Drive from UK to Northern Spain (Salou)

DCFC79

The toilet roll is a good tip, hadn't thought of that.

Re the service station/rest stops, just like over here pictures are used to tell you what is at the services whether you can fill up with petrol, grab a snack or just stop for the toilet/a picnic.

I hope the trip goes well for you.

zagfles

pd001 wrote: »

Thanks for all of that, much appreciated.
I drive for a living (uk only) so I am well used to having to carry toilet roll in the van. It is a good tip for anyone really.

They often don't have soap either so some squirty soap/hand sanitiser is an idea.

pd001

DCFC79 wrote: »

The toilet roll is a good tip, hadn't thought of that.

A pack of those moist toddler wipes from Aldi are just the ticket.

pd001

zagfles wrote: »

They often don't have soap either so some squirty soap/hand sanitiser is an idea.

We already put that idea into practice.
Whenever we go abroad we always take some of that alcohol based hand sanitising gel.

zagfles

pd001 wrote: »

Grated celeriac? Noooo surely not?
A Maitre D in a supermarket? Imagine that in Asda

Most surprising thing I saw in a supermarket was selling live seafood! Bloke in front of me bought a crab, the assistant took it out of the tank and got a sharp knife, I thought she was going to kill it but I think it was just to cut some of the strings holding its claws together (being a wimp I looked away!). He put it in his bag alive.

jackomdj

Celeriac salad is top of my list whenever we go. Our eldest makes us buy extra mayo to bring home as it is delicious (more eggy than ours).

There is a site that details the busy weekends, the week we go is always one of the busiest, but due to work that is the only two weeks I get off.

pd001

jackomdj wrote: »

Celeriac salad is top of my list whenever we go. Our eldest makes us buy extra mayo to bring home as it is delicious (more eggy than ours).

There is a site that details the busy weekends, the week we go is always one of the busiest, but due to work that is the only two weeks I get off.

And do you find the drive manageable, even though you go on one of the busiest weeks?

DCFC79

Don't know if its been mentioned but Id familiarise yourself with what the signs mean, some are self explanatory but others aren't so.

This has a few examples, link also has some tips about driving abroad.

This site also has a few examples

A few I wasn't aware of.

Actually there's not much to familiarise yourself with.

I drove first time in france about 10 years ago and it wasn't as bad as I thought.

jackomdj

pd001 wrote: »

And do you find the drive manageable, even though you go on one of the busiest weeks?

For most of the journey it is usually moving but busy, probably similar to our motorways on a normal day outside rush hour. We did sit for a couple of hours in traffic as we got closer to the coast.

We also took a detour off the motorway when we saw it at a standstill further up, we drove on a slow road parallel to the motorway for about 10 miles we could see an accident had happened.

We always have plenty of food to eat, drinks to drink and things to do...which means it doesn't get too stressful. Food/drinks wise we have it in the boot in a cool box and just bring it to the front when we stop. With children in the car I make sure the food is "clean", ie crisps would be Pringles not wotsits, sweets would be jellies not chocolate etc. drink wise we have a selection but the children only have ones with a sippy lid in the car ie bottled water, fruit shoot etc rather than ones with a straw.

Finally at the bottom of the cool box we put some frozen sausages, which means we have food when we arrive if we don't have time to go to the supermarket.

pd001

DCFC79 wrote: »

Don't know if its been mentioned but Id familiarise yourself with what the signs mean, some are self explanatory but others aren't so.

This has a few examples, link also has some tips about driving abroad.

This site also has a few examples

A few I wasn't aware of.

Actually there's not much to familiarise yourself with.

I drove first time in france about 10 years ago and it wasn't as bad as I thought.

Thanks for the links, they are most helpful