28/06/2008 - Moving towards Paris

We set off from La Crotoy fairly early, around 10am. We seemed to be the first ones up, out of around 14 other Motor Homes. We’re not used to being the first ones awake, ever. There were a few people with little dogs which must sleep in their vehicles taking them for a morning walk along the beach, it was all very peaceful and we couldn’t believe how quiet the roads were from around 9am-10am. Hardly anyone to be seen. We had a coffee in the sun, and moved on.
We headed down the D940 towards Abbeville then moved east on the D925 then south on the D938 until we reached Albert. That sounded quite easy just writing that, but I can assure you it wasn’t. We’re still getting partially lost every so often, but we’ll get better with time. Mike’s great Granddad is buried in one of the British War Cemeteries in a place called Dermancourt just south of Albert. We parked up on the side of the road and paid our respects. It was very humbling, and we met two other English people and it was nice talking to them about their experiences thus far on their trip. Mike’s Great Granddad was called W. H. Hunt who fought in the London Regiment, and died in 1916, we think during the battle of the Somme, and he was stationed in Dermancourt itself. The Cemetery was very pleasantly kept and is clearly being looked after by the War Graves Commission. (Picture: Parked by the side of the road in Dernancourt)

We knew that by the end of the day we wanted to be near Paris, as we plan on going there tomorrow. We won’t be driving in the centre of Paris though, that would be suicide. We had a few Aires in mind in a place called Coupvray which is next door to Disney Land, and we drove down there (again on the ‘D’ and ‘N’ roads) passing through the busy city of Amiens in the process.

We didn’t find the Aires, well we found one but it was 17 Euros per day and it was directly in the centre of Disney Land, so we passed on that one. We headed back to a smaller town we saw called Esbly and thankfully we are now currently parked directly next to Esbly train station, and we haven’t been asked to move on yet! Touch wood it remains that way, as Eric is staying here tomorrow whilst we get the train into the capital. Not another Motor Home in sight in Esbly, but it’s another peaceful, pleasant town, filled with Bars, Brassieres and Hair Salons. (Picture: Parked up by the side of the Railway Station in Esbly)

We had to fill up Eric today, and diesel cost 1.42 euros/per litre which works out at about £1.16 - so a little cheaper than in the UK currently.

My shoulders ache now, must get some sleep. Early start tomorrow - the Eiffel Tower awaits!

(Mike by his Great Grandfathers grave)

(Dernancourt British War Memorial)

24/06/2008 - We've arrived - The first few days

We made it. We are in France. Thank the lord! I knew we were coming, but I guess I always thought it just wouldn’t come, as if I’d forever be saying “We’re going away in 6 months, 5 months, 4 months” etc but we’re officially here now!

Since Monday, every day has been really quiet hectic. We were absolutely non stop on Monday, getting our safe fitted (thanks Glenn), going into Southampton and Eastleigh to buy lots of bit’s that we’d either forgotten or just left to the last minute, packing and saying our goodbyes - it was just manic from sun rise until we’d finished watching Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere at about 2am on Tuesday morning. What a fantastic way to end the day, and a perfect way to mark the beginning of our trip.

We were up on Tuesday at 5.45am and drove up to Mikes Granddad’s where Eric was parked, filled up with water, loaded everything up and we were on the road before 7am to get to Dover for our 12.05 sailing with Sea France (£36 for two and a motor home! Cheap as chips.) We arrived very early at around 10am as traffic was non existent in most parts and we were put on the earlier sailing of 11.05. We weren’t first in the queue but we were put on the ferry first, which made us feel quite smug, and of course that meant we were first off when we reached Calais - which made us feel even more smug.

We arrived in Calais and it only took us a few minutes to get off the ship and out onto the main roads. By this point we have not had to show our Passports once, not even to the French authorities! We hope this care free attitude applies to all our border crossings, although we don’t expect it.

Driving on the right hand side of the road took around 13 seconds to get used to, it’s really easy. It seems that everyone and everything is so much more laid back than England and we’re were still only in the port of Calais. We headed down the D940 along the coast line and we were heading towards Berck-sur-Mer where we knew there was an Aire de Service, thanks to our ‘Camperstop Guide Book‘, and also thanks to two gentlemen on the MotorhomeFun website, whose usernames escape me at present, but we thank you for your advice all the same.
We passed so many places for Motor homes were parked in the first 50miles along the D940 and it gave us great hope for the rest of our trip. In England parking anywhere in any vehicle is practically prohibited, but it seems here that Motor homes are welcomed and encouraged.
We didn’t find the Aire in Berck-sur-Mer. This may have been because I had been driving for so long and didn’t get much sleep last night, and Mike was quite ill so needed to sleep, so we were hardly at our most observant by this time. However, we did find a large car park in the town of Berck where 7 other motor homes were parked, there was no electricity or water or and services at all, but we were safe in the knowledge that we were not alone. We settled down and got an early night.

We awoke early Wednesday morning and had breakfast before walking around town and stumbled across a market place selling all sorts of fruits, cheeses and bon-bons! We are on a very tight budget, so needless spending is off the agenda - but we did get a free tester of French cheese so we were already 1 piece of cheese up. That’s probably worth about 10p. Good news.
After spending the day in Berck we took the short drive to nearby Le Crotoy, again down the D940 and after about 30 minutes of going back and forth trying to find the Aire, we stopped and asked a chap outside his house for directions. He didn’t speak English but he told us left, and it was literally two minutes from where we were. Our first Aire! Hoorah! (Pictured left) It was actually a quite joyous moment, we’d found an Aire and nobody can tell us to move on! Parking costs 5 Euros for 24hours and for 2 Euros we got 55 minutes of electricity and 10 minutes of drinking water.

When filling up with water, we were using two 1.5litre bottles, and we thought that was alright. We attracted quite a crowd though, and someone quickly came over to lend us their large watering can! And two minutes after that a different man gave us his hose to use, we couldn’t believe peoples friendliness, we were pleasantly surprised. We’re the only English here, but I don’t think people are holding that against us.

We’re now going to head to the beach as it seems that we’re about 2 minutes walk from it, but we’re not quite sure. It’s 19.50 and it’s still lovely and warm, not a cloud in the sky.

I could get used to this Motorhoming lark.

(Below: Another view of our Aire in Le Crotoy)

09/06/08 - 2 weeks until we leave

I never really planned to write a blog of our trip, until someone on Motorhometoday.co.uk suggested it, and I thought it was a pretty good idea, so here we are. (That's Me in the above picture)

Here is a list of the countries we're doing between the end of June to December 2008: France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Belgium, Luxembourg and finishing up in The Netherlands. So in total 19 countries, with an average of just over 9 days in each country, not necessarily in the order posted above though...

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It's two weeks today until we head off to Calais from Dover in the first ever motorhome we have had, so I'm starting to write now as there are quite a few things going on, or at least there should be. The motorhome we have is a Mercedes Autotrail Mohican, it's a 6 berth (apparently) and it has a lovely little bathroom thingy-ma-bob on the back... Nice. Oh yeah and the motorhome is called 'Eric', named after Mikes Grandad who died this time last year. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be going on this trip at all, so Cheers Mr Warner. (That's Mike, above).

We drove the motorhome for the first time in about 5 months yesterday, and Mike drove it for the first time ever! He only passed his driving test a month ago, so I was a tiny bit concerned about if he'd be ok driving it - I needn't have worried. I drove it to an empty car park on the outskirts of Winchester, where Mike took over. There were no problems at all, he handled it really well and we promptly took it out onto the open road towards Petersfield, but stopped prior to there, as we were lured towards a pub by it's sign on the side of the road; Had a quick half a pint, and moved on.

We drove it down the M27 a little bit and got some good practice driving in the dark. It was really nice being the passenger actually, everywhere we have driven Eric before has been me in the driving seat, so I really enjoyed just sitting back and thinking about the potentially epic trip we have waiting ahead of us.

It's going to be a hectic 14 days. There are so many things which need doing. The reason we left it so late for Mike to drive the thing was because we have had a nightmare trying to get it taxed. We had to send away for a logbook to prove ownership, and that took longer than expected - we were getting a bit worried to be honest! Why is it such a hassle to give the government money through the form of tax? Sure I could understand it if we were trying to claim money from Mr Brown, that the process would take so long, but simply to give money to him? It's been such an effort. Grrr.

Anyway, here is the list of things we need to do/purchase before we set off on the 24th June:

- Put it through an MOT

- Get a bike rack attached to the rear

- Fix the rear reverse light which is cracked

- Buy and fit a safe

- Buy a clamp/wheel lock

- Buy a set of spare bulbs

- Buy light invertors + reflective jackets

- Get two new wheels for our bicycles

- Buy first aid kit

There are probably more things too. Actually looking at that list it doesn't appear horrendous, but considering that Mike has college exams up until we leave, and I am working full time until the 16th, it gets a little more daunting. It's alright though, in the last week we're going to blitz through everything - it'll be a rush but it'll work out. :)

All day everyday at work I'm just surfing the internet looking at motorhome websites, reading reviews of previous trips that people have done, or just browsing through pictures of some of the places that we're going to. I think I'm just a bit excited.

That's all for now, cheers, James.

hello everyone, this is Mike here, thought i'd put in my 2 cents. so the trip is only next week its about bloody time :D this trip has been in the planning process for so long, but now things are in the 'doing' phase and its great. this trip has been the only thing keeping me sane at college, ive been dying to travel for a few years and its like next week we're going which is abit unreal really.the beauty of this trip is the motorhome, its gives us complete freedom which is gona be a great thing to experience. it will enable us to really experience the countries we are going to. the real character of places are off the beaten track, which are usually inaccessable to many travellers, but to us there are no constraints. for me this trip is more than just travelling. its a spiritual awakening, espeac at 19 its time to look to the future, my views and opinions have changed quite a lot the last 2 years and this trip is further exploring who i really am. being away from familiar things will be nice, just to get away from my town and the streets i have walked for over 10yrs is gona be sweet, ive had enough and its time to leave.i'll leave it there, i'm sure you will hear from me sometime int he future, i wanna use as little familiar things as possible when away so i'll be staying off the interent, off the phone, just cos i'm sick them really, sorry to say. so you wont hear from me for awhile. but take it easy, relax, have a cuppa tea and i'll see you soon. Mike