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Saturday 24 March
We discovered that John and Saskia have had a cancellation and because this place is beautiful and peaceful we have booked another four nights here. Today Storm Hugo hit us (since when did they start naming the weather – and where will it all end – Shower Brian? Chilly Chaplin? Slightly Moist Maurice? – but I digress) …
The wind was a bit of a bugger to be fair – blew our folding chairs and slightly knackered plastic step around the site with gay abandon (or possible with questioning abandon) and rocked Bessie on her suspension just a tad. The night was a veritable feast of sideways rain and howling wind which apparently reached 80 – 90 mph. Made use of the on board facilities in the night and noticed that the joint between the rear and side panels of our mini-bathroom was opening and closing by several mm at each gust – must invest in some adhesive sealant. The trusty chromebook is running out of puff so we got J and S to charge it for us as there are no spare hook up sat the mo – but we may never need one again – more of which later in this post …

Sunday 25 March

Still very windy but the sun is shining – we took a stroll into Cuesta Blanca, the nearest village, to get some supplies and stretch our legs. Pretty little place with an unimposing but very friendly bar/shop Bar Ana and a small tabac opposite where we found everything we needed, served by a lovely guy where we had no common language and he didn’t seem to know what anything cost but we worked it out together with nods, smiles and much gesticulation – great fun. Sam led some gentle yoga in the afternoon, with mats outside the van and a view of the mountains as we practised in the sunshine – can’t be bad. Cooked up some Cauliflower, Chickpea and Coconut for supper.

A lovely couple, Ben and Jen, arrived in a VW campervan today. Turns out they are buying a house in Northern Spain but it’s a slow process so they have been touring Spain and living in their van for nine months. They’re both very well travelled and, like us, have decided to get off the hamster wheel and do life differently, looking to create a couple of (Spanish Gites?) on their property once they get the purchase completed. We really enjoyed their company and wish them everything good as their adventure unfolds.

Monday 26 March

The weather has been great today – Hugo has clearly pushed off to bother someone else. We took the bikes for a 12k ride over the hills which J and S has scouted out by car. First half was all uphill but not to steep and we were rewarded with some fabulous views as we rode through tiny hamlets and past lonely dwellings very much in the traditional Spanish style and almost all with the obligatory barky dog to welcome(?) us along. The downhill sections were suitably thrilling and the final run home back through Cuesta Blanca all very calm and flat. Brilliant. When we got back John and Saskia announced that they wanted to cook a meal for all ten of us intrepid van people if we were happy to contribute to the cost so, after an hour of gentle yoga with Sam, we spent a lovely afternoon all sat round an outside table eating Spanish stew, drinking local red wine and chatting together in a patois of English, Dutch and Belgian with an odd but of Spanish thrown in for good measure.

Tuesday 27 March

Decided to stay longer as Easter in Spain goes a bit nuts and we didn’t want to struggle for a pitch further south so we have now booked to stay until next Monday, after which we will definitely head south. Today we took Bessie and headed for Cartegena where we stocked up on supplies at Lidl and discovered nobody sells squash in Spain (boo). Found spinach after several failed attempts though (hooray). I had spoken with Ben (who is an engineer) about 12v to 240v conversion and he described the inverter he has fitted in his VW which works well, so . . .

We found out that there is a really big caravan/motorhome sales and accessories dealer near Cartagena so we trundled off to find it. Really good find where we were able to get a powerful inverter which will charge the chromebook and run our ipod speaker etc as well as some other bits and bobs. It will also run a slow cooker or microwave if needed and the solar panel is pulling down plenty of power in the sunshine so it’s all good. We had a good look round the big range of motorhomes and were happy to find that we didn’t really rate any of the layouts as well as Bessie, although we were prepared to concede that most of them probably go up hills better.

Until the next time, namaste

Paul and Sam x

Sitting in Bessie after a bit of an easy domestic day – washing some clothes, that sort of thing. It’s now 2:38pm on Friday 23 March and time for the next exciting episode of ….this blog.

Sunday 18 March – caught the local coastal train into Barcelona and spent the day. We both fell in love with the city as it lay there half dozing out of season, basking in the warmish sunshine of a Spanish Sunday. The architecture is a wonderful mix of styles with stunning carved stone religious and public buildings, surprising patterned walls on the older apartment buildings which also have highly ornate balcony railings. A city where new rubs along very nicely with old and where our overall impression was of clean, bright streets and squares, hidden alleyways and breath-taking vistas – happy, bustling and very welcoming. We spent a good while sitting in the sunshine and people watching over excellent coffee and pastries in a secluded little square as well as several hours on Shanks’ Pony doing the whole tourist thing but finding our own way as usual. Stepped nimbly aside as a procession involving a Lion, a large Bird and a man and woman mounted on a Huge Horse along with various trumpeters, drummers and Huge Horse Keepers swept past us, Undoubted highlight of the day was the Sagrada Familia, the un (williteverbe) finished Gaudi masterpiece – but whether it still resembles what he first intended is anyone guess I think. You could spend days just looking at the outside and always find a new detail, a new angle, a new delight (we quite liked it). The harbour then revealed a different world entirely – we have never seen so many large and luxurious FGP’s or luxury yachts in one place – in fact never seen any as big and madly expensive as some of these – this size of small cruise liners and with chrome plating on almost everything – even capstans and fairways!

Monday and Tuesday 19 and 20 March – Decided to stay another two days in Pineda de Mar as it was so pleasant and we fancied a bit of quiet time. We gave Bessie a bit of a freshen up and I topped up fluid levels – she’s drinking quite a bit of oil – I’d forgotten about older engines. She also developed a leaky water dump valve but fixed with a judicious tap with a hammer. We’ve started to establish a regular meditation practice now and Sam is getting back to the yoga mat – feels like a routine is starting to kick in as we start to relax into the trip.

Wednesday 21 March – Headed out of Pineda at about 9:00am and decided to bite the bullet and use the Toll roads as the sat nav got a bit confused – probably due to a poor signal. It was an easy, scenic drive and although it cost us about £30 it saved two hours driving, about £15 worth of diesel and a bucket full of stress! We spent one night on a large, free dedicated motor home park at Moncofa, midway between Castello de la Plana and Valencia – probably 60 or so campers and motorhomes of every imaginable size and shape. A strange place – picturesque pebble beach, astonishing range of blues in the sea, from milky pale inshore to deep azure at the horizon. Lots of homogeneous but attractive apartments; some newly finished but boarded up hotels and a feel throughout of a visionary development which never came to fruition. A big feature of this coast in this season is the wind – the warmth is blown away quickly when the sun goes down and nights are pretty chilly – colder than we had expected but we have plenty of warm bedding and the gas heater is earning its keep.

Thursday and Friday 21 and 22 March – Today we opted for toll-free roads which this time were in great repair and hardly confused the sat-nav at all. Found a service station which had autogas (less common in Spain than in France) so topped up with diesel and gas as well – the heater has almost exhausted the first of our two-bottle system. Stopped again for a bit of lunch further down the coast and then parked up on a very pretty little site on the plain between Murcia and Cartagena. The site has only five pitches on what was a hard surface tennis court attached to a private house in the middle of nowhere. It’s run by John and Saskia, a Dutch couple who spent 18 months touring in their own camper van, found this place, packed up work, sold up and moved here last summer. They have only been in business since November but we are sure they will make a great success of it with their friendly, family style welcome. They know what is important to travellers too, so there is a large bathroom available as well as free hot and cold water, laundry and dish washing facilities and a pool for guests when the weather warms up. we have most valued the peace of this place and the broad, wild views across the plain to the mountains. On Thursday we made a 12k cycle trip into the nearest village to stock up on groceries – headwind going, uphill coming back – and on Friday we borrowed a map from John and Saskia and did a 6k trek along an old dry riverbed to a nearby aquaduct. Lots of beautiful flowers celebrating the Spring, including loads of wild lavender which gave the air a fabulous perfume as we walked and sometimes bruised the leaves with our passage.

Tomorrow we will saddle up again and head a bit further South, taking it slowly now as want to soak up the scenery and immerse ourselves in the culture a bit. We are aiming to find somewhere along the coastal strip below the Sierra Nevada but as usual we will play it by ear and let you know what happens next!

Namaste

Paul and Sam x

 

 

 

 

Greetings Followers from Senor Paul and Senora Sam.

We have had some interesting times so far so thought it was time to share some of them.

Monday 12 March – The ferry crossing was calm and easy – not impressed with the terminal at Dunkirk, but they are never the prettiest places. All that northern part of France is very flat and the wind was pretty strong the first few days. Rouen tried to persuade us we couldn’t get under any tunnels and therefore would  have to stay forever, but then we learned to read the roadsigns properly.

First night in France in a pretty little village – St Germain des Pasquiers after a hairy last section on single track roads with big speed bumps and overhanging trees which beat merry wossname our of the solar panel (still working though). Car park filled up early evening for a village meeting but nobody took objection to our presence.

Tuesday 13 March – Woke to a deafening and rather lovely dawn chorus from the surrounding woodland, quick brew up and off to a fairly early start. Sideways rain and driving winds made the drive quite challenging and showed us that, whilst willing to please, Bessie runs out of puff quite quickly especially on the hills (3rd gear and maxing at 50mph many times!). Couldn’t locate our planned stop so motored on past Tours and found a pretty little town called Vivonne where we parked in the village centre and met fellow travellers Steve and Norma who shared wine and wisdom with us.

Wednesday 14 March – Decided to have a shorter drive today as we were a bit tired – the sun came out and the scenery started to roll a bit more – tres jollie. Took it nice and steady through a series of hairpins and saw some lovely views and pretty villages, often with a dedicated place or two for campervans. Parked up at about 2:00pm by the canal at Caumont-sur-Garonne – another pretty village but VERY quiet. Shops didn’t open at advertised times so bought a baguette from a dispensing machine outside the boulangerie!

Thursday 15 March – after a decent cooked breakfast featuring local tomatoes and mushrooms bought previously we decided on another short run which gave us glimpses of the snow-capped Pyrenees catching the sun in the distance. Destination today was Venerque where we parked up near the river – very pretty and sat out watching the locals playing petanque.

Friday 16 March – stocked up with food and diesel and decided to go for Spain rather than Perpignan as previously intended. Given Bessie’s mountaineering limitations we decided discretion was the better part of valour and hit the coastal toll road. Must admit it was well worth the money – still a lovely drive but with no dramas. Stopped for lunch once over the border and then headed for Pineda de Mar. Tricky finding the site as it’s buried in the middle of the village but great once found. Decided to pay to stay for the first time and booked three nights here at 10 E per night.

Saturday 17 March – had a bit of a lie-in and then a gentle cycle ride along the front the next village. Turns out Pineda are hosting a Guinness world record attempt to barbeque the greatest number of artichokes and have lots of people eat ’em! (takes all sorts). Sarah, Steve and the girls came here last year (but got here quicker) – small world innit?

Namaste

Paul and Sam x

Parked up for the night in Hythe with a perfect view of the sea from our window. Got a bit sidetracked in London trying to avoid M25 orbital carpark issues but Bessie behaved impeccably throughout. Inadvertently hit the low emission zone – that’ll teach me.

We’ve had a lovely walk along the front and just got our feet up with a cuppa before it started raining.

Off to a promising start.

Nemaste x

 

So – ferry booked Dover to Dunkirk 8:00am Monday 12 March.

Although she is currently hiding under a blanket of snow, Bessie is all Shipshape and Bristol Fashion and just waiting for final checks and stocking up with essentials nearer the day.

D – 12 and counting!

Paul and Sam x

 

 

OK – haven’t blogged for a while as I didn’t want to get boring with minutiae of repair adventures.

Bessie is now almost ready and I have just received the kit to fit the refillable gas bottles tomorrow.

We just need to clean her up, book the ferry and stock up. Departure 12 March. D – 19 and counting! 😎

This is our lovely camper van – still some work to do but she is getting there.

So far she has had full mechanical and habitation services, quite a lot of welding underneath, full underseal (by hand – never again!), new deep cycle batteries, a large solar panel on the roof, new carpet in the cab, fridge repaired and refurbished, wheels refurbished, some new plumbing, lots of sealant replaced etc.

Still some wiring to sort out and various bits and bobs, but ‘brexit’ now booked for 12 March – 54 days and counting!

Onward and Upward

Nameste

Paul and Sam x

Ok so, Christmas and New Year madness behind us (all rather nice, but a bit full on).

Sam and I are now really stepping up the healthy eating, exercise and meditation and I’m also on a mission to ditch the booze, so we shall see how that goes . . .

January and February are preparation months – we need to tidy our cottage, get our paperwork and IT sorted and then finish sorting our camper. I will get some photos up shortly to set the scene, but she (Bessy) is a 25 year old left hook Burstner campervan on a Peugeot Boxer 2.5 diesel base. I’ve been working on her a bit over the winter but plenty still to do to get her ready for European travels which we plan to start mid-March.

As you can guess we also need to learn how to make our blog more interesting and dynamic!

“the most important door that will ever open for you can only be opened from the inside”

Blessings!

Paul and Sam x

Good morning Universe!

This is our first blog post so  I just wanted to set the scene.

We are Paul and Sam and we are just starting on a new adventure. We are in Goa right now, chilling for a few days after Sam completed Yoga teacher training in Rishikesh.

Earlier this year, after some events which made us really question our direction and priorities, we set an intention to simplify our lives, get off the hamster wheel and do life different.

We have now both given up the day jobs and started regular exercise and meditation as well as shifting towards a vegetarian diet.

Less boringly we have also bought an old campervan which we are doing up ready to start traveling next February.

Our intention is for this to be both an outward and inward journey and to share the ups, downside, challenges and insights we find along the way.

Namaste

Paul and Sam x