3 weeks in Europe, mid September!

Loving this read whilst we are all (well some of us) are keeping the economy going....just, if you can call it that!!
Keep it coming, whatever the weather.....but hope its not too bad at the weekend for you!!
It'll just mean a re-jig to avoid the weather! :p

My initial rough plan was to get to Biarritz/Hossegor tomorrow evening, spend a couple days there, then head into the pyrenes Friday with a stop in the mountains Fri night, getting to Ainsa Saturday.

However, that puts me right bang in the middle of this:
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Which won't be fun to MTB in. I'll worry about that in a few days though, I think I'm going to book a camping car park tomorrow night in Hossegor (any surfers will know the place!!). I'll then go into Biarritz for a day/enjoy the beaches. The camping car parks in Biarritz are fully booked, and the campsite I was looking at has closed for the winter! To be fair, a few days ago it was 40 mph winds and about 16 degrees....

Or, I could stay at the camping place I'm at for another night, as you can stay for 48hrs.

Decisions decisions...
 
If you want to kill a day or 2 after Biarritz you could go to San Sebastián. One of our favourite places. Great place and an eating and drinking destination with a couple of beaches and a castle.
Not jealous at all….much.
 
Off to Biarritz today, in a nice leisurely fashion...

The beach this morning before I set off, stretches literally as far as the eye can see in both directions!

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The surf had cleaned up, not massive but with a nice offshore wind. I used to surf (badly!) and if I came this way for longer I'd 100% bring a board with me!!

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Currently parked at the Dune Du Pilat having some lunch before walking up a massive pile of sand!
 
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Off to Biarritz today, in a nice leisurely fashion...

The beach this morning before I set off, stretches literally as far as the eye can see in both directions!

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The surf had cleaned up, not massive but with a nice offshore wind. I used to surf (badly!) and if I came this way for longer I'd 100% bring a board with me!!

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Currently parked at the Dune Du Pilar having some lunch before walking up a massive pile of sand!
Looks great Paul.
Keep the reports coming mate.
 
Visited Dune Du Pilat on my way to Biarritz
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I've now been enjoying a relaxing couple of days on the Biarritz beaches, the weather has been glorious. Biarritz is really nice, also great if you're in the market for a 3000 euro watch or a pair of 800 euro sunglasses! :rofl:

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I'm heading east later today, stopping somewhere in the Pyrenees overnight then onto Catalonia - I'm not going to visit Ainsa and do some mountain biking as it looks like its going to be heavy rain over the weekend, and I've brought a cold with me so I'm not feeling 100%.

Rain is also breathing this way on the west coast so I'm hoping to only hit it when I'm driving through the mountains.

I've got 3 nights booked at a campsite at Sant Feliu de Guixols from Friday.

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I'm now staying in Sant Feliu de Guixols on the Costa Brava for a few days, it's not bad here...

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Had a few rain showers this morning, did some shopping then the sun came out so I headed to the beach. Lovely warm water (still takes a minute to adjust before going fully in!), perfectly clear, you can see fish swimming around your feet feeding in the sand you kick up, and around the rocks in the shallows. No need for a scuba mask! Although I'm sure you'd see a lot more with one. Cloudy now but tomorrow is looking warmer after some morning showers.

I've got a couple more nights at the current campsite, then I'll probably work my way up the coast to another perfect little town with clear blue sea and stunning beaches...
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A few pics as a form of an update. 2500km/1500miles in...

I did Girona old town (Barri Vell) on Tuesday
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Then spent Wednesday and Thursday on the beach, no pics of that.

Then Friday, travelled from the Spanish border to here in Cassis just the east side of Marseille.
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It's very very nice here but a bit too posh for my liking. It seems to be de rigueur for daytime wear for men to be a striped polo, Chino shorts, moccasins, and a small dog. And for evening wear, head to toe Dior isn't unusual. And yes I'm still talking about the men!! :rofl:

The houses might be 1.5m euros, and the dress code more than I earn a month, and there's very few 'ugly' people, but there's still dog **** on the streets...

Biarritz was also posh but it had a big surf culture too so for every posh t**t there would be a surf bum with bleached hear hair and baggy shorts who was probably living out of a van... :cool:

There's a lovely T6 here with a roof tent, mmmm.
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I'm going to head out of here tomorrow, and take the coast roads and see where I land - I'll look for some parkups along the way.
 
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St Tropez ?
For the next stop? Tbh I'm avoiding the big towns and cities, I've never been a city person - too many people!!

If anything I'm a little lost when it comes to this part of the trip, I spent 6 full days in the same area on the Costa Brava, in a 20 mile or so area - but here there's so much coast it's a bit overwhelming as to where to stay. I probably won't do this part of France justice in the 5 days I've got here - but then tbh a lot of it won't be up my street - a bit too posh for my liking. I'm amazed at how busy it still is though, maybe it's just as it's a weekend.
 
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Right, that's the test of my trip planned... Well, the next few days anyway!

I've booked 3 nights here - Camping Bonporteau - Cavalaire - it's got a beach 200m away (sandy, clear water etc), it's got a heated pool, it's got walking and cycling trails on one side, and a town on the other side. Perfect.

105 euros for 3 nights - considering a basic camping car park on the coast was 25 euros a night I'm fine with 35 euros a night for a proper campsite.

Then on Wednesday I'll head inland via the scenic routes and via Gorge du Verdon, to probably the other side of Gap - then on the Thursday I'll get a good portion of France done, then Friday will be a short drive to Calais, I'll book a ferry for mid afternoon.
 
Just been adding up my costs so far for the trip - the aim was £1000 all in.

Eurotunnel/Ferry
£140
£88 (just booked my return ferry, 15:00 France time on Friday)
=£228

Fuel
£85.35
£86.40
£75.92
I had 3/4 of a tank when crossing into France, so call that £70

I currently have just under half a tank of fuel, and have (around 1300km/800 miles) left to travel back to Calais, so that might be doable on 1 more tank of fuel.

=£317.67

Accommodation
£55.63 Aire de camping car park, Biarritiz - 2 nights, - the extra was for the card and ability to book immediately, the site was only actually 32 euros
£85.33 Camping Sant Pol 3 nights
£6.69 1 night in a basic aire on the France/Spain border
£88.17 Camping Bonporteau 3 nights
£24.64 Camping Les Cigales, Cassis
=£260.46

I'll have done 19 nights in the van in total, so that's £13.70 on average per night spent on accomodation.


Food
£4.65
£15.58
£15.79
£15.65
£6.64
£3.92
£16.80

=£79.03

Plus another £15 foods shop, that's £5 a day on food.

Parking
£5.92
£10.99
£0.67
=£17.58

Tolls
£51 (61 Euros)


Grand total so far, excluding tolls on the route back to Calais, 1 more food shop, and 1 more tank of fuel: £953.74. So probably £1100 all in. Not too bad!!

I'm currently on 2650km, so the extra 1300km will put me at around 4000km for the trip! That 2500 miles!!
 
Few pics from today: I took a ride down the coast on an old disused railway which has been turned into a lovely cycle path, complete with the tunnels

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Some nice boats in the port here... $$$$$!

Spent yesterday afternoon and this afternoon by the pool, I might hit the beach tomorrow. 26 degrees is forecast. :cool:
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Just been adding up my costs so far for the trip - the aim was £1000 all in.

Eurotunnel/Ferry
£140
£88 (just booked my return ferry, 15:00 France time on Friday)
=£228

Fuel
£85.35
£86.40
£75.92
I had 3/4 of a tank when crossing into France, so call that £70

I currently have just under half a tank of fuel, and have (around 1300km/800 miles) left to travel back to Calais, so that might be doable on 1 more tank of fuel.

=£317.67

Accommodation
£55.63 Aire de camping car park, Biarritiz - 2 nights, - the extra was for the card and ability to book immediately, the site was only actually 32 euros
£85.33 Camping Sant Pol 3 nights
£6.69 1 night in a basic aire on the France/Spain border
£88.17 Camping Bonporteau 3 nights
£24.64 Camping Les Cigales, Cassis
=£260.46

I'll have done 19 nights in the van in total, so that's £13.70 on average per night spent on accomodation.


Food
£4.65
£15.58
£15.79
£15.65
£6.64
£3.92
£16.80

=£79.03

Plus another £15 foods shop, that's £5 a day on food.

Parking
£5.92
£10.99
£0.67
=£17.58

Tolls
£51 (61 Euros)


Grand total so far, excluding tolls on the route back to Calais, 1 more food shop, and 1 more tank of fuel: £953.74. So probably £1100 all in. Not too bad!!

I'm currently on 2650km, so the extra 1300km will put me at around 4000km for the trip! That 2500 miles!!
How much would you spend on food/fuel/going out over a three week period back home? On our 10 week trip to Spain/Portugal we spent the same as being at home, so I’m having that as a free holiday.
 
How much would you spend on food/fuel/going out over a three week period back home? On our 10 week trip to Spain/Portugal we spent the same as being at home, so I’m having that as a free holiday.
Going out - basically nothing, I don't go to the pub, don't have a crazy social life.

Food - I've basically eaten like I would at home, I've not been tempted by meals out at restaurants, I've cooked in the camper every day.

Fuel is a lot more than I'd spend at home - in the last year I've done 3 or 4k miles in the van, so 2500 miles over 3 weeks is nearly a year's worth!

I could quite easily live in a van for 3 months, much, much cheaper than living in a house in the UK - but there's still rent and household bills to pay at home whilst I'm away, so bar the food, everything else is an added cost.

It's good to know though, that with less fuel cost, I can quite easily do a couple of weeks in Europe for about £500. I can see trips to Brittany, or Biarritz/Hossegor for a week or 2 on the agenda. Maybe even banging out the miles on the autoroutes and heading to Portugal for a couple of weeks! I like the idea of what I did when I was in the Costa Brava, staying in a small(ish) area and staying in a few places in that area. Of course big road trips are also fun!!
 
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Last beach day and probably the last swim in the sea of the trip today, in probably the clearest water I've seen!

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Tomorrow I'll be driving along the coast for a bit before heading inland towards the Gorge du verdon and Gap, via Route Napoleon.
 
Last few days, lots of driving, lots of winding roads! Oh and autoroutes...

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Total trip mileage: 3985km
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2476 miles! Didn't quite crack the 2500 miles!
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Totting up the total cost, with a couple of tolls yet to hit my emovis account (so estimating them) it comes to:

£1160

I spent more on fuel than I thought I would, £465 in total. About 18.6p per mile. I reckon I've averaged about 33mpg. That's with some bloody steep mountain roads, and some 130kph autoroutes in there.
 
Oh and I'm already thinking about the next trip...

A couple of things I need to make things more comfortable - a sliding window vent so I can have some proper ventilation but keeping the mosquitos out, oh and some mosquito spray to kill everything flying inside the van before I go to bed! I got bitten loads on the trip.

Now, where's within driving distance for some winter sun for a couple of weeks... :D
 
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