Day 138 Sunday 26.06.2011

Location:  Dieppe Aire, Normandy, France

Long / Lat N 49º55.804’ E 1º 05.188’

The weather is good today, the aire was completely full yesterday but lots of vans have pulled out this morning.

We have been for a walk along the beach and into the town to do a bit of shopping, quite a few shops were open today and the town was busy.

Dieppe

 

Dieppe

Dieppe

Dieppe

Dieppe

Dieppe

 

Dieppe

Day 137 Saturday 25.06.2011

Location:  Dieppe Aire, Normandy, France

Long / Lat N 49º55.804’ E 1º 05.188’

No sunshine today, the sky is overcast but it’s not cold and it’s not raining.

Today is market day, the town is heaving and both aires are full. Last night vans were still trying to park here at midnight.

If you want to stop here for the Saturday market come early on the Friday as the aire was full by mid afternoon yesterday.

We spent a very pleasant couple of hours wandering around the market, the streets in the centre of town are closed to traffic. There are more fish stalls on the quayside today and the market in the town is huge. There are lots of stalls selling fruit and vegetables, cheeses, meat and other local produce. We bought a delicious cooked chicken for 9.00€ which is what we have been paying for an uncooked one in a supermarket.

Dieppe

Dieppe

Dieppe

Dieppe

Dieppe

Dieppe

Dieppe

Dieppe

 Dieppe

Day 136 Friday 24.06.2011

Location:  Dieppe Aire, Normandy, France

Long / Lat N 49º55.804’ E 1º 05.188’

We are now parked up at the Dieppe Aire next to the port. It costs 7.00€ for 24 hours maximum stay 48 hours, water is free, no electricity. We have parked at the far end of the aire with our back end overhanging the grass.

We walked into town over the two bridges, there were a couple of stalls on the quayside selling todays catch. There are lots of fishing boats here and several large marinas.

There is a second Aire on the other side if the port with sea views, it also costs 7.00€ but the water and service points are on the aire that we are staying at. We can see the motorhomes from where we are parked.

2nd Aire Long/Lat  N 49º55.900’ E 001º05.026’

We walked along the pebble beach in the sunshine, it’s still a bit breezy but it’s warm and not raining today.

We are planning to stop here for two nights, we plan to explore the town tomorrow and have a look around the Saturday market.

Dieppe Aire

Dieppe Aire

Dieppe Aire

Dieppe Aire

2nd Aire At Dieppe

2nd Aire At Dieppe

Day 135 Thursday 23.06.2011

Location:  Etretat Aire, Normandy, France

Long / Lat N 49º42.023’ E 0º12.961’

Sunshine and showers again today, we left the Honfleur Aire heading for Etretat. We decided that we would use the Le Havre bridge which cost us 5.90€ .

The aire at Etretat is next to the Municipal campsite, you pay 8.00€ at the machine on the way in and the bollard disappears into the ground so that you can drive over it. There is no electricity here and you pay 2.00€ to fill up with water.

The town and beach are a 15 minute walk away, Thursday is market day and the town was busy. The beach is a pebble cove with spectacular headlands on either side, if the weather had been better we would have walked to the lookout point at the top of the cliffs, one minute the sun is shining the next it’s pouring down.

Bridge At Honfleur

Etretat Aire

Etretat Aire

Etretat

Etretat

Etretat

Day 134 Wednesday 22.06.2011

Location: Honfleur Aire, Normandy, France

Long / Lat   N 49º25.161’ E 0º14.506’

The weather hasn’t been good since we came back into France, it’s been raining on and off all day.

This morning we walked to McDonalds to use the free Wi-Fi, unfortunately the connection wasn’t very good and we didn’t manage to upload the photos for the blog.

Tomorrow we are heading to an Aire about 60km from here, we are planning to spend the next two weeks working our way up the coast towards Calais.

Honfleur

 Honfleur

Honfleur

Honfleur

Honfleur

 

Day 133 Tuesday 21.06.2011

Location: Honfleur Aire, Normandy, France

Long / Lat  N 49º25.161’ E 0º14.506’

It was raining when we woke but it brightened up a bit by mid morning.

The Aire was full last night but a lot of vans left this morning. It costs 9€ for 24 hours parking, there is unmetered electric hook up but there are not enough points for everyone if the Aire is full, water is free.

The aire is a short walk from the picturesque port and town.


Honfleur

Honfleur

Honfleur

Honfleur

 

Day 132 Monday 20.06.2011

Location:  Honfleur Aire, Normandy, France

Long / Lat  N 49º25.161’ E 0º14.506’

We left Stenay in Eastern France at 6.00am , we drove about 500km to the Honfleur Aire , it has rained on and off all day, the journey took almost 9 hours and we are both very tired.

Our route took us around Paris, this part of the drive took 2 hours, most of the time we were going less than 15km per hour it was a nightmare, sometimes there were eight lanes of traffic with crazy Parisians switching lanes and cutting each other up and we thought the M25 was bad.
When we had cleared Paris we stopped for a coffee and checked the Sat Nav to see the time difference for the remainder of the journey if we used the toll roads. With the exception of Barcelona we have stayed off the toll roads but today it would cut the time for the last bit of our journey from three to two hours so we decided to use them.

I think we spent about 20€ but today it was well worth it.

Honfleur Aire

Honfleur Aire

Honfleur Aire

Honfleur Aire

Honfleur Aire

Day 131 Sunday 19.06.2011

Location:  Stenay Aire, Eastern France

Long / Lat  N 49º29.389’ E 5º10.988’

We have located the motorhome service point, it’s next to the marina office on the other side of the river, not very convenient.

The weather is still not good but it hasn’t stopped the locals from enjoying a game of boules on the pitch next to the aire.

The aire was full last night but a lot of vans have pulled out this morning.

Stenay

Stenay

Stenay

Our Route

Day 130 Saturday 18.06.2011

Location:  Stenay Aire, Eastern France

Long / Lat  N 49º29.389’ E 5º10.988’

We left Germany today heading for Luxembourg to fill up with diesel and get some cheap tobacco. We set off early as we’re not sure how long our journey will take.

Most of the journey was on toll free motorways, it took about an hour to drive from Trier to Route 66 in Windhof, Luxembourg, the shop sells cheap tobacco, cigarettes, beer and spirits. Co-ordinates N 49º38.837’ E 5º57.544’.

We also filled up with diesel at the Total service station not far from the shop, co-ordinates N 49º7.815’ E 5º57.255’.

Diesel was 1.18€ ltr and 1.28€ ltr for super diesel, in the Mosel we were paying 1.48€. It was a strange journey, we drove into Luxembourg then into Belgium for a bit then back into Luxembourg.

The weather isn’t very good today, overcast and a bit chilly.

We were heading for the Aire at Stenay in Eastern France, there are not many aires in this reigion and many of them don’t accommodate big motorhomes.

When we arrived at the aire the barrier was down, there is a notice (also in English) instructing you to call at the Capitainerie (Marina office) which is open from 2.00pm to 6.00pm or the Tourist Office open from 10.00am 12.00am and closed on a Sunday for the gate code.

If you arrive outside these hours there is Motorhome Parking next to the Capitainerie on the other side of the river.

It costs 7€ to park for 24 hours, there is no dump point but there are toilets and showers (not very nice ones) there is also unmetered electricity.

Stenay Aire

 Stenay Aire

Stenay Aire

Stenay Aire

Stenay Aire