We're off on a trip to France soon and looks like we'll be there when the tour is on, great always wanted to see it in France, aiming to head for some of the Pyrenees stages. So what's the best way of getting parked up on the routes? We're in a camper van. Do they close the roads off very early, do we need to get parked up the night before? Would like to be on a climb somewhere, so if anybody has a recommended area on one of the stages please let me know. Basically want to park the van up, get the vin rouge pouring with a nice baguette with smelly cheese and just watch it all go by.
Any advice appreciated.
If you want a decent spot to park a camper up a mountain on a mountain stage, you need to be there a couple of days before.
I am basing this on watching the Vuelta and not the Tour but picking one of the earlier climbs in the race probably makes it a bit easier to find a spot. Also, drive up the descent so you can drive down from the top of the climb that way you aren't wondering "should I stop there or will there be spaces further up?". Plus you're facing the right way to head back down 🙂
Are you going to have bikes with you?
We did a TdF week trip with AQR in Luchon. There were two mountain finishes just outside town. The first day we mountain biked up off road, watched the race come through and then went back to town off road. The next day we rode to the finish on road.
There's usually a decent gap between them effectively closing the roads to motor traffic and closing it to bikes which means you potentially get to both climb and descend a tour col on closed roads, often being cheered on by very bored roadside crowds. Good fun. We did the same when the tour came to Yorkshire.
Actually getting your camper van to a good position on the route would mean getting there days early in an otherwise shitty spot. When katie ventured into the woods to find somewhere to pee she said it was littered with human shit and toilet paper from the campers.
Parking on a mountain stage is a bit of a hassle. We did it for about 5 years and found the best way was to park at the allocated motor home areas (usually a football pitch near the village town) and cycle up/down to where you want to see it. Then you can sit anywhere and take all the wine & cheese with you!
We parked up the hill to Morzine once the night before it came through-by the morning all the lay-bys and verges were packed with campers, so as others have said, if you want the best spots get there early.
Its possible to drive up a smaller cat hill, possibly one with a minor KOM at half distance and the road will be open till an hour before the caravan comes through. It's still a great spectacle, but be warned the caravan (promo vehicles) will hurl stuff at you at high speed!
Take your own bottled urine, the shops will be sold out.
If you want to park on a climb, particularly final / hors category climb then get there the week before!
We've just booked a campsite in Guchen which is halfway between St Lary Soulan, the finish of the short brutal stage on Wed 24th and Arreau which allows us to ride along the Friday stage over the Col d'Aspin and up the Tourmalet. €17 a night with electric and nice looking pool. It's amazing how early some people get there to bag the roadside spots on the mountain stages, we got to the Peyresoude 3 days before on last year's Tour and the last 5km was already full.
Let me know if you want details of the site.
I've not taken a camper but i have taken my car and two adult sons to the mountain stages of the tour for the last seven years.
Our MO is usually to ride from our B&B/Hotel or depending on the distance to drive as close as possible without getting onto the actual mountain and then park up and get the bikes out and tackle the mountain ourselves.
My observations on camper vans on the mountain/road closures would be:
- road closures are usually clearly advertised including times and dates
- many camper vans arrive days in advance but these are usually for the major climbs e.g. Alpe d'Huez and for the best spots on the climb
- if you plan on arriving at the foot of the mountain on the day i would suggest getting there early i.e. 9 am to avoid road closures. But if you have a camper getting there the night before would be more sensible. you may not get the prime spot but you will get a spot
- it will be chaos on the mountain, but it's very entertaining to watch
- it can be a long day with nothing happening but you have a van, a toilet, drink and chairs, enjoy the moment
- cheer or clap every rider that crawls past you during the day (the rider fans as well who are heading up the mountain, not just the pro's)
- the higher you go the longer it will take to get off the mountain afterwards. It can take an hour to get off the mountain on a bike and that is whizzing past all the cars and campers in a fifteen mile queue down the mountain. The sensible people just stay on their 'plot' after the race passes and fire up the BBQ and leave hours later/the next day instead of joining the queue
- take your bikes. I often see camper families park up and then ride up or down the mountain and am always jealous of the facilities waiting for them on their return to the van
- the final climb will be most popular but there are plenty of other climbs to pick and a cat 1 is just as much fun as the final Hors Categorie climb. (I haven't checked the pyrennean stages so have a look at the route profiles and pick a climb that looks good.
- top up your water reservoir and have coolers/fridges stocked and be prepared to offer water to thirsty riders making their way up the climb,I got given a cold tin of beer from a fella dressed in orange as i rounded Dutch corner whilst climbing ADH and it was the best beer I ever tasted. i didn't even stop, just drank it while riding
Have fun, it's awesome
Thanks all. Don't really want to get there days before, the thought of being stuck for a couple of days surrounded be other campervans doesn't appeal, might have to rethink it and just find anywhere to see it. I'm taking a bike but other half won't be. Probably stage 18 and 19 we'll be in the area.
Understand why you aren't keen on spending several days perched at 45° on the side of a mountain road. The thing is that to get anywhere near the sharp end of a stage on the day in a camper is nigh on impossible. The campsite we've booked allows us to arrive the afternoon before stage 17, have a look around St Lary, cycle up the final climb on race day then be in prime position to get to the Tourmalet for stage 19. Stage 18 is a bit of a filler with no serious difficulties and will be a case of the leaders keeping their powder dry for the day after which is a brute. €17 a night is also a bit of a bargain for a site with pool and 'leccy, other sites in the area are charging double that.
We're going over next Saturday to see the end of Stage 8 and beginning of Stage 9.
The original plan was to be in Amiens somewhere near to the finish. Arriving at 13.00, 3 hours before they finish was not going to be any good, as the place will be rammed by then. Our plan now is to stop at a small village around 10 miles from the finish, on a bend at the bottom of a hill. We should then get a pretty good view of them coming down the hill, then passing us, as well as having the village green behind us to relax beforehand.
On the Sunday, it is the day with the cobbles. I'd have loved to see a section of this, but again, each section is likely to be rammed with people, so it's difficult to see much, so, we're heading over early to Arras, to wander round beforehand and see the start at 12.00.
I tried to book accomodation last week for either Amiens or Arras. Both had no rooms available. Luckily there was one hotel 10 miles away in Albert that had a room spare, so I grabbed that - it's a massive event in every town it passes/especially the start and finish, so you really have to get there early to get a good spot.
For the mountains, 75%+ of the motorhomes will be following the race, and they all know they have to get there early, so, say, wednesday they are in a good spot, Thursday they'll travel to where they will see Fridays stage, as , as said above, you've got to be there early eveing the night before to get any chance to parking on the mountain side.
I am going to camp in the valley and walk up the hill.
We're staying at The White Room in Sainte Foy from the 14th. Stage 11 finishes in La Rosiere just up the valley on the Wednesday of our stay. Planning to ride off road up the valley to watch the finish then ride back down the valley off road afterwards.
EWS is in town on the other side of the mountain in La Thuile in the same week, so we may see some pro Enduro riders out and about too!