Essex to Pyrennes in a motorhome!
Discussion
Not sure if anyone is interested, but here's the "diary" regarding our most recent trip.
We set off in "Harry the Hymer" on Friday 17th June for our main summer holiday to France. We're lucky enough to have family living in the South of France, with whom we've stayed before and done this trip last year in the 1-series. But this was a little different. The plan was to wend our way down south over 4-5 days; using Harry as our transport and accomodation to see various nice bits of France on the way down - primarily the beach for my 3.5yr old daughter before spending a week with my Uncle & Aunt at their place between Tarbes & Pau in the foothills of the Pyrennes.
Well, that was the plan anyway!! :ROFLMAO: As anyone who has had and who travels with young children will know, plans should remain flexible and fungible!
But in any event, the trip was a good one and we have learnt an awful lot about ourselves, our daughter, Harry and travelling in future.
The great thing about having moved house and now having Harry at the bottom of the garden is that he's almost ready to go at any given moment. But given the length and mileage involved in this trip, we did need a bit more preparatory work. He was washed & polished the week prior, fuelled, oil topped up (not actually needed since he'd only been serviced in April), screenwash and then stuck on a weighbridge to ensure we had a certificate in case we were pulled over.
After filling with clothing, sufficient food for 2-3 days, gin, beer and apple juice (the latter for my daughter!), we set off around 2pm on the Friday afternoon; bound for Canterbury. Here he is - ready to go......
[U]Starting mileage - 38,265[/U]
Canterbury is one of the first UK cities to have a specific motorhome "Aire" - effectively a stopover spot for the night specifically for motorhomes, where one can park up, sleep in the van and service it (dump grey water, chemical toilet and top up with fresh water). Given our Ferry was booked for 8am Saturday morning and our house is 2hrs from Dover, we figured this would be a good stopover. What we didn't bank on was just how quickly we would get to Canterbury!
After parking up shortly before 4pm, we set the satnav for Dover for the next morning and when we realised just how close we were, we called P&O and changed our booking for 6pm sailing and got straight back on the A2 for the 20mins to the Port.
We arrived in Calais around 8:30pm local time and headed for a lovely Little village we know - Montreuil. First time staying there in the motorhome (and probably last too), since this Aire de Camping Car was basically just a car park with a Service Point in the corner. It suited us given it was nearly 10pm by the time we got there so no need for little'un to run around etc. but a fairly uninspiring first overnight of the holiday and particularly poor when being woken up the following morning at 6am by a low loader unloading a JCB next to us!!!
So, being awake at 6am at least meant getting the kettle on early, Cafetiere made, breakfast eaten and on the road for 8:30am. Long drive ahead to Tours but we were fairly pleased that we had at least done the first hour into France the previous night, so we actually had plenty of time in hand for the trip. Tours is the classic "half-way" point when travelling through France to Spain or the Pyrennes and we had stopped there last year when travelling in the car. What we weren't prepared for this time, however, was just how slow it felt travelling in the van.
ops: It took ages to "dial into" doing "just" 60mph (technically we were limited to 90kmh (56mph) on the basis of our 4.6t GVW but I added a few mph just to make it a round 1mile per minute. 
But it I think that first leg was where it started to dawn that we had made the wrong decision bringing this particular vehicle. A theme which would stay with us for the rest of the holiday. (n)
On top of that, our daughter had already started to become a little unsettled and homesick, in spite of being a good traveller and happy to be in Harry, which sounds a bit odd, but she was very happy being in her "second home" but just wanted to be closer to a place of familiarity. We kept bribing her with the fact we'd be at the beach the following day - our plan had always been to get to Tours, overnight and then head towards Bordeaux and the coast for a few days. This helped persuade her the travelling wasn't for nothing, but she remained unsettled throughout the journey.
We eventually pulled into an Aire around 5pm, having covered a good 300miles during the day. The Aire was great - it mimicked a campsite. It was basically a plot of land about 10mins from the A28 motorway where a chap had a barn in which he was welding and woodworking and had set up some basic motorhome Services and charged EUR 4 for the privilege of staying there on his land (which had about 2 Acres of Meadow where you pitched up. If you wanted electricity, dump waste & fill with water, it was EUR 5 on top. And the Bonus of the place was that if you put in an order with him in the evening, he would come in the next morning with fresh Baguettes or Croissants from the local Boulongerie in the morning! (y) We spent EUR 14 for the night - about 11quid, including breakfast. To put it in perspective - a campsite in the UK with all those facilites and without breakfast is about 23quid per night (with a Club Card Discount).
The little'un having had a chance to run around and stretch her legs was just what we all needed. So we set off after breakfast for the beach. Still a good 250miles away, but at least we knew we had something to bribe her with. After a couple of hours on the road, we stopped for lunch just south of Bordeaux. This is where it all "went wrong". Stupidly, this was where we had stopped last year and was our last stop before getting to my Uncle's. I happened to mention this to the wife over lunch and for some stupid reason, we decided to put it to our daughter - the beach, or her Godparents house? Unbelievably, after all the talk of the beach and burying Daddy and making sandcastles - she chose her Godparents house! This meant that instead of a 90min drive to the beach, we (I) had a 3.5hr drive!
So there it was - decided. No touring for us.
I think secretly, deep down, the wife & I realised that it had been too much for our daughter too and that some familiarity of surroundings would be good for her. This was all very well, but anyone who has driven the A65 from Bordeaux to Pau will know - this is THE most boring road in the world.
After 10miles, we had not seen another car (on either side!) and it took another 15miles before we saw one. And the road is featureless. Nothing around it - NOTHING! :sick:
But this is perhaps a good time to talk about Harry, since I haven't mentioned it before. Harry is the consumate companion on such a road trip. Yes, I was limited to 90kph. In fact, by the time I was on the 2nd-3rd day I decided to up our cruising speed to an indicated 110kph (what 3.5t are permitted to do). This was a true 65mph which seemed far more comfortable for everyone. You can see why so many courier firms use Sprinters - cruising huge distances can be done in comfort and there is just this sense that mechnical elements are working in harmony and that they "love" doing what they're doing. Just under 3k rpm indicated is still reasonably quiet in the cabin - cruise control on and Harry was peerless. Taking on hills with ease - the beautifully smooth surfaces of the Peage meaning the ride was cossetting and quiet. In some ways, having a van packed quite full also helps to keep the rattling to a minimum too, so it was actually a very comfortable experience. Only grating when seeing cars whizz past at 130-150kph and remembering back to doing the same myself the previous year and the mental maths working out how much time & distance I was loosing compared to being in the van.
Anyway, after an incredibly long drive of 356miles, we eventually pulled up at my Uncle's place. All of us happy to be there - a familiar setting, cold beer on ice, 36degs C and nothing to do and nowhere to drive. Little'un was happy to have her "own" bed and bedroom there and some toys we left from our last visit - aswell as a pool to swim in. We stayed there from the Sunday until Thursday before heading off for a night away in the mountains.
As it turns out - our trip to the mountains would take place on a momentus day and one never to be forgotten. It not only changed our lives (my job now looks increasingly under threat) but changed our holiday for the worse too. On Referendum Day, we headed to Col du Tourmalet. I'm big into my cycling and have watched the Tour de France riders climb the summit more times than I care to remember and it's such a lovely place having been there last year. After that visit we both had the dream to spend the night up there and given the French laws about being able to sleep pretty much anywhere, we headed for the top and found ourselves THE PERFECT spot.
Getting there was not easy. 40degs outside air temperature meant that the aircon (which is only really effective in the front anyway) was worse than useless. Windows were opened and a fairly heavy van to be negotiated up the mountain was challenging - for both me and Harry!! Although there was no shortage of power & torque to get us going and keep us going - the relatively low speed, high revs and high temperature meant that we saw the water temperature needle rise to just shy of the redline! I managed to nurse him to the top and gave him a well deserved rest, whilst we went for a well deserved, beer, wine, icecream at the cafe at the summit before going for a walk, bite to eat for dinner and bed.
Bedtime was a treat - watching the cloud envelope the valley and eventually the motorhome, with the only sounds being that of the cattle grazing in the distance with the cow bells jingling. What should have been a wonderful night sleep disturbed by a quick look at the iPhone at 4am and the sickening realisation that the world I have known all my life was about to change.........markedly. :sick:
That really rather spoilt the following day, so we headed back after breakfast to my Uncle's for a Marathon viewing of BBC & Sky News and plenty of conference calls with work.
Only thing to do in the meantime was to dump our toilet & grey waste (shower & sink water) and fill with fresh water. This is ridiculously easy in France. The whole country is set up for motorhomes and it doesn't take much time at all to find an "Aire" to "Camping Car Service" - almost all of which are free, aside from fresh water which generally costs around EUR 2 for 100litres. This one below is typical of those you find at Petrol stations or Hypermarkets. Only Thing I found out was to make sure you have a good grip on your hose
since the water pressure is pretty high - as I found when the hose popped out of the aperture and span around like a snake; soaking me in the process! :ROFLMAO:
By Monday it was time to leave my Uncle's place and head North. As luck would have it, one of our former next-door neighbours, with whom we have kept in touch, moved to France about 5yrs ago and she invited us to spend the night with her. So we headed the 3hrs North of my Uncle's up towards Villneuve. Her place is up in the hills overlooking the River Lot and was absolutely stunning. So a night spent there before heading towards Le Mans was a welcome change of scene and only being reachable via Route Nationale rather than Peage meant that we actually saw some of "real France" rather than just motorways and service stations.
By this point, our daughter was desperate for home. We were booked to be on the Ferry late Saturday afternoon but it was obvious this was too far away for her, so we made the executive decision to try and get home asap. Realistically this meant Thursday at the earliest, but maybe Friday since we had 850miles to cover between our friend's house and ours.
However, Wednesday we made good progress and managed to get to just south of Le Mans for 4pm and found a lovely Aire in the village of Vaas, just off the AutoRoute. The Aire was in the grounds of the local School - was very pretty and just 5mins walk from the village centre, so once parked up - we walked in to town for a quick beer and to relax after a long day "in the saddle". Given the Aire was also free, I wanted to ensure that we put a bit of money into the local economy since that's the reason why a lot of villages invest in these facilities and it's only fair that if you use them that you give something back IMO.
Having made it this far and having had a really good night sleep, we decided to "go for it" on Thursday and try and get home. Telling our daughter that she could be home by the evening helped keep her focussed and surprisingly, after leaving around 9am, having a stop for lunch just north of Rouen (which incidently is a nightmare to navigate in a motorhome with dense traffic!), we managed to get to Calais for 3pm!!!!!! Some 300miles!
A rather choppy return ferry entertained the little'un who thankfully thought it hilarious that she couldn't stand upright, rather than finding it queasy! And by the time we got off the Ferry, we hit our first traffic jam in 1800miles!
Once the traffic did clear, however, Harry bizarrely seemed to have as much of a desire to get back as we did since I now found myself cruising at a true 70mph (gps) and he was well and truly in his comfort Zone. We motored back up the A2, M25, M11, A11 to home and were back sitting on our own couch by 8pm with a very happy young lady pleased to be back with her soft toy animals and bed.
[B][U]Harry had ticked over 40,202miles, which translated into 1,937miles over 13 days.
[/U][/B]
Not bad for a van which did less than 3k miles last year in my ownership!
In terms of breakdown of costs:
Ferry Tickets - 180quid return (inc. Club Lounge Access both ways)
Fuel (432litres, equating to 20mpg) - c. 400quid (fluctuated depending on exchange rate)
Paege Tolls - c. 250quid
Aires (4 nights - 11EUR) - 9quid
Total - c. GBP 839
Happy with that. Ok, so we had "free" accomodation with my Uncle and friend but if we had stayed in the van every night of the whole holiday , the costs would still not have exceeded 50quid for accomodation.
Well, very early on, we realised we had taken the wrong vehicle. That's not to say that he didn't prove to be supremely good at what he did. But we could've easily travelled quicker and cheaper in the X3 (saved on fuel & Paege since we were charged at light HGV rates) and spent the same amount of money overall on a couple of nights in an IBIS or similar.
What the motorhome is great for is picking a location and then touring it locally. I think our next trip to France in the motorhome will be Normandy - a short drive from Calais and then stay in that area - just going from place to place for 3-5nights. Really experiencing villages and towns.
What we learnt is that France is a kind of mecca for motorhomes after being in the UK where everyone thinks you're a gypsy and worried you're going to camp for months at a time somewhere. The facilities are superb and it is an acknowledged quid pro quo that you will likely spend money if you use the facilities. We loved how easy it was.
I alluded to it easlier, but the Referendum result made things different - markedly so. We were challenged in a street market in Pau - told to "F**k Off and Go Home" :sick: by several people who overheard us speaking English which then made us feel quite unsafe when we stopped overnight in Vaas and were the only one English motorhome surrounded by French, Dutch and Belgian motorhomes. But that said, it also meant that we tried our best too. Whilst fluent in German, my knowledge of French is basic to say the least, but I always then tried to engage with my fellow motorhomers and order in French in Restaurants but it made us feel quite vulnerable for the last week of the holiday.
That said, I do not want to get into a political debate.
All in all, in spite of the wrong choice of vehicle, in spite of the costs and stupid mileage undertaken, we had an amazing time. Although Harry was probably the wrong vehicle for this trip again, we love him and what we can do in him. We feel more settled than we have done previously and have no thoughts whatsoever about getting rid of him - just using him more cleverly!
Hope you enjoyed reading. Any questions, just ask!
P.S. - there are more photos coming but they're taking a while to upload to Photobucket.
We set off in "Harry the Hymer" on Friday 17th June for our main summer holiday to France. We're lucky enough to have family living in the South of France, with whom we've stayed before and done this trip last year in the 1-series. But this was a little different. The plan was to wend our way down south over 4-5 days; using Harry as our transport and accomodation to see various nice bits of France on the way down - primarily the beach for my 3.5yr old daughter before spending a week with my Uncle & Aunt at their place between Tarbes & Pau in the foothills of the Pyrennes.
Well, that was the plan anyway!! :ROFLMAO: As anyone who has had and who travels with young children will know, plans should remain flexible and fungible!
But in any event, the trip was a good one and we have learnt an awful lot about ourselves, our daughter, Harry and travelling in future.The great thing about having moved house and now having Harry at the bottom of the garden is that he's almost ready to go at any given moment. But given the length and mileage involved in this trip, we did need a bit more preparatory work. He was washed & polished the week prior, fuelled, oil topped up (not actually needed since he'd only been serviced in April), screenwash and then stuck on a weighbridge to ensure we had a certificate in case we were pulled over.
After filling with clothing, sufficient food for 2-3 days, gin, beer and apple juice (the latter for my daughter!), we set off around 2pm on the Friday afternoon; bound for Canterbury. Here he is - ready to go......
[U]Starting mileage - 38,265[/U]
Canterbury is one of the first UK cities to have a specific motorhome "Aire" - effectively a stopover spot for the night specifically for motorhomes, where one can park up, sleep in the van and service it (dump grey water, chemical toilet and top up with fresh water). Given our Ferry was booked for 8am Saturday morning and our house is 2hrs from Dover, we figured this would be a good stopover. What we didn't bank on was just how quickly we would get to Canterbury!
After parking up shortly before 4pm, we set the satnav for Dover for the next morning and when we realised just how close we were, we called P&O and changed our booking for 6pm sailing and got straight back on the A2 for the 20mins to the Port.
We arrived in Calais around 8:30pm local time and headed for a lovely Little village we know - Montreuil. First time staying there in the motorhome (and probably last too), since this Aire de Camping Car was basically just a car park with a Service Point in the corner. It suited us given it was nearly 10pm by the time we got there so no need for little'un to run around etc. but a fairly uninspiring first overnight of the holiday and particularly poor when being woken up the following morning at 6am by a low loader unloading a JCB next to us!!!
So, being awake at 6am at least meant getting the kettle on early, Cafetiere made, breakfast eaten and on the road for 8:30am. Long drive ahead to Tours but we were fairly pleased that we had at least done the first hour into France the previous night, so we actually had plenty of time in hand for the trip. Tours is the classic "half-way" point when travelling through France to Spain or the Pyrennes and we had stopped there last year when travelling in the car. What we weren't prepared for this time, however, was just how slow it felt travelling in the van.
ops: It took ages to "dial into" doing "just" 60mph (technically we were limited to 90kmh (56mph) on the basis of our 4.6t GVW but I added a few mph just to make it a round 1mile per minute. But it I think that first leg was where it started to dawn that we had made the wrong decision bringing this particular vehicle. A theme which would stay with us for the rest of the holiday. (n)On top of that, our daughter had already started to become a little unsettled and homesick, in spite of being a good traveller and happy to be in Harry, which sounds a bit odd, but she was very happy being in her "second home" but just wanted to be closer to a place of familiarity. We kept bribing her with the fact we'd be at the beach the following day - our plan had always been to get to Tours, overnight and then head towards Bordeaux and the coast for a few days. This helped persuade her the travelling wasn't for nothing, but she remained unsettled throughout the journey.
We eventually pulled into an Aire around 5pm, having covered a good 300miles during the day. The Aire was great - it mimicked a campsite. It was basically a plot of land about 10mins from the A28 motorway where a chap had a barn in which he was welding and woodworking and had set up some basic motorhome Services and charged EUR 4 for the privilege of staying there on his land (which had about 2 Acres of Meadow where you pitched up. If you wanted electricity, dump waste & fill with water, it was EUR 5 on top. And the Bonus of the place was that if you put in an order with him in the evening, he would come in the next morning with fresh Baguettes or Croissants from the local Boulongerie in the morning! (y) We spent EUR 14 for the night - about 11quid, including breakfast. To put it in perspective - a campsite in the UK with all those facilites and without breakfast is about 23quid per night (with a Club Card Discount).
The little'un having had a chance to run around and stretch her legs was just what we all needed. So we set off after breakfast for the beach. Still a good 250miles away, but at least we knew we had something to bribe her with. After a couple of hours on the road, we stopped for lunch just south of Bordeaux. This is where it all "went wrong". Stupidly, this was where we had stopped last year and was our last stop before getting to my Uncle's. I happened to mention this to the wife over lunch and for some stupid reason, we decided to put it to our daughter - the beach, or her Godparents house? Unbelievably, after all the talk of the beach and burying Daddy and making sandcastles - she chose her Godparents house!
This meant that instead of a 90min drive to the beach, we (I) had a 3.5hr drive! So there it was - decided. No touring for us.
I think secretly, deep down, the wife & I realised that it had been too much for our daughter too and that some familiarity of surroundings would be good for her. This was all very well, but anyone who has driven the A65 from Bordeaux to Pau will know - this is THE most boring road in the world.
After 10miles, we had not seen another car (on either side!) and it took another 15miles before we saw one. And the road is featureless. Nothing around it - NOTHING! :sick:But this is perhaps a good time to talk about Harry, since I haven't mentioned it before. Harry is the consumate companion on such a road trip. Yes, I was limited to 90kph. In fact, by the time I was on the 2nd-3rd day I decided to up our cruising speed to an indicated 110kph (what 3.5t are permitted to do). This was a true 65mph which seemed far more comfortable for everyone. You can see why so many courier firms use Sprinters - cruising huge distances can be done in comfort and there is just this sense that mechnical elements are working in harmony and that they "love" doing what they're doing. Just under 3k rpm indicated is still reasonably quiet in the cabin - cruise control on and Harry was peerless. Taking on hills with ease - the beautifully smooth surfaces of the Peage meaning the ride was cossetting and quiet. In some ways, having a van packed quite full also helps to keep the rattling to a minimum too, so it was actually a very comfortable experience. Only grating when seeing cars whizz past at 130-150kph and remembering back to doing the same myself the previous year and the mental maths working out how much time & distance I was loosing compared to being in the van.
Anyway, after an incredibly long drive of 356miles, we eventually pulled up at my Uncle's place. All of us happy to be there - a familiar setting, cold beer on ice, 36degs C and nothing to do and nowhere to drive. Little'un was happy to have her "own" bed and bedroom there and some toys we left from our last visit - aswell as a pool to swim in. We stayed there from the Sunday until Thursday before heading off for a night away in the mountains.
As it turns out - our trip to the mountains would take place on a momentus day and one never to be forgotten. It not only changed our lives (my job now looks increasingly under threat) but changed our holiday for the worse too. On Referendum Day, we headed to Col du Tourmalet. I'm big into my cycling and have watched the Tour de France riders climb the summit more times than I care to remember and it's such a lovely place having been there last year. After that visit we both had the dream to spend the night up there and given the French laws about being able to sleep pretty much anywhere, we headed for the top and found ourselves THE PERFECT spot.
Getting there was not easy. 40degs outside air temperature meant that the aircon (which is only really effective in the front anyway) was worse than useless. Windows were opened and a fairly heavy van to be negotiated up the mountain was challenging - for both me and Harry!! Although there was no shortage of power & torque to get us going and keep us going - the relatively low speed, high revs and high temperature meant that we saw the water temperature needle rise to just shy of the redline!
I managed to nurse him to the top and gave him a well deserved rest, whilst we went for a well deserved, beer, wine, icecream at the cafe at the summit before going for a walk, bite to eat for dinner and bed.
Bedtime was a treat - watching the cloud envelope the valley and eventually the motorhome, with the only sounds being that of the cattle grazing in the distance with the cow bells jingling. What should have been a wonderful night sleep disturbed by a quick look at the iPhone at 4am and the sickening realisation that the world I have known all my life was about to change.........markedly. :sick:
That really rather spoilt the following day, so we headed back after breakfast to my Uncle's for a Marathon viewing of BBC & Sky News and plenty of conference calls with work.
Only thing to do in the meantime was to dump our toilet & grey waste (shower & sink water) and fill with fresh water. This is ridiculously easy in France. The whole country is set up for motorhomes and it doesn't take much time at all to find an "Aire" to "Camping Car Service" - almost all of which are free, aside from fresh water which generally costs around EUR 2 for 100litres. This one below is typical of those you find at Petrol stations or Hypermarkets. Only Thing I found out was to make sure you have a good grip on your hose
since the water pressure is pretty high - as I found when the hose popped out of the aperture and span around like a snake; soaking me in the process! :ROFLMAO:
By Monday it was time to leave my Uncle's place and head North. As luck would have it, one of our former next-door neighbours, with whom we have kept in touch, moved to France about 5yrs ago and she invited us to spend the night with her. So we headed the 3hrs North of my Uncle's up towards Villneuve. Her place is up in the hills overlooking the River Lot and was absolutely stunning. So a night spent there before heading towards Le Mans was a welcome change of scene and only being reachable via Route Nationale rather than Peage meant that we actually saw some of "real France" rather than just motorways and service stations.
By this point, our daughter was desperate for home. We were booked to be on the Ferry late Saturday afternoon but it was obvious this was too far away for her, so we made the executive decision to try and get home asap. Realistically this meant Thursday at the earliest, but maybe Friday since we had 850miles to cover between our friend's house and ours.
However, Wednesday we made good progress and managed to get to just south of Le Mans for 4pm and found a lovely Aire in the village of Vaas, just off the AutoRoute. The Aire was in the grounds of the local School - was very pretty and just 5mins walk from the village centre, so once parked up - we walked in to town for a quick beer and to relax after a long day "in the saddle". Given the Aire was also free, I wanted to ensure that we put a bit of money into the local economy since that's the reason why a lot of villages invest in these facilities and it's only fair that if you use them that you give something back IMO.
Having made it this far and having had a really good night sleep, we decided to "go for it" on Thursday and try and get home. Telling our daughter that she could be home by the evening helped keep her focussed and surprisingly, after leaving around 9am, having a stop for lunch just north of Rouen (which incidently is a nightmare to navigate in a motorhome with dense traffic!), we managed to get to Calais for 3pm!!!!!! Some 300miles!
A rather choppy return ferry entertained the little'un who thankfully thought it hilarious that she couldn't stand upright, rather than finding it queasy! And by the time we got off the Ferry, we hit our first traffic jam in 1800miles!
Once the traffic did clear, however, Harry bizarrely seemed to have as much of a desire to get back as we did since I now found myself cruising at a true 70mph (gps) and he was well and truly in his comfort Zone. We motored back up the A2, M25, M11, A11 to home and were back sitting on our own couch by 8pm with a very happy young lady pleased to be back with her soft toy animals and bed.
[B][U]Harry had ticked over 40,202miles, which translated into 1,937miles over 13 days.
[/U][/B]
Not bad for a van which did less than 3k miles last year in my ownership!
In terms of breakdown of costs:
Ferry Tickets - 180quid return (inc. Club Lounge Access both ways)
Fuel (432litres, equating to 20mpg) - c. 400quid (fluctuated depending on exchange rate)
Paege Tolls - c. 250quid
Aires (4 nights - 11EUR) - 9quid
Total - c. GBP 839
Happy with that. Ok, so we had "free" accomodation with my Uncle and friend but if we had stayed in the van every night of the whole holiday , the costs would still not have exceeded 50quid for accomodation.
- ********
Well, very early on, we realised we had taken the wrong vehicle. That's not to say that he didn't prove to be supremely good at what he did. But we could've easily travelled quicker and cheaper in the X3 (saved on fuel & Paege since we were charged at light HGV rates) and spent the same amount of money overall on a couple of nights in an IBIS or similar.
What the motorhome is great for is picking a location and then touring it locally. I think our next trip to France in the motorhome will be Normandy - a short drive from Calais and then stay in that area - just going from place to place for 3-5nights. Really experiencing villages and towns.
What we learnt is that France is a kind of mecca for motorhomes after being in the UK where everyone thinks you're a gypsy and worried you're going to camp for months at a time somewhere. The facilities are superb and it is an acknowledged quid pro quo that you will likely spend money if you use the facilities. We loved how easy it was.
I alluded to it easlier, but the Referendum result made things different - markedly so. We were challenged in a street market in Pau - told to "F**k Off and Go Home"
:sick: by several people who overheard us speaking English which then made us feel quite unsafe when we stopped overnight in Vaas and were the only one English motorhome surrounded by French, Dutch and Belgian motorhomes. But that said, it also meant that we tried our best too. Whilst fluent in German, my knowledge of French is basic to say the least, but I always then tried to engage with my fellow motorhomers and order in French in Restaurants but it made us feel quite vulnerable for the last week of the holiday.That said, I do not want to get into a political debate.
All in all, in spite of the wrong choice of vehicle, in spite of the costs and stupid mileage undertaken, we had an amazing time. Although Harry was probably the wrong vehicle for this trip again, we love him and what we can do in him. We feel more settled than we have done previously and have no thoughts whatsoever about getting rid of him - just using him more cleverly!
Hope you enjoyed reading. Any questions, just ask!
P.S. - there are more photos coming but they're taking a while to upload to Photobucket.
Nice report.
I hope the feeling of rejection in the EU will calm down in time. If you equate it to the Scotland vote a similar thing happened. I could get political so will stop at this point. Now certain people have quit it can only help.
When I'm towing the caravan I actually find the slow speed comforting. Mind you, by avoiding stopping (harder with children), and some smart routing at Rouen, coming back from Le Mans we were arriving back in Calais with much faster vehicles....
I hope the feeling of rejection in the EU will calm down in time. If you equate it to the Scotland vote a similar thing happened. I could get political so will stop at this point. Now certain people have quit it can only help.
When I'm towing the caravan I actually find the slow speed comforting. Mind you, by avoiding stopping (harder with children), and some smart routing at Rouen, coming back from Le Mans we were arriving back in Calais with much faster vehicles....
Nice write up. I sympathise about young children. I have one 6, one 3 and whilst they love the camping, the travelling can be hard. Up until now from a base in North Kent we have limited ourselves to distances of a around 200 miles - New Forest, North Norfolk etc. Earlier this year we did South Wales having picked up some bargain second hand headrest mounted DVD's. It was out longest trip yet and whilst I always said the kids watched enough TV at home without watching it in the car, the DVD's transformed the journey......they will now be a regular holiday treat!!
Enjoyed reading that. Didn't expect to hear about the hostility towards the OP for being a Brit and TBH like many others I imagine am a bit shocked by it too. Glad we've shelved plans for foreign travel in our motorhome this year and will be sticking with the U.K.
Have to say though, and genuine apologies to the OP if this is too harsh, but seriously, what did you expect taking a little 'un with you on a trip that seemed to involve huge amounts of time driving? Knowing how slowly you'd be travelling - funnily enough I find it far more relaxing bimbling in the motorhome than barreling along in the car - surely you must have realised you'd be taking much longer to do the trip than normal? Id have had a lot more stops planned including possibly a couple of overnighters along the way instead of being stuck in the van for hours on end.
Seems to me that rather than choosing the wrong vehicle, you just didn't plan the holiday well enough. Anyways, enough of the slating, and once again apologies if I've offended so I'll just finish by saying it was an enjoyable read and after all the early problems with the van pleasing to read that it completed the trip without issues.
Have to say though, and genuine apologies to the OP if this is too harsh, but seriously, what did you expect taking a little 'un with you on a trip that seemed to involve huge amounts of time driving? Knowing how slowly you'd be travelling - funnily enough I find it far more relaxing bimbling in the motorhome than barreling along in the car - surely you must have realised you'd be taking much longer to do the trip than normal? Id have had a lot more stops planned including possibly a couple of overnighters along the way instead of being stuck in the van for hours on end.
Seems to me that rather than choosing the wrong vehicle, you just didn't plan the holiday well enough. Anyways, enough of the slating, and once again apologies if I've offended so I'll just finish by saying it was an enjoyable read and after all the early problems with the van pleasing to read that it completed the trip without issues.
Huffy said:
Earlier this year we did South Wales having picked up some bargain second hand headrest mounted DVD's. It was out longest trip yet and whilst I always said the kids watched enough TV at home without watching it in the car, the DVD's transformed the journey......they will now be a regular holiday treat!!
Very much this. When our kids were 5 and 2 we travelled to Bourdeaux, a 10 hour trip. Kids both had DVD players on the headrests, and other than toilet and fuel stops, they were completely entertained the entire journey. The next year we travelled the west coast from San Francisco to San Diego, then back up to Los Angeles, but this time swapped the DVDs for iPads with loads of downloaded iplayer content.
Travelled every 3 or 4 days for anything between 3-5 hours and the kids were again faultless.
I normally hate the kids using them around the house, but they come into their own when travelling in the car or on flights were there is not screens in the seat back.
Yeah, echo the above. iPad's are worth their weight in gold!
And with the age of the OP's daughter, can't help but think a more traditional campsite holiday would be better for her than some serious touring.
We drive the caravan down to Saumur (which is the same distance as Tours, Spuff) and we get the 4am ferry from Dover. Last year we were on the campsite just before 2pm.
The kids LOVE it, and I mean seriously love it. They make friends within about 5 minutes! Ours are 3 and 6 (nearly 4 and nearly 7).
They have kids club, the swimming pools, go carts, play areas, bouncy castles, etc. etc. Ours cry when they leave - they don't want to go home!
Maybe next time try a couple of good campsites spread over a couple of weeks. We're having 10 nights at the first campsite and 6 nights at another on the way home.
I'd recommend Les Castels sites. http://www.camping-castels.co.uk/ I'd definitely recommend this site: http://www.domainedelabreche.com/web/?lang=en
I know it's maybe not what you envisioned when buying Harry, but perhaps with your daughter at this age the serious touring may have to wait a few years?
And with the age of the OP's daughter, can't help but think a more traditional campsite holiday would be better for her than some serious touring.
We drive the caravan down to Saumur (which is the same distance as Tours, Spuff) and we get the 4am ferry from Dover. Last year we were on the campsite just before 2pm.
The kids LOVE it, and I mean seriously love it. They make friends within about 5 minutes! Ours are 3 and 6 (nearly 4 and nearly 7).
They have kids club, the swimming pools, go carts, play areas, bouncy castles, etc. etc. Ours cry when they leave - they don't want to go home!
Maybe next time try a couple of good campsites spread over a couple of weeks. We're having 10 nights at the first campsite and 6 nights at another on the way home.
I'd recommend Les Castels sites. http://www.camping-castels.co.uk/ I'd definitely recommend this site: http://www.domainedelabreche.com/web/?lang=en
I know it's maybe not what you envisioned when buying Harry, but perhaps with your daughter at this age the serious touring may have to wait a few years?
Thanks Rosscow - good tip. We certainly did have more campsite-like Aires in mind for the Atlantic Coast part of the touring, but didn't quite get that far in the end.
Antony - No problem about being direct in the criticism - I can take it! To be honest and completely fair to my daughter - she's a gem with travelling. We can do a whole day travelling with her without any issue. She has movies on the iPad, we sing-along to Music and she has magazines and books she entertains herself with. She's used to it since we have family up in NW Scotland, so she's been doing 9hr car journey since she was born. I think it is the touring element rather than the driving itself. But as Rosscow mentioned, perhaps a site for a week or so at a time is the way forward. We do that in the UK already (well, Long Weekends) but we'll see about doing France next year in that vein.
Antony - No problem about being direct in the criticism - I can take it!
To be honest and completely fair to my daughter - she's a gem with travelling. We can do a whole day travelling with her without any issue. She has movies on the iPad, we sing-along to Music and she has magazines and books she entertains herself with. She's used to it since we have family up in NW Scotland, so she's been doing 9hr car journey since she was born. I think it is the touring element rather than the driving itself. But as Rosscow mentioned, perhaps a site for a week or so at a time is the way forward. We do that in the UK already (well, Long Weekends) but we'll see about doing France next year in that vein.surveyor said:
I hope the feeling of rejection in the EU will calm down in time. If you equate it to the Scotland vote a similar thing happened.
Sad to see, maybe they'll calm down in time. Funnily enough, we were touring Scotland in the run up to their vote in 2014, and we did notice a distinct change in the attitudes of some towards us compared to previous trips up there. One waitress in a cafe near Skye became quite rude when she realised we were English, practically threw our food at us. We've just returned for ten days again, and everyone we encountered this time were friendly - well, except for one woman serving in a petrol station near Glasgow, but she was rude to everyone. 
Interesting write up good time had by all.
I live 8k from Vaas glad you found it it's a nice village nice location for travelling north/ south.
Re the Referendum we have not had any adverse comments so I'm quite surprised. But there's always the exception
Apple festival in Vass every October
I live 8k from Vaas glad you found it it's a nice village nice location for travelling north/ south.
Re the Referendum we have not had any adverse comments so I'm quite surprised. But there's always the exception
Apple festival in Vass every October
Interesting write up good time had by all.
I live 8k from Vaas glad you found it it's a nice village nice location for travelling north/ south.
Re the Referendum we have not had any adverse comments so I'm quite surprised. But there's always the exception
Apple festival in Vass every October
I live 8k from Vaas glad you found it it's a nice village nice location for travelling north/ south.
Re the Referendum we have not had any adverse comments so I'm quite surprised. But there's always the exception
Apple festival in Vass every October
Good to see Vass looking a Little livelier than it was when we were there.
Looked like a lovely little place and I have to confess; the School car park in which we stayed overnight was lovely and peaceful and a great Little "Aire". Little'un loved playing in the playground behind the church and it was super easy to mooch into town to grab the beer and baguettes the next morning. Perfect!
Looked like a lovely little place and I have to confess; the School car park in which we stayed overnight was lovely and peaceful and a great Little "Aire". Little'un loved playing in the playground behind the church and it was super easy to mooch into town to grab the beer and baguettes the next morning. Perfect!
Huffy said:
Nice write up. I sympathise about young children. I have one 6, one 3 and whilst they love the camping, the travelling can be hard. Up until now from a base in North Kent we have limited ourselves to distances of a around 200 miles - New Forest, North Norfolk etc. Earlier this year we did South Wales having picked up some bargain second hand headrest mounted DVD's. It was out longest trip yet and whilst I always said the kids watched enough TV at home without watching it in the car, the DVD's transformed the journey......they will now be a regular holiday treat!!
This. Our kids (now 8, 6 & 6) see a day of telly in the van as a holiday treat (IIRC the biggest day we've done is 9hrs total driving.) They also treat Bumpy (!?!) as a second home which means bedtimes are familiar no matter how much we're moving.We were away at the Same time, coming back the Monday after the vote.
But didn't have any hostility.
Shame your daughter didn't like it, I'm sure a campsite with a pool & slide would fix that. I can recommend following the dordogne to Bordeaux, lots of good campsites. Then make sure you use some of that 1t+ payload before heading home
Custard
But didn't have any hostility.
Shame your daughter didn't like it, I'm sure a campsite with a pool & slide would fix that. I can recommend following the dordogne to Bordeaux, lots of good campsites. Then make sure you use some of that 1t+ payload before heading home
Custard
Hi,
Great to hear that all is going well with Harry, sounds as though you had a great time very pleased for you.
We used to make sure that the kids had a lot of mixtures of various toys but not all given at the same time in order to create some more interest, but as has been said these days an Ipad is a real bonus.
I do hope that all works out well for you since the referendum.
We haven't been able to use our new van to its fullest yet because of our new house re furbishment, but we are booked on the ferry to Caen in Dec, really looking forward to it, plus once the house is finished in September we will get away for a holiday then as well.
Carry on enjoying Harry with your family.
Kind Regards
KT
Great to hear that all is going well with Harry, sounds as though you had a great time very pleased for you.
We used to make sure that the kids had a lot of mixtures of various toys but not all given at the same time in order to create some more interest, but as has been said these days an Ipad is a real bonus.
I do hope that all works out well for you since the referendum.
We haven't been able to use our new van to its fullest yet because of our new house re furbishment, but we are booked on the ferry to Caen in Dec, really looking forward to it, plus once the house is finished in September we will get away for a holiday then as well.
Carry on enjoying Harry with your family.
Kind Regards
KT
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