Off on our trip tomorrow, car VERY full, few last minute wobbles...advice!

[holytoast]

Hi all,
We are off on our first long camping trip tomorrow morning, and first with a baby too. DD is 5 months, and we are off to the Vendee. Heading for Ile De Noirmoutier, and we have done some trial runs of weekends in this country, which were fine...driven in france before, was ok, and have travelled all over the world pre-baby, very excited and all, but just have a few worries....am a bit of a worrier! DH is totally laid back on the other hand, his biggest worry is having to wear speedos!
so, this week I have been mainly worrying about...

The weather: looks ok on metcheck, but have been told it can get bitter at night..worried mainly about DD getting cold.

The drive..its a bloody long way! We havent booked anywhere though, and have no itinerary, so were thinking if it gets too much, (DD is teething, and only sleeps for 30 mins bursts during the day) will either book into a hotel along the way, and explore for an afternoon, or will find a campsite and stay for a couple of nights before moving on. any suggestions for nice places to stop along the route? would be calais, rouen, le mans, angers, nantes, noirmoutier, roughly.

The car! 'tis bloody full! there aren't any funny french laws I dont know about that dont permit me filling the car literally to the roof are there?

The language: My school french is ok...and I am always up for trying my best...but worries I will be pointed at and laughed at for making some horrible blunder and sent home to be told never to return until I have re taken my french GCSE...

It'll be lovely though, wont it?!?1

Of course it will!
Enjoy and don't worry too much.

it will be lovely.
french people outside paris are lovely and will not laugh at you. they will be glad you try and you will see that your remaining french is not too bad at all.
just dont forget your and dds EHIC in case you need the doctor and also learn some baby vocab.
keeping baby warm- we were camping last weekend in dorset and the nights were very very cold. dd had 2 sleepsuit on and her grobag, a soft jacket with hood then 1 fluffy baby blanket all around her. she was toasty apart from her hands...she is teething as well and was unsetteled during the night so slept in my arm. so take an extra blanket for yourself, my shoulder was unbelievably cold from being outside my cosy sleeping bag!

We went to St Jean de Monts for the first 2 weeks of August (about 20 mins south of Nourmoutier -went on a day trip and was very impressed with the towns and the small inlet beaches you can find when driving round and the salt shacks).
Depending on the ferry times you have you could stop at Le Mans (about 4-5 hours inc stops from Calais) or Nantes. We stopped at the Accor hotel in Le Mans -basic and clean and the food was really good -and very child friendly -basically we did not want to get to the campsite late and then have to pitch etc etc.
Driving in France is a breeze -the toll roads
are like having your own private road a lot
of the time.
Weather was great 26+ and warm at night -kids (2.5 and 5) had duvets which was fine.
Car was a full as it could be and a roofbox. Take a phrasebook for menu deciphering (but Enlgish menus tend to be available -my French is not great and we had no problems. It is a friendly part of France.
We had a great time.

Duvet and a blanket I just remembered. But I would not desctibe it as bitter.

you have a hi-visi jacket and red triangle in case of breakdowns?

will have a look at the weather for you later :) am off out.

meteofrance much much better than metcheck for france.

meteo france put the town in the search box and off you go :)

aaah, thank you people! feeling better...although DD very whingy and worried about her being on her own in the back of the car..nowhere to sit next to her as the rest of the backseat removed to fit our buggy and bedding....our airbed (the fith one in less years than that) sprung a leak, so we shoved in a futon [completely mental but comfy emoticon] going to stop lots, will get there eventually will look up the accor chippy, thank you, was it in the centre? if we get to le mans in good time, dont really want to be stuck on the outskirts.

I checked the weather, looks ok, but rainy next week - rain we can do, nay expect, we are half irish/english after all.

have dug out my 'learn instant french book' for DH to read to me on the way there (I'm doing all the driving) and have found space for yet another blanket!

Have all the other important stuff too I think, though thanks for the reminders, will report back in two weeks when I am about three stone heavier from all the cheese and seafood

www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-0440-novotel-le-mans/index.shtml

It is fairly central but we did not do any exploring -purely a functional stop. Don't forgot the car reg documents or VE103 if it is a company/hire car -needed if you get stopped for any reason.

And on the return journey there is always a speed/radar trap towards the end of the last toll road before Calais (about 2 miles before the toll from memory -drivers on the other side of the road flash their lights to warn you). They then pick you up at the toll booths with a 90 Euro fine -about 5 UK cars got stopped just in the time it took us to get through the toll.