Hello
At the end of July we are heading down to the Dordoyne in our campervan via a Dover Calais ferry. We are landing in Calais, subject to P&O being on time, at approximately 8pm.
Now our idea is to get as much mileage in that evening so to make our journey the following day as easy as possible. I've previously overnighted in the Aire's but that has been when I've travelled from North to South and avoided the major French towns and cities.
This time our journey is going to be via the motorways diaganolly through France. Our aim is to try and get a few hundred miles but that means that we may end up in the Paris area which I want to try and avoid.
I've heard or issues with crime in the aires especially around the Paris area. Is this still a problem? My intention is only to stay in the major service areas with facilities rather than the minor aire stops. I will have a wife and large dog with me.
Have you any experience of this? Many thanks
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Like you, we've stayed on Aires, but these days there is only one where I would stay overnight - the Aire de la Baie de Somme, near Abbeville. If I were you I would go no further than there, stay overnight, and have an early start, then another overnight somewhere south of Chateauroux, and you'll arrive in the Dordogne just one day late, but with your campervan, your wallets, your holiday cash, and your dog all safe and sound and your wife untroubled by your decision on where to stay overnight. There is no way that I would stay on any Aires around Paris (and going to the Dordogne I wouldn't go that way anywhere. Whilst it's extremely unlikely that anything will happen, you're already concerned enough to be asking about it so avoid even that remote possibility.
My preferred route would be Calais, Abbeville, Rouen, Evreux, Dreux, Chartres, Orleans, Vierzon, Chateauroux, Limoges............ off to the Dordogne either east or west of the autoroute (it's a long river).
Dave, your " a fewhundred miles" is ambitious" at night, but If you use the route Val A has suggested and if you will settle for 180 miles then overnight free parking in the Motorhome aire at Nonancourt might suit you - it's between Rouen and Chartres. But that still leaves you over 300 miles the next day .
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We are heading off again on Sunday, and like many others on here we tend to arrive in Calais in the evening and then head down to the Aire de la Baie de Somme for the night, and then an early start the next morning.
I tend not to cover long distances during the day (no need to now retired), but have comfortably got south of Limoges by 4 pm from there.
It's just that it's still about 450 miles from Baie de Somme service station to the sunny waters of the Dordogne river and the OP said he wanted to go further on his first evening in France.
Not sure what your range would be before you need to bunk down for the night, but if you could get to nouan-le-fuzelier (South of Orleans) then there is an aire for motorhomes in the village (right outside camping la grande sologne). That trip might be around 300 miles. Could that be 5 hours for you?
Nouan is a quiet village and would only leave you 220 miles to somewhere like Sarlat the next day.
Thank you. That's a possibility, I may try for an earlier ferry. I have a P&O season ticket which gives you full flexibility when you arrive at the port
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Topic: Overnighting On French Motorway Services
