French aire facilities

Carrerasax

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So how come the last 3 sites we’ve stopped at have no fresh water grey or black waste disposal in operation?!!🤔
Could it be the equivalent of our hose pipe bans?
I have emptied toilet cassette down the drained and flushed with some grey waste.
They are still charging normal rates however!!!!🤔
 
We are 3 weeks into a 5 week autumn trip, mostly Brittany as we were in Spain and France in the spring. We have just left the only site that we have stayed on. Municipal de Govira in Quiberon which literally had a stand with 4 taps and ehu points for each block of 4 pitches. Water supply was no problem. All of the other stops have been Aires where the water was either freely available (potable and rinse) or else you needed to pay the fee for water. With a 140 litre tank we have not had to pay.

Granted Brittany is fairly far north, but during 7 weeks in late April to mid June, we had no issues either in Spain or France, again mostly Aires.

The only signs I have seen urging economy of use were in Port Haliguen marina urging boat users not to use fresh water and hoses for washing and cleaning boats.

Davy
 
Carrerasax said:
So how come the last 3 sites we’ve stopped at have no fresh water grey or black waste disposal in operation?!!🤔
Could it be the equivalent of our hose pipe bans?
I have emptied toilet cassette down the drained and flushed with some grey waste.
They are still charging normal rates however!!!!🤔
Click to expand...
Which 3 aires? Municipal or private operator? It sounds as though grey and black waste disposal was not in fact an issue? Some prefects have issued decrees requiring the shutdown of public "fontaines". This is the case in the Tarn, for example, where one commune has interpreted it to mean that water should be cut off on the aire (so I lodged an official complaint through the tourist office). Two other nearby communes have not interpreted it in this way and water is still freely available on their municipal aires.
 
Brittany, concarneau town site and west of Brest, on a former municipal site that was now a commercial aire🤔
Also a pass etapes aire locranan.
How can they still charge full rates just for parking!!!!😫
 
Pass etapes is a commercial venture so....
Too much fuss to re-program the system.
The gates are auto so no option except an expensive phone call as they seem to be premium rate.
We stayed on 1
3 costs.
1 the camp.
2 the card/joining fee.
3 phone calls.
Give me an old-fashioned aire where a local collects cash !
Given the sunlight on the screen is was next to impossible.
A case of too much technology aiming for more profit
And I am no Luddite.
We used aires for almost all our nights.(35)
Plus 1 independent camp/aire and 1 roadside picnic area and 2 carparks
 
Carrerasax said:
Brittany, concarneau town site and west of Brest, on a former municipal site that was now a commercial aire🤔
Also a pass etapes aire locranan.
How can they still charge full rates just for parking!!!!😫
Click to expand...
I was aware that the Prefect of Morbihan had issued a decree re the drought, though I did not believe that it should affect provision of water on aires, but these are all in Finistère. And while prefects may issue decrees re cutting off water to public "fontaines" that some communes may (mis?)interpret as applying to bornes, in the Tarn I was told that this most certainly did not apply to commercially operated aires, so I would be surprised if it was a measure relating to drought. A quick Google search does reveal that water has been cut off due to drought on at least two municipal aires in Finistère.
 
We’re all sorted now at pass etapes pt Louis. Happy days, let’s hope it was just a blip.
Only €12 we have a card and water included. We’ll be full when we leave 😀😀
 
Re Pass Etapes Camping-Car Park. I will be towing a small box trailer, not an additional vehicle, but according to email chat with them the 2 Aires I was interested in do not allow trailers. Anyone used them towing a trailer?
 
Carrerasax said:
We’re all sorted now at pass etapes pt Louis. Happy days, let’s hope it was just a blip.
Only €12 we have a card and water included. We’ll be full when we leave 😀😀
Click to expand...
Only €12 but there is the extra diesel at the thick end of £7 per gallon to lug that extra 90kg or so weight of the water [compared to the 20kg payload assumption for usable payload calculations] ...

Steve
 
Just got back from 4 weeks in France and never found an issue. I used park4night and checked the recent reviews to see if the facilities were all working. Also Camping Car Park where i have never found anything not working, well except there wifi can be dodgy sometimes.
 
Ardachaidh said:
Re Pass Etapes Camping-Car Park. I will be towing a small box trailer, not an additional vehicle, but according to email chat with them the 2 Aires I was interested in do not allow trailers. Anyone used them towing a trailer?
Click to expand...
Whilst I do not tow a trailer during my travels I have seen motorhomes with trailers in these Aires. I don't see it being a problem. My tip would be to look for sites which don't have defined parking marked out, mostly grass or gravel areas. I have stayed on plenty of these for example at Bruère Allichamps which is a stunning and just a large grassed area with a map at the barrier which suggests where parking should be. Or my other idea would be to look for sites which accommodate larger vehicles so for example up to 9 metres, if both units are less than this then your not taking up any more space.
To be honest our European cousins don't care, I was on a site up in the mountains of Sospel and in the site was a large A-Class towing an Harley motorcyle on a trailer.
 
Seems I might have been a numpty, you have to scan your card in some but not all places for the water to work, no extra charge!!!!😫😫
 
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