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

westgolf

WicklowTiger wrote: »

I live in Wexford and travel to Galway a fair bit for work. Almost always quickest and easiest route is via Dublin M6/M4/M50/N11. Tullamore/Portlaoise/Carlow/Bunclody/Enniscorthy can be very slow unless you're on the road VERY early. Lots of windy stretches and tractors/trucks!

Thanks for that. The dublin option is the one I'm inclined to go with. 15.30 departure time so will be leaving Galway early enough alright.

ifElseThen

Cloudy and wet in the Vendee today and for the next few days. Time to break out the jumpers! On a plus side the new Siblu mobiles are super modern and comfy!

yellow76

ifElseThen wrote: »

Cloudy and wet in the Vendee today and for the next few days. Time to break out the jumpers! On a plus side the new Siblu mobiles are super modern and comfy!

What site are you in?

webpal

Looking for some advice, I'm in vendee at the moment and want to buy someone a bottle of red wine. I don't drink wine and OH doesn't recognise any brands. Budget is €150 and since I'm here thought it might go further than home. The person I'm buying for knows and appreciates their wine so I'd rather spend it on one or bottles than a crate but am open to suggestions. Champagne or whiskey could be an option also.

Ps cloudy now but was sweltering today

josip

webpal wrote: »

Looking for some advice, I'm in vendee at the moment and want to buy someone a bottle of red wine. I don't drink wine and OH doesn't recognise any brands. Budget is €150 and since I'm here thought it might go further than home. The person I'm buying for knows and appreciates their wine so I'd rather spend it on one or bottles than a crate but am open to suggestions. Champagne or whiskey could be an option also.

Ps cloudy now but was sweltering today

I know bugger all about wines, but I think that at that budget you're better off getting a crate of decent than 1 exceptional bottle.
You'll be transporting it in the back of the car which may sometimes be hot and sloshing about on the journey back which would not be ideal for a premium bottle.
Also if you put all your eggs in 1 bottle what happens if the recipient finds out the bottle is corked when they open it?

Munsterbhoy

webpal wrote: »

Looking for some advice, I'm in vendee at the moment and want to buy someone a bottle of red wine. I don't drink wine and OH doesn't recognise any brands. Budget is €150 and since I'm here thought it might go further than home. The person I'm buying for knows and appreciates their wine so I'd rather spend it on one or bottles than a crate but am open to suggestions. Champagne or whiskey could be an option also.

Ps cloudy now but was sweltering today

Margaux is one of the most famous Bordeaux brands and anyone who knows their wine would appreciate having a good bottle in their collection. I'm sure you will get a Margaux within your price range. I looked on line and Auchan have a decent Margaux for under €50. I'm sure leclerc / Carrefour will have a range as well.

Munsterbhoy

webpal wrote: »

Looking for some advice, I'm in vendee at the moment and want to buy someone a bottle of red wine. I don't drink wine and OH doesn't recognise any brands. Budget is €150 and since I'm here thought it might go further than home. The person I'm buying for knows and appreciates their wine so I'd rather spend it on one or bottles than a crate but am open to suggestions. Champagne or whiskey could be an option also.

Ps cloudy now but was sweltering today

Margaux is one of the most famous Bordeaux brands and anyone who knows their wine would appreciate having a good bottle in their collection. I'm sure you will get a Margaux within your price range. I looked on line and Auchan have a decent Margaux for under €50. I'm sure leclerc / Carrefour will have a range as well.

Juggler101

I would probably buy 3 very nice bottles with that amount of money,
Better than getting one bottle of say, Bordeaux then finding out that they actually really love Burgundy! If you want to spend money on very high quality wine, I would go to a Cave and ask for professional advice, buy your wine there and not in a supermarket.

webpal wrote: »

Looking for some advice, I'm in vendee at the moment and want to buy someone a bottle of red wine. I don't drink wine and OH doesn't recognise any brands. Budget is €150 and since I'm here thought it might go further than home. The person I'm buying for knows and appreciates their wine so I'd rather spend it on one or bottles than a crate but am open to suggestions. Champagne or whiskey could be an option also.

Ps cloudy now but was sweltering today

ifElseThen

Am staying in Le Bois Masson. Very hot today.

westgolf

Munsterbhoy wrote: »

Margaux is one of the most famous Bordeaux brands and anyone who knows their wine would appreciate having a good bottle in their collection. I'm sure you will get a Margaux within your price range. I looked on line and Auchan have a decent Margaux for under €50. I'm sure leclerc / Carrefour will have a range as well.

Most of the bigger leclerc's have a premium wine and spirit section and if you have time to look around you should be able to pick up two or three gifts to suit.

saggycaggy

We're travelling from Cherbourg to Benodet on Sunday and I've used ViaMichelin to work out the tolls etc but it's coming up that there are no tolls along that route..........could this be right? I've tried other routes just to test it and there's tolls coming up!
Thanks.

webpal

saggycaggy wrote: »

We're travelling from Cherbourg to Benodet on Sunday and I've used ViaMichelin to work out the tolls etc but it's coming up that there are no tolls along that route..........could this be right? I've tried other routes just to test it and there's tolls coming up!
Thanks.

Correct, afaik no tolls in Brittany or Normandy

saggycaggy

Great, thanks for that.

Carraig77

Hi 'if else then. '
Heading to Bois Masson this weekend. First time going to campsite. What are your top tips? C

54and56

Carraig77 wrote: »

Hi 'if else then. '
Heading to Bois Masson this weekend. First time going to campsite. What are your top tips? C

My top tip is to make sure you go do a "big" shop shortly after you arrive Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning bearing in mind all supermarkets will close at 12:30 on Sunday.

There's a Super U supermarket here which is just 2km from Le Bois Masson.

The restaurant in Le Bois Masson itself is (or was 2-3 years ago) very good for family meals and if you like Moules this restaurant on the seafront is the best I've ever experienced. Really chilled out place for a lazy family lunch with excellent food and great value.

There's loads of activities to do in the Jean de Monts area and the beach itself is fantastic. One of the things my kids then aged 13 and 9 enjoyed most was Explora Parc located here.

Have a great time.

Peckham

Carraig77 wrote:

Hi 'if else then. ' Heading to Bois Masson this weekend. First time going to campsite. What are your top tips? C

Was there in July this year. Search my posts for my review.

No top tips as such. Shares facilities with sister site over the road, and pool area is better there (if that's your thing). Kids clubs in both sites are best you'll get anywhere - great staff.

On site shop is terrible. But big supermarket nearby.

Planete Sauvage worth a day trip (or an overnight trip). Take a look at it.

If you have young children, there's a bouncy castle park nearby. Youpla Land.

Beach in Saint Jean de Monts is excellent. Town centre (not the bit by the beach) is very attractive to wander around market and have a coffee/wine.

Only other tip - buy breakdown insurance!

Stone Deaf 4evr

Carraig77 wrote: »

Hi 'if else then. '
Heading to Bois Masson this weekend. First time going to campsite. What are your top tips? C

Also, if you do get rain and have small kids, head north to the town of Challans, theres an indoor play area there that'll pass away a few hours for you. There's also a large decathlon sports store there that we used to make an annual pilgrimage to.

webpal

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

Also, if you do get rain and have small kids, head north to the town of Challans, theres an indoor play area there that'll pass away a few hours for you. There's also a large decathlon sports store there that we used to make an annual pilgrimage to.

Headed there as we speak 😀. Looks like next week is to be a scorcher

54and56

webpal wrote: »

Headed there as we speak 😀. Looks like next week is to be a scorcher

Also, if you are into Aqua Parks etc you should also make a day trip to Oceanile which is about a 40 minute drive from Le Bois MAsson and time it so you can drive across Passage de Gois on the way which is a fantastic experience.

ifElseThen

Drizzly today so hopefully it'll pick up. We whiled away a couple of hours in Zoo Sable d'Olonne yest.
Bringing the lads quad biking and pony riding over the next few days.
Then Chateau Les Aventuriers next week which should take up most of the day.

Site itself is not great in terms of walking with smallies. There is some woodland about a seven min walk away. Beaches are great esp at sunset.

Challans nearby has a large shopping area, decathlon, intersport, c and a, kiabi etc.

Pool section in Masson is nice, not enough loungers. Indoor and outdoor pool are 1.2m deep. Baby pool is .45m deep. Good set of slides. Bar area is dead, maybe because there are no Irish or English onsite.

Lidl and SuperU a five min drive away for shopping. Lidl and super u open until 1.30 on Sunday so don't sweat about that when you arrive on Sat.

Took us 6 hours to get here from Roscoff via Rennes and Nantes, which included a 30min stop. Traffic was crawling most of the way, with major tailbacks. French holiday season so lots of cars on the roads.

darragh o meara

webpal wrote: »

Headed there as we speak ��. Looks like next week is to be a scorcher

If ŷour going to Challans, check out the festival they have there in july/ August. It's on 3 weekends and was a great day out when we visited a few weeks back. It was called Autrefois Challans.

In fact, i just checked and it's on today

webpal

The first couple of stages of le Tour is starting in Noirmoutier next year crossing le passage de gois heading to fonteney le compt via SJDM, SGXV etc. Might be worth considering if you are thinking of coming this way next year. Check out letour.com for further details. Full route won't be announced for a while.

helqui

Irish Ferries 2018 timetable is up...... If i book now and they give out a discount code at a later date, will i avail of it at a later stage? atm they want 1400 quid.

josip

helqui wrote: »

Irish Ferries 2018 timetable is up...... If i book now and they give out a discount code at a later date, will i avail of it at a later stage? atm they want 1400 quid.

It seems a lot more expensive at the moment.

Last year, we booked 30 Jun 2017 - 28 Aug 2017 from Rosslare with 4 berth 2 star inside for €773.
To book now, the same dates and cabin for next year are €1027.

yellow76

Are you using the code for 15%off? I've booked for way cheaper than last yr.

Code is FC18A

talla

Cheers for the code. Is it just me - the discount is only applied to the base ferry price and not the cabin?

mikerd4

I got the email last night from Irish Ferries offering the discount for loyal customers to book for next year, it seems everyone is a loyal customer now haha

The prices are definately up on last year again although it is understandable and to be expected.

Pity the new boat and its timetables arent to be released till mid October, its still listed as the Oscar Wilde and the Epsilon.

helqui

Thanks for the code, it appears you are correct, the discount does not apply to cabins. Heres hoping that the new ferry will be subbed in for next summer

yellow76

I booked last night. It took 15% off everything in the end though it looked like cabins weren't included in discount up to that point. Ours for June was cheaper than last year.

mikerd4

yeah it doesnt show the discount off cabins but it does once you go to the next page