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Wednesday 9 March 2016

That first cuppa in your new (motor)home

Here are the promised photos from the weekend before last. We picked up the van on the Friday and parked it at our neighbour's over the weekend. I had the bright idea of going to a closed down supermarket to use their car park for manoeuvering practice. It's not me who will be driving it as my job is route planner and navigator (a navigator is still necessary despite sat nav; in fact as you probably well know, it is probably even more important to have a navigator when you have a sat nav...).

It took us all afternoon to do this simple thing, because most of it was spent trying to figure out our new sat nav and to try to get to the little town via the back roads, because the usual way we go in the car involves a narrow one way street in the centre of town and then another road with loads of annoying parked up cars, making the road really narrow. Not what you want to do when you are new to such a large vehicle. Eventually we made it and I gave K parking tasks to do which he did with ease and efficiency. Of course on the way back the satnav took us along a really narrow country lane.... luckily we didn't met anyone coming from the other direction! K has since read some of the manual and has a better understanding of how it works. I still haven't a clue.  


A few phone shots of the interior. The bed with the cut off section is mine as it's a bit shorter; K being 6'4" (195cm) gets the other one which is 2 metres long - a good length for a motorhome bed! There are good sized cupboards/wardrobes under the end of the bed. In fact storage is really good inside as there is a full length very deep wardrobe with shelves as well.


If you are buying new you get  a choice of upholstery but in fact this is exactly what I would have chosen, what luck is that?! It's faux leather but with no cats on board it won't get scratched to bits. For faux it's actually very much like the real thing - in the showroom I had to sniff it to tell if it was leather or not!



The table is in a lowered position because otherwise K can't get his seat back far enough - another problem with being tall! But it's easy to reposition and the two front seats swivel round so that five people could sit around the table. We only have one spare occasional bed which is made up using various seat cushions and the table, but it'll only be my brother using it for a few nights each year so we had no need for other beds.


Selfie in the bathroom mirror. :-)

On the Sunday we went to Etang de Boulet - it was partially sunny and lots of other people were out for a walk. But it was freezing with a biting wind! We walked a bit and took a few photos but as usual on lakes all the ducks were miles away.



In the distance were Tufted Ducks, Pochards and one Gadwall that I could only see on max zoom. The only waterbird which graced us with its presence close up was this Great Crested Grebe.


The lake was certainly full after all the rain in January and February. In September the level was low and people were walking on these grassy areas.



Somebody with a car had already taken the best spot but we still had a decent view of the lake from the van.



It was time to get the kettle on and test the gas hob. We brought Whistling Bob from home, but we've since bought a lighter kettle to use in the van. You have to think about payloads and how much everything weighs. We have a reasonable payload with this van (about 500kg after all the optional extras on board) so hope that with all our gear (and my brother!) we should still come in under the 3.5 ton maximum. We need to find a weighbridge somewhere to check when we are fully loaded.


I have absolutely no idea how I am going to cook in this tiny space with effectively no work surface! I think the table is going to be used a lot, and when it is warm we will probably barbecue rather than cook indoors. We've already bought our outside table and chairs and a mini gas BBQ is on order. That's another thing we are not used to as we are charcoal BBQ people as we like proper barbecue taste, but the little barbie has lava rocks which I understand help achieve that taste.


So I didn't take a shot of my cuppa but you get the idea. Knowing how cold it was outside it was so wonderful to be able to sit in relative warmth (no heating on) with a cup of tea enjoying the view. A flask of tea or coffee in the car would not be the same!



We've been ordering tons of accessories to kit the van out including such necessities as a thing to make toast on over a gas burner. It works, except crumbs fall through and burn making a stink.... the joys of camping.


My spare bedroom covered in new bedding - it's amazing how much stuff you need when you order for twin beds! As we prefer English shaped pillows I managed to get hold of the similar shaped ones which are rare in France - via mail order I was able to get both the pillows and matching pillow slips to go with the duvet covers, and we'll have a couple of French sized square ones extra to use as cushions if we want. I'm amazed though that the fitted sheets I bought in Ikea match the duvet cover perfectly, which I bought elsewhere!


This weekend sun, and lots of it, is forecast so we are planning a day out somewhere to test out the boiler, heating and hot water prior to actual overnight camping. Need to try out the toilet too. I just haven't decided where to go yet.... :-)

24 comments:

  1. I am very excited for you, fun buying all new stuff. Once you have been out a few times I think you will get use to cooking etc and how things work best.
    Hope the weather is dry and sunny for the weekend. It's bloody horrible here to day, cold,windy and wet !
    Amanda xx

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    1. Thanks so much Amanda. Yes it was vile here and I am surprised to not see trees down all over the place! Looking forward to some sun and dry weather to get on with garden jobs as well as have fun with the van. xx

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  2. Happy days ahead. Proper tryout is the worrying way to go. We went to Melrose and only panicked half a dozen times.
    :~》
    Can't quite see if you have space for it, but we have a fold down worktop. I'll send photos.
    xx

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    1. Good to know you only panicked six times, Nick. :-) Thanks for the photos! xx

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  3. It really does look the most enormous fun and you must be so excited :)

    The lake looks lovely and your mention of ducks being miles away rings a bell here :) Great photo of the Great Crested Grebe.

    Enjoy your trip out at the weekend and fingers crossed the weather is good :)

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    1. Thanks RR - seems like every time we go to a lake the ducks are over the far side and you need a spotting scope to see them - not really much fun in my opinion! But with the van we can go down south (in Brittany) to some places with hides where hopefully we'll see some waders etc closer up. Can't wait! :-)

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  4. Excited for you Mandy. I'm just getting in to wild camping/bushcraft.
    Slowly building up equipment and knowledge but, can't wait for my first wild camping trip!
    Your camper looks awesome and I'd probably want to swap places with you on my first night lol.

    Keep us updated on your camping travels xxx

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    1. You'll have to tell me more, Chris. That sounds like not even camping with a tent, but making your own shelter. Are you learning about wild plants that you can eat? I can tell you which weeds are edible, but they mostly taste horrible... :-) Thanks my dear xx

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  5. New adventures are always exciting! You will soon be settled in and comfy...I enjoyed the inside tour and photos of the lake and ducks! Have great travels and thanks for including us via photos :)

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    1. Thanks very much Juliet. Yes it is exciting - new packages keep arriving by mail order with all sorts of things. Annoying though that the set of melamine crockery had a broken plate in it. I will be sharing so many photos from our travels that you will get sick of them! :-) xx

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  6. Enjoy life while we can since it is the only one we have. And I see that you are. We all love you Mandy and am so happy that you are living it to the fullest

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    1. Never a truer word Virgil and that is why I rushed into this (although research had been done) as I didn't want to waste any time. Even if we feel it is not for us after a couple of years we will have had fun doing it and it will have got us out and about. Take care my friend. xx

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  7. wow that's a lot of fun. My folks were thinking about it, but cost deterred them.

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    1. Thank you Simon - sadly for most people you either have to win the lottery or someone close to you has to die and leave you some money. :-( But I am sure the recently departed would be pleased to see where their money has gone.

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  8. Grin - If you had of bought a proper phone then you would not need a SatNav. Real phones come with a better mapping system built in!

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    1. It was already built in, a multimedia centre with satnav and reversing camera. I much prefer a 4" screen which is easier to touch when moving than a flimsy small mobile! But it can be used as a back up if necessary.

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  9. A nice looking Van Mandy, just superb, tea and toast when you like and no hunting for the loo.

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    1. Absolutely Roy! Just perfect for mooching about looking for good spots to stop awhile. :-)

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  10. It looks lovely Mandy. I'm looking forward to hearing about your 'jaunts around France.' ;-)
    Do they only have square pillows in France then?

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    1. Hi Deb and thank you. Our 'balades' will give me new material for my blog as after a number of years I feel like I'm just repeating myself when it's about my garden!

      Yes the standard pillows here are 65x65cm; the rectangular ones are less easy to find, and bedding sets with this size pillow slip are practically non existent, except by mail order.... I used La Redoute as they also had a good choice of sizes (as our mh beds are narrower but longer than standard singles). Ikea also had fitted sheets which are close to the size mattress and I hope will fit! Will be checking this PM as K is bringing it home from the garage where it is stored, so we can start filling it with things! xx

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  11. Lovely pics of your campervan Mandy, I'm sure you will have lots of fun times in it.
    Have you thought about getting a halogen oven that you can use when you have electric hook up. They are brilliant, you can do a whole roast dinner in them and they are only the size of a large pan. Very energy efficient and only about £35 here in the UK so probably not that much more in France.

    Philippa xx

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    1. Hi Philippa and thanks! I hadn't heard of a halogen oven so I've been googling - which led me to Remoskas, which use even lower wattage which could be handier as some sites and aires only have low amps like 4 or 6amp hook up.

      I have had to learn a bit about watts/amps to figure out what kind of hairdryer I can use.... luckily I have an old travel one which is 1000w. Will be more interesting when we have only the 12v from the battery - I bought a gas powered heated brush/curling tong to try to restyle my hair after the complete mess I look every morning when I get out of bed! This motorhoming lark requires a lot of planning! ;-) :-) xx

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  12. This is such exciting news that you got the new camper van out and tested! It looks so sleek and compact inside, and I'm sure you'll adjust easily enough to lack of prep space for food (I use the table in our trailer). You certainly picked a pretty spot to tour around. I think these vans are wonderful! We have a trailer that hitches onto our truck, so it's even more cumbersome. However, we don't have the narrow European roads that you have to deal with. It's nice to have your own hotel with you so if you decide to go a little further it makes it all possible ;) Enjoy the ride!
    Wendy

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    1. Thank you Wendy. We've been out and about a couple more times now and think we have figured out things like heating and the boiler! Only time will tell and now awaiting some better weather hopefully in early April, so we can get out and start watching the bird migration. Later on we'll do more touristy things.

      We did think about a caravan (trailer) beause even though you need to go to a camp site you have a vehicle to drive around in, but the main reason for the motorhome is that when you are out in it during the day, you have your own kitchen and toilet with you! You also get the option do do wild camping. But of course if we want to visit medieval villages we'll have to park outside and walk! :-)

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