Life on the Non-Toll Roads, Gacé and Arnage, France
Zagan the motorhome’s in his third free aire in as many days, parked alongside a French Hymer in Arnage, a small town just south of Le Mans. (N47.93037, E0.18422). We’ve not yet been out for much of a look around, but it feels a green and leafy spot, with La Sarthe flowing slothfully past behind us.
The motorhome aire at Arnage, just south of Le Mans
We’re taking it pretty easy folks, taking two hour nibbles out of our goal to get closer to the equator for winter. France’s non-toll roads are doing the job nicely for us, a mixture of lengthy straights of A road and stretches of dual carriageway, joining the dots between northern France’s towns, villages and cities. Under a grey sky, scalped crops and leafless trees switch back and forth with retail parks and car dealerships, as the distance towards Capbreton, our much-loved aire on the roaring Atlantic coast, reduces.
The areas we’ve crossed were heavily battered during the two world wars. Reminders are everywhere in place names, cemeteries and memorials. As well as this road name near the aire in Montville, we passed several Canadian memorials, reminders of the brave who took on the unenviable task of defeating the might of the far right 72 years ago
We’ve had a couple of interesting moments mind, the first when we left Montville heading for an aire at the small town of Gacé (N48.79578, E0.29612), as a series of warning signs screamed MAX 2.6m HIGH! at us, the tunnel under the railway we were about to pass under would remove the top 40cm from Zagan. Luckily we’d seen on the park4night.com database someone with a 3.2m high van had driven under it, and they couldn’t work out why the sign was so pessimistic. As we rounded the corner and saw the tunnel, my left eye twitching in slight panic, we couldn’t work it out either, the tunnel was high enough for a lorry and we easily nipped under it. Weird.
Free aire at Gacé, outside the Mayor’s and Tourist Info
Further south on the road to Gacé, four aggregate lorries driving in convoy, empty of their loads and in a hurry, forced their way through the traffic. The first overtook us on a single carriage road as we approached a roundabout. I accidentally focused on him, and was completely taken aback when the second lorry started to overtake us too, with no way back in unless I braked, which I duly did to avoid being pushed off the road. Accelerating away from the roundabout, I discovered the other two lorries in the convoy as they pulled similar tricks, leaving me fuming. Later, once I’d calmed down, I realised they’d done me a favour. They could have easily killed us. The single most dangerous thing we do is driving, and whoever’s in the driving seat of this thing has a critical job: keep us and others from harm’s way. I’d let my ego get in the way of this goal, and they gave me a timely reminder of it. B*****ds. :-)
The non-toll roads are pretty much devoid of traffic. Even rolling through Rouen and Le Mans we weren’t held up.
Crossing the Seine at Rouen
Another thing which has struck me as we’ve bounced from aire to aire: the massive difference in attitude towards motorhomes between my home nation and the one we’re currently guests of. We’ve been at this a while now, so I shouldn’t really notice it any more, but I do, and I remain incredibly grateful for it. In France (and many other European countries), overnight parking places are provided everywhere for free or a few Euros, officially reserved for ‘camping cars’. Service points are everywhere too, for free or again just a few Euros. You could, if it suited you or need forced it, spend years travelling France, alternating between the Alps, Provence, the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, and get through less than £5000 a year. It’s quite incredible.
Bins strictly reserved for motorhomes! Forbidden for businesses and locals to use! Wow. We went to Decathlon today and there were spaces in the car park also reserved for motorhomes, amazing.
We’ve been enjoying lazy days, walking the small towns in the evening, cooking in the van, supping wine, reading and listening to music. Our new 12V TV’s been getting some use too, as we’ve sussed how to find the satellite we need and how to use the telly. It still feels a little like magic all of this. We’ve 3G internet, satellite TV, gas central heating, heated wet room, double bed, fridge-freezer, the lot. This already feels pretty luxurious, but wait until we’re in North Africa, at which point it’ll be like driving our own Buckingham Palace On Wheels about the place.
Although we’re not doing much investigating, we’ve loving the unmistakable Frenchness of our surroundings – this bar was close to the famous 24 hour Le Mans circuit!
Our mates, Phil and Jules, are busy (very busy!) gearing up things back home before heading south, so we’re kind of hares set loose here. The current plan’s to meet up at Capbreton next week, depending on how well their huge list of jobs progresses. For the time being we’re enjoying some serious down time, hardly feeling an urge to look at the towns and cities we’re cutting our way through, just living a simple life.
At which point I’ll sign off guys, time for me to go cook a sausage casserole! Take it easy folks.
Cheers, Jay
3 weeks of non-toll-road “bimbling about” in France will be Humberto’s first main trip that’s more than a long weekend. I can’t wait. We’ll be there in june/July, before the French summer exodus in August so we’re hoping for relatively quiet conditions on campsites and Aires. Can’t wait.
Good to have your Blog going again.
Lee @ http://www.gohumberto.com
Minor delay yesterday for Team Tigger – one of our roof tiles decided it no longer liked the view from up high so slid down to a lower roosting position! Laser eye Jules unfortunately spotted this, so I then spent most of the afternoon sourcing a long enough ladder, then precariously coaxing naughty roof tile back up high. Fixed now.
Loving the blog descriptions of bimbling through France.
Keep on keeping on – catch you guys soon.
Snow in Pamplona!
Ciao Phil
Cancel the ‘snow in Pamplona’ – sorry, that was last year.. just woken up and had some diesel in my eyes!
Pamplona currently dry and cold. Hmmm – might have to gun it straight south to The Med!
X
Got the heating on and a hot brew Phil, listening to engines roaring about on the Le Man’s track 3km away. Nice work with that tile, I’m scared of roofs, or falling off them, would have got a man in. Looking at map yesterday, and our snail progress across it, I strongly suspect Big Ben might burn past Zagan even before Capbreton. We’re that slow. :)
Big Ben has fuel filter issues – back to garage for third time tomorrow 🚲
There is a speed camera on the public road near Le Mans. I got flashed there in the Glambulance, but no summons was forthcoming. It would have made a great framed poster in my cloakroom 🚑
Good luck mate! Better to sort now than at Erg Chebbi… Tons of speed cameras on the non toll roads, making sure I never go above 50kph, anywhere.
Hi, we had the same experience of the “low” bridges outside Montville and actually drove along a bit to find a slightly higher one – 2.8 I think. We went under it fine at 3.09. It was a very narrow span with a very high arch and I think the 2.8 must refer to the height at the top of the vertical sides i.e. before they curve in to make the arch. Hope that makes sense! We’re heading back to France and maybe Spain in a couple of weeks. Happy travels!
Robina
Makes sense Robina. The road was quite wide (compared with Zagan), but if you were a very wide load the height limit would make sense. Cheers! Jay
Hi Jason and Jules
We came from NZ in May, took some of your good advice onboard when kitting out the mohome we bought in UK and now near Sanlucar, Spain surrounded by large puddles that are growing larger.
Alhambra on our list, however do you have any other recommendations in Sth Spain area?
Regards
Jane and Stu
PS. Bikes nicked in Seville 2 days ago from railing, someone sliced through the cable lock while having coffee.
Hi Jane, sounds like you’re having a good time (bike thefts excepted, but they somehow seem common in Spanish cities). We enjoyed Ronda, Gibraltar and the villages south of the Sierra Nevada. We also heard Cordoba is a sight to see. Other than that we didn’t spend long in that area. Joanne and Craig (ourbumble.com) might be a better source of info. We’re heading your way in the next few weeks so may see you guys down there in the sunshine! Cheers, Jay