France Ferry & Campsite info (use Search function) mod warning post 1

54and56

postsnthing wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience in the Messanges area specifically in Camping le Vieux Port ?

Any advice on the drive, places to stop on the way/ way back ?

1st timers with so any tips much appreciated

Don't know that site but we're heading to La Reserve which is about 70km north of Camping le Vieux Port. On the way down from Roscoff we're going Roscoff -> Rennes -> Nantes and then heading to La Rochelle where we're staying for the Friday night before the relatively short spin to La Reserve Saturday morning. The only reason we're doing a stop over is the way the ferrys worked out. La Reserve only do checkin's on Saturdays during the high season so we could choose a Thursday sailing and stay somewhere Friday night or a Saturday sailing and lose a day of the holiday. We chose the former.

As a straight trip it's about 8 hours from Roscoff (or Cherbourg) to Camping le Vieux Port and if I was doing it I'd probably go Roscoff -> Rennes -> Nantes -> Niort and stop in a Motorway McDonalds in Niort. That would be a 4.5 hour spin and break the back of the journey. If you're travelling with kids I found (when they were younger at least) that the first 2-3 hours in France fly by as they observe driving on the "wrong" side, the different countryside and general excitement of being off the ferry and on holiday. I try to take advantage of this and drive as far as I possibly can before stopping.

From Niort you'd have 3.5 hours on the A10 to Bordeaux then the A63 to Camping le Vieux Port.

If those times are too long you can easily make it a two or three stop journey e.g. Nantes + Saintes and then on to Camping le Vieux Port.

The pro's/con's of stopping in McDonalds and motorway service stations are discussed in the previous pages. It's basically a choice between convenience, good bathroom facilities and speed Vs decent food.

On the way back we'll do it in one day with a single stop + a couple of stops every two hours so myself and my wife can share the driving.

amor3

average_runner wrote: »

Just keep an eye on it, as mine had it and then changed, do you a plot number yet?

Just got an email back this morning, so we defo have air con and our plot number is 472..

Ali2405

Hi guys, So I decided to go to the euros.. but as I left it too late there is NO accommodation in bordeaux for the Ireland match on the 18th!! Anyone got a spare bed I could crash on or know anything??

catsNdogs

I am heading to the La Brasilia campsite in Rousillon next week and im wondering if any one has been and could give me some information. Im particularly interested in airport transfers from Perpignan because im not hiring a car. I chose this camp due to its good reviews and proximity to the airport but id love some more information before i go.

bodaly

Hi folks, anyone know where most of the Irish supporters will be seated for the Sweden game?

I presume most will be behind one of the goals. South or North stand in Saint Denis, Paris does anyone know?

I'm looking at buying a ticket so would be great to know where most of the Irish will be gathering?

average_runner

bodaly wrote: »

Hi folks, anyone know where most of the Irish supporters will be seated for the Sweden game?

I presume most will be behind one of the goals. South or North stand in Saint Denis, Paris does anyone know?

I'm looking at buying a ticket so would be great to know where most of the Irish will be gathering?

Try the soccer forum, better chance there

bodaly

average_runner wrote: »

Try the soccer forum, better chance there

Thanks a million for that

bodaly

average_runner wrote: »

Try the soccer forum, better chance there

Any specific link you could recommend to me please? Where the best place is to search for my query?

average_runner

bodaly wrote: »

Any specific link you could recommend to me please? Where the best place is to search for my query?

Try this

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=896


Its the soccer tickets and travel forum, look under sports/soccer in the topics section either

Carawaystick

catsNdogs wrote: »

I am heading to the La Brasilia campsite in Rousillon next week and im wondering if any one has been and could give me some information. Im particularly interested in airport transfers from Perpignan because im not hiring a car. I chose this camp due to its good reviews and proximity to the airport but id love some more information before i go.

You can get a number 7 bus from the airport into Perpignan and a number 6 bus gets you to Canet. But you'll still be 2km shy of the campsite, which is north of the port, and not served by the shuttle bus in Canet as far as I can tell.
It's 1.20 for a ticket which is good for an hour and a half from the start of your journey, so good for both busses.
https://www.google.fr/maps/dir/Aeroport+Perpignan-Rivesaltes,+Avenue+Maurice+Bellonte,+66000+Perpignan,+France/Canet-en-Roussillon,+France/@42.7080332,3.0060228,14.54z/data=!4m18!4m17!1m5!1m1!1s0x12b06eb1a3b3d82d:0x3a0fca3aade465ff!2m2!1d2.8686492!2d42.7407863!1m5!1m1!1s0x12b06489347ae3cd:0xf794c83f59f94996!2m2!1d3.009898!2d42.706091!2m3!6e4!7e2!8j1463649300!3e3?hl=fr

bodaly

Its the soccer tickets and travel forum, look under sports/soccer in the topics section either[/QUOTE]

Thanks so much for that! Spot on

aquarius10

Hi does anyone know any supermarket open on a Sunday ?

Sailing with Brittany and we arrive into Roscoff Sunday morning and have to drive to The Vendee, but I think the shops don't open on Sundays ?

Anyone know anyplace that might so we can stock up before hitting the campsite.

thanks

webpal

aquarius10 wrote: »

Hi does anyone know any supermarket open on a Sunday ?

Sailing with Brittany and we arrive into Roscoff Sunday morning and have to drive to The Vendee, but I think the shops don't open on Sundays ?

Anyone know anyplace that might so we can stock up before hitting the campsite.

thanks

There's plenty open, easiest thing to do is plan your route, then go on to google maps and search for supermarkets. Just visit their website then for opening hours. All will close by 12.30 though.

aquarius10

webpal wrote: »

There's plenty open, easiest thing to do is plan your route, then go on to google maps and search for supermarkets. Just visit their website then for opening hours. All will close by 12.30 though.

Just found Super U, 30 minutes from Roscoff in a town called Landivisiau which opens Sunday 9 - 12.30 so we can head there.
Address in case anyone else interested is

Super U, Rue Général de Gaulle, 29400 Landivisiau, France
website: www.magasins-u.com

webpal

Only problem is you'll be in at 7am. We did this last year and stopped in auray (which is always worth a visit to see the old town down by the river)

ECO_Mental

I wouldn't worry too much about it getting to the supermarket on the Sunday. The campsite shops are nearly always open late and you can get the essentials there eg red wine, white wine, beer and oh yeah food. The next morning go and explore for your nearest superU.

ECO_Mental

Oh I forgot as you are going by car don't forget to bring all the dry food you have in cupboard at home with you eg salt pepper tabasco pasta herbs and spices it's these little things make the difference and you already have them. We brought the nespresso machine with us last year that's the great thing about bringing the car to France you can fit these things in.

aquarius10

webpal wrote: »

Only problem is you'll be in at 7am. We did this last year and stopped in auray (which is always worth a visit to see the old town down by the river)

Auray looks nice and might stretch legs there too but the big supermarkets are closed. From looking at google maps I think Vannes has a Super U and Intermarche open 9 -12.00on Sunday so that will do.

I will have a box of basic dry goods (tea, coffee, cereal etc) but we'll just need fresh milk & few bits to get us going.

Oriordad

If you have a cool box or better again a plug in one to go into adaptor in car, you can bring lots of your fridge items that will keep you going for a day or 2.

webpal

ECO_Mental wrote: »

Oh I forgot as you are going by car don't forget to bring all the dry food you have in cupboard at home with you eg salt pepper tabasco pasta herbs and spices it's these little things make the difference and you already have them. We brought the nespresso machine with us last year that's the great thing about bringing the car to France you can fit these things in.

Dish clothes, tea towels, washing up liquid too. Brought a tv and a satellite dish one year for the World Cup.:)

average_runner

webpal wrote: »

Dish clothes, tea towels, washing up liquid too. Brought a tv and a satellite dish one year for the World Cup.:)

We just rent a tv there, bring the bare minimum and get the rest in the supermarket on Sunday morning.

Means plenty of room for the wine on the way home.

Baybay

Heading off to Rosslare & the Oscar Wilde in a couple of hours! Yay! Or we will, as soon as we can once DH gets back from Wembley...

UsedToWait

aquarius10 wrote: »

...we'll just need fresh milk...

Good luck with that!

You almost certainly won't get it at the cornet shop like here
It's mostly UHT (ugh!!) you'll get routinely.. I had to get fresh milk in my greengrocers when I was living there, though you should be ok at a supermarket..

joney

bring some milk for the first night, this is how we do this, take a stainless steel flask filled with ice cubes to rosslare then purchase milk there, empty out the ice & replace with the milk, the milk will be perfect for 2 days at least.

CelticRambler

Heads up to anyone planning to arrive in Brittany or NorthWestern France this week (22/05/2016 onwards): due to protests against proposed reforms to the Labour Laws, many refineries have been blockaded with service stations now running dry. Rationing is in place at several outlets - max 10 or 20l of whatever they've got left.

Map showing the current situation (scroll down for the interactive map) ...
http://www.lefigaro.fr/conjoncture/2016/05/21/20002-20160521ARTFIG00134-decouvrez-la-carte-des-penuries-de-carburants-dans-toute-la-france.php

http://penurie.mon-essence.fr/w/


Clicking the flags tells you what they've run out of.
E10 is unleaded with 10% ethanol
E85 is 85% ethanol (prob not of interest to Irish drivers)
gasoil = ordinary diesel ; diesel+ = high performance diesel
SP95/SP98 = unleaded

CelticRambler

Heads up to anyone planning to arrive in Brittany or NorthWestern France this week (22/05/2016 onwards): due to protests against proposed reforms to the Labour Laws, many refineries have been blockaded with service stations now running dry. Rationing is in place at several outlets - max 10 or 20l of whatever they've got left.

Map showing the current situation (scroll down for the interactive map) ...
http://www.lefigaro.fr/conjoncture/2016/05/21/20002-20160521ARTFIG00134-decouvrez-la-carte-des-penuries-de-carburants-dans-toute-la-france.php

http://penurie.mon-essence.fr/w/

Clicking the flags tells you what they've run out of.
E10 is unleaded with 10% ethanol
E85 is 85% ethanol (prob not of interest to Irish drivers)
gasoil = ordinary diesel ; diesel+ = high performance diesel
SP95/SP98 = unleaded

deRanged

oh wow - I hope that won't go on too long.

munchkin_utd

<snip>
http://penurie.mon-essence.fr/w/

Clicking the flags tells you what they've run out of.
E10 is unleaded with 10% ethanol
E85 is 85% ethanol (prob not of interest to Irish drivers)
gasoil = ordinary diesel ; diesel+ = high performance diesel
SP95/SP98 = unleaded

just for reference, E10 isnt (as far a I know) sold in Ireland so maybe some arent aware that not all cars can take it.
Its not that dramatic as only older cars will be affected (the odd 8 years old model but mostly cars at least 10 or 12 years old) and even then most cars (95%+) built after 2000 can take E10.

For example, all Fords and Audis can take E10 with small exceptions, and all BMWs will take it. All fiats since 2000 can take E10 with small exceptions.
I cant find a list in English but theres a list in German here which anyone with an older petrol car can have a look at (normally if anything is listed its the odd car which cannot take E10).
http://www.dat.de/e10liste/e10vertraeglichkeit.pdf

average_runner

A non travel question, but are any runners heading to les charmettes this year, any good running routes? Usually run to the village or the zoo and back early morning.

54and56

average_runner wrote: »

A non travel question, but are any runners heading to les charmettes this year, any good running routes? Usually run to the village or the zoo and back early morning.

Hi AR,

If you don't mind driving or have a bike I'd recommend tipping over to Bonne Anse Plage and running the bike path which goes north (as I've outlined in red on the map below) along the coast and through the Forêt Domaniale de la Coubre la Tremblade for about 20km's IIRC.