Brittany Ferries

[worley]

Were landing in Le Havre 10pm Monday night - anyone have any experience of local stopovers or Aires before hit the road south on Tuesday?

 

[DXX]

I’ve not used Aires as the wife wont sleep in them (as a result of someone telling her that Romanians would put sleeping gas into your van and rob you when your asleep??) but lots of small towns and villages welcome campers as it brings a bit of trade to the local area, they normally have a small area reserved for campers close to the centre or there’s the camping municipal which are normally clean and cheap enough (unless you want free)

I don’t know where these stories originate, I slept in Aires and wild camped for 6 weeks last autumn, mainly in France but also across Spain and Portugal.
Generally the Aires are busy so you’re not alone even in October, the locals are mostly friendly as you’re bringing business.
I’ve had way more agro in the UK and it’s not from immigrants, mainly NIMBYs. I’ve also found that etiquette and politeness go along way in France, French kids actually greet people instead of grunting or blanking you like the majority of UK youth.
There are some very basic French Aires and ones that could almost qualify as campsites in great locations.
Crossing the border into Spain and the culture changes immediately, I found it much more lively and far cheaper for day to day living but the standard and number of Aires available drops significantly.
Crossing into Portugal and the Aires opportunities drop even more, the Guardia seem to work with the campsite owners to encourage you to check into a campsite.