I’ve got to go down to the Spanish border, Irun, on Thursday to collect 2 dogs from the town at 8am Friday.
I know there used to be a good routier next to J 5 of the A63 at Anglet but I think it is closed now.
I don’t mind which side of the border it is as long as I can get a good meal and a good night’s sleep.
Anybody got any suggestions?
Hi spardo, I always used to use the routier at Castets, it’s been a while but I always found you got good food, friendly atmosphere and staff. I’m sure one or more of the regular drivers to use the forest road will put you in the right direction of a good eatery.
pierrot 14:
Hi spardo, I always used to use the routier at Castets, it’s been a while but I always found you got good food, friendly atmosphere and staff. I’m sure one or more of the regular drivers to use the forest road will put you in the right direction of a good eatery.
Thanks Pierrot, yes Castets is an option and I have used it before, but, as I don’t use peages and part of that route is no longer free, I am going down past Mont de Marsan and Dax and that would make Castets a 40 km off route round trip. Unless of course the autoroute is no longer peage south of there. I will check that later.
It’s a shame about the one at Anglet, much closer to the border. The last time I was there, several years ago now, I tipped a load of butter at a warehouse just down the road, then drove to the sea and parked on the front (it was autumn and space even for my wagon) and after a swim, drove back to the routier where, before I ate, was treated to drinks by a group of Gypsies passing through. A memorable visit. 
I’m sure the autoroutes is still péage , have you thought of taking the coastal route from Casets, through Souston, Hossegor, Labenne, then down to Bayonne and Biarritz ? I realse that it might’ve a bit busier as its the summer holidays, but it is quite a quick route.
I know what you mean about the area, it’s lovely there, pine forests, sand dunes, georgeous sea and lovely fresh air. I’ve got cousins that live in the Landes and ive spent loads of time down there on holiday .
Just to add to the above, there is a direct route to Dax from Castets, through the forest, or you could run down to St. Georges de Maremme and pick up the old RN10 down to Bayonne
I like the Landes, away from the autoroutes too, but I should have mentioned that on my way down from here I have to visit a couple about 25 kms SW of Bergerac in order to calculate the space needed for their 2 (large) cats. 
I am taking them to Stratford on Avon in August and know exactly myself how to accommodate them but these ‘parents’ are particularly fussy about their ‘little’ ones. 
Thus I can’t take the Bordeaux route southbound. I will be coming back along such roads to deliver in Bordeaux though.
And yes, I have now checked that the peage continues south. There used to be routier at St. Vincent something or other, south of Dax but I can’t see it on Google Streets at the moment.
How about stopping the night at the Campanile in Hendaye and plenty of resteraunts in Hendaye and in the morning you can pop over to Irun .
kerbut:
How about stopping the night at the Campanile in Hendaye and plenty of resteraunts in Hendaye and in the morning you can pop over to Irun .
Certainly, if I don’t come across a routier I will do something similar, but I won’t be staying in a hotel. I have my bed with me.
Ah, you bought another Teardrop caravan ?
kerbut:
Ah, you bought another Teardrop caravan ?
Not exactly, I refused their ‘offers’, return before or after replacement. Definitely refused replacement. And then bought a French trailer and had the man in Perigueux transfer the Teardrop body to it. Now it works perfectly and I take it everywhere at no extra cost in mpg.
I paid an extra €200 for the model with softer telescopic suspension as normal indispension units are too hard and would have shaken the always empty Teardrop body to pieces.
I held out against all their offers after ignoring a threat to sue me for defamation for what had been said on TN. I knew they wouldn’t because I could prove all that had been said. Especially after my insurance company, Aviva, provided an independant expert who produced a very damning 23 page report.
They tried to fob me off first with £500, then £750 but I held firm that I wanted all my costs for the trailer, recovery including peages and running costs and transfer of the body. 2 days before we went to court they paid, in full, over £1500.
And just to add icing to the cake, a friend who is an engineer and for whom I had done some favours, offered to mend the broken chassis with suitable strengthening and on Saturday I am going over there to collect my new ‘skelly’. Will come in handy for long bits from the builders’ merchants. So an all round result after 1 year of being mucked about. Cost them a bomb though. Very early in the piece they employed a lawyer to do all their argueing for them. I didn’t bother with one, did all the aggro myself, I know how much lawyers cost.
Well, the journey was fine but, not a single routier south of Dax. I borrowed €1.20 from the kitty and nipped onto the autoroute for one section to go to Bidart services but, as it was just a petrol station and shop and all the parking spaces full of lorries, I bought a ham sandwich and a bottle of orange juice as backup and got back onto the N10 (D810 these days).
At Urrigne I saw a Leclerc’s advertising the cafeteria open till 9.30pm so parked up and ate there. Brilliant. A massive roast pork dinner with onion gravy, carrots and prunes (yes, I know, but they were delicious 
) followed by creme fraiche with red fruits and of course bread and a pichet de rouge all rounded off by a petit cafe cost me just over €10. I’ll certainly be there again. 
Only trouble is it said no overnight parking and, as I didn’t want to be roused in the night by a security guard, found a quiet little spot behind the row of shops opposite to bed down for the night. I prefer not to be so lonely and be parked in between massed lorries (apart from rattling frigos 
) but needs must and I had no problems.
The street in central Irun was one way and parked up both sides but I was able to tag on to the end of the row until the firm opened an hour or so later. In the meantime got my first coffee fix with a little cake and the use of the ultra clean toilet and washroom from a bar round the corner served by a pleasant waitress who did her very best to speak a little French to me. So with our mutual Frenish (Spanch?) we got by very nicely.
The dogs were unloaded from the overnight Alicante van and I decanted them from their boxes and, after a little walk round, they readily jumped into my more spacious accommodation. One of them left a large brown ‘cadeau’ in her box for the kind person who’d kept her cooped up for so long. 
Back to Bordeaux, only one dog for there because the instructions had changed, the other for near Marmande, where I waited for 2 hours in a thunderstorm for the ‘pension’ owner to arrive. Back home by 8pm.
Another successful trip David 
We went to Hendaye two weekends ago, with the campervan and I’m sure I passed a routiers down that way where a few trucks were parked, though can’t recall where exactly (the brain was in non-work mode). We went via Mont de Marsan and stuck intently to the nationals. I was astounded by the number of 3.5 tonners parked in supermarkets and McDo carparks, especially around St Jean de Luz and Biarritz. Still, it must be better to be weekended down there that stuck in a grey industrial area for two days.
Craig 111:
Another successful trip DavidWe went to Hendaye two weekends ago, with the campervan and I’m sure I passed a routiers down that way where a few trucks were parked, though can’t recall where exactly (the brain was in non-work mode). We went via Mont de Marsan and stuck intently to the nationals. I was astounded by the number of 3.5 tonners parked in supermarkets and McDo carparks, especially around St Jean de Luz and Biarritz. Still, it must be better to be weekended down there that stuck in a grey industrial area for two days.
There are plenty before Dax, I knew about them, but I wanted to be closer for my restart in the morning intending to find the address early rather than on time. I had even planned my one way route round several blocks in case there was no parking and I had to circle like a vulture for an hour. 
Not sure that I would go so far as a McDo to eat, rather than the wifi, but the Leclerc experience certainly was good to remember for the future. Don’t know why I was so surprised as I have eaten at hypers before, just not on a journey and not so late in the evening. This was after the main store was closed.
Just being nosey, but who’s the we? A new Mrs. Craig or the charming lady we met at Chez Jo’s all those years ago.
Just PM’ed you David