In the three and a bit years we have been motorhoming we have stayed on quite a lot of aires in France, I would say at least fifty. There is a temptation to keep going back to old favourites but that means we don't get to find some new ones which might be just as good.
I had to persuade Lynda to try the aire at Chateau Thierry and its a good thing we did. The book mentions that the aire is next door to a MacDonalds restaurant which it is, made it easy to find. There is a barrier system in operation here and the pay machine would accept my Caxton FX prepaid card, instructions in English too. We chose a nice looking spot to park and got settled in. For the princely sum of 9.40 euros you get a place to park, electricity, water, showers and toilets. There is even a place to do the washing up if you want too.
This is really just like a campsite with a large tarmac parking space a decent size slab of grass, all surrounded by neat hedges. A large river runs alongside the aire, I'm ashamed to say I don't know what its called. There are plenty of grassy areas ideal for walking the dog.
When we arrived at the aire we were both a bit tired and feeling peckish. The temptation of a visit to MacDonalds was too much and we went in to get our dose of cholesterol. If there is a downside to this aire it is that when the wind is in the right direction you can easily detect the smell of burgers and fries being cooked.
Only 5 minutes walk up the road is a large Carrefour supermarket, with filling station alongside. We opted to spend two nights here as it was so pleasant. Several Brit vans once again. One British couple in particular were undecided about whether to stay at the aire or not. Amazingly they thought 9.40 euros (less than £7) was expensive! Needless to say they stayed in the end. Several vans turned up late in the day and found the aire full up.
We settled into our usual routine of sitting in the sunshine with regular visits to the van to replenish wine / snacks / cheese etc.
Entry barrier system is easy to use and makes sure everyone pays.
Thats the facilities block on the right with drive over drain, tap etc on the left.
8th September.
While at the aire we had noticed the large war memorial perched on the hill overlooking the town. Its to commemorate the American soldiers killed in WW1 in the area.
Reluctantly leaving the aire we drove up to Carrefour to get some much needed diesel, not a bad price at 108.6 cents. While I was filling up Lynda went into the shop to get us some croissant. Once this was done we drove the couple of miles up to the memorial.
Really big and impressive memorial, built in 1926 and very well maintained. Surrounded by very neat parkland.
We spent a while having a look round.
View over the town from the memorial, the aire is down there somewhere.
We had the place to ourselves most of the time, no trouble parking here.
No comments:
Post a Comment