France July 2013

Waiting to embark.

Its been a couple of months since our adventures in France came to an end, memories are fading so I'd better get them down.
Start off on the 16th of July we took a couple of days to get down to Dover, calling off at Hayfield in the Peak District for the night, wanted to visit a friend there, then Canterbury so we were in a good position for the ferry. Record breaking temperatures in London as we were sitting on the M25.
On arriving in France we headed off for Honfleur, never seeing a hint of Calais, picking up where we left off last year, stopping at the Aire there, finally after a year of waiting we had our meal in a restaurant by the quayside, bliss.

Our van on the Aire at Honfleur.

Next stop was Mont Saint Michel, could see signs of the Tour de France that had gone through the area a few days earlier. Stopped in the car park over night, we were getting the hang of living off the leisure battery with the fridge running on gas. Walked along the causeway onto the island there and back. Think we did our first French geocache of the visit.

Mont Saint Michel

La Rochelle was the next port of call, first stopping off just outside at Coulon, a little village with an Aire, could have done with more time here, a little more exploring, but that could have been said of most places we visited. The main reason for visiting was that it was close to La Rochelle and if we couldn't find anywhere to stay we would go back, no need to worry we found a campsite in the city itself. Another evening on the town and we were starting to get in the swing of things, practicing the French as well as enjoying the street entertainment and taking a ride on a Ferris wheel.

Carlotta @ La Rochelle

Would certainly visit here again and have been told to go onto the adjoining island.

Off now too the Pyrenees where we spent a whole week in a site at Estaing with a visit to Cauterets-Pont d’Espagne, and Lourdes. The journey to the Bridge of Spain was very nervous, twisty with plenty of subsided roads, we were able to admire the panoramic view of the famous Lac de Gaube, praised by the famous author Victor Hugo and the Romantics, higher up in the mountains but easy accessible to us as we took the cable car and chair lift. On the way back to the campsite returning through Cauterets which like other places around midday had looked like a ghost town, was now party central, we never got used to that.
Lourdes was a place we felt we had to visit being just down the road, it was fairly interesting but felt it was just like Scarborough but without the kiss me quick hats, very tacky.

Campsite Pyrénées Natura

Carcassonne was next on our list, well worth the visit, maybe could have done with another night. Another Camping in the City site, we had been looking for an Aire but having got disoriented and taking the van on a little scrape along the ancient city walls I was glad to find this site.



Carcassonne

Oradour Sur Glane, two nights here and a very moving visit, saw this place on the opening of the landmark series The World at War, again on an Aire, free but no electric except for very short period, by this time we were adept at living without a hook up, just off the leisure battery, running the fridge off the gas. The new village is modern of course with some nice little bars which we never got to use, pity. We had an evening walking around the area and a whole day in the martyrs village itself.



The Martyrs village

Blois is the is the capital of the Loire valley but for us was just an Aire stop off on the way to Calais and home. By this time the heat was really up there, all of us were feeling it including Felix.

Felix "chillin"

Only just getting used to the lifestyle but the heat slowed us well down, once again wanted more time here, but the three weeks was a real learning curve, in terms of how to travel over longer period as well a abroad in the van.

The van itself performed brilliantly and the cruise control was a god send as was the shower.
Now just looking forward to Easter and the Côte d'Azur.

Off home.

21/10/13 and finally finished this page sitting on a very we pitch in the Lake District.

 



Its a Hymer (again)

Hymer Tramp GT

 

Well the MOT didn't go well, lots of minor things to sort out, mostly electric. Aberdeen is a pain in the arse if you want anything like this done and impossible to get it done cheap, had got a Polish auto electrician lined up to give it a look over, he went on a drinking binge apparently, 2 weeks later and he was still on it. In the end decided to cut our losses and really start all over again.

We started looking around for yet another van, we knew what attributes it needed to have and put the old one up on eBay, spares or repair. Paid a couple of visits to Perthshire as there are two good reputable dealers there and took our time, we actually missed one we really wanted but that was a blessing in the end.

When we spotted the Hymer Tramp GT it was love at first sight and Perthshire caravans we great people to deal with. We've had the van for a couple of months now and had a few little jaunts out and about along the Moray coast. Its near brand new only done 7000 miles, the interior is very smart and modern, interior décor can sometimes be a little garish but not this one. Funny thing, as you can see in the photo, it was parked right next to a Mobilvetta driver 52 which was our first camper.

My summer vacation starts next week and we have 3 weeks in France planned, making our way to the Pyrenees via Honfluer, Dover to Calais this time seemed a better route.

 

Interior details

 

Its been a poor spring, about a month late but weather has been good over the last few weeks, got out on some great walks mostly over Dufftown way up in the Ladder hills. Geocaching has been sparing, but I have my eyes on some over a few Munro's but there is still snow on the Cairngorms.

 

Well that us up to date I guess but really must write these things up as they happen.



Autumnal October.

Ben Venue.

Picked Diane up from work on the Sunday afternoon and sped off to The Trossachs, stopping at Cobeland camping in the forest site for two nights. The site was almost empty during the time we were there, a pity as the area was very pretty with the autumn colours and mists. I spent the day climbing Ben Venue, It started out as what looked like the prettiest of walks, but due to forestry work it turned into a mucky muddy dangerous mess, detours adding a couple of extra miles and hours on to a very tedious walk. I finally got to the top of Ben Venue, in cloud so no view. Had to resort to a back up plan, came off the mountain via Bealach nam Bo where Liam Neesam used to run his rustled cattle, sorry that should read Rod Roy, that was the best move to make, took about 4 1/2 hours up and 2 hours down.

Rested my legs on the journey down to the Lake District for two night there, turned up at the Caravan Club site only to find I hadnt booked, it was at the Caravan and Camping Club site just down at Troutbeck Head where we were to be. This turned out great, a little closer to the fells and other walks, I didnt need to move the van which is always a bonus. I think I prefer this site to the other, we have been to both, and I'm sure we will go back, when we cant get into the Keswick site.

The following day I climbed Blencathera,  a better day out even if the cloud was low again giving nothing much in the way of views. I had been hoping to go up via Sharp edge but I couldn't find my way on, not had much luck in the scrambling side of things, after a look around, visibility about 25 yards, I gave up and took the easy path to the top, but all in all not a bad day.

Van at Troutbeck head, background Blencathra.

Again after a couple of nights we left to see the kids on Teesside. We took the young ones to Whitewater campsite on the river Tees, just for the night, which they seemed to enjoy, especially watching Despicable Me. I took a walk over Carlton Bank, easy going and a nice wind down from the other walks.
The van performed well no trouble from it, feel a little more confident about it. The arial worked well and we thought a bit more about doing up the inside, what we might do here and there. I did give it new wheel trims before this trip.

Portsoy

Portsoy sunset.

We had a short weekend at Portsoy, first time outing in the new van, on a nice little site run by Aberdeenshire council, right on the sea front. We arrived on Saturday, noon and left the same time Sunday, took a walk around the bay in the evening. Living four floors up in the city the van is our garden, its just great to get out and have a different view, we prefere a view of the sea.
I replaced the camlocks on the bonnet, they came with multi-cam fitting which was lucky and one configuration worked, now I can get rid of the terrible bodge job of buckles, new travel catch on the fridge. We found that when the toilet or hand basin tap was turned on, water also came out of the shower, going to seal that off, wouldn't really use it as there are plenty on the sites we stop at, may even turn it into a wardrobe. Still looking for a substitute for the site at Cullen, this wasnt quite it.
Got plenty to do to her before before the October break, I have started to learn French.

Our new van.

We got our new van, well new to us. Its a Hymermobil B564 ‘A’ Class, a design classic, 1991. It has a Fiat Ducato  2500 cc engine and chassis, ever since we started Campervaning we would see the Hymers buzzing around and admired them.
We bought it from Leeds and in bringing it to Aberdeen covered 339 miles, I worked it out that we got 27 mpg, I filled it up twice with £40 worth of diesel each time, 57 litres in total. We suffered no mechanical problems.
When saw this one for sale, it was a bit different, decor wise but all that was superficial, once we started cleaning and measuring and really getting to know it.  Became quite obvious its under gone a lot of bodging from some of its owners, cant believe some of the handy work its had over the past 20 + years.
We have started working towards getting it a bit more shipshape, plans are afoot and it is already looking better, we got rid of the black carpets making it a whole lot brighter, managed to drop a cable down from the flat and gave it all a good vacuum and steam clean.. If it lasts us over the next 5 years that will do fine.
Next weekend we will spend our first night in it, going to Portsoy and I start my French classes.
I dont have any photos yet but this is a very similar model. David Bowie and the B534