Low Cost Overnight Motorhome Stops in the UK

Zagan the motorhome is back on UK soil. He’s been winging his way north, diagonally across England, from the ferry at Dover to the CarFest festival near Cheshire. We’re into the school summer holidays now, so lots of campsites are charging rates similar to those that made our eyes water in Switzerland, so we’ve hunted out a couple of low cost overnight motorhome stops instead. 

On Monday morning at 8am Zagan rolled out of the motorhome aire in Sangatte and down the empty motorway to the ferry port. It was nowhere near as nerve-wracking as our last trip home in March. Back then Brexit was looming and the French border staff at the channel tunnel were on a work to rule causing miles of lorries gridlocked on the roads. After quite gusty conditions over the past couple of days, the ferry crossing was calm. I still ate several ginger biscuits as a sea-sickness precaution – any excuse. Just before 10.30 UK time, we were greeted by the white cliffs of Dover as we entered the ferry port.

We found our way out of the spaghetti roads of the port, we swear they have a meeting every Monday and change the routing for a laugh, and onto the A2. Our first stop in the UK was only a few miles away at Canterbury.

We’ve used the motorhome aire at the New Dover Road Park and Ride facility several times in the past (N51.26157, E1.10010). For £7 (it’s £3.50 per day, so you pay for two days if staying for the night), you get a nice quiet car park, a free service point (bins, two taps and a grate, but that’s all we need) and a free bus into the city. Councils across the UK would do well to learn from Canterbury – the aire was added with minimal cost, but must be a nice little revenue earner for them. There were around 30 motorhomes of various nationalities overnighting, and it’s become so popular that the height barriers into the car parking area have been removed and a second area signposted (if not line marked) for motorhomes to the right of the main parking area – this might just be for the summer.

It looks like the hot weather has followed us back from Europe, you’re welcome! So instead of sitting in a hot tin box, we hopped on the free bus (you use the ticket you get at the entry barrier) into town. We wandered around the shops and had a bite to eat in a pub. The town was as busy as I thought it would be on a Saturday, but it was Monday. Hardly any of the voices we heard were speaking English, so it felt like a bit of a transition for us. For the past two and a half months we haven’t been able to understand the voices around us, and have had to think before saying anything ourselves. In Canterbury it was lovely to be able to speak easily to shop assistants, bus drivers, bar staff once again, but with so many foreign languages being spoken, our ears pricked up when we heard English. Sadly it wasn’t always the scintillating conversation we imagine folks to be having when we don’t understand them, no deep political commentary, expressions of love or discussions on world matters, but even with my illusions shattered, it’s nice to be able to listen in once more. 

The high temperatures kept us from any sightseeing around the city, so Jay set up camp in Waterstones while I nipped between the cool of the shops, looking for things we might need for the festival this weekend. The queues got the better of me, and soon we were back on the bus and in Zagan for an afternoon snooze – neither of us having slept well the previous night with the alarm set for the ferry.

After a very warm night we fired up the satellite TV to find out who our new Prime Minister will be – it looks like we’ll have some interesting times ahead with the ‘Dude’! Just after Boris’ speech we hit the road, firing up Zagan’s cab air conditioning and hitting the motorway. Soon we were reminded what a difference there is between the UK and French motorways.

Fortunately we weren’t held up in traffic for too long and around 4pm we rolled into the car park of Kenilworth Rugby Football Club (N52.33712 W1.56254). The club kindly allows motorhomes to stay the night for £5. There’s water available if you need it and the club bar is open several nights (you either pay at the bar if it’s open or pop a note with your money and registration in the letterbox).

With our motorhome thermometer showing it as too hot to move for fear of melting, we deployed our heat avoidance tactics and then fell asleep, napping until it cooled down a bit. In the early evening we went for a walk around Kenilworth town centre which is about a mile away from the rugby club. People were making the most of the hot weather, sitting outside bars and cafes.

By 8pm it cooled enough to start thinking about food, but sadly was still too hot to enter the fish and chip shop. We breathed a sigh of relief as we walked into the cool of Sainsburys, half of the chillers with their covers down trying to keep the produce chilled. We picked up a few bits of fresh salad stuff and as we left the shop the heat hit us again. It was like the moment when you step off an aeroplane on your holidays.

We slept with all the windows and skylights open to try and cool us down. At 1am Jay leapt up and shut them as the sky filled with lightning. We’ve witnessed storms like this on the continent, our favourite was in Venice, but they are rare in the UK as far as we know. The lightning was so frequent your eyes couldn’t adjust fast enough, and the thunder so loud it made the van sway. For those few hours while it raged, we were glad to be parked near houses and goalposts, all taller than us.

This morning it was 26°C by 9am, so I was glad I got out for a short run around the town before it got any hotter. We plotted the co-ordinates for our rendezvous point with our fellow CarFest friends Richard and Jenny. It’s around three hours away, so we decided to stay here for another day and keep our cool. Jay headed out for a run in the heat of the day and took a tiny bit of pleasure from lying back in the shade on the grass outside the head office of where we both used to work. Watching our previous life work colleagues walking around wearing suits and lanyards, rushing from meeting to meeting I think it reminded him of the wonderful freedom we have in our lives these days since becoming financially independent. Something we’re both grateful for every day, but sometimes a scene like that really brings it home. It’s great to be back in the UK and we’re really looking forward to getting home to see our families and friends, but first we have a small festival to enjoy so you won’t hear from us for a while.

Ju x

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