Our Route Part 1 - Through France
““why not a beauty like Murcia near the Mediterranean, or Jaén in the mountains, or Oviedo, where the relics of Christ were kept? “Why Badajoz?”
Held up and restricted of course by both the new Brexit travel restrictions and then COVID restrictions we are delighted to resume our winter love affair with Iberia. Having missed last year, the first time in four years , we set off again with our new pooch Poppy, to navigate the new Animal Health Certificate procedures and new travel restrictions/border arrangements in our motorhome to hit the Iberian Peninsular to make up for lost time. First though we would head out from Folkestone on the Eurotunnel to France and take the route along the West Coast, taking in a number of locations we wished to visit on the way down. Then over the hills to Spain and across the plains of Zaragoza to the Community of Valencia.
For those interested in the complexities of Animal Health Certificates and the new border arrangements on the Channel Tunnel this video below we hope will help.
Stop Over 1 - Camping Car Parks Aire Incheville France
Our first stop was a delightful Camping Car Park Aire at Incheville in Normandy about a 90 minute drive from the Calais Euro Tunnel facility. We like to travel on the train in the afternoon , gone are days of the 3am starts for us. We are retired of course.
What three words location - /// tight.festoons.summon
This is a peaceful Aire from Camping Car Parks - the link is here We paid €11 euro’s this included full services and wifi.
Incheville - Camping Car Parks Aire.
Stop Over 2 - Chateau Chambord
From this location we moved on to an Aire on the Estate of the Chateau Chambord. Costing €11 Euro’s for 24 hours and this gave us access to the estate throughout this period. €14 extra to go inside the Chateau. We enjoyed the sunset here and took some photos. A travel VLOG will follow.
What three words location - /// castaway.dangly.fishes
Above is a link to our second Vlog of the Tour .
Stop Over 3 - Oradour Sur Glane
What three words location /// landmarks,allergic.fact
Oradour Sur Glane is famous or should I say infamous for the massacre of it’s citizens in June 1944 by the Waffen SS in retaliation as they saw it for partisan activity. Given the events in Ukraine right now it seems a very poignant place to visit . There is a memorial centre and you can visit the village which was burnt down by the SS after their war crimes and not rebuilt on the decree of the President of France, Charles De Gaul, who wanted it to stand for all time as a reminder of what happened here.
There are more images in our gallery here
Stop Over 4 - St Paul Les Dax
What three words location /// raves.gently.believer
After a late arrival we stayed on a free aire at St Paul Les Dax , this was our second option as the main aire in the town of Dax was full. This did work out for the better as the main aire was in a commercial area that looked very busy while this option was a small wooded copse with room for 9 vans although some of the pitches would not suit large vans. We had a peaceful night here.
Stop Over 5 - St Jean Pied de Port
What three words location /// induction.papers.huddles
The start of the Camino Interest
The next morning we then headed to St Jean Pied De Port , the start of the French Way , the pilgrimage from France to Santiago De Compostala or ‘The Camino’. After watching the film called ‘The Way’ with Martin Sheen in the lead role, we have been interested in the Camino story ever since but you will have to watch the coming VLOG for more information on that subject.
With great enthusiasm we walked the first section of the French Camino and followed the route over the mountains on the journey to the next stop which was in Spain. Due to poor weather we choose to drive to the east coast of Spain where we settled at a site in Benicassim called Bonterra Park.
Probably the easiest way to follow us on our travels is via instagram and Facebook here are our links
Our instagram feed is below.
