So after a bit more work with apps and the map books, I have two now, I have a kind of route planned for the journey from the ferry port at Calais to the apartment in Alcoceber.
In total four overnight stops on the way down. The first has been booked for months as it is a small Camping-Car Park Aire (CCP) with only 6 pitches and it does get full quite early. Hence we booked an earlier ferry so that we can arrive in daylight (!) and maybe choose the pitch rather than being the last in and having what's left! That's at Formerie.
For the second overnight I was looking at a place on the Loire at either Bonny or Beaulieu sur Loire. They aren't too far apart but it looks as though all the rain in France has caused flooding and both the sites I fancied seem to be closed "temporarily". One is a municipal aire and the one at Beaulieu is a CCP aire.
This meant a rethink. Not that far away and still showing as open is the aire at the marina in Châtillon-sur-Loire. I dropped them an email today to see that everything is okay. The aire looks really nice. The overnight price on the website looks very competitive.
Using the ruler and counting the page "squares" on the map on the inside cover of the map book, I have calculated that with a lot of toll-free motorways on the A77/N7/A75 we could cover more ground on day 3. So once again I was looking on Search4sites and the CCP website. I have found what looks like a very nice aire at La Canourgue to the north of Millau and the famous bridge. I've not booked it as it's easy enough to check out the pitch availability on the app when on the way.
I have some credit left on my CCP account as we topped it up in May/June and didn't use it all plus I found an error in my calculations meant I was £38 in credit on the Halifax Clarity card we use in Europe. So I used €40 of that and topped up a bit more onto the CCP card. It makes booking aires in advance easier and also, when tapping in and out it takes it off the card and not off the bank card.
From there we will have an exciting €16 journey over the Viaduc de Millau. It's one of the few tolls we should encounter along the route. Apart from the A16 from Boulogne to Abbeville, and the A9 to get to the Spanish border that is!
The fourth and last stop I am planning is at Saint-Cyprien Plage Marina aire. We stayed there in November 2022 and it was perfect for what we needed for a single overnight. Hopefully it won't be full, but there are alternatives not too far away on the CCP app.
One of the reviews gives it low marks because it's "basically a tarmac parking area" - that's what aires are unless they are former campsites!
This time next week we should be on our pitch at the Marina at Châtillon-sur-Loire. 😁
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