This year’s trip to France was going to be a little different in a few respects. Firstly, we were going to be towing something considerably larger than the camping trailer of last year. Our crossing this time would see us using the Channel Tunnel rather than the ferry. And last but not least, we would be touring France visiting three sites rather than just one. Thank goodness for the sat-nav!
We ventured South on the Friday evening, scheduled to catch the train at 11:20pm. The journey took us on familiar roads by now, along with rest breaks at our usual places. Before long we were on the M20 on the approach to the tunnel. Never having used the tunnel before, this was going to be a learning experience and of course all in the dark just to make it that bit more challenging!
We pulled up at the booths which successfully scanned our registration and confirmed our booking. We were then guided to a check point whereupon our gas was checked, all good so far. Next we were given our lane number and waited until our time to board was given. Unfortunately we were first in line and so had to navigate to the correct platform for the first time in the dark with nobody else to follow! The route was a little narrow in places, or it felt so at least! Not sure where exactly we were going, we quickly spotted a green arrow pointing down towards one of the platforms, the rest were on red, so we took it be the platform for us. Down we went and arrived at the train. Headlights off, we boarded the train. Plenty of room to get on to my relief and we were soon snuggled up inside our carriage with our handbrake on and first gear engaged. The train duly began its journey and before we knew it, we were in France. Well, okay, 35 minutes later after a couple of sandwiches and a drink! Departing the train was just as simple, leading straight onto the A26, where our tour would begin! From now on it’s the tunnel every time for us, much better than the ferry.
The first leg of our tour was des 4 vents near Paris. This would only be a three to four hour drive, so after making suitable progress we decided to pull into an air and rest until the morning. The remainder of the journey to 4 Vents was fairly straight forward. I had made sure the route taken kept us on the outskirts of Paris, so as to avoid those busy French drivers! The final approach to 4 Vents was straight forward enough and early doors on the Saturday, we had arrived at our first French campsite with our caravan.
The site looked very nice, with the shop and dining facilities at the entrance with lots of spacious pitches separated by hedges. Not too many trees about so the site had a nice open feel about it. We were shown to our pitch by a young lady on a bike and soon had the caravan where we wanted and the set-up began. Conveniently there was a water tap just beside us by the electric bollard. We soon had everything connected and set about looking around the site. The wash block was next to the open air swimming pool, accompanied by the games room. All very nice and welcoming, especially in this heat!
Our main reason for coming to 4 Vents was to use it as a base for visiting Paris. The campsite was not far from Tournan-en-Brie where there was a train station, so we could catch a train directly into Paris. This we did in the early afternoon and soon we were on the train heading into Paris. The trains are very comfortable, with double decks. It was a great way to see some of the surrounding area, before we went underground to the main stations in Paris. We exited at Haussmann-St-Lazare where we were greeted by some wonderful architecture. Not knowing where we were going, we set off and explored the area in the general direction of the shops, eventually heading towards the Eiffel Tower. There were some fantastic sites to see along the way, the walks by the river were truly beautiful, along with many parks, cafes and fun fair amusements. We duly arrived at the tower and were quite amused by the size of the queues of people waiting to go up into the tower. Not wanting to spend all of today queuing, we decided that we would ‘do the tower’ tomorrow and use the rest of today for generally looking around and absorbing everything that Paris has to offer. This we did and then made our way back to the campsite via return train journey. We made use of the local ATAC supermarket in Tournan, on Rue de la Liberation, in order to stock up on supplies on the way back to the site in the car. That evening we made use of the take-away at the campsite and soon fell into the first night of our own tour de France!
Unbeknown to us, our second journey into Paris the next day actually saw is in the centre of the actual end leg of the Tour de France. The streets were lined with supporters, carnival displays and trucks paraded up and down the street with their horns blaring. In order to actually cross the street we had to use a metro station! We finally made it back to the tower and the wait began! I decided to hang around whilst the tower trip took place, not being one for heights! It was amusing to casually sit around and watch the street traders dotting about, laying their goods on the floor, setting the small ornament towers up, only to be up heaved a few minutes later by the presence of the police! It was also amusing watching people of all nationalities taking their humorous photographs of poses with the tower, relying on perspective to play tricks with the outcome. A trip to the Disney store saw the purchase of a Lilo & Stitch mug! All the famous fashion labels have a presence here in Paris, keeping many a teenage girl in dream land!
We were going to take in the sites of the Notre Dam Cathedral and the Arc de Triumph, but some train line closures put pay to that. We did manage to start using the metro system after finally fathoming it out. So after many metro and train rides, we decided to say farewell to Paris, as we headed back to the site where our final day we would spend relaxing, before we began the second leg of the tour.
- Date: 23rd July 2011
- Nights: 3
- Pitch #: Unknown
- GPS: 48.751715, 2.896084
