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I will retire April 2015 and i want to go camping in France steadily taking my time and heading in to Spain to do exactly the same thing. I will be taking my tent and travelling alone and travelling by Car with motorbike trailer (with motorbike) down through France steadily taking my time as i will have a lot of time but i do  eventually want to do the same in Spain. My hobbies include walking and motor biking which i want to do whilst i am travelling through France and Spain. Ok so i am looking for any advice that anybody might want to give me regarding Ferries, for instance i read somewhere that it is more cost effective to go Dover to Calais and use one’s own motor vehicle instead of cutting distance by getting a ferry that goes further round, i am looking for advice on camping sites in both countries, maps, routes, walking routes, absolutely anything that might help me make a dream come true.

I'd do the Dover/Calais ferry and book at the time of the Caravan Show at the NEC in October, when DFDS generally have a 'Show Offer'.  Last year's offer was a return crossing for car and trailer for £59.00 return in low season, and £79.00 in high season.

France is such a fantastic country for just 'doing as you please' that even in high season you'll be able to find municipal campsites in the countryside, with pitches free so you can just turn up - except beachside sites perhaps.  There are some great areas for walking and motorbiking, and two of our favourite areas would fit both these categories - the Ardeche, and the Gorges du Tarn (and the Millau viaduct which is a must!).  You can get walking maps (IGN) from Vicarious Books in Folkestone.  The Cathar area in the Pyrenees is lovely too - great scenery, with some history thrown in.

There is a website giving details of all the municipal campsites, and some of them offer pitches at very low prices.  One we earmarked for a visit for next year was 2 euros each, and 2 euros for electricity - and included free WiFi!!!  Lovely site, too, on the edge of a small village with a couple of reasonably priced restaurants.

I can't help much with Spain - we've been several times but only those sites loved by teenagers, which won't be your thing!

Low season travel in France is fantastic, so think about May/June as a start time.  Campsites in France and a lot of Europe tend to have a very short season, often closing by mid-September, so plan your return journey and check that the sites you want will be open when you want to stay there.

DFDS is the name of the ferry operator, and no you don't have to go to the Caravan Show.  Generally the code for the show offers is shared on forums such as this one, and anyone can use the code to access the cheap deals.  You just go into their website, and enter the 'Promotion Code'.  Many of us regulars on here book at the time of the NEC and certainly for us one of the biggest advantages is that you can book your dates, and the offer gives free amendments, which means you can change the details several times if necessary, if the alterations are done before the 30th June.

I'd also agree with Franbee about keeping up with this forum and reading as many posts as you can - but also read through the 'Advice for Continental First Timers' which is a pinned topic at the top of this forum - for absolutely loads of useful information. 

I agree with Val A's comprehensive reply. We love France and intend to spend more time there once retired (2014 yippee!) May try a winter in Spain too.

We always go low season (no kids!) and use DFDS ferries. We gort 2 returns, one in June one late Aug for car and caravan for £72 each. This was through the Cravan Club early bookings.

You might want ot think about the ACSI scheme where you purchase a book which comes with a discount card. This is for low season use and the maximum you pay this year is €16. Ours paid for itself in 2 nights.They also sell aDVD which is useful on a PC. There are loads of ACSI listed sites in Europe.

You can buy them at the start of the year. If you google Vicarios books, they are a UK suppplier.

SGThomas - the site we found is Camping Municipal La Callopie, at Martel in the Lot!  Little municipal site, on a hillside, with some glorious views, nice grassy pitches, and a very pretty little town with houses of golden 'Cotswold' stone.  It's a really attractive part of the Lot, and somewhere we'd like to go back too, though it might be too expensive for you as I missed out the 2 euros per emplacement - so a grand total of 8 euros per night.

Website for La Callopie

There are so many interesting routes through France, so I'd plot out a few 'must be visited' areas and plan your route accordingly.  If you're heading south, with a trailer, then you need to take into account the tolls on many autoroutes, or plan a non-toll route.  You can use route-planning websites such as viamichelin.co.uk, the AA, or mappy.com (all better, we find, than google maps).  If you have all the time in the world then my advice would be to use non-toll, or a combination of non-toll and then toll to avoid driving through some cities such as Orleans.  Hop from interesting area to interesting area and do the quickest route between the two!

We use Calais/Abbeville/Rouen/Chartres/Orleans and then Vierzon for Dordogne and south-westish, or Montlucon and Clermont Ferrand for the Millau, Languedoc coast areas.  Much of this is fast roads, and can be done almost entirely non-toll if you choose.

Have a look at website for motorbikers (Motards in France), though this is all in French. I'm sure there will be similar British websites, and then take a look at the areas recommended, find a few websites of those areas, and seek out stopover places.  A friend is a biker and uses a British website to plot some of his journeys.  I'll ask him what he recommends!  He's been down through Spain, and into Morocco and may have some good ideas.

We have spent a lot of time caravanning in Spain and it's a fascinating and varied country, with many excellent campsites, especially if you get away from the holiday hotspots on the Costas where campsites tend to be quite large and very much family-oriented.  The standard of Spanish sites is very good and we found the cost of food and road tolls to be slightly lower than in France. 

The Atlantic coast of Spain ( Pais Vasco, Cantabria, Asturias) is particularly scenic and a lot greener than the more southerly parts of Spain, because the weather is not as hot and dry.  There are some stunning beaches, many of them great for surfing, and much less commercialised than those on the Mediterranean.  If you like mountains the Picos de Europa are hard to beat and there are a number of reviews on here of sites, eg in the Potes area.