We have tried to use Camping-Car Park in the past, sat outside one of their campsites for about an hour trying to register and book. What stopped us was all the add on fees, so the overnight cost went from something like €14 to €56 – admittedly that included the €5 card fee, some compulsory insurance and an annual subscription, so we moved on.

Is Camping-Car Park for us? That’s hard to know, we’re independent travellers and read the websites carefully before going. The wording on the Camping-Car Park website is not clear, you have to read it, then read it again, and then read it again and still you are not absolutely sure what it means.

Same with the Camping-Car Park app on iPhone, what do you actually have to pay in order to use the Camping-Car Park sites?

Here’s my understanding at the time of writing (Aug 2025).

• You need an account to be able to use the website or app on your phone. This part is free.
• Next you need to pay €5 for a Pass ‘Etapes access card, this is needed to enter Camping-Car Park sites and use the facilities. You only pay the €5 once, it lasts a lifetime.
• What happens next depends on whether or not you purchase the Camping-Car Park Privilege Pack for €29. 
  • without the Camping-Car Park Privilege Pack:
  • You turn up at a site and if there are available spaces you can book a 24 hour stay. Your stay is just that, up to 24 hours as long as you stay on the site during that time and don’t leave. When you leave your time ends. If you overstay you will have to pay for another 24 hours to be able to leave the site.
  • You can not book in advance.
  • with the Camping-Car Park Privilege Pack:
  • You can book your stay from 72 hours (3 days) in advance, to 6 months in advance.
  • You can cancel without charge up to 48 hours before the start of your stay.
  • You can leave and re-enter the Camping-Car Park site during your stay.
  • Your reservation guarantees your spot for a 24 hour period.

For us, the Camping-Car Park Privilege Pack seems like a waste of money, we don’t know where we will be in 3 days, so having to book at least 3 days in advance is not helpful, all we want to be able to do is check whether or not there is a pitch available when we are a couple of hours drive away. It seems that we can do that with the Camping-Car Park app without the Privilege Pack.

Whether the Camping-Car Park system with the Privilege Pack works for you really depends on what kind of motorhome trek or trip you are making. If like us you set off with only a vague idea of where you are going and even less idea where you will stay then don’t buy the Privilege Pack. If you like to know exactly where you will stay and know that your reservation is fixed and accepted then buy it because it will give you the peace of mind and security that you want. For us, that’s just not how we travel, we often turn up and there’s no space, or we don’t like the look of the place, so we move on – sometimes that’s not convenient, but it’s how we travel and it’s what makes us independent travellers.

Normally there would be 50 or more motorhomes spending the night there, but now the road is blocked and all the facilities have been ripped out. When we searched the internet we found reports that the site has been taken over by Camping-car Park, a membership organisation!

Our experience of trying to book one of Camping-Car Park’s sites was terrible, in short you have to be a member and pay various fees which meant that our one night was going to cost us around €50 which is far too much. We used to be members of both the Caravan Club and Caravan and Camping Club but found their rates far to costly so we now refuse to join either.

We will not be using Camping-Car Park either. A quick search using our phones produced a really good aire a short distance from Calais where we passed a quiet night without cost.

When we’re on the road we don’t need electric hook up and all the other facilities provided by many campsites, our needs are few, so aires are our preferred overnight locations. 

Yesterday I noticed two small boys playing with something like this and guess that they left it by mistake. So if you happen to a a Spanish family with two boys about 4 and 5 or 6 years old and we’re travelling in a blue camper van you will probably recognise this story and know what happened to your bug viewer.

email me and tell me the color of the viewer and I will send you a contribution towards replacing your lost bug viewer. Now I will try to say that in Spanish.

Si eres una familia española con dos hijos pequeños y ustedes han perdido un visor de insectos de tres vías lo he encontrado en la área de autocaravanas de Rodemack en Francia. Si me envían un mensaje decir el color del visor de insectos de tres vías entonces yo le enviaré una contribución para comprar otro visor.

Alan. 

Late yesterday afternoon we arrived at the aire adjacent to the railway station at Dudelange Usines, Luxembourg, too late. All the places were taken so we had no choice but to turn around and park nearby to reassess our plans. There was another motorhome close by with a French registration plate, I spoke to the owner who had the same problem as us. We spent some time looking at our favourite iPhone app searching for other aires de camping cars nearby and decided that the aire at Rodemack , about 20km away looked the best choice.

We set off, using Apple maps for guidance, not out usual choice which is Google maps. Over the last few days we have noticed that the voice instructions from Google maps have been coming too late, especially when negotiating European motorways, that really is very frustrating when you find yourself in the wrong traffic lane and need to move over in a large motorhome. 
Apple maps was different, for a start the voice is male and delivers the prompts in a terse clipped manner, clear but a little off putting, the distance units are miles rather than kilometres too. I think it’s probably what you are used to hearing and using,  it we switched back to Google after a while and felt happier.

We reached the aire de camping cars at Rodemack and found a massive aire, the sign says 220, yes two hundred and twenty places. There were 7 of us there overnight, the usual mix of French, German, Dutch plus Spanish and one other UK registration.

I notice that I am not the only person who looks at the registration plate to know what language to use to talk to the occupants. Usually one gets a reply in English anyway but one has to try to use the right language after spending so much time learning them.

We had a quiet evening and night, looking at a field of sunflowers that all stared back at us.

A bottle of crémant later we were feeling better.

Our motorhome trip to Kirklinton in Cumbria was to investigate the church and look for any traces of Gill’s ancestors. When you visit a graveyard you never really know what to expect. Many graveyards are not kept in good condition, they range from totally overgrown with hardly any trace of the memorials, to well-kept churchyards with well-preserved headstones and memorials. Kirklinton church has near rows of memorial headstones that face away from the prevailing wind and weather, which means that the memorials are mostly in very good condition and can easily be read.

Kirklinton church is set in a rural area surrounded by fields and narrow roads. One wonders about the origins of Kirklinton church and how many faithful Christians have attended the services there throughout its lifetime. In twenty-second century Britain there is a tendency to dismiss the church as not being relevant to modern life. When you visit places like Kirklinton you are aware that life can move at a slower pace and that people in rural areas live a life that is completely different to the hustle and bustle of city life. A life that many of the city dwellers crave without openly expressing their desire. The church provides an anchor in modern Britain, a place of stability and permanence that links the people of today to those of the past as we share a common belief and hope for the future.

As we travel around the UK and Europe in our motorhome we visit many churches of different denominations, they range from plain and somewhat austere to highty-ornate, but they are linked by that common faith that binds people together. It is a source of hope for the future and a demonstration that despite all the difficulties of modern living the church remains a strong organisation.