Europe here I come!!!! Anyone drove in France/Switzerland?

[donallanwalker]

Hey guys, after a few short trips around Scotland decided to take the plunge in my Bay into Europe (baby coming in December so could be my last chance for a while!!)

Crossing over at Dover to Calais and having a night in Paris then going to head into Switzerland for a bit. Has anyone one ever been in the Alps with their camper van? Looking for some nice stops or roads to drive! any ideas would be great, should really do a lot more research but its a rushed decision, been a dream of mine for a long time and why I bought the camper van 8 months ago but with a baby on the way its now or few years away I guess, so f**k it!! Just booked the ferry and gonna go for it!!!

Any advice would be great, maybe on what critical spares I should take or where to stop over. Rough plan is to head down to Dover from Aberdeen in one go (600miles), get the ferry in the morning, drive a couple of hours to paris then pick up my girl from the airport (she gets to fly for the dull part as is pregnant and only a week off work so maximises the trip) Have a night in Paris then drive to Switzerland and spend a week around there.

Any suggestions would be great!! Pics will be up next month and i'll let ya'll know how it went!! Could be the trip of a lifetime or major disaster!!!HaHa!!

 

[donallanwalker]

 

[donallanwalker]

Wee pic of the van on its last trip, @ Burghead, North East Scotland

 

[weeboll]

enjoy it, get used to and be very wary of roundabouts (I made a mistake and turned the wrong way on day 4 after plenty of practice), always pull into the slow lane again after overtaking (ok, maybe not an issue in campervan), take it slow in the midday heat - its a lot hotter than Scotland, enjoy it (again)

we took our 1 year old boy for three weeks in the camper just after his first birthday. here's some of the details - relevant because its your route to the alps too

Dover-Calais-Laon (good campsite in forest on hill on outskirts)-Epernay (Champagne region, worth a stop for some cellar door sampling! nice town centre municipal campsite)-somewhere other side of Dijon-Macon for a week for a wedding-Gueret(very nice campsite)-il Doleron for a week-blois(good campsite otherside of river from town)-Amiens(good campsite in town)-Calais (fking awful campsite and I imagine a lot worse now)

amazing holiday which will never forget. I lost half a stone rushing around putting up and taking down the awning most days as we slept bugalugs in a travel cot in awning

spares required: one rocker cover gasket, one fuel pump

we went again when boy number two arrived and was also only a 1 year old but this time to Brittany. spares required: points, light bulb, fuses

 

[Nugsy]

Its a left hooker so need to worry about road position it will come naturally. We did Euro Disney in ours a few years back, stayed at a lovely campsite near there called LES ETANGS FLEURIS - Touquin, middle of nowhere but great site and lovely countryside.

2nd week we drove across to the Normandy coast to Le Crotoy, then slowly moved upwards to Calais staying in Le Touqet.

Bus is off the road at the moment with the engine being re-built but cant wait to go back again (it was just Coombe Martin last year)

We only seen one other bus in the whole two weeks, but got plent of waves from locals. Especially when we stumbled on a local classic Citroen Car Rally.

Take loads of pics, enjoy the views and stay safe, that's about it.

 

[Tofufi]

I took mine over the Pyrenees twice, travelling around Spain and France in 2013.

Epic trip I'd love to repeat 8)

Enjoy it, you'll have fun - and be sure to take pictures!

You've got a stunning bus there, I'm sure it'll be fine. The only problem my bus had (including driving through 30+ deg heat climbing the Pyrenees) was the pin between the clutch cable and clutch pedal wore through. We replaced it in a car park with a bolt and were back on our way within 30 mins

 

[Clem]

I did Vevey near Lausanne in Switzerland on the way to Italy , camped by Lake Leman. Great drive though Alps into Italy via Mont Blanc.

 

[Ands1]

Wee pic of the van on its last trip, @ Burghead, North East Scotland

I've been to Burghead before, probably about 20 years ago fitting an Hoffman Mot bay

 

[Bundy]

We went to Grindelwald in Switzerland...had been there skiing so wanted to see what it was like in the summer. Ended up staying longer than planned as we loved it!
Went via Belgium, Germany and Austria.




Enjoy it!!
We're heading your way this summer...Hebrides!! lol

 

[donallanwalker]

Thanks guys,

Some great advice in there!!! I will have photos up for sure!!!!!

Thanks allot!!

 

[matt-me]

I've a cousin in Burghead, not a place you hear about very often at all but some great beaches around there, I have alot of family from around there.

If you're planning on travelling on the Swiss motorways you will need to buy a Vignette which is yearly motorway pass, they were about 20 swiss francs two years ago.

A nice place to camp up in France on the way home (NE ish) is the municipal site in Langres, within/on top of the old town walls.

Enjoy it and good luck.

Al

 

[StuF]

Been in the bay as far down as Italy two years ago when we drove from Lincoln through France and into Spain for a friends wedding - even made it to Monaco for the day to drive the F1 circuit and finally spent a couple of days over the Italian border at San Remo

Pic of us camped up in Gerona



Last year we drove through France and Belgium to Le Bug at SPA and then onto into Germany and down to the Black Forest region taking a couple of nights in Luxembourg on the way back to Calais.

Pic of us camped up in the Black Forest



Love traveling around Europe - it's what we got the bus for 8)
Hope you have a great time