Thinking of riding down through France, Andorra and on into Spain (Bilbao) this June and would like to know if the petrol stations on the non motorway roads are likely to be open or not on Sundays. We are very likely to be in the Pyrenees on one of the Sundays in question. Carrying spare gallon is not an option.
I'll hopefully be on a Silverwing so looking at fillups every one hundred and thirty miles or so. If I'm on my Burgman then should get a better range.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

We'll do a bit of enquiring but don't hold out much hope.

The problem is that although lots of filling-stations are 'open' they are usually unattended and accept only credit cards issued in that country even if the cards are supposedly international.

In sunny Belgium my English-issue VISA card is usually OK in shops but won't work in local card-in-the-slot garages although it does in motorway services.
An English scootering friend who frequently rides in France opened a French bank account solely for getting petrol in the sticks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2082863

This link is a bit old but if you Google 'buying petrol in france' you will find more information - according to the Total Forum (also on Google) some non-French cards have the correct chip.

Can't find anything about Spain, though.

Hello Mike,
Appreciate any help or info you can come up with.

To return the favour there is a way around the 'foreign card' problem. I have just sorted out (in fact I haven't received it yet) a pre-loaded debit card which apparently works in those 'card only' pumps and can be used elsewhere. It is from Caxton Currency which is part of Newcastle Building Society. I will be loading mine with £100 (the minimum allowed) for those times when there isn't an alternative. Card doesn't have a time limit so what isn't used on this trip will be there for the next. If anyone is interested www.caxtonfxcard.com

Cheers,

You've done what my mate suggested that I do last year, and get a pre-payment card - according to him it works in 99.9% of all French fuel stations. Apparently he's linked it to his paypal account and every time he makes a sale on ebay etc. the cash is credited to his card, so he never has to worry about paying for fuel on his annual holiday, which is one of spreading the cost!

In the end I didn't bother to much as my bike has a custom made tank and I get 220+ miles between fill ups, which is as much as my back (and backside) can take in one hit!

Keep us info'd on your route, I have a contact in Poitiers who can and will help out if you need it

Hello Skippy,

Glad I found out about those cards.

My mate has just been here discussing what we are going to do and when. We have decided to just tootle in France for eleven or twelve days, plan to use the Chunnel each way. So it is a day blasting down from Blackpool to Folkestone and a day blasting back. Just in case one of England's Finest are reading this my throttle wrist locks up at 69 mph - honest.
So in the end petrol isn't going to be a problem as were not planning any great distances on any one day whilst in France, especially on Sundays.

Going to leave Spain for some other time (possibly September) but that will be using the tug-boat from Portsmouth to Santander.

Off now to look for Travelodge near Folkestone.

No you don't, the Chunnel entrance is near Ashford Folkstone is way down the road! Remember to book an early train - don't forget an 0830 UK departure arrives at 1000 hrs in France - half the morning wasted!

I can't give you a recommend for a place to stay as I always used to crash at a Mates house who used to live there - sadly he's moved on now........

Let me know if you find a decent place as I will possibly be going that way to the Dutch CX rally in August.

Ashford - Learn something every day.

I try to learn at least one new thing everyday, unfortunately some days it is only the date!

Cheers,

Are you winding me up Skippy? Googling 'Chunnel Terminus' come up with Folkestone (Junction 11a on the motorway).

Hotels are silly money near the terminus!

Cheers,

Hahahah!!! I've never bothered to google map the place and you are quite right................. All I remember is that its not much more than 10 minutes ride from my mates place!

Yep, about the Hotels you are right, thats what we discovered (hence the stopping at Shauns place). It think one of my friends has used the Travel Lodge at Maidstone Services but thats a fair way back up the road!

I'd use one of the Hotel clearance websites to find a reasonable room for the night - Premier Inn claim to do rooms from £21 each...

Instead of stopping in a UK hotel, I go over on the afternoon train and stop at Etap which is 2 minutes off the train. The hour ahead is then lost on overnight sleep (or lack of it). It's right next to Cite europe, so easy to get meals, do shopping, etc and you can get an early start the next day. You can cancel up to 1600hrs on the day,
Skippy, what's this about bigger fuel tank? and thanks for the intro to prepaid euro cards.

Maidstone Services are only 20 minutes from the Terminal - an easy thrash.
Depending on which way you travel round the M25 there's a Camponile Hotel close to the South side of the Dartford Crossing.
That's just an hour from the Terminal.

Roger, sorry to disappoint but its on my 'other' Silverwing - a CX 650 derivative.

Having said that, there has been much in the way of discussion on this site previously about aux fuel tanks as our US/Canadian brethern have a greater problem that we do when it comes to fuel stations or rather more the distance between them.

There seems to be a fairly concurent agreement between the 'over the ponders' that they prefer a tank either mounted on the rear rack or under the seat, while I myself would prefer a bespoke item that hangs over the 'transmission tunnel' of the bike keeping the weight lower down and inboard. There are specially made tanks available in the US, designed to sit on the rear rack - cost is, as always the imotive subject!!

Perhaps, when all the dust has settled in my workshop and I don't have much left to do, I'll settle down and make some templates up to make a stainless test tank; there again with the price of fuel going the way it is, I might start looking into running the Scoot on Autogas! So an underseat tank may not be such a bad idea after all!

Sorry a bit late coming into this thread.

I will be honest and say that I have never had a problem with using a UK credit card in one the unmanned service stations in France.

We had a place in the Provence which was off the beaten track and the local Intermarche was there for us.

More and more supermarkets are opening on Sundays now in France, not like the olden days eh

Better late than never Paul,

Got the Caxton card the other day, put some money on it. Hopefully it is a bit of insurance if we do need it.

(Given the number of Petrol Stations closing down here in the UK, very soon we are going to have to look at carrying spare petrol to get us to the next station - get tinkering Skippy on that additional tank).

Cheers.