event Shitefest International 2025 9-10 August - France

[Saabnut]

Forgot to add nearest (practical) airport is at Tours with regular(ish) flights from Stansted. Tours is 45 minutes each way in the opposite direction to Lemans. Alternative flight option is CDG in Paris from where the TGV goes direct to LeMans

[egg]

12 minutes ago, Saabnut said:

Train - yes, nearest station is Chateau du Loir but easier to get TGV to Lemans and a bus from there for around 4 euros and takes about an hour. With a bit of planning, collection from a station would be doable I am sure. Lemans is about 45 minutes each way, Chateau du Loir about 20 minutes each way.

Thanks for this, will consider, Man in Seat61 remarks easy change at Lille for Le Mans as well.

https://www.seat61.com/France.htm#london-to-le-mans-nantes-rennes-by-train

[horriblemercedes]

I'd love to do Le Mans classic, but I also don't particularly need an event

[DeanH]

Voted for the local event for local people. But any would be a great event and a really kind offer.

I've been trying to convince my other half into a french driving/camping holiday so what better reason?

[lesapandre]

8 minutes ago, DeanH said:

Voted for the local event for local people. But any would be a great event and a really kind offer.

I've been trying to convince my other half into a french driving/camping holiday so what better reason?

I'd recommend it. The facilities in most town and villages are excellent- and I've found no problem with 'wild camping'.

[DSdriver]

Can we all doss down at your gaff? 🤣

[Saabnut]

3 hours ago, DSdriver said:

Can we all doss down at your gaff? 🤣

Yes! The bedrooms may be full depending on the date, but there are plenty of other rooms, with couches and foldaway beds!

[tul66]

Probably be in France through the summer so may drop in if nearby.👍

[RoverFolkUs]

Some mates have tentatively suggested a trip to LeMans Classique so that's my vote!

[dome]

I was just looking a dates for a Euro Trip next year, I was thinking of the Ypres Rally which is the week after Le Mans so could make a pretty amazing holiday out of that. @Saabnut got any beds/camping space available for Le Mans? Assuming I can get a ticket that is🤔

 

[Saabnut]

With no clear winner from the poll (apart from "anytime suits me"  ) I have had to make a decision so I have! Shitefest International will happen the weekend of the 9th and 10th August. This is the weekend of the Marcon classic, a local very French classic car and bike show with food, drink music and fireworks, the last time I went there were over 1000 vehicles attending. Marcon is the next village over from the location of Shitefest, about 5 miles away, so attending is purely an option.

The weekends of 11-15 June and 3-6 July are the Lemans 24 and Lemans Classique respectively. I have avoided these weekends due to crowds and traffic but I shall be on site both weekends (and at least a few days either side) so if anyone fancies a French trip but cannot make Shitefest, you are welcome to join me.

So what is on offer? A weekend in the French countryside in splendid isolation. There is 6 acres  of level grassland with a river running through. The house has some spare sleeping capacity (sofas etc) and possibly a couple of spare rooms, depending on commitments from our usual Lemans crew but that is less likely for the Shitefest weekend. A few Shiters have visited previously so I am sure @lesapandre and @dollywobbler can provide feedback and reassurance. So, basically unlimited camping and car parking with access to toilets and showers. A fire is a possibility but it depends on fire restrictions which are often in force in the summer. BBQs no problem. The local village has 2 restaurants/bars, a butcher, bakers, shop and hairdressers. There is a Petanque pitch and a Voie Verte (cycle track) and a few bicycles are available. If anyone would prefer B&B there is plenty about and happy to help arrange.

If you want to see the Shitefest location google 72340 Lhomme. Obviously I am not putting the exact location in public but Lhomme is the nearest village less than a mile away.

So, if you are interested, add your name to the appropriate list.

Shitefest International 9-10 August

1. Saabnut

Lemans 24 weekend 11-15 June

1. Saabnut

Lemans Classique weekend 3-6 July

1. Saabnut

[Saabnut]

Forgot to say, wives, children and pets are very welcome. Children may need a bit of supervision due to the river, but it is far enough away from the house/main camping area as to not be too much of a problem.

[lesapandre]

I'll happily vouch for this! Very nice spot and very kind host. Lots of great outdoors space.

Local village with good facilities (local bakery made very nice pizza last time I was down) and the larger town La Chartre sur le Loir not far (Hotel de France located here - closely associated with Le Mans and famous drivers) - interesting cars often seen in the town - so whatever outlandish car you are piloting expect a keen welcome.

The adjacent voie verte cycle track is new and runs quite a few miles on the old railway line - so packing a bike to escape motoring mayhem could be good - this is 100% safe for children except where it crosses the odd quiet road.

French car shows are excellent - very friendly and great food. UK cars always attract lots of interest. 🇨🇵🏁🇬🇧

[hairnet]

if you dont camp - quite a lot of the local places like chartres

aint cheap boss (because august)

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Saabnut said:

Shitefest International 9-10 August

alright, so I *want* to make this but I do have some reservations, even ignoring the fact its a 7-10 hour drive to *another country* when I have not even been on a motorway yet as of writing, the main thing is is I dont speak a lick of french, well I know that Merde means Shit, but thats literally the extent of my french vocabulary (apart from a couple pleasantries), and I only know that word because of this forum LOL which is my real apprehension about driving there, sure the 7-10 hour drive in itself looks fucking daunting, but the not being able to speak the local language if I get into trouble is what really worries me or even just stopping for fuel etc

so I sort of have a hypothetical idea of hitching a lift on the back of a trailer with another Shitter, ( @Snake Charmer how do you feel like a trip to France  and @st185cs can bring one of his own, @Six-cylinder can bring @Mrs6C's one, and @AdgeCutler can bring Brian and we can do an Autoshite version of Retreat from "Dunkirk" except with little cars instead of little boats  ) as I would like to have REV at the location still, if nothing else just so I have a "Mobility vehicle" for getting about the site, but I dont know if theres any extra agro that comes with taking a car to on a trailer and back vs just driving it there?

so if anyone has any general thoughts/pointers regarding me and REV going to Le Shitefest international im all ears  

(if possible I would like to tentatively reserve one of the rooms in the house or at least a comfy bed/sofa to sleep on  )

[lesapandre]

I'd forsee no difficulty trailering a car in and out as long as its accompanied by the owner and usual documents -  V5 and insurance certificate. 

So far as language is concerned - France receives about 90 million visitors per annum - petrol stops, shops etc have basic English don't worry.

[Heidel_Kakao]

@LightBulbFun I have driven to and through various European countries and  don't know any other languages. Petrol stations take card like any other place. You have seven months to get comfortable driving an Invacar on the motorway so I would just drive it there.

[Mrs6C]

22 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

sure the 7-10 hour drive in itself looks fucking daunting

You could opt for the Portsmouth>Caen (Ouistreham) ferry and take the non-motorway route from Ouistreham port to L'Homme... Google reckons it's 135 miles and about 3 1/2 hours to drive.

French 'D' roads (like our 'A' roads) are pleasant, often quite straight and reasonably quiet, as most of the traffic takes the motorways and toll roads. There are plenty of opportunities to stop in safe places if needed.

European breakdown cover would be sensible, so if the worst happened, REV could be taken home.

[Marshall2810]

Giz a lift @LightBulbFun I could* navigate for you along with Google maps

[Marshall2810]

4 minutes ago, Marshall2810 said:

Giz a lift @LightBulbFun I could* navigate for you along with Google maps

stylee 😆

 

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Mrs6C said:

You could opt for the Portsmouth>Caen (Ouistreham) ferry and take the non-motorway route from Ouistreham port to L'Homme... Google reckons it's 135 miles and about 3 1/2 hours to drive.

French 'D' roads (like our 'A' roads) are pleasant, often quite straight and reasonably quiet, as most of the traffic takes the motorways and toll roads. There are plenty of opportunities to stop in safe places if needed.

European breakdown cover would be sensible, so if the worst happened, REV could be taken home.

Oh interesting! that looks a bit more reasonable, (gives me a few hours to relax on the ferry before hitting the road again ) thankfully I get full breakdown cover including European cover with my insurance, so I am not too worried about that aspect of it

[reb]

I'd like to make it to the august date, hopefully I'll have my licence sorted out by then. Hopefully it'll be sorted enough time before that I have time to get used to driving again a decent amount of time beforehand. But you just never know how long it might take the combined power of the DVLA and the NHS to process something.

[auntiemaryscanary]

I'm currently umming and aahing about possible attendance. I went through Rouen in Aug 22 and it has a Citr-air (ULEZ) and I suspect it will be on the route of a lot of attendees. But it seems there is a get out clause for old stuff:

https://zfe.metropole-rouen-normandie.fr/derogations/le-pass-zfe-m-24h

Front page https://zfe.metropole-rouen-normandie.fr/

All in French but as you can see Translate does a good job. If my application for the sticker for a compliant car in 2022 was anything to go by this 24 hr pass (another needed for the return journey) it should be easy enough.

[wuvvum]

Interesting!  Wish I'd known about that when I was in France in September, would have saved me doing a massive detour via the Pont de Brotonne.  Although there are some quite scenic villages in Normandy so it wasn't entirely a waste of time.

[Talbot]

I also had a bit of an issue when in France over the summer trying to avoid the Crit-air zone around Rouen.  It used to have a "corridor" through it on the motorway, but that appears to be no longer available.  I've heard of some people sneaking through the motorway route, as with a UK registered car you would have to be spotted by the Rozzers and pulled over to actually have any issue, and it's only a few miles so the chances are good that you'll get away with it.  Apparently the Gendamerie mainly target older campers rather than the odd car driving through.

I did have to be a bit careful though, as running on VegOil is not legal in France, so I didn't want to get hit with a double whammy.  I recon it would likely be ok for a foreign registered car to be ponging of chips, but it just wasn't worth the risk.

I should also recommend the Newhaven - Dieppe ferry route to get over to France.  It's a longer crossing (4+ hrs in daytime, longer overnight) but is from much smaller ports and hence saves a massive amount of buggering about at Calais/Dover/Ouistriham/Portsmouth.   Last time I went over it was very smoothly operated.  Just enough time on the boat to get some shut-eye, or to relax and enjoy the crossing.

 

 

[IronStar]

I don’t have anything modern enough not to be hit by the various clean air zones on the way, which would make the trip extra annoying. 
Do we trust anything made by Zastava enough to make this trip?

 

 

 

[lesapandre]

55 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Interesting!  Wish I'd known about that when I was in France in September, would have saved me doing a massive detour via the Pont de Brotonne.  Although there are some quite scenic villages in Normandy so it wasn't entirely a waste of time.

I drove through in December without notification as I did not realise the A28 trunk route was in the zone - my van is diesel and pre-2000. I have not received anything in the post.

[lesapandre]

1 hour ago, Talbot said:

I also had a bit of an issue when in France over the summer trying to avoid the Crit-air zone around Rouen.  It used to have a "corridor" through it on the motorway, but that appears to be no longer available.  I've heard of some people sneaking through the motorway route, as with a UK registered car you would have to be spotted by the Rozzers and pulled over to actually have any issue, and it's only a few miles so the chances are good that you'll get away with it.  Apparently the Gendamerie mainly target older campers rather than the odd car driving through.

I did have to be a bit careful though, as running on VegOil is not legal in France, so I didn't want to get hit with a double whammy.  I recon it would likely be ok for a foreign registered car to be ponging of chips, but it just wasn't worth the risk.

I should also recommend the Newhaven - Dieppe ferry route to get over to France.  It's a longer crossing (4+ hrs in daytime, longer overnight) but is from much smaller ports and hence saves a massive amount of buggering about at Calais/Dover/Ouistriham/Portsmouth.   Last time I went over it was very smoothly operated.  Just enough time on the boat to get some shut-eye, or to relax and enjoy the crossing.

 

 

There are lots of nice country routes avoiding Rouen - just takes more time and navigation. 

I would very much doubt you would have your tank dipped for vegetable oil - but by that point you must have been pretty low anyway coming to the UK port and then down?

Is veg illegal? I'm not sure. It's just not a 'thing' in France - very few cars that will run it.

Given there is no price advantage in glugging cooking oil in either folk might as well stick to derv. in France once there anyway.

There are several apps giving fuel locations and price. Huge price differences - avoid the Autoroute stations especially unless very low. Many big rural supermarkets have pumps.

[auntiemaryscanary]

1 hour ago, Talbot said:

I should also recommend the Newhaven - Dieppe ferry route to get over to France.  It's a longer crossing (4+ hrs in daytime, longer overnight) but is from much smaller ports and hence saves a massive amount of buggering about at Calais/Dover/Ouistriham/Portsmouth.   Last time I went over it was very smoothly operated.  Just enough time on the boat to get some shut-eye, or to relax and enjoy the crossing.

I concur, we had a cabin in 2022 and  managed a snooze after using the ferry canteen. 

[andyberg]

One of my ambitions with the Safrane is to drive it in France, I am very tempted by this little trip. I'll need to get a tent and all sorts mind. I'll do some man maths....