The Ferry is Next Week – We’re Gearing Up For Another Motorhome Trip
It’s been seven months since we legged it back from the most southerly point in mainland Europe to the UK in four days. What a few months it’s been for us all. It seemed back then like the world was imploding. Supermarket shelves were being emptied and diesel pumps running dry as we headed north. We could see fear in the eyes of the few people we came across, at a campsite reception and on manned toll gates. A few days in isolation after getting home, then the UK also locked down, and we entered a seriously changed world.
Arguably we’re not in much better shape now, after a summer hiatus, sadly the virus appears to be back with a vengeance. The weather’s turned too, the cool air and wet weather’s removing the opportunity to sit (distanced) with friends and family in their gardens. We daren’t sit inside with them, and this was recently made illegal by Nottinghamshire entering Tier 2 restrictions. One member of my family recently tested positive, thankfully they’re the youngest amongst us and other than not being able to smell and taste, seem to be getting through it OK. We’ve not seen them (or most other people) for months, so as far as we know, we’re clear.
We’ve been back and forth over the idea of heading over to Europe for the winter, and needed something to help us decide. The car we’d loaned from Ju’s parents did the job, when it finally failed its MOT and went to the Great Scrapyard in the Sky, prompting the question of whether to buy a car. If we got one and then went, it would be sat around for months, so we decided to delay the purchase, to go abroad and get one when we come back. Decision made, we’d go, but where?
The weather is a big factor in remaining happy while in a motorhome in the colder months, and although I quite fancied Greece or Sicily, Spain’s southern coast is by far the easiest way to get to the improved climate at lower latitudes, and to get back to the UK again should we need to. After the rough seas on our crossing down to Santander earlier this year, Ju was very keen to avoid that route again, but she was the first to suggest it when we finally decided to go to Spain, as we’ll have minimal interaction with people while on board so it felt the safest way. The Bay of Biscay, here we come, be kind to us! We were going to spend a few days camping in Wales near some friends in their rental apartment towards the end of October, but that area of Wales is inaccessible now, so we’ve pulled the ferry forwards and leave next week.
The Plan
The plan is to head straight across the country in a day or two to get to the campsite in Nerja (south of Granada) where we stayed for a month earlier this year. We’ll stay there for a while and see what things are like in Spain. We’ve researched local infection rates, guidance and rules but you can’t tell what it’s really like from the media, and we don’t want to be touring around if we don’t feel safe or won’t be welcome. The campsite is popular with folks over-wintering, and there was hardly a space when we were there earlier this year, but still very easy to avoid other people. We’ve heard from someone who stayed on the site a short while ago that it’s very quiet there, and the family who run it aren’t getting as many bookings from their usual repeat guests. Ju’s contacted them and we’ve got a place reserved for a month (it’s €400 per month). Our thinking is we’ll get down there and stay put, maybe until February or March (yes we’re officially becoming snowbirds this year!). Given the fact the 90 in 180 days Schengen Area restriction will kick in at the start of January 2021, coming back in February would allow us back into Europe for 3 months from May, so we’ll keep that in mind.
Paperwork
We try not to over-insure ourselves these days, and have an emergency fund instead to cover most ‘unusual’ costs. We are keen to cover any very high potential costs though, healthcare and repatriation in particular. We don’t have any existing conditions and are both fit and well, so we’ve renewed our EHICs (which may not be valid after 31 Dec 2020 although the foreign office website currently says they will be valid until we leave Spain), and have decided to buy travel insurance from True Traveller. They’ll cover us for the 5 months we might be away, get good reviews and will cover countries which the UK FCO says don’t go to. They won’t cover us for COVID-related health treatment though, so that’s a risk we have to accept. Our thinking is that the EHIC would cover us until the end of December and we’ve heard that Andalucía is thinking of providing automatic insurance for COVID for tourists staying on campsites (and in hotels).
Van Maintenance
We’ve had the van out and about a couple of times since the full lockdown ended, so it’s not been sat still for the past seven months. We’ve replaced the cracked window, and the only other problem we’ve had was the fridge, which refused to work on gas while we were on the North Yorkshire coast. Our lower vent is behind the bumper (curses!!!) and the screws were massively rusty, so fixing it had to wait until we got home. We managed to clear the blockage without removing the bumper, but as we’ve never cleaned the area behind the lower vent, the bumper had to come off.
A new rechargeable drill and bit set was procured and the bumper removed. A few folks had suggested there may be no vent and the fridge would have to come out forwards (arghhhh!!!!), but thankfully our 2001 B544 has a vent. Once removed, the dust of a thousand dusty desert miles was revealed (I’m blaming this off-road misadventure in particular), along with rather a lot of rust as the little plastic condensation tank had cracked and leaked onto the refrigerant pipe.
After much hoovering, blowing, flue cleaning and Hammeriting, the whole thing was ready for reassembly when the ignitor cable snapped off where it connects to the spark plug. Double curses!!!! For whatever reason it took the spares company a month to get the replacement cable out so we’ve only just been able to complete the repair. The cover for the fridge electrics is off to one side of the vent too, requiring a good half an hour to get the two screws back in, fingertips in the dark type stuff, triple curses!!! I love our van, Hymers seem to be such solid long-term vehicles, but the design decisions for the fridge on our model (and access to the ‘I can just touch them with one fingertip’ headlight bulbs for that matter) are highly questionable. Someone suggested I pop some silicon sealant onto the new bumper screws so they don’t rust away, which I’ve done, so hopefully the removal job will be easier in future.
We’d also bought a spare fridge burner and replacement jet (a tiny disk with a small hole in it which is more expensive by weight than moondust, probably). The existing one looks serviceable though, and whoever fitted it used silicon to seal/glue it to the gas pipe, so it didn’t want to unscrew and to avoid damaging anything I left it on. A bottle of water went in the freezer compartment last night and was frozen solid this morning, so we appear to sorted.
We’ve also had the van serviced and MOT’d by our usual garage up the road. They’re a great bunch and Norman, who owns the place, is a long-time owner of motorhomes so knows everything there is to know about them, including the need to grease the torsion suspension on the AL-KO chassis. We needed a new windscreen wiper and a rear brake drum/shoe needed replacing. Other than that we’re ready for action.
Bikes
We carry a couple of old (£50 each) mountain bikes on the back of the van. The bike cover had started to come apart and didn’t fare well on the fast drive home, so we’ve got a new one (someone suggested we get a heavy duty moped cover, but we’d already purchased). We’ve also fitted rear panniers to one of the bikes, so we can get heavy groceries back to the van easier (the supermarkets in Nerja are a couple of miles from the campsite, downhill on the way back thankfully).
Internet and Phones
After being tipped off on a previous blog post that Superdrug Mobile do an unlimited, no-contract £20 a month SIM with no restrictions abroad, we checked all the small print and then got in touch with them to just double-confirm they didn’t have any caps abroad for a five month trip. The answer (in writing): no, there are no caps. The SIM uses the Three network, so may not roam onto all networks in Spain, and may not allow access to UK-only services like iPlayer without paying for a VPN, but we’ve gone for it and picked one up anyway. If the speed is bad on the campsite, we also have a VOXI SIM (which they ship out for free), which uses Vodafone. Hopefully we’ll be able to enable this while abroad, but if not we also have the Spanish SIMYO SIM we got earlier this year. We’ve a ton of internet SIM cards! Our phones are both on 1pmobile.com SIMs, and we don’t have mobile data enabled on them.
The Hump
So, that’s it, the paperwork’s sorted (we’re waiting for a GB sticker to come from eBay!), risks assessed and decided upon, van fettled, ferry booked and packing in progress. We’re experiencing the usual ‘hump’, the difficult part of the leaving process which comes a few days before we go. Heading off means saying ‘bye to our running club colleagues, a wonderful (albeit mostly virtual at the moment) support network over the summer. It also means waving ‘bye to our parents, which is the hardest part. They’re happy for us to go, and we’ve made sure my parents can shop online so don’t need to go into supermarkets, but we still feel guilt. Us sitting in the Cooler all winter probably won’t be very good for our mental health though, so we’ve weighed things up and come to the conclusion we’ll go, and if needs be, come back at any time, either flying or driving.
We know the hump is usually short-lived. Once we’re out on the road, something about being in the van simplifies life, and we feel lighter and freer again, less anxious. I suspect Ju’s hump will extend a little further than mine mind you, as she’s understandably fearful of hours of sea sickness. She’s gotten in touch with Brittany Ferries and got us a cabin in the middle of the ship, to limit the vertical motion. The cabin also has a porthole so she’ll be able to see the horizon.
Packing
Our van’s in storage about a mile away, and although it’s pretty secure up there, we don’t like leaving nickable stuff like bikes, TV, laptops and so on while we’re not in there. Ju’s started shipping some stuff up there though, using our packing list from the back of The Motorhome Touring Handbook to work out what’s missing as we stripped way more stuff out than usual on our return from Spain. Over the next few days we’ll get Zagan loaded up, and probably head down south a day or two before the ferry. We’re keeping an eye on the news in case Nottinghamshire goes into Tier 3 restrictions, as we’re not sure whether that means we’d be unable to leave the county, and will be ready to go south sooner if needs be, a kind of reversal of the flight north earlier in the year. Strange times.
Cheers, Jay
Best of luck. Kind of scary heading into Europe but I’m sure you checked all you can. Enjoy your new adventure. I’ll watch for your updates. Take care.
Thanks John. 👍
i live in huelva. if you are up this way there are no problems parking on the beaches here.
you will feel safe here, everyone wears masks and sanitise there hands entering buildings.
all bars are open and pretty much back to normal apart from masks and social distancing. give me a shout if up this way and will have a beer with you :)
safe travels :)
pete.
Thanks for the info Peter, reassuring! Cheers, Jay
Weather has been glorious here at Nerja for last month.
Good overnight stop if you’re motoring from Santander to Nerja is Campsite at Aranjuez depending on when your ferry docks.
Thanks David, fingers crossed it will continue! We dock in the evening so will try to stay at the Santander aire for a night (or two depending on how rough the crossing was!). We stayed at Aranjuez last trip and wondered why it was full on some nights and empty on others until the receptionist explained that it was the midway stop for the ferries! Lovely town to wander around too. Cheers Julie
I’m a terrible ‘sailor’. It was only a few years ago that our son – who was in the Navy – told me that the trick is to start taking your Stugeron tablets at least 36 hours before you sail. He never suffered, but some of the crew did. Some even started the tablets a week before deployment. I did what he suggested, and I’ve easily survived some VERY rough crossings. Give it a go.
Thanks for the tip Di, I might start taking it now. Ju x
Such freedom! We Aussies need permission to leave the country and there are thousands of us stuck in foreign countries for the past 7 months, as only a few hundred people are allowed to enter Australia each day (compulsory quarantine in hotels are restricted in number). Naturally people have been prepared to pay First Class prices to ensure that they have a seat, which means most airlines aren’t able to carry any tourist class passengers. Not many can afford FC tickets, with the $3,500 14 day quarantine costs. There is a big push on by the government to charter flights, costing $2,000 per seat, and let some of the empty hotels provide quarantine, to get more Aussies home for Christmas. The New Zealanders have just been allowed to enter NSW without quarantine, so we have seen lots of emotional reunions by parents caught on one side or the other of the ditch (the Tasman Sea) from their kiddies, etc. meanwhile, here in Queensland, our borders remain closed to everyone. It means we are living almost ‘normal’ lives but don’t start dying from any cause, your interstate family can’t get to you without 2 weeks of quarantine. Not sure, why I thought you need to know what’s happening down under! Ha ha. I hope you find it interesting to hear how the other Commonwealth countries are faring. Have fun in Spain! We will all be experiencing it virtually, through you. So, no experience is too small to record … from our point of view! And I feel for Ju, motion sickness is NO fun at all! Fingers crossed for a good crossing.
Thanks for an insight into how this is being handled in Australia. We have friends who have just emigrated from there to France and had to get permission to leave! It’s a careful balancing act for the Government’s of the world, and not a decision I would want to have to make. We are fortunate to still be able to travel even if it is against the advice of our government. Ju x
That’s great news. Hope the ferry’ s kind to you. See you down here. I’ll drop you a line as we pass Nerja. X
Please do mate, it’ll be great to catch up. 👍 Jay
The Superdrug mobile SIM does allow access to iPlayer and all4 in Spain not tried the others. Also on a couple of sites we have turned off Auto Network selection and selected Vodafone ES and Esprit (Orange) for better speeds. So far this month have used 97gb this is after the 57 or so last month 🤞.
Enjoy your tour, stay safe👍
Fantastic, thanks for that John. I know it’s sad, but I do like my Bake Off fix each week. It feels like a bit of normality. Cheers Ju x
Hi Guys. Enjoy and Stay Safe. Will be following you on line. Best Wishes. John.
Hope your journey goes well. Will be interested to hear how you get on with the sea sickness tablets, last time we came back from Spain we had to get the econimie boat (mainly freight) and it was like a cork bobbing all over the place. Also, be interested in how you get on with your various sims. Looking forward to your updates. Take care out there.
Good luck. Have a great trip. We will be watching with interest. No trip away for us planned yet, but just spent 9 weeks in France, when I reactivated the daisydogtravelblog@wordpress.com, and will update when we finally get away. Have fun.
I´m sure being mostly outside in Spain will be much healthier than being mostly inside here. Enjoy your trip. Sounds great.
Hi guys,
We live in Andalusia now. We got our Residencia in January.
We are one of a handful of mountain villages that has had zero infections.
It’s quiet everywhere but safe. You just need to wear your mask and observe social distancing.
Safe trip.
Thanks Tracy – great to hear your village hasn’t had anyone infected. We’re well up on the mask/distancing situation, although having to wear a mask as soon as we step outside will be different for us – I’m sure we’ll get used to it quickly. Cheers, take care and thanks for writing, Jay
Hi, I’m down in Algodonales, Andalusia at the moment although not with the camper. Life in the villages seems back to normality with all the bars and restaurants open for business although all the waitresses are wearing face coverings. The face covering is perhaps the hardest thing to remember, I keep getting out the front door and then remembering! The Guardia are there usual efficient selves and always keen to spot individuals without a mask, there are on the spot fines for non compliance, however as soon as soon as you sit at a bar or restaurant you can remove it and breath easy once more. Have a great trip regards Al.
That’s good to hear, thanks Alan. Cheers, Jay
Julie, as far as the sea sickness goes, I also used to have problems till my father gave me this advice:
Strip off! :-)
He was in the navy for 23 years and what he said was, get the cabin as cold as possible and keep yourself cool. I have followed this for many years and so far it has worked.
Stay safe
I’m liking this advice a lot, thanks Roxane! :-) Jay
Hi J&J , glad you’re heading south, we’ve decided to stay put this winter (Isle of Skye) and hide in the hills ! We were talking to a fella in Spain a couple of years ago who stored his Motorhome at a secure long term parking place near Malaga Airport and took flights back and forth. He reckoned it was cheaper than the long haul every year. He said it was about £100/ month or so. We like the variety of the long haul ourselves but it might be an option if you need to come back in a hurry.
This will be our first Scottish winter for about 5 years so looking forward to hearing how you get on …..happy travels 🚍😀
Hi Both,
We’re on the final leg of a 4 month mainly Scandinavian/ Northern Europe tour and can confirm that life has seemed pretty normal with just masks and hand sanitizer required.
We had to transit Finland and Lithuania but otherwise were able to enter and stay without quarantine approx 12 other countries.
In reality it feels like we are jumping into the fire returning to the UK, but will try to follow you to Southern Spain in January 😀
Have a great trip, we will follow the blog
Mike and Gerry
Soo absolutely swears by Avomine for sea sickness, following November fun on the Cap Finistere a couple of years ago. Sturgeon didn’t work for her, though she didn’t take it days in advance. Avomine knocks you out as well, which helps get through the night.
Deeply envious of you getting away to Spain. Four trips we’ve cancelled this year, though I still harbour ambitions for one last go before the end of the year. I’ll be watching your travels closely!
I’d hesitate to stop over at Aranjuez – makes perfect sense for your route, but it’s a commuter dormitory for Madrid, which is still where some of the biggest problems are. I’d head straight down the A66, where it’s all pretty quiet Covid-wise and only turn east around Seville. It’s not like you’re in a hurry, right?
Stay safe and buen viaje!
James
Hello can you tell me do you need to have a covid test 7 days before you travel,we have read this somewhere,only we are hoping to do very similar to you.Many thanks and safe journey.
Hi Ricky – I guess this will depend where you intend to travel to – the FCO website is probably the best place to check – there is no such requirement for Spain at the moment. Good luck mate, Jay
Hi – Just a thought after reading from your link about the Andalucian Covid insurance – it says if you catch it in Andalucia; does this mean you will need a negative test result at some point (arrival?) just in case? Otherwise how do you prove you didn’t bring it with you? I suppose if after fourteen days you catch it then you must have caught it there?
Either way, totally envious – ENJOY! Looking forward to more blogs
A
Hope you have a safe journey, look forward to reading about your travels.
Hello JJ,
I think you made the right decision. Even when all Brexit rules will come into operation, the official people from borders/ferries won’t act against a ‘normal motorhomer’. As you can get food from supermarkets you are in a motorhome safer from social contactes as you would be in Kimberley.
We just returned from a 2 months tour through Germany & felt very safe, because everyone kept distance & wore masks.(Of course no problems with Schengen.)
But really:— what would they do to you, if you stayed just a little bit longer?? I believe —-nothing.
safe travel , lots of experiences & a good life in lovely Spain with a nice winter climate Heide from Herne.(now a Corona hotspot) Germany
“what would they do to you, if you stayed just a little bit longer?? I believe —-nothing.”
Hard for us to know Heide. Maybe to start there will just be warnings or Schengen over-stays will be overlooked? Other non-EU travellers report occasional fines and (for more serious cases) being banned from visiting the Schengen Area. How will the various ferry and tunnel routes back into the UK be policed? We’ll only find out in 2021 I guess. And even then, if political games get played then the rules could be tightened up at any point. The idea of travelling with the knowledge we were technically illegal immigrants wouldn’t be very relaxing I think, so our plan’s to stick to the rules.
Cheers, thanks for the info and greetings from another Corona hotspot (Nottinghamshire has many cases now). Jay
Hello JJ
what about a short flight home & back to Spain, while you leave Zagan in Spain? Will after your return to Spain the counting of 90 days start again?
What does your AAA offer?
Hi Heidi. As I understand the law, we’d be able to fly out and back, and the time we were outside Schengen wouldn’t count against the 90 days. It would need to be somewhere secure as our insurance isn’t valid if we’re in a different country to the van for more than 48 hrs (I think). Jay
I do envy you both, biting the bullet and going. I had planned a trip this year through France & Spain, around April/May. But we were stopped when the virus put the block on that. As we live in Bournemouth/Poole, we were going from Poole to Cherbourg by ferry, (but that option no longer exists.) It was going to be down to Millau, then via Lourdes, across to Santiago de Compostella, down to Fatima, finally down to the bottom of Spain.
Sounds like a religious trip, and was mainly for my wife’s sake. She is Catholic, originally from Colombia. My main problem being my age. The wife is 68, and I am 82. We are both healthy apart from minor ailments, and age related pill popping! However I am the only driver, so if anything happened to me, she would be stuck. I looked at your insurer, True Traveller, but they don’t insure anyone over 65. So, I wish you luck and good health on your trip, and look forward to reading your blogs for your trip. Regards
Thanks Brian. I’ve felt privileged to be able to travel in the past, but never more than right now. The best of luck to you both and hopefully 2021 will allow you to get out on that magnificent tour. 🤞Jay
Good Luck!
I think you are doing the right things. As you say the worst case scenario is that you have to come back. Spain seems a better option to the UK which just seems to be a mess and with the winter rolling in being restricted to the 4 walls every day will be bad for mental health.
Some sunshine and a milder/warmer climate will mean you can go running, cycling and walking and have more opportunity to roam that in the UK.
Enjoy and look forward to reading your posts from Spain :)
Hi guys,
Love Nerja and spent a few months there over winter this year in our motorhome. I am interested to know what site you will be using. We are hoping to head that way in November after we are released from lockdown in Wales. Enjoy your trip
Hi Tim – it’s this one: https://www.campingcortijosanmiguel.com/. Cheers, take care, Jay
What can I say? You are só right to do this and we will enjoy your blog posts and pictures!
Have fun and be safe!
Good luck!