Where Have You Been In Your Van Today?

[Jonesy68]

Finally back in Blighty. Amazing trip 24 days and 2814 miles. Biarritz was amazing after a night's sleep and a belly of beer.

Found an amazing retro McDonald's on route to La Mans.



If you just need somewhere to stop over night with a bar, restaurant and dog friendly you can't beat the Novotel.

Had a quick look at the circuit and and shop. So expensive saw a great jacket for €800! So settled on a tin on mints!


Then onto the old town for a walk then on to La Touquet.




Had no issues with the van, it does everything we need for trips like this. Driving in France and Spain is so much better than here. I was just on the M20 after getting off the train when some nob under took me changed lanes and cut me up

I now have about a kilo of bugs on the front of the van...

 

[Seaton2025]

Definitely worth a stop off, even if only to visit the Viaduct (though I recommend getting off the autoroute and driving under and around - it's spectacular!

We tend to come every couple of years - usually for 2 or 3 nights. We were here in '22 with my son and his girlfriend, and I somehow ended up strapped to a random frenchman and jumping off a mountain

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Wow that’s class, did you find where you parked

 

[Seaton2025]

Ullswater, new 7mtr pole with leds, can’t beat a few lights

 

[Bigsidavies]

We’ve just arrived in France on le tunnel. Took us over 8 hours to drive from W Yorks to Folkestone due to M20 closure and various traffic hold ups.
Anyway, can relax now in the land of no traffic.
I’ll post some updates on hers, but wifey has started an insta page thing. I’m not on instagram so I’ll have to trust her lol.
Here’s a link if you’re bored

Ally & Simon (@europethroughawineglass) • Instagram photos and videos

240 followers, 412 following, 27 posts – see Instagram photos and videos from Ally & Simon (@europethroughawineglass)

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[Jonesy68]

We’ve just arrived in France on le tunnel. Took us over 8 hours to drive from W Yorks to Folkestone due to M20 closure and various traffic hold ups.
Anyway, can relax now in the land of no traffic.
I’ll post some updates on hers, but wifey has started an insta page thing. I’m not on instagram so I’ll have to trust her lol.
Here’s a link if you’re bored

Ally & Simon (@europethroughawineglass) • Instagram photos and videos

240 followers, 412 following, 27 posts – see Instagram photos and videos from Ally & Simon (@europethroughawineglass)

www.instagram.com

M20 was closed between Junc1-3 when we came home due to a tractor leaving an overpass and landing on the central reservation.

 

[Bigsidavies]

M20 was closed between Junc1-3 when we came home due to a tractor leaving an overpass and landing on the central reservation.

Yeah our detour took us past the actual bridge where the crash was. The lorry was still on its side and the accident investigation were doing their stuff. Presume the tractor was below on the M20.
But just the sheer volume of traffic in the UK has the motorways jamming up after every on-slip of the M25.
Just done about 40 miles in France and it’s sooo relaxing as usual.
Ended up in Bergues again (we were here in May). Had a lovely wander round.
Onwards towards Switzerland tomorrow.

 

[Sasquatch]

My first day of being allowed to drive following a stoke so trundled over to Newport Pagnell to visit a friend. Nothing exciting but good to get out.

The throttle pedal mod makes a 274% improvement to the way the whole thing drives. Just so much nicer.

 

[Keith Waterman]

Yeah our detour took us past the actual bridge where the crash was. The lorry was still on its side and the accident investigation were doing their stuff. Presume the tractor was below on the M20.
But just the sheer volume of traffic in the UK has the motorways jamming up after every on-slip of the M25.
Just done about 40 miles in France and it’s sooo relaxing as usual.
Ended up in Bergues again (we were here in May). Had a lovely wander round.
Onwards towards Switzerland tomorrow.
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Here in Oz we take quiet country roads for granted I think. Apart from the freeways that connect brisbane to the Gold and Sunshine Coasts which sound like your M25. Tomorrow we head to Toowoomba, St George, Goondiwindi and Tenterfield for a round trip of 860 miles sticking as much to back roads as we can to maximise the fun of being away from it all. A couple of work meetings along the way. Reckon that the total number of cars we see after Toowoomba will be around 20 per hour! Will post some pics in the coming days…

 

[CAB]

Here in Oz we take quiet country roads for granted I think. Apart from the freeways that connect brisbane to the Gold and Sunshine Coasts which sound like your M25. Tomorrow we head to Toowoomba, St George, Goondiwindi and Tenterfield for a round trip of 860 miles sticking as much to back roads as we can to maximise the fun of being away from it all. A couple of work meetings along the way. Reckon that the total number of cars we see after Toowoomba will be around 20 per hour! Will post some pics in the coming days…

Please do!

 

[GUMY]

But just the sheer volume of traffic in the UK has the motorways jamming up

Friends from Sweden recently visited us on a 2 week road trip around the UK. Messaged us their first day when they hit the south coast after picking up a rental from Gatwick: "Why is everyone in the country going the same place at the same time?!"
By the time they'd done Cornwall and arrived here in the N.W. they were pretty frazzled!

 

[DXX]

Onwards towards Switzerland tomorrow.

Fill up with food, fuel and booze first!

 

[Bigsidavies]

Fill up with food, fuel and booze first!

Ha ha, we are just having lunch at an motorway aire and I’ve just mapped us to a nearby Aldi and Carrefour for all of the above.

 

[Bigsidavies]

Currently somewhere in Belgium en route to Luxembourg.
Serving hatch is working well.

 

[cgtmiles]

Fill up with food, fuel and booze first!

We didn’t find this to be too expensive (more than elsewhere but comparable to uk) what was insane was the price of eating out, at least twice what we paid in Austria, hence the cadac got a workout there and we headed to France a day early!

 

[burnsy79]

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So, a few days worth of updates.... We've gone from Les Gets up there and down there

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Through France via a campsite near the champagne region (I think)

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To one in Ardres (which was lovely, the guy didn't speak a word of english, so did it all via translate on his phone, but he couldn't have been more helpful or proud of his campsite!) near the tunnel

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onto the tunnel this morning, then a bloody awful drive up the M25 and M40 (the driving is really awful, everyone constantly battling to get ahead, the congestion real bad, the M25 seems to be

Camping La Citadelle, Loches, France. Bit of a dated site, facilities wise. Arrived today and the weather has been pretty crap. Heavy rain with thunder and lightning. Luckily improved this evening so we could walk out for dinner.
Now listening to shite karaoke in the background from the site bar.

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We are planning a France trip next year. How do you deal with the heat in the van? Portable air con?

 

[Sackmycook]

Get yourself a fan or two.....

 

[Kind of Blue]

Here in Oz we take quiet country roads for granted I think. Apart from the freeways that connect brisbane to the Gold and Sunshine Coasts which sound like your M25. Tomorrow we head to Toowoomba, St George, Goondiwindi and Tenterfield for a round trip of 860 miles sticking as much to back roads as we can to maximise the fun of being away from it all. A couple of work meetings along the way. Reckon that the total number of cars we see after Toowoomba will be around 20 per hour! Will post some pics in the coming days…

As many as that!

 

[Nige_g]

Just had a 5hr plus drive and now in Spain. Stopped at Camping La Fresneda. Only a very small site, literally in the middle of nowhere. Personal touch sort of place run by a Dutch couple. Greeted with a welcome drink of a beer!




On the way here, I drove by this restaurant. I had to drive further to turn around to take a pic. Wife commented that I turned around just because of the sign. I said I couldn’t believe anyone wouldn’t turn around to do so. It’s a boy thing apparantly.

 

[Ali-G]

How do you deal with the heat in the van?

Drive as far north as you can.

 

[Nige_g]

We are planning a France trip next year. How do you deal with the heat in the van? Portable air con?

We have 2 portable USB fans, one downstairs for the wife, and one up top for me. If we are on site for a few days or more, then we will have the awning tent up, so we’ll leave the side door open too. It wasn’t as hot this year as it has been in the past. One year overnight, the internal temp of the van was in the 30’s. My wife cried.