Quiberon - Arcachon - Cahors - Villefranche Tarare

by **johnp** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 5:05 pm

Mainly for the sake of reporting really nice hotels/rates and staff I'm detailing the places stopped at on a French round robin last week.

Quiberon. LFEQ. French only but helpful. Harassed but really nice controller. Gave me his Total Card for self service on arrival.
2.00 Euros/litre. 19 Euros for 3 days parking and overnights.
Hotel Port Haliguen. 600 yards from airport. 73 Euros per night for double room with harbour view.
Charming owner who gave us a lift to airport at end of stay.
Rental bikes delivered to hotel at 13 Euros per day per bike

Arcachon. LFCH. French only but Franglais if necessary. Talk to French Air force at Cazeaux for crossing service of all the red danger areas down coast to just before Arcachon (Biggest sand dune in Europe hard to miss) Helpful and easy. Go to tower for total card after parking at pumps (3 places with long reach)
Avgas here at 2.20 Euros. 7 Euros per day parking.
Hotel La Plage. Actually 200 metres from the plage. 20 Euro taxi ride into town Great room at 100 Euros and again rental bikes on site at 13 Euros per day. If you can take the ferry (with bikes) to Cap Ferret (not Ferrat!) and have an oyster and rose lunch to kill for for the princely sum of 15 Euros.

Cahors. LFCC. Arrived 1300 to no one around and blind calls (in French). Deserted apron and packed balcony restaurant with many greetings. Great 3 course menu du jour for 15 Euros. 25 Euro cab ride 17 km to Cahors town. 9 euro parking.
Terminus Hotel. Great Victorian station hotel in fine fettle with welcoming staff, huge rooms at 77 Euros per night per room. Staggeringly good restaurant and food.

Villefranche Tarare. LFHV. Had to go FL 75 to clear the mountains to here. Rang the field to check weather, which was IMC/VFR on top most of the way. Hard to say enough about the helpful and welcoming Patrick, who had me fuelled and marshalled to parking immediately after arrival. What a nice bloke. 8 Euros for parking and fuel at 1.97 Euros. Stopped at ridiculously priced luxury gite (35 Euros) in the village of Cogny, but you'll need wheels to get around there.

French flight information service all in English and all extremely helpful. LFHV back to Lydd 2.7 hours around North East Paris.

JP

by **welkyboy** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:56 pm

How did you clear French customs outbound from LFHV?

by **johnp** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:23 am

WB,
Filed LFHV EGMD direct on Olivia. Had already done the inbound UK GAR week before. Did not "clear" customs outbound. Went in via LFRG and cleared in.
JP

by **welkyboy** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 4:44 pm

You should clear customs outbound from France from a French customs airfield , this has been discussed so many times on various forums I'm surprised you didn't know
GAR's are a British thing, also here is no need to complete one if routing into Lydd as this is a designated airport,
The French are tightening up on their rules as UK is non schengen, beware next time you fly to France as the registration will be on their data base....too many British pilots do their own thing to the detriment of others....

by **johnp** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 5:45 pm

WB,
Try telling Lydd you don't need GAR. They had a flap on about just this subject when I arrived and thank goodness I did one.
I have never seen a French customs officer outbound except for Beauvais and Deauville where you have to go through specific gates and have exited France adhering to many different opinions about rules and many rules many times.
I know it has been discussed on here many times and is no doubt discussed on French sites with different opinions also.
Thank you for your opinion. That's what forums are for.
I posted mainly to help others with hotels and field info etc.
Glad you liked it.
JP

by **johnp** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 6:23 pm

"An operator or pilot of a general aviation aircraft is legally required to provide notification of flights if they are making an international or Channel Islands journey to or from the UK, unless they are travelling directly from the UK to a destination in the European Union."

Above from Customs & Excise about GAR. It says no GAR if outbound. No mention of no need for one returning from EU to whatever destination.
JP