount! These sunsets are getting quite tedious now.

The next two were much smaller, and more us. They were free. They accommodated less than ten vehicles and were in the middle of nowhere. One just off the dual carriageway in a small village called Belle Isle en Terre. This is our favourite so far as  it is set between two babbling streams. The other seemed to be part of a sports complex! Not sure why. To protect their anonymity we have not photographed these sites, you will have to trust us.

We are not sure how these facilities have developed. It would seem that they are provided and paid for by the local councils. Although some you are charged for, you would think that this in no way covers the cost of maintenance; cleaning, water and electricity costs, fee collection and recycling costs. Although you might argue that  they are bringing tourists and therefore income to the area. I wonder actually how much, motor homers do not appear to be exactly big spenders. Do they frequent the local restaurants that much? The Lidl stores always seem to have a couple in the car parks.

So this is a charging point, for water and electricity and disposal.

You park the motorhome over the drain in the bottom right and then open the grey water tank which holds the waste water from the  sinks and shower. This is much better than in the UK, where you must fill a separate container, usually on wheels, and take it to the corner of a field to pour it down a soak away.

The black toilet waste goes down the hatch. A separate tap is for cleaning the toilet cassette.

Easy payment by credit card.

The services are often mirrored, so they can be accessed inside, by people staying, or outside, by people passing through.

Also recycling facilities are provided.

The night before last we stayed at Morgat, just outside Crozon. This time a hefty €4.19, but it was close to the beach, and we had planned to take the kayaks out the next day.

Very much of the car park aesthetic. Note the careful parking that leaves a gap between each motorhome, would be quite intimidating to slide into that slot, encroaching into others space, therefore Dora sits alone.

This was quite useful as it gave us plenty of space the next day to set up Barco and Barca, the kayaks.

And last night in Camaret-sur-Mer at €6.00, but they have paid more attention to the planting, so more privacy.

This is surely going to keep down our accommodations costs.

GDR