Preparing our Motorhome for Another Sniff of Europe
Four days to go before we’re rolling under the Channel Tunnel again in Zagan, our 2001 Hymer B544 motorhome. We’re planning on spending a few months on the continent in 2019, although that’s about as far as the route planning’s gone! We’ve not even decided for sure where we’re aiming, such is the incredible flexibility of a motorhome as a means of travel. Andalusia’s been mentioned a few times, but then so has Greece, Turkey, Morocco and even the Alps. Anywhere south it seems, to get some winter sunshine before heading back north again for the spring.
Prepping the Van for a Tour
In terms of getting the van ready for the off, we’ve done this:
- Had the van serviced and MOT’d
- Replaced the brake pads and shoes all round
- Had the other front wheel bearing replaced as a pro-active measure
- Replaced the boiler valve so (hopefully) it won’t leak water outside
- Replaced the shower head, as all the holes were starting to fall out
Our van already has all the gear needed for a tour of Europe, and we know it works well up in the cold, although our M+S tyres probably aren’t legal in Germany these days, so we’ll avoid being there in winter. The final thing we’ve got to do is ‘unmothball’ the van, which basically means refilling and sterilising the fresh water tank. We’ve left this to the last possible minute and are awaiting some chlorine-free stuff (which won’t damage the boiler) so we can do it before we leave. In the past we chose not to drink water from the tank (after being ill a couple of times), but that led to us having to carry several water bottles, took up cupboard space and, although we used to refill them a fair few times, they weren’t great for the environment.
Shakedown Trip
Erm, we haven’t done one. If something breaks we’ll have to fix it wherever we happen to be.
Other Kit Changes
The only kit changes we’ve made this time around are:
- Internet: we’ve got a 30-Day Vodafone Internet SIM to go alongside the stalwart Three Internet with Legs 12 month SIMs we still have in our motorhome Internet system. We’ll give the Vodafone SIM a go abroad, and then write a bit more about the deal and why we went for it another time.
- Camera: we’ve replaced our much loved Sony DSC-HX100V with a Sony DSC-HX400V camera. Not very imaginative, but neither of us are big camera enthusiasts, and didn’t want to spend the big bucks on a DSLR or some such. These Sony cameras have cracking zooms and various manual controls which should be enough for us, and we only opted to upgrade as the older camera was proving erratic after being subjected to the dust of the Sahara.
- Book Reader: you can’t beat a Kindle for being able to carry a ton of books in a motorhome with none of the weight/storage issues. We’ve got a Kindle Paperwhite to go with our original Kindle, so we can both read books rather than spend endless hours thumbing our way through Facebook.
- Backup Hard Drive: I can’t remember if we told you about this before, so I’ll do it now. We carry a small portable hard drive with us in a bag when we’re not in the motorhome, so if our laptop gets nicked, we still have our photos and documents. We’re now using a Toshiba 2TB drive, which is compact, quiet, powered by the USB port and has so far proved very reliable.
Packing the Motorhome
On our first tour we spent an age working out what to pack, laying it out in rows on a bedroom floor, wondering where it would all go and whether we really needed it all (or if we’d missed something critical). These days, having packed and repacked the van seemingly endless times, we can throw everything together much more quickly. We’ve our own packing list to reference of course, so we don’t go and forget our V5C, passports, credit card, spare glasses and the like. So far some of my clothes have made it into the van, but not much else. Bedding and clothing will probably go in tomorrow, and we’ll get the fridge fired up on Saturday ready for the cold and frozen food to go in Sunday before we set off.
We’ve also picked up a couple of old mountain bikes which we’ll pop on the rack this time around. When we had Charlie with us we found we didn’t use the bike(s) much, but now we expect they’ll come in more handy. Neither of them cost more than £50, so if they get nicked from the back we won’t be too distraught (they’ll be secured with a couple of locks of course).
Managing the Brexit Risk
We’ve still no idea what impact (if any) Brexit might have on our touring plans. We’ve had a stab at some of the possible implications here, with the biggest possible issue being the Schengen zone restriction which could kick on at the end of March in the event of a no deal Brexit. This would mean Britons are restricted to 90 days in the Schengen zone in any 180 days (this restriction will kick in when the UK leaves the EU, it’s just a matter of when). We may also find our EU driving licenses are no longer valid. As it happens, a work opportunity means we’ll be back in the UK in early April, so we’ll be able to see what the impact will be on our personal plans before setting off again in June.
The Departure Plan
Our tunnel train is booked for Monday, so we’ll head down to the motorhome aire at Canterbury on Sunday. We’ll have a look around the city and then head down to Folkestone the next day. From the French side, we’ve a bunch of options for aires for a first night’s stay, with some of our favourites being at Wissant, Stella Plage, and Tardingen (or we’ll just pick a new one from park4night.com).
The Hump
As usual we’re encountering The Hump, which is our way of describing the whole range of things which try to hold us here at home: the need to say goodbye to friends and family, having to leave the security and ease of home, leaving our community behind to head out again to wherever. It does get easier, and it’s certainly more palatable when we’re doing shorter stints on the road than we used to, but it still takes a bit of doing to avoid simply saying ‘ah stuff it, we’ll just stay here’. Having a ferry or the tunnel booked definitely helps. As ever, we know that once we’ve out on the road we’ll love it.
Right, OK, we’ll get blogging again once we’re over The Hump and are rolling south. Cheers, take it easy, Jay
Bank card expiry dates! My credit card expires in April and as I’ll be in Europe from mid January I asked them to issue a new card before I set off but they wouldn’t do it. Computer said no.
Bon voyage 😁🌞🌍☀️🥐
Good point Dave, thanks! We had ours issued early from our two providers when we explained the situation, they just sent a ‘replacement card’ as if ours was lost. The replacement had a later end date. Jay
Hi both,
Looking forward to reading about your travels over the next few months to make up for the fact we can’t get our Hymer abroad for a while (waiting to see what restrictions will be applied to taking our dog with us) and are having to make do with short trips away here in theUK.
Hope youhave a problem free trip.
Dave at taraabit
Hi you two,
Happy New Year to you both. I will be liking forward to reading about your new encounters. I note your comment about drinking water from the tank, something we do not engage in at present. We are now returning to the UK after a 4 month round robin of France,Corsica,Sardinia and Italy. The last place we managed to find running water was in Avignon 4 days ago. Travelling this time of year can prove tricky,so it might be prudent to carry some bottled water. You might also want to take note of the predicted cold spell from the 14th. Safe travels. Carl and Lina.
Hi Jason & Julie!!
Have fun in France. We finally found ourselves with an empty calendar for the first time in….. wow….possibly ever.
I just booked a 1 way ticket from Newhaven to Dieppe on Friday 11th January and we intend to pootle around Brittany for a few weeks. This may simply involve staring at the wild Atlantic, but that’s better than staring at my spreadsheets of old.
We’re hoping that common-sense prevails over Brexit (yeah..right, it hasn’t yet) and we don’t all start forced repatriation of citizens. If you think about it there are millions of ex-pats on both sides of the Channel. It would cause utter chaos and I don’t even think it’s logistically possible.
Anyway, we’ll see how the madness unfolds. Luckily we’ve got our very worst people working on it it seems.
We’ll be tracking your blog so, if you are West of Dieppe we may catch up with you. (FYI Newhaven – Dieppe is now cheaper than Eurotunnel and it saves a lot of driving if you are heading to Western France).
So this will be our very fist open-ended road-trip. Possibly only a couple of weeks, but the open-ended nature of it makes it quite exciting, especially after so long with life getting in the way, and doing it’s very best to scupper our plans.
(“If you want to make God laugh then just tell him your plans”).
See you on the road sometime.
Take care.
Lee at http://www.gohumberto.com
Ah yes, don’t mess with fate! Agreed, forced repatriation isn’t on the cards for most folks, but for UK citizens wanting to spend over 90 in 180 days in Schengen (including those with holiday homes), life is (assuming Brexit happens) about to become rather more awkward. Such is life. Enjoy La France – we’ll most likely get off south in search of warmth for a while. Cheers, Jay
Happy and safe travels to you both,
another good first/last night Aire stop in France is Montrueil sur Mer (not actually on the coast!) but just off the motorway a good free Aire within easy walking distance of the town where the water is usually on even in winter. We are just about to head south in our motorhome to Spain and Portugal, we are currently at our house in South West France where it’s very cold now so looking forward to finding the sunshine.
Thanks Barbara. It is a good aire, we’ve been there a couple of times and found the main parking area full both times so we’ve ended up staying in the car park by the service point. Had a lovely walk and run around the town walls too. Being from Nottingham, the lure of the sea is too strong for us, so we’re on the coast for a few days. Enjoy your adventure and I hope you find some sun. Ju x