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Aire on a Shoestring
You have to thank the French sometimes I suppose (difficult when you come from a country that has been at war with the French more times than Wayne Rooney has been sent off).
Anyway the reason for my magnanimity is that a French invention has saved us a bucket load of money in our travels across Spain. I am referring to that great French idea (no, Gary, not open air urinals), the Aire.
Basically an Aire is a place where motorhomes (camping cars as the French call them) can stay overnight, usually 2 nights, for free or for a nominal sum. Even better they are often located next to beaches, harbours, canals, rivers or picturesque villages.
Usually there are designated spaces marked out in the corner of a municipal tarmac car park and you are provided with a drinking water tap, a sluice to empty your chemical toilet (that is more than enough detail on that subject!) and a grille where you dispose of your grey waste, (washing up and shower water).
Any of you that drive through France and Spain will be familiar with the Aires that are liberally scattered along the motorway routes. Overnight stops in these Aires are to be avoided at all cost, apart from the noise they are notorious for break ins and thefts from vehicles, with motorhome occupants being gassed on occasions to make the robbery easier!
You may wonder why town councils want motorhomes to stop overnight. The answer is obvious, they are keen to attract discerning, responsible and high disposable income tourists, then we arrive……!
Spanish towns have followed the French trend and we have enjoyed staying for free at some incredible locations such as underneath the Roman walls (well not literally!) at Lugo and overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at A Coruna.
There are some negatives; car parks tend to attract that certain type of "yoof" that seem to think that the way in to a girl's heart (or lower down!) is to burn the rear tyre rubber off their VW Golf. Judging by the number of roadside shrines on sharp bends in Spain, a more sensible option would have been to keep their tyre tread where it belonged and walk the girl to a park bench!
Thanks to the Aires and a discount camping card scheme that allows you to stay at 3000 plus European campsites at reduced rates off peak, we have managed to tour Spain at an average accommodation price of less than £5 a night, about one quarter of our Africa camping costs.
Fortunately Aires are not exclusive to France and Spain, Germany, Scandinavia and the Benelux countries have them as well. In fact one of the few countries in Europe that doesn't provide free overnight parking and services is, you've guessed it, Britain. Not really surprising in a country where parking a car for the day to spend a fortune in the latest retail "experience" requires a mortgage top-up!
Anyway, in between overnight stops in Aires and cheap campsites we've been enjoying the culture and scenery of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country.
Cycling through the back end of beyond in one little village in Asturias we nearly ran over the Belarusian national folk dance troop, a somewhat unexpected hazard in rural Spain! They were the star turn at the village fiesta, which also had displays of traditional farm machinery, a band that included bagpipes and a pig (the longer I'm away from the UK the harder it is to write English! The pig was not in the band!)
In fact the pig was in a cosy straw filled trailer, in the shade and clearly as happy as a pig in sh*t, perhaps he was the token gesture for a childrens' petting zoo? Returning later that day we noticed the trailer was empty. The mouth watering smell of pork crackling drew our eyes to a nearby barbecue; "Babe" was a collection of tender ribs being piled on the kiddies' plates!
You have to admire the Spanish for their love of food and love of sitting around chatting. The old ritual of a daily siesta from 1 or 2pm to 5pm, where all businesses close, remains popular even in the larger towns, despite the economic meltdown!
Being northern Europeans we still find siesta time very frustrating, why wouldn't we want to shop when the sun is at it's zenith and the shade temperature touches 42 C? Fiestas are another old tradition that shows no signs of disappearing, even though most businesses are obliged to close for the duration, which seems to be about 2 days a week in summer! Spain must hold the record for days off for official holidays!
When not standing cursing outside closed Spanish shops during siesta time or bumping in to the Belarusian folk troupe world tour we've indulged in a very satisfying and totally free past time (wrong track Carol), foraging for free food and herbs.
In case you think we've turned in to tree hugging earth warriors, we've just been taking advantage of Spain's varied climate to collect and enjoy lemons, apples, pears, figs, grapes, wild strawberries, blackberries, mint, thyme, rosemary, hazelnuts and finally but not least, walnuts.
The latter have been falling off the trees on and around our motorhome (a slight cause for concern given the size of the front windscreen). Unlike our walnut tree back home, where those unwanted US imports grey squirrels consume the nuts months before we get a chance, Spanish trees are loaded with nuts. Having a brain the size of a planet I deduce that either the grey squirrel is absent or the Spanish eat them all!
An unexpected consequence of walnut picking, apart from chronic backache, is ending up with hands that look as though you smoke 60 cigarettes a day, with big brown nicotine like stains that only wear off after a couple of weeks!
Now I've sorted my nuts out, the Picos De Europa National Park beckons! I wonder if we'll meet the Belarusian folk dancers?
- comments
Alfred Daniels Hi Angela and Ralph, sounds like you are having a great time. Comment on your homepage: any Aires under the Eiffeltower? Here in Holland I am just surviving on memories and pictures. Between the rain and storms we are seeing some sun occasionally. For the rest it feels like doing what has to be done and dreaming of the better days to come. Love, Alfred I have opened a photosite on FLICKR: flickr.com/people/alfreddaniels
Heike Evans This sounds like lots of fun !! Gathering good tips for Clint and my Gap Year in 2013 !! Always good to hear from you. All well on this side of the world - not as exciting as yours - just the normal work & golf (for Clint !). Summer is on its way - so the weekends are going to be filled with watersports. All the best Heike
Carol Price Lucky B*****ds! Bet you miss the M4 NOT!
Ralph Spilsbury Hi Alfred We are having a good time thanks. I suspect they would move us on from the Eifel Tower but I bet someone has tried. In addition to the official Aires there are "wild aires" where people stop as well. Can be risky in summer as the Guardia Civil move you on, or in one case we heard, no warning just a fine of 100 euros through the post! I don't think we've passed a beach or town car park in northern Spain that hasn't had a motorhome parked up on it. Whether they get to stay the night depends on the mood of the local police. We've been told that in winter you can stay nearly anywhere in Spain. Will have a look at your Flickr site thanks Ralph
Ralph Spilsbury Hi Heike Good to hear from you. Happy to help with your gap year ideas. If we haven't been to a place to advise you, we also have the Lonely Planet guides to Spain and France. By 2013 we should have done Norway, Sweden, Denmark and most of Europe, even at our slow pace! We've read that Botswana park prices are likely to rocket upwards soon and had feedback that Caprivi and Chobe wildlife is being poached. So pleased we did all that before things got too expensive. Our next Africa trip may be just SA, can't see how we can afford the parks in the other countries in future. Just hope SANP don't go crazy with their prices for foreigners! Pleased everything is well in the Cape, saw that a Brit ex pat got chewed by a great white the other week, nasty. Take care Ralph
Ralph Spilsbury Hi Carol Good to hear from you as well. I have a craving for the M4, those hours spent in first gear, wondering if it was worth heading towards Birmingham to detour back to Reading, the people driving by shaving and eating breakfast at the same time, the women applying makeup whilst overtaking at 90mph....the roadworks, the accidents, oh I miss it! Don't know how you carry on doing it but good luck anyway. Hope all is well at GHG All the best Ralph Spanish motorways are awesome, nearly empty, well surfaced and they go everywhere you want to go! Shame we (well mainly the Germans to be honest!) had to pay for it all!
jessica ramji Hey Ralphy hope you guys are well....I just got back from the lovely Algarve it was was beautiful the weather was fantastic and the food was awesome. Any way mail me soon speak later. x
Ralph Spilsbury Hi Jessica Algarve is on our list, glad you enjoyed it Ralph