🇫🇷 FIRST TIME FRANCE ROAD TRIP? Here’s where to go

🇫🇷 FIRST TIME FRANCE ROAD TRIP? Here’s where to go

Over the past seven years, since quitting my job as an air traffic controller to go live, work, and travel full-time in my motor home, I have been lucky enough to explore some amazing places and countries. And I have to say, one of the countries that I love exploring the most is France. I actually spent two years living there throughout the whole COVID lockdown thing. And also, I grew up in Jersey. I was born in Jersey in the Channel Island. and we spent all of our summer holidays in France because it was so much closer to Jersey than the UK was. So, I have spent a lot of time over my life exploring France and living in France. And I was invited at the EDC motor home and caravan show this year to share some of those experiences and some of my favorite places. So, this is that talk for those of you who couldn’t make it. There are some freebies which I talk about and offered at the show and I have left the link for them in the notes for you. So, let’s dive into this. A few France fun facts to get us started. First of all, France is the most visited country in the world. It has roughly 100 million visitors every single year. And the population of France is roughly the same size as the UK. We have about 69 million people living in each country. But France has got double the amount of space that the UK has got. Which means that even in the height of summer when there are so many people and so many tourists, there are still places in France where you can explore and find some incredible natural areas which have got very few people in them. And I’m going to share more about them as we go through. Next thing to know is that the French eat around 30,000 tons of snails. In fact, they eat so many snails that they have to import them for all their snail eating needs. Don’t ask me where they import them from. I have no idea. And a little quiz fact for you for your next pub quiz. The quason is actually Austrian and not French. There you go. So now you know. So let’s dive into why France is one of my favorite places to go touring in my motor home. And the simple fact is that the French love motor homes. They call them camping cars, but they have provision for motor homes and camper vans to stay all over the place. So instead of being stuck out in the middle of nowhere, you’ll actually find that a lot of towns and villages and attractions will have motor home approved bays where you can actually stay. You might not be able to stay overnight in all of them, but it means that you can actually get into places. You can visit shops. You can see famous attractions, all of those kind of things. It’s a lot more welcoming to motor homes and larger vehicles. They’ve also got plenty of service points. Now, we’re going to talk about where you can stay in just a moment, but if you choose to stay in some of the places like I’ve got photographs. So, in the top there is a wild parking spot in the Pyrenees. Beautiful. In the middle is So, in the top there is a wild parking spot in the Alps. Beautiful. In the middle is actually an air. So, in the wandering motor home, which I run, we do group guided trips and I offer trips for all sorts of people, but a lot of them are beginner based. So, it takes people who’ve never been across to Europe over into Europe in a structured way with a little bit of support and a lot of help. And I do all the planning and the booking and everything. And it means that those who would love to go to Europe but just want that little confidence boost and a little bit of knowledge can come on one of these trips. And that middle picture is exactly that. I took a group of people in the Wandering Road to Home Club over. We went and did the Normandy beaches in April in 2025. And it was a fantastic trip. We explored a lot of Normandy and we actually got to stay at this air which was I think this was Omaha either Uta or Omaha Beach, one of the two. Totally free. Uh you couldn’t reserve it. Airs, most of them you can’t reserve in advance and we just rocked up. There were no facilities. It was just an approved space that motor homes could stay at. It was absolutely fantastic. And as you can see, it’s walking distance to the beach. It was brilliant. And then the bottom one here, which my head is slightly in the way of I just move myself up. This is actually an air right at the very bottom of Mont Blanc um near to a little town called Shaminy if you’ve never heard of it. It’s beautiful and you can actually stay at this air and there’s also a fantastic cable car which allows you to go up the side of Mlanc place called the Aguida and you can go up there. There’s a lovely restaurant up there. stunning views. And there’s also this glass box where you can stand if you’re brave enough in this glass box and it’s just straight down. It’s literally bolted to the side of the mountain and you can just stand and look straight down. If you were a little bit scared of heights, maybe don’t try. I height bother me, but even that was like that is a long way down. So, those are just a few of the parking places around France. And if you choose to stay at something like that, obviously none of those have got facilities. So in order to be able to empty out your toilet in a proper appropriate responsible way and empty out your gray waste and also get fresh drinking water, you can use these service points. Now you can find these all over France and indeed a lot of Europe have got them as well. But France, I find them using the app park for night and on there there is a specific uh filter that you can do which will show you places where you can empty out your waste and get fresh drinking water. Now, I recommend that you keep your one and two euro coins for this purpose because a lot of these remote service points, so they’re not attached to airs or campsites. They will require a small bit of payment and the normally a euro or two to empty out your waist and your toilet. So, if you keep your euro coins, you’ll be able to make that a lot easier. So that makes touring around France just honestly so much easier because you can stay at these sorts of places and not have to worry about how you’re going to to get all your services sorted. So like we mentioned, there are also all sorts of other types of camping options. There are all singing or dancing campsites. So they’ve got restaurants and pools and they’re wonderful and really lovely modern facilities. And there are also some campsites that are a little bit more rustic. If you have never yet experienced the porcelain plate toilet, it’s an experience I hope you never have because it’s the most bizarre weird thing. You walk into the toilet and it’s like this white square on the floor. There are foot placements which clearly show you where to put your feet and then there’s like a hole that you’re just sort of standing over. It’s bizarre. Um, not my favorite. I would obviously prefer to use the services in my motor home rather than use one of those. So if you are going to stay at slightly cheaper or smaller site that like I say have a little bit of rustic charm, you might find that the toilet facilities are not what you might be used to in the UK. The other thing that the French do like everywhere, service stations and everywhere is they remove the toilet seats. It’s bizarre. I don’t know why they do it. I’m guessing they have some sort of hygiene thing about it. Um but yeah, expect there to be very few toilet seats in France. Just a strange strange thing. So, the other thing that you’ll find when you’re touring France is that they have really good roads. Um, much better roads unfortunately than the UK have got, especially at the moment with all of our potholes. And there are also some brilliant scenic routes, which we’re going to talk about very, very shortly. And I think one of the reasons I love France, and to be fair, this could be said from a lot of countries around Europe, but there is just so much to explore and to see. There’s so much history and nature and beaches and mountains and they’ve got a little bit of everything and it’s just magic and they’ve got a lot of baguette and quasel and other yummy things paka. So yeah, there there’s a lot to enjoy. So before we dive into specific places in France, let me uh answer one of the questions that I get asked an awful lot, which is what’s the best way to take your motor home or your camper van across, ferry or tunnel? Now I’m gonna sneeze barely. Still feel like it’s coming. Now there are obviously a couple of reasons this I’m just going to move my face out the way. There we go. So there are obviously a couple of answers to this question and it’s going to depend. If obviously you get seasick and the thought of going across the sea particularly in the winter makes you really anxious then take the tunnel. That one’s really straightforward. If like me, you are usually a solo traveler or you are someone who does most of the driving, then you might find the ferry is a better option because it gives you a break. I love taking the ferry because like I say, it gives me a bit of a break. I can switch off. I can read my book or play on my phone or do whatever I’m doing. Particularly if I’m doing quite a long trip the other side. If I’m crossing usually from the UK into France, I tend to do an overnight ferry. I tend to do like the Portsouth to con route because they have pet friendly cabins on them with Britney Fairies and you can actually take your dog into the cabin. So Matt comes into the cabin with me and then I have an overnight sleep as much as you can have a sleep with a spananiel on your face and then have a bit of breakfast and then I can keep driving for a few hours on the other side. So I just get a little bit more refreshed. I also tend to take the ferry if I’m going to central or western France because I don’t live anywhere near Kent and driving all the way around to the tunnel and then back to the west coast is a heck of a long drive particularly when I’m doing a lot of it on my own. So those are the reasons that I take the ferry. However, if you’ve got an anxious or a reactive dog and the thought of taking them anywhere near a ferry is just no, go on the tunnel. They stay in the vehicle. You stay in the vehicle. Everybody’s chilled. Everybody is happy. The other thing of course to look at are the costs and it’s not always as straightforward as you think it’s going to be. Sometimes the ferry can be cheaper, sometimes the tunnel. It will depend a lot on time of year, time that you want to travel, all of that kind of stuff. Do remember if you are a member of the caravano club or the camping and caravanning club that you can get discounts. Sometimes they’re quite good, sometimes they’re not as good, but you can get discounts with your memberships. And the other way of getting a bit of money off is to use your Tesco club card vouchers. That’s always a really good way of saving some money. Now, what I have done in order to help everybody sort of figure out a region to go and also to make it easier to talk about France, I’ve split France into five regions. Now, I must stress these are not official French regions. These are Katherine regions and I’ve just done this for the purposes of this presentation just to help sort of narrow down all the different places. So, let’s start with one of my favorite regions. Although I do reserve the right to say that about all of them, but Normandy and Britany hold a very dear place in my heart. I think because I spent so much time there as a child. I’ve explored a lot of it as an adult. It’s just somewhere that I really enjoy spending time. It’s so easy to reach from the UK, particularly if you’re happy to take the ferry across. There’s fantastic fies across to Sherborg or K and even Laav. And there’s some brilliant beaches, lovely coastlines, and there’s just so much history. So, diving into a few of my favorite places. If you are going as far across as Britany, then I strongly, strongly recommend that you go to the Rose Granite Coast, try and go at either sunrise or sunset on a clear nice day because you’ll see the whole coastline just glows this pink. It’s incredible and definitely worth seeing. Do definitely spend some time exploring the beaches in that region. And another place that is really famous in Britany is the Carac standing stones. Got my little head in the way here. Um, but you can see here these stones are actually older than Stonehenge. They’re that old. Again, they don’t really know why they were there. They could be graves marking fallen soldiers. Who knows? But they are absolutely worth going to visit. Coming back into Normandy, one of my favorite places in France is Monselle. I remember seeing it as a child and just being aruck and I have to say that all hasn’t gone away as an adult. Now it’s quite easy to visit Moselle with a motor home. There are a huge air quite nearby and a couple of campsites as well. Then you can either get a bus out to the mount or you can walk out. Takes about half an hour, 40 minutes depending on how quickly you walk. if you have a bus, if you have a dog, you can’t go on the bus. Uh, but you can go around the town of Monselle with a dog, but they can’t go in the abbey. Really important to remember that. However, one of the best things about Monselle is the abbey is built on top of a lot of sort of buildings or they built the buildings up around the base of the abbey and there are a lot of gift shops and indeed ice cream shops. So when you are there, if you plan it correctly, you can enjoy an ice cream on the way up the steep hill to the abbey. And the abbey is definitely worth going inside. It’s amazing. But then once you’re done with that, you can enjoy an ice cream on the way back again. So winwin. Then the other thing that is really worth seeing in Normandy are the D-Day beaches and the museums and all the cemeteries and the monuments to that entire era. It’s quite incredible how they preserved it and how they have brought the history to life. We did the D-Day experience museum as part of the group trip that we did last April and that was at Dead Man’s Corner. Absolutely incredible. Also the museum, the paratrooper museum at Samra Glee which was the church where the parachuter got stuck. Um and he was sort of dangled from the church spire. Um that’s incredible. Really worth going. But there are so many places around there. you couldn’t see them all in a week. In fact, we went back again in July on the motorbikes just to do a bit more of that coastline because it was really amazing and worth visiting. And like I mentioned as well, they’ve got places like the American cemetery, the British cemetery, and also don’t forget you’ve got places like Beao. We saw the tapestry in Beao. I believe it’s been moved to the UK for a short time, but it’s still a lovely town worth visiting. The cathedral there is gorgeous, and they had a really lovely little cafe. um I can’t remember the name of it but it was an English sounding name right next to the cathedral on the square. They had the best crop murles. They were absolutely lovely. So definitely worth visiting them. So moving on into the northeast. Now this is an area that a lot of people overlook and a lot of people drive through especially if you’re coming off the tunnel or the ferry at Cali. A lot of people drive through to get to Belgium or to Germany or further south in France. So actually the northeast can be a lot quieter particularly in the summer months because so few people are actually spending time there rather than just traveling through it. There is a huge wine culture here and there’s an amazing crossover between people who like motor homes and people who like to drink wine. The northeast is one of the best places to go because they’ve got this route there called the Alsace wine route. And along that route there are around 70 businesses. So these are people who grow the wine, who bottle the wine, who sell the wine, who do wine tasting tours. And this entire route has been constructed to introduce people to various grapes. I’m not a a wine connoisseur, but whatever you get introduced to on a wine tasting tour. It’s also the northeast’s home of champagne. Re is particularly a good area for that. And if you like architecture, the cathedral at Re, there’s also another amazing one at MET are definitely worth visiting. Now, one thing I will say, when you go to something like a vineyard or a wine tasting tour, a lot of them, if you have spent money with them, will let you stay in their car park for free overnight. Now, there is a structured scheme that do this. It’s a scheme called France Passion and you can subscribe to that so you can find out about these businesses that have paid to be part of the scheme and they are like I say vineyards, they are restaurants, they are shops, farm shops who will let you stay in their car park. So you need to be self-contained. There’s no services available at least at most of them. But if you’re going to spend money there anyway, then you can get a free night. You don’t have to pay for a campsite. So France passion is a way to know for certain. The other place that you can look on is park for night and read the reviews because a lot of businesses especially the smaller ones don’t want to pay to be part of the France Passion Scheme. So they don’t but it’s just an informal agreement. Um then you’ll be able to find people on park for night who have found these places and have used them so that you can head there and then just ask them just say you know I’m in a motor home totally self-contained don’t need anything are you happy if we stay in the car park and most of them will be absolutely fine with you to do that as long as you’ve left before opening the next day which is usually 9 or 10:00 in the morning. So that’s always a really good way of saving some money whilst you’re doing fun stuff that you enjoy. So other things that I love in the northeast, Strasborg’s one of my favorites. It’s such a beautiful, beautiful place. And also, we went to Vdun on the way. I did a group trip down to Germany recently, and we actually stayed in Vdun, which of course is famous for World War I. And there’s a lot of World War I memorials and some museums around the northeast of France, which you can absolutely explore. Now, I haven’t included Paris in the Northeast. Paris is amazing. It’s one of my favorite cities and I highly recommend you visit. I do not recommend driving your motor home into Paris. Luckily, there are a lot of campsites around the city and this applies to all of the big cities in France to be fair that you can stay on the outskirts in a campsite or even an air and they’ll be close to public transport whether that’s a bus or a tram that you can actually then get access to the city really straightforward without having to worry about driving. If you want a giggle, there is actually a door at the bottom of the Arcta Triumph. It’s open a lot of the time, not all the time, but you can actually then go up and stand on the top of the Arcta Triumph and just you’re in the middle of a roundabout and you can see how chaotic the traffic is. It’s really worth going to do that, but like I say, I choose not to go and drive into Paris. But that’s the northeast. So, moving on to the southeast. Now, the southeast, if I can get my little clicker to work, the southeast is an area which I think you should think of in two halves. So, obviously the bottom half, the lower half of the southeast is the French Riviera. So, you’ve got all these incredible cities like Nice and Sanrope and don’t miss Monaco. Even though it’s not technically part of France, it’s definitely worth a visit. But in all of this area, and indeed along the entire coastline, there’s a lot of money. There’s a lot of rich people and they don’t want motor homes blocking the view that they have paid all these millions for. So you will find campsites and particularly airs and definitely wild parking spots really hard to find. They are around um wild parking spots are very very difficult but there are airs and campsites around. My advice, if you want to visit in the summer, the busy months, and you want to spend quite a long time there, whether that’s a few days or a week, book in advance. Book as far in advance as you possibly can because those do get booked up really, really quickly. Now, if you come in land a little bit from the French Riviera, you will find some of the best national parks in Europe. In fact, the southeast of France is home to a place called the Verdon Gorge or the Gorge De Verdon. And that is actually Europe’s Grand Canyon. And it always amazes me how many people don’t know it exists. It is this incredible canyon, the one there on the top left. And the water genuinely is that bright turquoise color. It’s amazing to sort of turn the corner and see it. Having said that, if like me, you hit it after a heavy day of rain the day before and it sort of washes all the mud off from the sides of the canyon and the water goes this sort of sludgy brown. You’re looking at it going, “Well, that was a hoax from the internet.” But I promise you after a day or two, the mud does settle and the water goes back to this amazing turquoise color. So definitely worth visiting that. I also love the Kank National Park. Now the Kank National Park is not somewhere that you can drive around. The gorgeon you can drive. If you are going to drive that in a motor home, stick to the south side of the gorgeon, not the north. You can do the north with a car or a motorbike, but the uh it’s got a big big overhangs. So the south side’s a lot safer for bigger vehicles. But the Kanks, you can’t drive around it quite the same way. But it is brilliant for hiking, especially if you’ve got dogs. although there’s a lot of nature in there and birds nesting at the appropriate time. So, make sure your dogs are away or on leads for those areas, but they’re also really good for um cycling routes and things around there. It’s beautiful. Another place that I love in the southeast is the Roman architecture. Particularly, I like the Pondar, which is quite near to the Verdon Gorge, which is a Roman aqueduct. You can walk along it, but also they’ve got some coliseums in the southeast of France. Everyone knows about Rome and the coliseum there, which don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful. You should definitely go. But in the southeast of France, there are places like Al, which is just this amazing coliseum and it’s a heck of a lot quieter than the Rome Roman one. Um, so you can go and visit that. You’ve also got places like um the pink lake, Salan Rose, the the pink lake. Um, and that’s quite amazing as well. There’s a little train that you can go and take out and you can see all the flamingos and all of that kind of stuff. And then obviously you have got the Alps which are this mountain range. I love mountains. The Alps are just one of my favorite areas. They got the route to Grand Alp which is definitely worth driving but honestly you could head up pretty much any road in the Alps and just the views are spectacular. So you can’t go wrong. Lake Any is on the westernish side of the Alps. um that’s definitely worth visiting. The town of Ani is is beautiful. Lake Any is normally really quite busy. So again, if you’re going to visit there, then I highly recommend that you book your campsite up in advance. Also, if you’re going to be in the area in June, Provence is famous for its lavender. So, you’ll be able to go around. Loads of lavender farms and lavender scented products will be everywhere for you to enjoy. But if you’re going to visit the area in February or March, perhaps you want to try and get some winter sun, then I highly recommend heading to the town of Menon, which is right on the French coast. And they create, you can just about see the turtle over my head there. They create these huge sculptures and and floats. They have about 20 or 30 different ones every single year. And they are about I don’t know 25 20 25 foot high. They’re made out of oranges and lemons and the whole thing just smells citrus fruit heaven. It is beautiful. The whole town smells beautiful. So yeah, that’s one of my favorite things to do. You should absolutely go and visit the Southeast around February, March time. Now, the Southwest is one of my favorite regions. I’m fairly certain I’ve said that a lot so far, but the Southwest really is magic. Um, it’s got a little bit of everything that I personally like. There’s mountains and beaches and amazing castles and surf and all of this other incredible stuff. So obviously they’ve got the Pyrenees and one of my favorite spots in the Pyrenees mountain range is the Cir Degavany. And the Cir Davin is this incredible natural amphitheater pictured there. It was actually taken on my birthday a few years ago and it just it’s amazing how you can feel like the only people in the world even though there are lots of other people around you as well. There’s an air quite nearby, so you can stay there for a day or two in your motor home and then you can walk all the way into the amphitheater. You can almost walk to the the waterfall. If you’ve got dogs, you can’t walk quite that far, but it’s a long old walk, so make sure you take snacks. So, a couple of other places that I love in the area. If you’re in the Pyrenees, then I recommend there’s um city called Pao, which is well worth doing. There’s also all the way down on the western coast is Beerit, which is home of surf culture. Now, in my little heart, I am a camper van owner who can surf. I can’t fit in a camper van and I can’t surf to save my life. I’ve tried many times. I am rubbish at it. But I want the whole surfer chick vibe and Beeritz is the place to go. And also if you head down a little bit further down towards the Spanish border, there’s a lovely beach in Hanayi which is just absolutely gorgeous there. If you go a little bit further north up the southwest, you’ll hit this incredible sandjune. It’s the tallest sandjune in Europe called the June pillar. Now you’ll spel see the spelt a couple of different ways, but it’s all the same place. And it is worth walking up. It it is quite hard work walking up a sandune, I’ll be honest. But once you are up there, it’s absolutely incredible. The view out over the Atlantic Ocean is absolutely stunning. There are campsites and airs the whole way down this coast. There are loads of them. But if you want an all singing or dancing campsite with pools, especially if you want one with surf schools, then I again would book that as far in advance as you can because they’re very popular and do get booked up really, really quickly. I would also recommend obviously you’ve got Bordeaux, beautiful city. I love Bordeaux and obviously lots of wine and vineyards and places to explore around there. But if you want something a little bit older, head to the Lascow Caves, which are where there’s loads of prehistoric art and the paintings inside them. They’re really worth doing. And also there is the medieval city of Carcasson. Now, it is beautiful to look at and there’s again plenty of places to stay around nearby and you can go into the town of Kauison and look at it. Once you are actually walking into the walled city, it’s the biggest tourist trap you’ve ever seen. If you’ve got small children, maybe blindfold them or something because there are just swords and helmets and things for kids to buy everywhere. But it is worth going in and seeing it if you can go quite early in the day if you’re visiting in peak season because it gets incredibly busy. And if you want something on the other end and very very modern, go across the Malo Vioaduct. It’s this incredible feat of engineering and you can drive across it in a motor home or a camper van or a caravan. Very rarely shut, but occasionally if the winds are very strong, they will shut it for safety reasons. If you want to drive across it and you want to stop and get a really good photo of the bridge before you cross it, then go to the northern side. Um, admittedly, if you’re coming north, it will be after you’ve crossed it, but that’s the best place to get a picture. If you’re heading south, once you’ve crossed the bid, there are very few places where you can actually stop and take a decent photo, but it’s definitely worth enjoying that whilst you can. And then moving on to the central area. The central area is a bit of a capsule really of all the places that I couldn’t squish into all of the others. And again, it’s an area of two and a half. So, starting at the top, you’ve obviously got the amazing Lir Valley, which is just full to the brim of Chatau, like Chat De Shambal is one of the most famous, but there are chat and vineyards and wine shops everywhere around that region. You could spend weeks exploring just the Lir Valley and doing a different wine tasting tour every day if you uh if you enjoy that. That’s the place to go. But if you head a little bit further south inside central France, there are some amazing places to visit. Not a lot of people know that in the middle of France, there is a mountain range called the Montdor mountain range. So not the Alps, not the Pyrenees, a totally different range. And you can absolutely go skiing and snowboarding here in winter or you can visit during the summer. There’s loads of hikes. There’s loads of activities to do. It’s a lot quieter than the Alps or the Pyrenees. And it’s also a lot cheaper as well, particularly if you want to go and do like a skiing or snowboarding holiday. It’s beautiful. We spent a few days there. In fact, a couple of times because it was quite near where we ended up staying in France for a couple of years. We spent a lot of time there and it’s definitely worth visiting. Um, another thing that I love about the center of France are these lakes. Now they it’s just the land of lakes and there some of them are huge like Lac Deassivier. There’s also another really famous one like debardau but there’s also a few smaller ones dotted around and most of these lakes have got these man-made beaches where you can sunbathe and sit and spend the day, have picnics, all this kind of stuff. A lot of them have got some sort of swimming area roped off and they might have inflatables or like a swimming platform and all of this good stuff. So, I’d say they’re for the kids, but I’ve spent way too much time on them to say they’re for the children. But, they are really good at just having somewhere nice to chill out for the day. And a lot of these lakes have got a campsite or an air around them somewhere so that you can actually say spend some time there in your van. And the views are just lovely. Um, and also this is the area where you get things like tata and beef burgers. So don’t ignore the center of France. There’s a lot to see and enjoy there. Right, a few tips and things for life on the road in France. So first of all, the French obviously drive on the right, the opposite side of the road that we do in the UK. It’s one of those things that I know a lot of people get anxious about, but I promise you it is not anywhere near as daunting as you think it’s going to be. Once you have done it for like 10 15 minutes and if you go across on the Euro tunnel particularly it spits you out on a main road. So you’re driving on this main road and then by the time you’ve had time to worry about it it’s done. Um so yeah I promise you just give it 15 20 minutes and you’ll be absolutely fine. Obviously the speed limits are in kilometers per hour. I always make sure that my satnav is left on kilometers per hour so that it’s really obvious. It tells me what the speed limit is and it also tells me what my current speed in kilometers an hour is just in case I haven’t quite got my head around it yet. So I find that’s quite an easy reference point. One thing to be aware of in France is that if you are able to do the maximum speed, so 130 km an hour is the maximum speed and most vehicles can do it unless you’re very very heavy then it starts to rain. The maximum speed limit goes from 130 km an hour to 110 on the main roads. Now, it doesn’t always tell you immediately. Eventually, you will pass a sign that says 110 when it’s raining, but you could have been driving for 20, 30 minutes by that point. So, just something to be aware of that there are some rules that you need to know about before you go touring around France. Tolls and crit air stickers are also something that a lot of people get worked up and worried about. I’ve done several videos on these. So, by all means, check out previous videos in the Wandering Bird YouTube area. But tolls, they are always useful to have a little toll box, especially if like me, you’re a solo traveler, the little toll box. I’ve used ones by Emovis or toll tickets. It’s just a box that go is fitted in or sits in your windscreen and then it beeps as you go through a toll and it’s charged automatically. However, recently they have been taking out the toll plazas and just putting these big banners up saying you have to pay within 48 hours. A little bit like when you’re crossing on the Dartford tunnel and you will I mean they make it really obvious when you’re going on these but the toll boxes don’t work. They don’t apply. You still have to go online at the website that is listed and it’ll be on these big banners on the bridges that you’re driving. So you still have to go on there and pay even if you’ve got a tollbox. Critair stickers are a completely different thing. So critair stickers allow you or will give you a guideline on to what cities you can or cannot visit. You only need one critair sticker. It covers you for the whole of France. If you want a step-by-step guide on how it works, the link that you need, all that kind of stuff, I did one about about 6 months ago that literally brought you through every single thing you needed to do when you were filling in your French gritair sticker application. So again, I will try and put the link for that in the show notes, but just go and look for it on my past videos. Angle more stickers. These are one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard. So the French have come up with this law that basically says if you are over 3 and 1/2 tons or if the maximum allowed weight of your vehicle is over 3 and 1/2 tons. So even if technically you only weigh 3 tons but your maximum permissive laden mass is um 3.7 tons, you still have to have these stickers on. They have to be put one on either side, driver and passenger door, and then one on the back. And the idea is that without these little yellow and red stickers on your vehicle, cyclists or pedestrians wouldn’t be able to see your gigantic vehicle. It’s ridiculous. Um, if you don’t want to put them on permanently, you can put them on with blue tack or white tack. Um, some people have put magnetic ones on. Remember, not all parts of your mode are magnetic. Um, but yeah, there are ways that you can have them and have them removable if you would like to. Another fantastic French rule which thankfully is less common than it used to be is a rule for the roundabouts called priority eda. Now this basically means that when you see this sign coming up to a roundabout it means that you have to give way when you are on the roundabout to anybody coming onto the roundabout. So, when you’re trying to go around a roundabout in France and you’re navigating and you’re waiting for your satnav to catch up because it’s lagging and you’re trying to figure out what exit you need, you then have to slam to a stop on the roundabout when somebody else is trying to come on from one of the entrance points. So, you have to stop dead on the roundabout. Let them go. They then stop dead because somebody else is trying to come on from a different entrance point. They then stop dead because someone else is trying to get on, but you’ve blocked the entire roundabout because your motor home has stopped dead. Um, it’s ridiculous. It very rarely happens like that because it does tend to now be the smaller roundabouts where this is a thing. Particularly places like Britany, they still got quite a few of these. So, just keep your wits about you. And even on the bigger road where thankfully they have made the rule like we would all be used to it in the UK, just be aware if you see a 2CV barreling towards you with no sign of stopping, um you might be better just to stop and let them go cuz a lot of people of the um the old French, let’s put it that way, still think that the rules apply a priority adat. Now there are also things in France that you legally need to carry. things like your hives jackets, warning triangles, um first aid kits, all this kind of thing. If you want a copy of that checklist and you also want a copy of two of my favorite itineraries and you want a copy of all of the slides that I have just shared with you, then you can get them at that link. I’ll also leave the link in the notes for you. You can scan the QR code that’s on the screen. It will take you to the exact same place. And if you want to join me um and other members of the wandering motor home club on one of these guided trips or you want to know more about touring in France or you want to join in I do monthly zoom calls. So I do a monthly Q&A planning session where I help people plan their road trips or answer their questions and then I also do a monthly in-depth sort of training or workshop about a variety of topics and also a variety of places. So I also do this France talk. It’s about two and a half hours long. There’s a lot more information that is packed into it. The replay of that is up in the club hub if you would like to know more about that. And like I say, I share it and things with the wandering club members. So if you want to join that, there’s actually an offer on which I’m going to extend to everybody watching this video. You can get that on the wandering-bird.com/show link. I hope you found that helpful. If you did, a thumbs up is always very much appreciated. And don’t forget to subscribe if you want to see more videos about motor home travel and van life. If you want to know more about touring in France, you will find this video helpful and I will see you there. Thanks for watching.

GET YOUR FRANCE ROAD TRIP FREEBIES: https://wandering-bird.kit.com/463bbb20a9
Planning a road trip or motorhome tour through France? 🚐

Here are the best regions and destinations to visit — from stunning coasts and vineyards to mountain passes and attractions you’ll love. 🇫🇷

Whether it’s your first time driving in France or you’ve been before but want fresh ideas, you’ll find inspiration for every type of trip — from Brittany and Normandy all the way to the West coast and French Riviera.

I also cover campsites, aires in France, tips for driving in France and more.

So if you’re wondering “Where should I go in France?” — this is the video for you!

#franceroadtrip #motorhomeeurope #motorhometour

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ABOUT WANDERING BIRD

In 2018, I quit my job as an air traffic controller to travel in a van. That’s adulting, right?
Since then, I’ve spent most of my time living in a motorhome, touring the UK and Europe and sharing the adventures (and mistakes!) I’ve had along the way.

Wandering Bird was created to help motorhomers and campervanners make the most of their time on the road.
We share weekly tips, tricks and reviews to encourage and inspire your next adventure, whether you’re a complete motorhoming beginner, or a more experienced owner looking for new ideas or places to visit.

🔔 So, if you’re interested in motorhomes or campervans and want to make the most of your time on the road, hit SUBSCRIBE and the bell to get our weekly videos.

You can also get access to our free resource library, full of motorhoming checklists, road trip itineraries, van life tips and more. Here’s the link: https://wandering-bird.ck.page/95373a8e42

You can find out more about our story in this video: https://youtu.be/qu7kSs2fBdg
Or check out our website: https://www.wandering-bird.com

Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video. Safe travels!

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