European road trip 2010

[dvisor]

After a highly successful Bongo holiday in France last year, this year we may be biting off more than we can chew.

A non-Bongo mate and his 2 kids have invited us to holiday with them in August. The "plan", what there is of it, is to take the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander and then travel across to Barcelona over the course of a couple of days. Spend a night or two there, and then head off around the South coast of France taking in as many places as possible, working our way to Turin and stopping off at any form of accommodation that we find - gites, campsites, cheap hotels, whatever. At that point we may split up and head back through France to Calais, or we may stay with them and travel up to Zurich (and stay overnight at a pals), through Liechtenstein and Germany and end up in Calais. We plan to do all this in just a couple of weeks, so there will be a helluva lot of driving, but a lot of places to "tick off".

We don't intend to book any campsites, gites etc, and just wing it. Has anyone any experience of doing something similar? Are we going to have trouble finding accommodation in August? I reckon we need 3 weeks at least, but I've never done anything like this before.

[Nick65]

Defo. need 3 weeks - Heck of a lot of driving and you might just end up being sick of the Bongo after all that time.

Ferry to Spain is not cheap - Is there an alternative for you to do? Maybe an overnight car train from Paris to Spain? How many people are driving? Do you drive regularly and enjoy it?

Pop in to see us in Aigues Mortes (France) if you fancy a stopover

As for the stopovers, that could be a bit risky at some places. South of France gets very busy, and I presume Spain and Italy will be the same at that time of year.

If this is your only holiday and you want a relaxing time then just stick to Spain and France and enjoy it - Very beautiful areas and as you are so far south it would be a shame to miss doing these places

[missfixit70]

Go for it, you'll love it, don't plan too much & go with the flow - http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... talian+job
I guess August will be a fair bit busier, but worth getting the Aires, camperstops, etc type guides from Vicarious books - http://www.vicariousbooks.co.uk/ Very jealous , doubt I'll be getting abroad this summer.

[scanner]

I wouldn't even think about trying to do that in 4 weeks let alone 2.

You may tick a lot of places off - but would you see anything of them them, let alone remember anything of them?

[dvisor]

Hadn't really thought about a car train, but I've taken a quick look at the prices and I'm not sure they'll be that much of a saving (we'd still need to get a ferry over the water and drive to Paris). The ferry to Santander for the 4 of us will set us back around £550 including a cabin.

There will be 3 drivers (and 4 kids) in two vehicles, so we can share the driving a little. We are all quite used to long distance driving.

I remember your Italy trip, Kirsty, and that's one of the reasons we thought it might be "do-able" and a lot of fun.

I guess, if we find we run out of time, we can always get car train back. There seems to be a few o choose from http://www.seat61.com/Motorail.htm#Map% ... l%20routes

[missfixit70]

Depends if you're happy being on the move all the time, that's what it's about for me. To quote Alison's signature "The traveller sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see" (G K Chesterton), be a traveller

[scanner]

Depends if you're happy being on the move all the time, that's what it's about for me. To quote Alison's signature "The traveller sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see" (G K Chesterton), be a traveller

Correction (and it depends on the age of the kids)......

Depends if the kids are happy being on the move all the time, that's what it's about for me.

I have experience of kids on long European trips.............and the tee-shirt/scars/post traumatic stress (even years later) to prove it.

[saracen]

Like the others, I'd say you need a bit more time to pack all that in and, having cashed out on the ferry to Spain I'd want to see more of Spain! For stopovers, we've found France no problem at all but the one time in Italy in high season we had difficulty finding a campsite on spec. It sounds like a great adventure though - enjoy!

[Alison01326]

We'll have to keep an eye open for you again this year dvisor We aren't doing anything ambitious, though, as we only have ten nights there. Plymouth to Santander ferry then a few nights not too far away so we can explore the Picos de Europa, then westwards. We have a vague plan and if we make it as far as Santiago de Compostela that's as far as we will go before we turn around again. At some point, our paths have to cross with brother in law in his camper at a mutually convenient spot. Still researching that one

Good luck with the plans - looks like a lot of fun. It's surprising how many miles you can cover if you set an unambitious daily mileage and keep moving on. Many moons ago my ex and I did a semi-circular tour starting at Caen then crossing to the Alsace, moving down that side of France, exploring Geneva, Chamonix and Grenoble (possibly not in that order) before moving across to Carcassonne and the Pyrenees/Andorra via the Auvergne then onwards to Santander via Pamplona. I can't remember how many miles it was, but we did it in a fortnight (on a motorbike) and stayed on a different campsite almost every night (every four days we did a two night stop - our laundry stop!). On any tour we would set our maximum daily mileage at about 180 miles, so with an 8am start and a 5pm arrival on site there was roughly 4 hours driving time and 5 hours exploring time in each day. Admittedly, it's a bit easier with two people and no kids. I don't think I'd tackle it now

[Matt&JoyBongling]

Seems a good trip and maybe not such a rush if you are going via Santander. However, it would be a shame to rush through the Pyrenees and miss out on a few days R&R on the beaches in the med. (Although the beaches north of Barcelona nothing special, it is nice to get some sunshine and warm water - providing the wind is not blowing hard as it can do in the afternoons in the summer). If you have 2 weeks from leaving Barcelona, you could spend 2 days getting to Monaco or similar, 3 days in Provance (the French South West Med coast was not worth visiting based on what we saw) and a week coming up through Switzerland / France.

I would not do it in less than 3 weeks because it would be blur and just a tick box exercise. Our next trip to that area will be for 3 weeks - but we will be seeing friends on the way there & back and spend a few days walking in the Pyrenees.

Most of the big campsites on the Spanish med coast had space if we wanted but they were charging around 40-50 euros a night. The smaller, cheaper ones (19 euros) filled quicker. Aim to avoid looking for campsites after 2pm and over the week-ends during August.

[Nick65]

Best times for driving are probably 6 am until 2pm - Between 12 Noon and 2 pm the roads are much quieter as they eat in Europe then.

If you want to you can always get on your laptop the day before to book the next site that you fancy.

Just enjoy it as that is the most important thing in life - Even if you are just sitting by a river bank having a bbq and playing ball games with the kids

[technophobe]

Don't think you'll do that in 3 weeks if you intend to stop anywhere for a few days. Part of the fun in the Bongo is to see somewhere you like the look of, camp up, walk or cycle around for a couple of days and sample the local life

[Nick65]

dvisor - Where are you driving from exactly? Which part of the UK?

[dvisor]

dvisor - Where are you driving from exactly? Which part of the UK?

We'll be heading off from Oxfordshire.

Plenty of useful information here - thanks for the responses. I guess that the good thing about not booking in advance is that we can always alter our plans and head up north from the south of France at any point if we feel that we want to take it a bit easier, or we find that we want to stay at a location a bit longer.

[chrispreece1]

Hi, your trip sounds great. I have driven between Barcelona and Rome camping and from Calais to Athens in a Bongo. No kids, but alone with 2 dogs so fairly awkward! It should be easy to find campsites in Spain and south of France, especially along the coast. The Aire de Service network in France is excellent. I found Italy more difficult for camping because the North is a bit industrial inland and the coast very commercialised but it was easy to park up overnight at service stations (in the lorry park) and the food and facilities there (including showers) are excellent.
How important is the Turin destination? You could aim for it but take away the stress of the timing. Drive when you feel like it, stop and holiday when you find the great places. Turn back home when you stop enjoying yourself or time runs out.
My only piece of advice is that you look for a campsite well before dark, its no fun trying to find somewhere when everyone is tired and frustrated.
Good luck, Chris