It was just under seven weeks ago that Zagan the motorhome’s wheels touched down on English soil. In reality it seems like it was five minutes ago. The memories of tearing across France, getting recovered after a breakdown and making our tunnel crossing despite the best efforts of striking port workers are still fresh. Yet, already we’re off on our second motorhome tour of Europe in 2019.
Late in 2018 we were planning a motorhome tour of Europe, staring in January for seven months, culminating with us running the Zermatt Ultra (Jay) and half (me) marathon – which Jay ran last year – before heading home for the summer. Then I started to have doubts. Foremost in my mind was what we would do if the UK dropped out of Europe with no deal on 29th March. Back in December that was looking quite likely. If that happened the 90 day maximum stay in Europe in any 180 day period would start to apply to us Brits, as it does currently to folks from Australia and New Zealand etc. Working out the dates, we’d have to be out of the Schengen zone for a month or so in order to be in Switzerland for early July. Then Jay got an offer of some video work back in the UK for April and it wasn’t a difficult decision to split our seven month tour in two.
The video work didn’t happen in the end, but as Zagan had wheel bearing issues and I was having knee issues following my fall in Spain, coming home turned out to be just what we needed. So what did we do with those seven weeks?
Zagan Repairs
Zagan went to the garage for a full check up, has two new front tyres (as one had worn away on the inside) and has been to a specialist place for wheel alignment (he’s too big for most garages). We had a fun/nerve wracking time at the alignment place. Once we’d squeezed Zagan’s bulk into place on the lift Jay was told to get out leaving Zagan in neutral and with the handbrake off. ‘Are you sure?’ he asked, but the mechanic was adamant. I’m sure that’s OK for cars with a lot of space behind them on the lift, but Zagan was near the back and happily made everyone’s heart skip a beat as he tried to escape. Jay diving to get his foot on the brake before he reached the point of no return. It was then we realised Zagan’s only door was right next to one of the lift pillars, so Jay had to stay inside and they were both hoisted into the sky. It turned out the front alignment was way off and has been corrected. He now drives in a straight line, and hopefully won’t chew through any more bearings.
Human Repairs
My knee is now well and truly on the mend. I’ve been paying to have physiotherapy privately while I wait for an appointment through the NHS following a referral from my doctor. There’s still no word on the MRI scan, but I am booked in for a telephone assessment for physio later this month. Needless to say I am so pleased that we decided to take matters into our own hands rather than wait as I was in quite a lot of pain. After several sessions on the bike, cross trainer and weights in our local gym, I tentatively ventured onto the treadmill. It was slow going and as I only did half a kilometre, it almost like starting from scratch again, but it felt good. Knowing I was going away, my physio (KHPhysiotherapy in Nottingham) gave me a range of exercises I can do on the road, both in and outside the van, to carry on with my recovery.
Today was a big day for me, my first proper (ie outside) run since I fell at the end of February. It was 50/50 running and walking, but it felt amazing. I even raced a ferry, but it won – this time! Now I just need to get myself up to running non-stop again and start building up the miles. I am still hoping to take part in the Zermatt half marathon in just over 7 weeks.
Motorhome Tour Preparation
While we’ve been back Zagan has been treated to a few new bits and pieces. His SOG unit stopped working on our last trip, but Jay fixed it without breaking the bank, so we’ve bought a new filter for it.
Our back-up hard drive also died, but sadly we were unable to save it, so we’ve bought a new one. Luckily we leave a full back up of stuff at home before we set off, so it was only photos and stuff from our current trip – which was still on the laptop so we only lost a few hundred editions of Desert Island Discs!
After falling over and needing to use our first aid kit, we realised that most stuff in there was woefully out of date. We’ve now restocked it with lovely new stuff which we hope we’ll never have to use.
Our bikes on the back of Zagan aren’t expensive, but if they aren’t covered up on there they get plastered in mud and dirt off the road. Our previous bike cover was an emergency purchase from Decathlon (after we’d realised how dirty they get) and wasn’t designed for a bike rack, or even two bikes. However with a bit of gaffa tape it was made to, sort of, fit and worked for a couple of years. Sadly we could see its days were numbered as it had gone see-through in places and was about to fall apart. We treated ourselves to a purpose-made bike cover from Fiamma, and I have to say it’s the bees knees. It totally covers the bikes now, so no more damp saddle, and has a pocket for the signal board we need to display in Spain and Italy (the link takes you to an aluminium board which is required by law in Italy, you only need the plastic version in Spain).
We’ve also bought some new motorhome levelling ramps (or chocks as some folks call them). Our old ones had cracked through, so I bought some cheap ones off eBay, but they were tiny next to Zagan’s wheels and hardly lifted him up. We now have a set of Milenco Triples and while they weren’t cheap and are weighty, they’re sturdy too and should last longer than us!
If you have followed our blog for some time, you may recall that we had a set of Milenco Quattros a couple of years back. They were great for getting Zagan level, but they were only a couple of centimetres lower than vital parts of him (mainly his front bumper), and caused some damage when we would come off them on soft ground. Zagan is riding a bit taller these days after we had his front suspension springs changed, but we felt the Quattros might still be too big for him, so went for the Triples which are slightly lower.
We thought back to what we had cooked on our previous trip and decided it was time to say farewell to our trusty double skillet. We were mainly using only one part of it as a pan, possibly because we tend to be on campsites more these days and use our Remoska to oven cook stuff when on electric hook up. So, our pan cupboard now contains a large and small frying pan, a medium side saucepan and a small steamer pan set – in the hope that the latter will encourage us to eat more veggies.
Finally we’ve reached a possible compromise in the carpet / no carpet debate. We got Zagan when Charlie the pooch was in his older years, and his arthritis meant he struggled to walk on carpet-free floors, so we kept the carpet in Zagan. Charlie passed away last year and the carpet was always a bit of a pain to get out and clean, so we’ve bought a rug instead. It was £27 from Ikea and covers the main floor area well. It’s on a test run for this trip, so we’ll see how easy it is to clean and what a state it’s in after several beaches and a couple of months on the road. For now though, it feels lovely under my toes.
The Start of our Motorhome Tour of Europe
With Zagan prepared we got over the ‘hump’ of loading our stuff into him (I’m sure I have far too many clothes again), filled his cupboards and benches with food (it seemed very expensive last time we were in France), and set off.
The traffic gods were kind and we had a sunny, clear run down to Dover. Because of this we arrived a couple of hours before our departure time, so the lovely lady at P&O put us on an earlier sailing (we were still at the front of the queue for that one!).
With the satnav settings changed to kilometres, we rolled off the ferry, around Calais and into the aire at Sangatte (N50.94064, E1.74140) which is now our favourite first / last night stop. Having been here a few times before, we know the surrounding area, so Jay grabbed his running gear and set off for a sunset run up to the monument at Cap Blanc-Nez which looks out across the channel, before we settled in for a quite night listening to the sea.
After my run along the boardwalk this morning, we drove an hour and a half south along the coast to another aire we’ve visited a few times before at Stella Plage (N50.474385, E1.577494). This is one of our favourite aires as it is free and has a huge beach on the other side of the dunes. There’s a campsite next to the free aire (you can see it in the photo) and a small resort a bit of a walk away, but we’ve never ventured that far. The beach, peace and quiet are what we come here for.
We only have two things planned for this trip (apart from the date of our ferry home). A rendezvous with friends who will be on holiday in the Loire in a week or so, and the Zermatt Ultra and half marathon in early July. So, from the Loire we’ll probably swing east into the mountains to get used to running up serious hills before we race up them – eeek!
Ju x
Hope the weather is kind to you -it is unusually cold and wet in Slovenia and Croatia. Heading to the island of Cres tomorrow with the intention of staying there for a week or two. Xxx
Rain showers at the moment, but we’re getting out in between them. Enjoy Croatia, a great place for a holiday on any motorhome tour. Ju x
Hi,
thanks for your site. I have found many helpful tips here and I am still not done reading :) I hope you have a nice trip now, I am glad to see our camper on your blog – the Adria camper next to you on the last photo is ours – the one with the dogs, I am sure you’ve seen them :)
Hi Tom. We did spot your dogs, they looked like they had the good life with their own room in the garage. We’re still at Stella Plage, it’s raining now, but we will move on soon – honestly! It’s just so chilled here it’s hard to leave. Enjoy the rest of your adventures. Ju x
We used Stella Plage last year, were lucky enough to get a space quite late in the day. Great fun playing with our dog in the dunes so that she was tired enough for a long drive…..like a dog usually needs an excuse to sleep!
Love the blog guys, wishing you health and happiness.
Thanks Ian – same back to you guys! Jay
The weather is south of France has been really bad this last week. The campsite we stayed at for a few days was almost empty and we have heard of others being abandoned due to rain and cold. The good news is that it is definitely improving and longer term forecast is good. Have a good trip.
Richard
Hello both, glad you’re on he road again! Another pair of ‘homers’ in a cold/wet Croatia! Forecast is for better tomorrow. Enjoy your trip, Cheers, Helen and Andy
safe trip xoxoxo
Cheers Josh!
I’ve caught up on all of your back catalogue of travels and it’s great to follow this as we start our retirement in 2 weeks with a 6 week test run in the uk then off to France in September. Looking forward to future instalments hope it’s not as eventful as the last one. II couldn’t bear to watch the driving onto the recovery vehicle 🙈🙈
Hi Guys, have thoroughly enjoyed reading the info on your site and your blog. We are planning to do a 12 day tour of Brittany in September. You have certainly given us lots of food for thought about taking a year out to tour europe. This will be our first trip abroad in our Autotrail tracker and I dont mind admitting I am a litle nervous as well as excited. We will be travelling with our little dog and wondered if you can recommend a vets for his check before returning to the Uk via the eurotunnel.
Happy travels to you both, looking forward to reading your blogs.
Hi Liz
I’d be amazed it you weren’t a teeny bit nervous! It’s a cracking experience though, have a great time.
The Pet Passport’s known just about everywhere within a few day’s drive of a port – all the vets must depend a little on it and know it well. The details of the vets we used (plus a link to a Google Map with a ton of vets on it) are in this post, hopefully it’s of some use:
https://ourtour.co.uk/home/final-days-france-pet-passport-vet-trip-le-crotoy/
Cheers! Jay
We also used