Back on the road again – Sangatte, France
Zagan the motorhome has a sea view from his parking spot in Sangatte, France (N50.94064, E1.74140). We’re having a quiet day watching the ferries pootle forward and back across the channel, in the distance we can still see the white cliffs of Dover.
I don’t know why, but I couldn’t seem to muster up any enthusiasm for this trip. I’m looking forward to catching up with our friends Rose and Paul from Australia, but the ‘hump’ to get Zagan packed and ready for the off was a tough one this time. In the end very little prep was done. A ‘big shop’ at Lidl refilled his cupboards and clothes were taken off the washing line and thrown straight into bags to fill the wardrobe (turns out I’ve packed nearly everything I own and my shelves are bursting, on the plus side I might get away without having to find a laundry as we’re only away for a couple of weeks!).
I pinched our copy of The Motorhome Touring Handbook from Jay (he’s proof reading it – again!) and went through the packing checklist in the back of the book to remind myself what I had ‘borrowed’ from Zagan – small frying pan, cheese grater, pillows etc, then everything was loaded into the car to be driven up to Zagan’s storage place. Here a small problem struck, as I reached over to put a heavy box in the boot, something in the back of my knee went twang. Never a great feeling, especially when accompanied by a shooting pain. Thankfully it’s happened the weekend after we ran the Robin Hood Half Marathon, so now I can easily rest it.
Everything transferred from car to Zagan, a quick fill up with water and we were off, zooming (ahem) our way down the M1. We’d chosen to book a late night ferry this time as it saved us around £30 each way – money which could be spent on a tasty Menu du Jour once again on French soil.
Not wanting to hit rush hour traffic, we drove in the middle of the day. Stopping in a small parking area at Temple Ewell (N51.14669, E1.26681 – the main parking area with loos is undergoing renovation), just a few miles north of Dover (thanks to Wayne for the hint!).
We took a walk around the gardens, watching folks out with their dogs in the setting sun. I have to admit that on the way down the M1 I had a little cry to myself (I didn’t want to distract Jay as he drove), because I could sense Charlie sitting behind me in the van, which of course he wasn’t. Maybe that was another reason why setting off has been so hard this time.
As darkness fell we were joined by a very small German camper, from which emanated a lot of banging. The mystery was solved as we drove off, when we spotted a tent pitched next to their van. We managed to take a wrong turn on the short drive to Dover (we’ll use the excuse that we’re not used to driving in the dark!) and found ourselves on increasingly narrow one way roads lined with cars.
We pulled over at one point to let the folks behind us through and one chap stopped to see if we were OK – yes we were going that slowly. With satnav still recalculating, he offered to guide us in the direction of Dover and headed off at a slow pace, but not as slow as us. We almost ground to a halt as I hung out of the window shouting updates to Jay as to how close we were getting to the parked cars. Our knight in shining armour waited at each junction, then when he reached his destination and the road widened, he got out and pointed us in the right direction. A couple of turns later and we popped out next to Marine Parade in Dover – one of our old kipping spots.
We arrived a couple of hours early at the port with the secret hope that we’d be put on an earlier ferry, and we were – no extra charge – thank you DFDS! We drove to our lane to queue for boarding and were waved straight on, without even getting the handbrake on. There were only about twenty cars on board, so we got to stand on the deck stuffing our faces with ginger biscuits (to stop seasickness, a perfectly reasonable excuse if you ask me) while we watched lorries fill the rest of the ship.
We had a vague plan of where to go when we got off the ferry, but as always plans change. I had spotted a new aire in Sangatte on park4night which was getting good reviews. It didn’t have any services, but we didn’t need them, so we plotted it into satnav and set off.
Now I don’t know about you, but whenever I hear the name Sangatte, I think of migrant camps, in fact I thought the ‘jungle’ was here until Jay pointed out we’d driven past that several times at Calais. What the name is synonymous with is a Red Cross migrant camp which was opened in 1999 in a huge hanger previously used for storage while the Channel Tunnel was being built. The camp was opened to provide shelter and food for the hundreds of migrants who were sleeping rough in the area. In 2002 under pressure from the UK Government the camp was closed and the building pulled down. There’s no sign of it now, just a little French seaside village with a new boardwalk along the sea front overlooked by a mixture of posh new homes and tiny worn-out beach huts.
Looking at the map we opted to take the D940 along the coast to the aire. It was a slightly longer route, but avoided small country lanes. It was now gone midnight and if you have a 2001 Hymer you’ll know the headlights aren’t the best, so lit roads are our preference. Satnav (our aged TomTom) was having none of it, insisting we ‘turn around where possible’ and head back to the motorway.
Satnav’s been playing up all the way to Dover too, probably thanks to her last update going a bit wrong and corrupting the loaded maps. This got us thinking about all the other things that have gone wrong on our drives down to Dover – we lost a sklight and the fridge stopped working on gas on one trip, another time the windscreen wipers packed up and of course it was raining. We’ve also managed to leave the handbrake on just enough to fill the cab with a burning smell and make the wheels glow. Let’s just say we tend to breathe a sigh of relief when we board the ferry.
Back in Sangatte and satnav is still insistent we turn around, so I call on maps.me for help. It promptly tells us to turn around too, but undeterred we plough on. The reason for all the confusion becomes clear when we reach the entrance of the parking area. It’s so new it’s not on any maps yet. The entrance is off the D940 though, so if you just follow that you’ll be fine. There’s a large car park with height barriers, a place for buses (which the open-topped bus has used several times today) and an area to the left (if you’ve the sea behind you) with no restrictions, so it’s been decreed that it’s for motorhomes! We creep into the motorhome area as quietly as our diesel engine will allow, park on a bit of a wonk and fall into bed for a good night’s sleep.
This morning it was half past ten (or half past nine because I’d forgotten to change the clocks) before we surfaced. Zagan was pinging to let us know that the sun was shining and warming up his metal skin. We looked out of the windows and saw the sea. Blue skies and the sea – suddenly that ‘hump’ is a million miles away and I remember why I love doing this.
We’ve had a lazy day today, just wandering along the seafront, watching ferries and trying to get a better look at the ventilation shaft for the Channel Tunnel which is right next to where we are parked – unsurprisingly it is protected from prying eyes by a security fence. Yes folks, if you have been on the Channel Tunnel in the last few hours, then you will have been whisked right under our feet. An information board next to the car park informs us of this fact, but I have to say we’d never know otherwise.
The board also shows a view of the area from above, so you can see where we are parked (the large area on the right being developed) and where the ventilation hole is – tantalisingly close and looking like it’s been drawn on.
We have just under a week until we need to be in Paris to meet up with our friends, so we think we’ll hug the coast if the weather stays this good.
Ju x
Maps.me uses Openstreetmap.org which anyone can edit to correct mistakes and update it, then after a while update the Maps.me map and you’ll see your update.
We are also in France now, it is really beautiful here! Todays seen both Omaha Beach and Mont Saint Michel. Have a safe trip to Paris
Welcome back to France 🇫🇷. I hope you will have a good time, it seems like the nice weather is here to stay so enjoy !!!
Hi both, glad to see you back on the road and over the hump of setting rubber to tarmac. You might want to check the co-ordinates on the map of the Sangatte parking – it seems to be over near Vichy! Enjoy your travels. Robina
Thanks Robina. The GPS co-ordinates are correct, I just had them wrong in the map-thingy (technical term!). It should have us in the right place now.
Cheers Ju x
Yes – perched on the coast now! Congratulations on your book by the way. Robina
Julie that empty heart feeling will gradually diminish and instead of that empty feeling you will smile every time Charlie floats into your mind, have a great trip
kind regards Linda
Hey guys – do you need any paperwork or permission to drive a diesel vehicle like Zagan into Paris? We’ve been tempted in the past but worried that there were restrictions on vans like ours…?
Hi Rob. We bought a Crit’Air vignette even though the campsite we are staying in is outside the zone (we have been known to take wrong turns in cities!)
More info about it in our new book (page 108) or on the Crit’Air website – http://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr
Cheers Julie
Hi Guys,
It’s great to see you’re back on the road, we love reading your blogs.
Just ordered the paper version of your book, due tomorrow looking forward to that, thank you.
Can I ask you a question about van maintenance here? Here it is anyway!! –
We’ve had our 2005 Laika 680, Fiat based motorhome for a couple of years now (grand tour of Europe imminent). It’s got 32,000 miles on the clock and I don’t think the timing belt has ever been changed. I popped into the local Fiat/Iveco truck garage and they’ve quoted minimum 10 hours work to change the timing belt and replace the rubber gators on the drive/steering shafts – and a price of around £1400!
Guess you’ve had your timing belt changed. Did they charge you anywhere near 10 hours work?
Thank you for any advise.
Best wishes
Paul and Kerrie
Hi guys. Yep, we had the cambelt done about 3 years ago. The work was done as part of the service and MOT for the year, so sadly I can’t tell you what just the cambelt would have been. That said, £1400 sounds very high, especially as we don’t use main dealers if we can help it. I’d be getting another couple of quotes before shelling out that kind of money. Good luck and thanks for the support buying the book. Cheers, Jay
Yes, Jay’s right: £1400 is having a laugh. The cam belt (including pulleys) should be around £500 (at least it was last time we had it done on our 2005 Hymer). Avoid the Fiat main dealers and find yourself a good motorhome or light commercials garage. James
Oh and, yes, you **definitely** need to get the belt done!
Hi Ja and Ju,we are now into our second year of touring and none of that 9 to 5 work stuff.We used your web site as a source of inspiration and information while in France and Spain this year,should be on our way to Italy now but problems with a rental property means staying in Britain for a few months so look forward to reading about your travels.
Cheers guys, good luck sorting your rental place out, so you can soon get started again! Jay
It’s great to see your back on the road again, we love your tips and advice.
P.S had this book marked for ages to read, finally got round to it now to catch up with the newer posts.
Thanks guys! Happy travels, Jay