IBERIAN PENINSULA 2007

Don Madge
2007 

Thanks to veteran motorhomer and MMM Travel Consultant, Don Madge, who wrote the following useful detailed notes for other motorhomers thinking of making journey into and around Spain and Portugal..

The image on the left shows Don and Maureen's Timberland next to our Four Winds motorhome waiting in Brindisi to board the ferry for Greece. On the right, we are in  Igoumenitsa, having just landed in Greece at the beginning of 2006. The Madges were again heading for Turkey.

Don writes:

PART ONE – Via France to Conil de la Frontera, Spain

This is a summary of our trip down to Conil de la Frontera, Spain in January 2007. Anybody considering a trip south for the winter might find this info useful.

We used the Dover/Calais crossing. As we have a 275 mile journey to Dover we have found in the past that Saturday is a quieter day to do the journey. Also you get a truck- free day on Sunday, your first day in France.

Sat 13th Jan: We had a very uneventful trip to Dover, where on arrival we found the ferry was delayed for 2 hours. As we planned to spend the night on Calais docks it was not really a problem, except we arrived at midnight instead of 2200 hrs. We stayed the night on the “unbooked crossing” car park. There were about 6 other vans there. It was a fairly quiet night as not too many trucks are on the move Sat night/Sun morning.

Sun 14th Jan: A very good refuelling place at Calais is the Elf filling station just off Junction 3 as you are leaving the port complex. Take the last exit off the roundabout and the Elf station is on the right. We paid €1.02 for a litre of diesel.

We travelled 363 miles and stayed on the aire at Ste Maure, which is about 20 miles south of Tours on the N10. We used the Peage (toll motorway) from Calais to Tours: A16 then A28, via Rouen and Le Mans to Tours. Total tolls were €49.90. We have been using the aire at Ste Maure for many years and it is usually very quiet at night - if you don't want an early call, park well away from the “bottle bank”.

Mon 15th Jan: Today we had a 320 mile trip to St Jean de Luz were we stayed at Camping Larrouleta (€15.50 per night) for two nights. We like to have a day off after three days of driving. The site has wi-fi connection: €5 for 30 min.

A very good refuelling point is the Champion hypermarket, which is 14 miles south of St Maure on the N10; we paid €0.97 for a litre of diesel.

The N10 is now nearly all dual carriageway to Bordeaux. We did use the Peage from Chatellerault North to Poitiers South at a cost of €5.70 - we think it's well worth it to avoid the hassle of going through the towns.

When you reach the Bordeaux ring road follow the signs for Bassin D'Arcachon and Bayonne A63. I would suggest you stay on the A63 to the Spanish border, as the N10 gets very congested going through Bayonne, Biarritz and St Jean de Luz.

At the Leclerc hypermarket at St Jean de Luz diesel was €0.99 per litre. In France diesel prices varied from €1.16 on the Peage to €0.97 at the super/hypermarkets. Extreme caution should be exercised when refuelling at super/hypermarkets as some of them have a very restricted manoeuvring area. In France the Autoroutes (Motorways) are signed in Blue, while the N routes are signed in green. The Autoroute is mainly a toll road and the toll sections are clearly signed “PEAGE”. Tolls can be paid by cash (€) or plastic card. The tolls can work out very expensive over long distances.

Many people use the word “PEAGE” when referring to toll roads throughout Europe.

Wed 17th Jan: We travelled 270 miles to La Cabrera, which is 60 km north of Madrid. We travelled via the A63 peage (€2.20) into Spain, AP8 San Sebastian (€1.45) then A1 Vitoria, AP1 Burgos (€9.15) and A1 La Cabrera. We stayed at Camping Pico de la Miel (€18.50 per night). The site is not suitable for ARV's (large American motorhomes) as the touring pitches are restricted in height by metal overhead frames.

Thurs 18th Jan: Today we had a 300 mile trip to Camping Cubillas (€14.50 per night) a lake side site 9 km north of Granada.

Fri 19th Jan: Today we had a 205 mile trip to Camping La Rosaleda at Conil de la Frontera, which is about 30 miles east of Cadiz in a non-tourist area. The site has excellent facilities, with well designated pitches of a good size. There are only a few pitches suitable for ARV's. Suitable for long stays with very good discounts (€255 for 30 nights). There's also a very good on-site restaurant. Free wi-fi connection is also available.

Madrid Ring Road

With the completion of the Madrid ring road, transiting the city is now very easy. It's a very well engineered “Spaghetti” junction; I set the cruise control at 60 mph and maintained that speed for most of the trip round the ring road. For rapid entry/exit to the city there are the R (rapid) routes, which are clearly marked "Peaje/Toll" We used R4 to exit the city and it cost us €7.05 for the 56 km journey - well worth the expense to avoid the very heavy traffic leaving the city.

If you are transiting the city from the north (E5/A1) to the south (E5/A4) just follow this route.

From E5/A1: Take M50, head towards E90 A2 Zaragoza

M45 A3 A4: Head towards R3 Valencia E901 A3 Valencia

A4 R4 A42 R5: E5 A4 Cordoba Exit 46

Or for rapid route follow signs R4.

These instructions might seem complicated but they are easy to follow. If by any chance you do get lost, just follow any A4/R4 Cordoba sign.

 In Spain the motorways are called Autovia and Autopista. Normally the Autovia is free and the Autopista is a toll road. The Autovia is signed A, while the Autopista is signed AP. There could be some exceptions.

In Spain we found the diesel varied from €0.87 to €0.91 per litre

PART TWO - Onward to Portugal: Disaster at Serpa

This is Episode 2 of our Winter Trip to Spain/Portugal.

We left Conil de la Frontera on 19th February and went via Seville to Mazagon and stayed two nights on the Parador car park. The toilets on the adjacent picnic area were locked and the water had been turned off. We checked out El Rocio and it's still possible to free park overnight in the area immediately past the lagoon.

Over night parking is also available at the Mazagon yacht club and around the harbour area.

We entered Portugal and put our clocks back one hour as Portugal is on GMT.

We checked a few of our old free parking areas and free-parked for 11 nights, mainly on the western Algarve, as follows:

Cabanas: Water is still available from the tap in the dustbin area at the east end of the sea front. Parking is also allowed on the eastern end of the sea front.

Pedras del Rei: The place was overwhelmed with motorhomes and one caravan (Dutch).

Fuzeta: Parking tolerated on the car park next to the camp site. We checked the camp site and it was full.

Alvor: Follow signs for Zona Ribeirinha to sea front parking.

Boca do Rio: Parking tolerated on this lonely beach: usually a dozen or so motorhomes here. Walk to next village (30 min) for supermarkets and toilets. On this visit there were about 26 units and the place was very crowded. Many Brit full-timers were parked here and were prepared to stay until moved on by the GNR. Unlike the old days, generators were in use a lot of the time.

Sagres: Parking tolerated in many places in the town and in the Fort car park. The town parking areas were very crowded and there were between 35 to 40 units on the Fort parking area.

Praia de Amada: Another area where free parking seems to be tolerated. On previous visits we have been the only ones parked there but this time there were about a dozen units parking well back from the beach.

If the trend of free parking continues at the rate it's going at present, I can see the Algarve becoming another “No Go” area for free parking, like the west coast of Morocco. Like a few of our friends, we will not be overwintering on the Algarve again - it's just too crowded.

The sites we checked at Fuzeta and Olhao were very crowded and at Olhao only small pitches in the shade were available.

We arranged to meet up at Serpa with some old friends but on the way from the Algarve disaster struck. We heard a horrible noise that turned out to be a wheel bearing rumbling, for want of a better word. We limped into the camp site at Serpa and at 1730 hrs on Sunday we contacted the RAC and told them our tale of woe. They promised a recovery truck would be in attendance between 9 and 10 am on Monday morning. It arrived at 0950 and we could not believe our luck when we found the driver was fluent in English.

The driver arranged for us to take the van to a local garage that was within walking distance of the site - another bit of good luck. The garage checked the bearing and confirmed it needed replacing. They ordered a new bearing and we were told to bring the van back to the garage at 9 am on the Tuesday morning. The job was completed and we had the van back by 1700 hrs on Tuesday, all fit and raring to go. The speed and convenience were worth double the cost to us.

Serpa is a very old town and is well worth a visit. The municipal camp site is very basic but clean and at €7 per night a very good bargain. There's also free wi-fi and use of the internet at the town information centre.

PART THREE – Returning Home

We started to head home on Thursday 8th March going via:

Evora (Portugal): A very old town where we had our lunch break and the boss took herself round the old town to have a look-see and take some photos.

Merida (Spain): Merida Camping (€16.80 per night) is signed off the Autovia A5 at km 333 A basic site with clean facilities. Large outfits might have problems trying to get on to the pitches; also there could be problems in the wet.

Cubillas de Santa Marta (NE of Valladolid): Camping Cubillas signed at km 102 on the Autovia A62. The site at €20.06 is very expensive for what it offers. A very basic site but conveniently placed on the route to Spain or Portugal

There is a stretch of about 100 miles of the A66 Autovia between Merida and Plasencia with only two refuelling/parking spots on the Autovia. They are close to Plasencia at km 495 north bound/km 494 south bound, and at km 489 north bound/km 488 south bound. This leaves a stretch of Autovia of about 85 miles with no stopping places on the road. There are petrol stations signed off the road but some are in small villages that could be a problem to large outfits or those towing trailers. We have come across this lack of fuel/rest stops on many of the new Autovias being opened in Spain at present.

There is a very good picnic area/night stop on the Autovia A66 at km 427 north bound - follow the picnic sign. South bound it's at km 427, signed Banos de Montenayor: a large area with very good views.

St Jean de Luz (France): We usually have a day off here, this time staying at Camping Bord de Mer (open 1 March to 31 October) at €19 per night. If the weather is kind it's a very pleasant stroll into St Jean for a leisurely lunch before wandering back again. We have been very lucky at this site with wall to wall sunshine. Site is not suitable for large outfits (over 8 metres).

Ste Maure: After a day's drive (315 miles) in brilliant sunshine we are again staying the night on the aire at Ste Maure, which is about 25 miles south of Tours on the N10. We refuelled at the Champion supermarket which is about 15 miles south of St Maure for €0.99 per litre - that's an increase of €0.02 since mid-January. Diesel prices have ranged from €1.13 per litre on the Autoroute to about €1.08 at filling stations on the main N roads.

There is a very good aire on the N10 (both sides) between junction 16 & 17 south of Bordeaux. There is a height barrier set at 3.3 metres to keep the trucks out. It's a very large aire with plenty of space for overnight stops.

We noticed that most of the aires/parking areas on the N10 between Bayonne and Poitiers were very crowded with trucks and some were even gridlocked. At times there was almost a continuous line of trucks on the N10, where for long stretches trucks over 12 tons are not allowed to overtake.

Boulogne Port: We had a night stop on the quayside at Boulogne after a 336 mile drive from Ste Maure, mainly on the peage (€52.50). It was a bit slow through Rouen but other than that a very pleasant drive in the sunshine.

We had a panic in the morning just after first light, as we thought somebody was trying to break into the van but it turned out to be a couple of sea gulls practising their dance routine on our van roof.

We have decided in future to do the trip from the channel port to St Jean de Luz in three days instead of two. I found it a bit tiring at times with the heavy volume of trucks on the roads. It will also mean we can use the N roads instead of the peage.

We had a ferry booked with Sea France for 1930 hrs so that we could spend the day in Boulogne before getting the evening ferry and then driving home to East Yorkshire - a trip of 275 miles. Hopefully in future we can go back to using North Sea ferries from Hull to Zeebrugge. The drive down and back to Dover is putting years on me! 

In the event, we caught an earlier ferry than planned from Calais and arrived home just before midnight.

Diesel in Spain was about €0.90 per litre and in Portugal about €1.01 per litre. In France it varied from €1.14 to €0.99 per litre.