Tales From The Road Less Travelled

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  • A change in the air

    A change in the air

    It’s true. I feel like it’s time for change.

    We’ve been house sitting in Suffolk for 10 days now and looking after two gorgeous Golden Retrievers along with Merlin and have sort of fallen into an easy rhythm. Our stay, which has been long planned by our standards, has really felt like the bookend to the halcyon days we’ve spent in Norfolk, Essex and Suffolk this summer.

    Change has in part been signalled by the weather this morning. It seems like I’ve been living in shorts and t-shirts for months now, but a cold north wind today has signalled a return to jeans, hoodies and fleeces. With our friends Anthea and Kevin, we’ve had a couple of easy pub walks but I suspect that this might be the last of the lazy outdoor lunches. Autumn has arrived.

    Tomorrow, we start the journey to France. Our 10 days in Suffolk feel like they’ve been both short and really long, but the moss is gathering at Beatrix’s tyres which just won’t do and so it’s time to be off.

    It always feels like we’re going on holiday when we get started on these longer trips which makes it exciting and this trip to France feels different again as we have a likely destination and a potential route there, but we’ve not planned anything in detail nor booked any campsites. Exciting but a bit daunting.

    Checking social media and it seems that every Campervan and its Dog is out taking the same route as us so I’m sure it’ll busy and we’ll find our way easily enough.

    The change creates a natural break to reflect a little on the summer. It’s been an absolute cracker which started way back in Aberdeen in May/June. Perfect summer weather, apart from Skye which I’ve now blotted from memory, has been mixed with visits to see friends and family and the chance to share some of their summer with them. Barbeques, beaches, laughter, bubbly wine and swims in the sea.

  • 2022. Our reflections on our first year full timing in our motorhome

    We thought it would be fun to write a short blog of our reflections on our first full year in living in Beatrix, taking on the road less travelled.

    To make it more interesting, I did this as an interview style Q&A whilst on the long road down to the Alps covering our Top 5 Happy Memories, Top 5 Learnings and what made us laugh and cry in 2022.

    So Toby, what were your top 5 positive experiences in Beatrix in 2022?

    1. I think I would have to say getting to Montgenevre, being in the mountains and having such a long time being able to ski – that goes without saying
    2. Visiting St Emilion would be on the list – the drive into the Passion was amazing – walking around St Emilion was stunning and talking to the vineyard owner and learning a little about how he makes the wine was amazing and we managed to buy some great wine as well!
    3. Banchory, in Scotland, with our friends Clare, Chris and their two children. With our busy lives and COVID, we hadn’t been to their new house or met their youngest Finn. Added to that was the fact it was the Jubilee celebration weekend, the weather was amazing and we had a BBQ until very late with an amazing sunset. That evening will probably stay with me a while as it was really relaxed and the scenery and weather was perfect
    4. La Rochelle with our friends Tim and Victoria. The long weekend in October had perfect sunny weather, cycling around Ile de Re with Merlin on the back, some fantastic food and a beach visit with swimming for the brave
    5. Spending August in Norfolk with our friends. Enjoying some time in the pool during a REALLY hot summer, having my first surfing lesson in Cromer and cold Peroni’s with BBQ’s in the garden.

    Because I can, I’m going to add another and have 6 best bits. I really enjoyed the warmth in Cannes as we took a break from skiing during half term. It was an unexpected bonus taking time out from the mountains.

    There are lots of other things too but they’d be the ones that immediately stand out for me.

    I’m not sure I should let you have 6 however what’s done is done. This question you only get 5! What were you top 5 learnings in 2022?

    I think the biggest one here would be the change in mindset that we had half way through the year when we changed from using club sites to CL or even wild camping to save some costs. This shift was pretty significant and I think for me that is the biggest learning we had last year.

    The second learning was how to fix things on Beatrix. We* managed to fix the window blinds, the broken step, and some of the electrical issues that we had – including changing the fog lights!

    *Toby is being very modest as mostly when anything is fixed he fixes them and I am the assistant!

    The third thing was learning how to give Merlin a haircut – this may not seem like much however our furry friend hates being groomed and has even been known to bite when in this situation. So we are slowly but surely knowing how to cut her without the need for a muzzle and for her to actually look like a Schnauzer – the cut gets better each time – although we may be biased!

    Number 4…… hmmmm, I think this would be getting more comfortable with driving Beatrix. I remember driving her up to Montgenevre for the first time and more importantly my fear of her tipping over when we came down the mountain. Now I am much more comfortable driving her.

    So number 5 is really trusting Beatrix and being better when we go over potholes and hear bangs and crashes internally. This is unfortunately parr for the course at the moment as Beatrix suspension is quite basic. So now instead of getting too annoyed by the crashes and bangs I just notice them and get annoyed with the state of the road. With regards to trusting Beatrix – she has not really let us down at all – I worry about all sorts of things however she’s been fantastic as a home for us so far and let’s hope she keeps that up.

    So Sally, what about you what were your top 5 bits of 2022 and what did you learn?

    I could easily say the same as you for my top 5 – and yet I think a couple of mine would be different. Rather than changing your top 6, I will add to them.

    Top 5 Addition 1: going to Sainte Marguerite on the boat for the day. I loved the fact that we hadn’t really planned that trip and it was glorious weather. We walked for miles and it was stunning, it was like being on a Caribbean Island.

    Top 5 Addition 2 and 3: I also really loved a couple of our experiences on our Scotland tour which we haven’t yet blogged about. Particularly the CL site Crofters Snug on the northern coast of Scotland as the scenery was breathtaking and yet again the weather was pretty good. The other one I would mention was staying the night at Glenshee – when we took Merlin for a walk there was only us and one other VW van and we saw stags on the hillside – it was so secluded and beautiful the colours of the fern were really indescribable. It felt like my breaths were deeper there – like your were drinking in the beauty.

    Learning addition 1: I have learnt we are a pretty good team, in different scenarios we both help each other manage the emotions or situation – and there are different triggers we both have that can get us anxious or stressed. Generally we do a good job at calming each other one down – mostly because we both have strengths in different areas.

    Learning addition 2: I think my comfort zone generally has been stretched quite a bit – which is a good thing. There are things I know now I would not have had a clue about last year. As you mentioned the way we approach things has changed quite a bit. I personally have learnt to do quite a few tasks in Beatrix, and there aren’t really any ‘blue or pink’ jobs in Beatrix anymore. I do the electrical hook up cable (when the blue cable isn’t frozen!) and have learnt how the rear steadies work which a year ago I had no idea about! That being said Toby, as you know I’m still no good with a screwdriver or at painting anything!

    So that’s interesting and knowing that Toby what do you want 2023 to hold for us?

    I want to Kayak more, use the fire pit more, be outdoors more – I really want to be an outdoorsman!

    I’d like to cook more interesting things and extend our cooking repertoire – especially if it could be cooked outdoors too.

    I’d like to meet and speak to more local people in the places that we travel too. We would probably have different and interesting adventure tales if we shared them with other people sometimes.

    Oh and be more adventurous – with travel to Scotland and in Wales or maybe Ireland.

    What about you Sally?

    I agree with all of those especially the cooking and being more adventurous with what we cook. In addition I want to improve my skiing when we hit the Alps and spend our time better – whether that’s walking, running, drawing or writing – more of all of these things would be good.

    I’d also like us to get a few more followers on Facebook and WordPress too!

    What made you laugh?

    When you (Sally) use your pidgin French to try to help other people. I love the way you just dive straight in without knowing the words that you’ll need. The episode that springs to mind is when you were trying to explain to a French chap how the really overly complicated barrier system worked at Biscarosse beach which was hysterical. It ended up with a lot of arm gesticulation and French, English, and German words being used and I’m not sure that he was any clearer what to do afterwards!

    I do love you but more French vocab is probably needed to help others!

    What made you want to cry?

    Nothing really……. maybe the bills we get everytime Beatrix goes in for a service?

    Ok then what was your worst bit Toby?

    I think for me when I thought Beatrix was going to tip over whilst coming down the hairpin bends between Montgenevre and Briancon. I just didn’t know what to do – I couldn’t think about anything other than the forces and what would happen if we continued on the path we were on. It was terrifying.

    The heating over pressure valve leaking in the ski resort and then freezing up was a bit annoying however we made a temporary fix which got us through the really cold periods.

    I was also disappointed with having to come back to the UK due to the Schengen rule as it was really good in France on both occasions last year.

    Sally what about you – what made you laugh and cry?

    The crying for me is easy as when I distended my thumb in Montgenevre I thought I had broken it and yes there were tears! The laughter one is a bit more tricky – I laugh a lot with you (Toby) when you make up ridiculous songs about things – especially those involving Merlin.

    Another question we get asked a lot from friends and when people find out we full time in Beatrix is

    What do you miss the most about living in a bricks and mortar house? Sally?

    For me this one is easy – it’s all about showers! I miss having long, hot showers. Beatrix is great and we have a shower however only a small hot water tank so showers are more functional and have less water usage. I love visiting friends, family or even some good campsites that have great showers! Toby what about you?

    So those are our reflections on 2022 in Beatrix. We’re already three months into 2023 and what I can tell you is we’ve already used the fire pit more this year than we did last year…. although Toby still needs some practice getting it going!

    Here’s hoping our wishes for this year can become a reality.

    Hope you liked the post – if yes remember to hit like and maybe even subscribe on WordPress so you can get our blogs straight to your inbox.

    Have a great day

    Sally, Toby and Merlin

  • Returning to the UK via Beaune, Champagne and Belgium

    Returning to the UK via Beaune, Champagne and Belgium

    After enjoying our time in Puy, even with the chainsaw massacre, we began the return leg to the UK. It was an eventful couple of weeks travel back and we stayed at some wonderful aires, Merlin became French and Beatrix took us to another country.

    As we planned our trip, we noticed that Google Maps kept diverting us off the main road we’d used to come into the Alps. The reason appeared to be a road closure and the diversion was through the mountains on tiny, winding roads which aren’t really our favourite. We checked in with the Tourist Information in Puy to see if they knew what was going on, and although they shared a really handy travel app called Inforoute05 (www.inforoute.hautes-alpes.fr) which we’ve used loads, they weren’t able to enlighten us on what to expect.

    In the end, we decided to go for it thinking that as this is a main trucking route into the Alps, there must be a suitably sized diversion. (Our driving philosophy is that if we see a truck or bus we’ll be alright). We stayed overnight at an Aire in La Mure, just before the diversion, which gave us the chance to see what the big lorries were doing about the diversion. Happily we found that there was a super clear diversion route for HGVs signposted which although not as direct, took us down to Grenoble.

    Our next stop was the Aire Municipal in Beaune. One of the things we really wanted to do when in France was to try the different wine! Before I finished in corporate life, I’d bought a book about French wines and it specifically talked about the excellent quality of wines from this region. Now we had the opportunity to see and try them in situ.

    Although it’s not a terribly inspiring carpark, there is plenty of space in the Aire here. When we arrived, mid-afternoon it was pretty empty and through the evening it really filled up. Clearly a popular stopping off spot. Usually, when we stay in campsites or aires, we’re used to be being one of the bigger motorhomes but not here. We were dwarfed by two enormous Morelo truck motorhomes parked on either side of us making us feel very small.

    We took a slow walk around the town, had a small glass of wine, bought some more and then headed back to Beatrix.

    On our route back we had to make sure Merlin had her worming tablets. Ahead of the trip I had contacted a few vets to see if they would also be able to give her a rabies booster and possibly even an EU pet passport. We found a great vet near Epernay with excellent English and he boosted Merlin’s rabies, gave her worming treatment and more importantly we got her a French EU pet passport. This would mean a lot less hassle as we travel to and from the EU for Merlin and all of this for just 54 euros.

    With Merlin sorted for her travel back to the UK we wanted to try another type of wine – my absolute favourite, Champagne, and as we were really close to Epernay – it would be rude not to go and do some tasting! The weather was appalling with biblically heavy rain but the champagne made it all worthwhile! Totally drenched, we walked into a fancy Champagne house at Collard Picard and proceeded to drip all over their beautiful marble floor. After an interesting champagne tasting session we crossed town to a smaller house, where we had the place to ourselves and had a great conversation with the young lady host, tasted more champagne and ended up buying some as well.

    We had a couple more days until our train back to the UK so headed to Overijse in Belgium to see our friends who had moved there about a year ago from the UK.

    Whenever we go to stay at friends houses we always do some logistical checking with them before we arrive.

    Checking in with Eilidh and Alex, we knew we could fit into the driveway but the lane down to their house looked pretty tight and we’ve come to realise that Beatrix always looks much bigger in real life. Luckily, with a bit of help holding back trees and despite gaining a few extra adventure stripes, we navigated in and out without a problem. I think the neighbours were a bit surprised though!

    We enjoyed a couple of wonderful, sunny days with Eilidh, Alex, Callum and their Ukrainian guests avoiding any skateboarding injuries!

    On the way to Calais and the tunnel, we decided to fill up with cheaper LPG and diesel before arriving early hoping to get an earlier train. At the Eurotunnel however, it became clear that that wasn’t going to happen as the queues were mad!

    Strangely, we ended up in the same queue as our friends Lucy and Ben from Puy as they’d come back through France much faster than us. In the first proper test, we booked Merlin in with her new pet passport, we had to show her old passport to show continued Rabies vaccination which was easy to do and then we started queuing. It was pretty tedious and was apparently due to a strike at customs. Toby had hoped for a break and relax before hitting the UK roads but instead we found ourselves slowly navigating through multiple lanes of static traffic with the tunnel staff trying to load us on with the cars at one point! Eventually we did get on a train and it was quite fun as it was similar to the top gear challenge as we saw our friends car from Puy in the queue and were seeing whose queue was moving quicker. Ours did and we eventually got on the train 2.5 hours late.

    On the other side of the channel we started driving and immediately noted two things about the UK:

    1) The roads are a lot busier

    2) The roads have lots and lots more potholes than France

    It had been a long day and we’d driven for as long as we could manage so we booked to stay one night at Bearstead club site which was really close to the Tunnel. The next day it was up to Dunstable for Beatrix’s MOT and a welcome return to Mark’s Nursery at Mill End. As per normal, Beatrix didn’t pass her check up first time around. This time neither us, Iveco or the Tester could find the vehicle identification number plate anywhere. A silly reason to fail but with some convincing from Iveco and old stickers from the manual, we eventually got our MOT. Somehow it always seems to take 2 days!

    Beatrix wasn’t the only one who needed some check ups, I had booked multiple hospital and dental appointments during April and it felt like I got my MOT at the same time as Beatrix.

    As well as the difference in roads, it was not difficult to miss how expensive everything seemed to have become whilst we were in France. The Aires in France had been amazing with great facilities for motorhomes and at a great price however in the UK prices had gone up – quite significantly.

    I mentioned in December I had spoken to an ex colleague about a role, when all MOT’s had been complete and whilst we were planning our Scotland tour I phoned them and over a few conversations arranged to work with them as an associate career and leadership coach for one day a week – with the ability to coach remotely. This gave me great flexibility and meant I really could live my best life mixing travelling the road less travelled with Toby and Merlin and getting paid coaching work to help with the rise in the cost of living which I don’t really call work as I love doing it.

    And with that, we arrived at the end of Chapter 2 of our Tales from the Road Less Travelled.

    Thanks for reading,

    Sally, Toby and Merlin

  • The tale of the distended thumb, broken stairs and a Chainsaw Massacre

    The tale of the distended thumb, broken stairs and a Chainsaw Massacre

    March and the start of April in Montgenevre continued with our routine of skiing, walking Merlin, enjoying the views and spending time with our new friends in the aire. There was fresh snow and also an evening enjoying a little too much French champagne.

    I was progressing with my skiing and decided a ski lesson would help me improve. The lesson taught me that I’d become a little lazy with my ski style. My Apple Watch told me that in that 2.5 hours ski lesson I’d used more than double the energy of my old ski method. I had some new exercises to practice and practice I did. I also managed to fall and distend my thumb coming down a relatively easy red run. It was pretty painful and involved getting an X-ray – it was all pretty easy although claiming for this and the thumb brace through the insurance took loads longer than it should have and was not as easy.

    Our ski season in Montgenevre was coming to an end. We were heading to see friends in Puy St Vincent a small ski resort just down the road where our Montgenevre season pass gave us 3 free days ski pass in Puy.

    Whilst staying in Montgenevre we hadn’t used our automatic stairs or Beatrix’s handbrake as these things can freeze and stick in low temperatures. As we left the aire in Montgenevre for the final time we foolishly put the stairs down for me to get in to Beatrix after paying. I got into Beatrix grinning and we tried to move off however realised there was an issue with the stairs. They hadn’t auto returned to the up position when we started the engine. This was a pretty serious issue. You can’t drive around with the stairs of your motorhome down, especially not down twisty mountain roads! What was worse, we were on the clock as once you’ve paid for the aire you only have 10 minutes to exit. Knowing we might not fix the problem in 10 minutes I phoned the help line on the pay point. Using my pigeon French, still not brilliant, I tried to explain the issue. In a reasonably short time, a man with a white van came to find us in the middle of the aire. His English was worse than my French. I tried to explain the issue and that we needed some help exiting the aire as our ticket time had elapsed. He was a little bit too helpful and wanted to help us fix the stairs before letting us go. It’s always a little nerve wracking when someone you don’t know starts trying to mess around with the electronics in your home. We stopped him getting too involved, although he did get us thinking about how we could secure the steps in the up position so we could make our way down to Briancon to make a better fix. We used some ever handy bungee cords and some striped tape to help others know there could be a problem. If you’ve read our previous post you’ll know that getting down the hairpins last time had been “interesting”, now we had the added bonus that our stairs may fall down when going round one of the bends – not ideal! The man in the van allowed us to exit the aire without paying any extra and we took the plunge.

    Driving slowly and very carefully down to Briancon, I was constantly looking behind me to check the stairs had not fallen. Luckily the drive down was uneventful and even the tricky hairpin where we got stuck last time passed without incident this time around. We had wanted to get some LPG on our way off the mountain however as we arrived the gas station in Briancon there was maintenance and it was closed. We decided to wait till it was fixed and this gave us the opportunity to get provisions at the E L’eclerc and Toby could take a look at the stairs. I got back to Beatrix to find Toby under Beatrix with a grin on his face. He had found the issue and put in a temporary fix. One of the pins holding the stairs up had “fallen” out which meant the mechanism wasn’t working properly. We ordered the formal part to arrive at our friends house in the UK and moved on with the temporary fix holding. Puy was not far away so we filled up with LPG and were off.

    In Puy we were hoping to have a choice of aires to stay as search4sites said there were three aires at different heights in the resort. When we arrived the one we had wanted to stay at was being turned into a hotel! We had to go to the higher aire and guess what more steep bends – although now Toby was much more confident after navigating the hairpins getting to Montgenevre! There was only one motorhome in the aire and plenty of electric hook up points. We hooked up and waited for someone to come so we could pay. No-one came.

    As we’re honest individuals the next morning we went to the tourist information to ask how we could pay and they said – someone will come and take the payment. No-one did. We ended up having 3 nights free stay with EHU all in a stunning location! We took a day to get to know the resort and had a cheeky ski. The snow was not brilliant – however it was a new resort which was good experience for me!

    The next day our friends arrived from the UK. I waited in Beatrix and Toby went down to the main resort to meet them. Whilst Toby was helping our friends and their two daughters move into their apartment for the week an antique, overloaded van arrived in the aire and parked directly in front of our view! Next the occupant – a young man started emptying some of the contents of his van onto the floor outside – a couple of bikes – some skis, an axe and then a chainsaw……

    Aires are not usually like this so I was a bit surprised when he looked around and then started up the chainsaw. At this point I began to get a little nervous – there is of course is a horror movie about chainsaw massacres, I had heard of it however never watched it – surely this would not be my and Merlin’s fate.

    The guy left the chainsaw running and went back into his van.

    With my nerves a bit on edge, I messaged Toby to let him know what was going on, just in case anything should happen.

    Thankfully, the man and chainsaw went out into the woods rather than coming over to Beatrix and he proceeded to chop down some wood which he brought back as small logs. A few minutes after going back into his van, smoke began pouring out of his chimney. I guess he heated his van with a wood burner but perhaps fresh wood is not the easiest to light?

    With my fear of a chainsaw massacre in Puy St Vincent allayed and smoke continuing to pour out of this tiny van, Merlin and I walked down to meet our friends. We enjoyed a few drinks and skiiing together the next day after a light snowfall.

    Thanks for reading and we hope you’ve enjoyed this tale. Remember to press the like button.


    Sally, Toby, Merlin and Beatrix

  • The tale of snow to sun, broken branches and inadvertent adventure stripes

    The tale of snow to sun, broken branches and inadvertent adventure stripes

    Our new normal of skiing most days continued for ten days in February.

    With a slight sense of self entitlement, we decided that we didn’t like queuing for the ski lifts when Montgenevre was busy, especially at the weekends and realising that half term was on its way there would be a lot more people on the slopes. We made a plan to bug out of the mountains for a couple of weeks, to coincide with UK and French half terms. The question was where should we go. We realised we were really close to the French Riviera and the weather looked like it would be pretty fantastic there. I had a remote workshop to run during this period, we did some research using search4sites and found a great campsite just outside Cannes that had decent wi-fi.

    It was our first descent from Montgenevre and we had “forgotten” that we would have to do the hairpin bends in reverse. This time we were fresh and it wasn’t after a long drive so Toby was fully aware of the challenge and the driving skills he needed. We started the descent and very soon realised that going downhill with hairpins can be more terrifying than going up them. We made it round the first few hairpins but then we came to a really steep turn with a downhill camber that just seemed to drop away and Toby, who was convinced we were going to topple over, stopped Beatrix in the middle of the road.

    Inside, I was trying to convince Toby that we weren’t going to tip over but we weren’t sure what to do to get out of it. By now there were annoyed French car horns beeping and people had decided to both overtake and undertake us at the same time.

    This was not ideal.

    It seemed like ages, although it was probably only a few minutes, before Toby released the brakes and very, so slowly, crept forward to complete the turn.

    It’s a funny story now although at the time I was unsure how on earth we were going to get through it and make it down the mountain. Thankfully having made it round, the rest of the hairpins were better as we had the ‘we’ve done the worst so everything else is possible’ feeling.

    We arrived safely at a Camping Car Park at Savines Le Lac for one night before heading to Cannes. Camping Car Parks are a little controversial in the motorhome world of France. They are run by a bigger corporation and are seen as taking over the municipal free aires. I can understand this perspective, although have to admit we quite like Camping Car-Parks. You pay to have a card “PASS’ETAPES” at 5Euros and then pay for your stay or just use the facilities. You know exactly what you’re going to get from a facilities perspective as they have drinking water, grey and chemical waste dumping and usually electric hook up. Savines Le Lac is in a beautiful location and what we liked was that even in winter there was drinking water available which we found rare for a lot of aires in France in the winter months.

    It was a long drive from Savines Le Lac to Camping Les Cigales in Cannes. We planned our route. The start of the route was a bit tricky as the roads were a little small and had strange cambers on them although not as bad as the hairpins. The camber of the roads really impacts you when you have a larger vehicle and isn’t something I’d ever paid attention to in a car. Toby had a few moments where he was thought we might topple over and fall off the road – obviously we made it safely down and then hit the autoroutes to get to Cannes as quickly as we could. This drive was a lot easier, although, as with anything there is a cost to using toll roads. I had another disagreement with the sat nav for the last part of the journey. The sat nav wanted us to get off the autoroute really early and take us along some very twisty roads to get to our campsite. Google said we could exit the autoroute a lot closer. Google doesn’t know our weight and dimensions and when we tried that exit we realised our weight was prohibited. We went one junction further. The final drive in towards Mandelieu la Napoule was a little hairy as the road had two low bridges and some quite narrow roads however we did get there.

    And the sun was shining

    And it was warm!

    We enjoyed our time in Mandelieu, although the campsite was quite expensive. We tried to use our ACSI card and were told we couldn’t get the discount price as we were too long for an ACSI pitch. We did, however, get a small reduction even though the campsite was pretty full, which was nice.

    It was wonderful walking to the beach, being able to wear shorts and T-shirts in February and was such a contrast to the mountains being wrapped up in multiple layers.

    The campsite was great, however for Beatrix it was a little small in places. We needed to empty our grey waste and tried to get around the campsite using the one way system. We struggled to get round one of the corners and now Beatrix has some inadvertent adventure stripes after a ‘discussion’ with some very big shrubs. We moved pitches mid way through our stay so we could enjoy more of the sunshine. It was glorious not just having sunshine, which we had that in Montgenevre – in Cannes we also had warmth. We were able to sun bathe and I loved it! Weather is always interesting as it is never constant. All of a sudden there were very strong winds. We were outside doing some Beatrix maintenance when we suddenly heard a very load crack and saw a very large branch from the tree behind us fall in the wind. It fell onto the pitch behind us and looked like it fell on the VW van and their trailer which had a stunning motorbike on. Luckily the people were unharmed and miraculously so were their vehicles. Interestingly though the motorhome next to us immediately moved, as did we after checking everyone was ok. We thanked our lucky stars as if that branch had fallen onto Beatrix it would have caused all sorts of problems for us.

    Whilst in Cannes we went running along the beach, scooted into Cannes itself, walked to Château de la Napoule and took a boat trip to Sainte Marguerite.

    We met a few other Brits on the site, who helpfully recommended some other sites for us to visit in the area. We took their advice and visited a great little aire at Sainte Maxime for a couple of days where we enjoyed more of the French Rivera beaches and sunshine.

    Then we actually stayed on the beach, a place called Bonne Terasse – Pampelonne. This aire was a bit more basic, with no electric hook up and although there was water we weren’t sure if it was good to drink. The location was fantastic and the price was relative to the facilities. In the evening we saw wild boar roaming around the vans and although the wind was quite strong here there were thankfully no more falling branches.

    But, we couldn’t stay on the French Riviera forever as our season ski passes needed more use so we returned to Sainte Maxime for a night – got some LPG and then headed back to Montgenevre.

    I have to admit – I love the mountains and skiing and love balancing that with sunshine and beautiful beach walks. I don’t know which I would choose if I had to between the two. Luckily with the road less travelled we don’t have to chose – we can have our cake and eat it.

    Hope you enjoyed this tale – thanks for reading.

    Sally, Toby and Merlin

    Camping les Cigales

    Camping-Car Park

  • The Tale of French aires, sat nav issues and hairpin bends to reach the Alps

    The Tale of French aires, sat nav issues and hairpin bends to reach the Alps

    We drove from the train at Calais to a place called Neufchâtel en Bray. Our first experience of a French aire.

    The drive was very easy being on the main French autoroute out from Calais, we just needed to remember to drive on the right! When we arrived at the aire we realised we might be a bit too long. We had a slight challenge navigating the barrier and the turn into the site. Once in the aire we realised our length may be more of an issue as we could only fit easily on one pitch without impacting other aire users. After the fact, we read the instructions at the entrance, where it mentions if you’re a long vehicle, check in with the owners who lived at the campsite next door. Sometimes it’s better to ask forgiveness than ask permission – eek! I knocked on the door and in my pigeon French explained our length and also mentioned we were already parked – at this point the lady said “if you are in then you are fine”. We stayed for just one night, took Merlin for a quick walk and found there was a E Leclerc supermarket with petrol station just down the road. We enjoyed our first day in France and were proud that we had made it this far. The aire had electric hook up (EHU), shower facilities, toilets and waste dumping (both grey and black) and it was all really well looked after all for 12 Euros – how refreshing! If all aires were like this we would enjoy our time in France.

    The next morning we needed diesel for our mammoth trip south and decided to try the E Leclerc petrol station. We got into a bit of a mess as after driving into the car park we realised we couldn’t fit through the standard diesel area. The car park and queue for petrol had become busy and we caused a bit of a stir trying to back out the way we’d come in. It’s always good to cause a stir in a vehicle our size – you certainly get lots of looks. We made it out with a couple of red faces and drove to our next planned stop Marcilly En Villette, finding some diesel en route.

    We arrived quite late in the afternoon circa 3pm and our nerves were suddenly on edge as we drove in towards the aire to see orange roadwork signs, cones and work trucks. When we actually got into the aire, it had been taken over by bundles of pipes and piles gravel and there were more trucks and diggers parked. Happily, we did find a spot where we could park. In January the water was turned off at this aire, as we realised is true for a lot of aires as they don’t want the taps or pipes to freeze and cause issues. This meant we couldn’t get drinking water – luckily we had filled up at Neufchâtel En Bray so didn’t actually need any for this stop. There were toilets at Marcilly that were open during the daytime and from a facilities perspective it was a great aire, it was our second aire in France and it was free.

    We woke early the next morning, got croissants and then headed out as we wanted to get as far Molinet via Sancerre on the next day – the first wine region visit in Beatrix. This was first the day I fell out of love with our Sat Nav and yes this is in a shouty voice. Google was telling me that there was a road closure on our planned route to Sancerre and I was still learning how to use the Garmin – which is easy when you know how. All I wanted to do was just put in the road closure and for it to find me an alternate route. At this time I hadn’t leant how to use the “shape route” function and I ended up using a mix of the Garmin sat nav and google maps to navigate us to Sancerre. The original route should have taken 1.5hours, we took 3.5 hours. It was very tiring for Toby as driver, as we ended up going down some very, very small French roads. From this moment we decided using an actual map when we plan would be useful too as it would help us focus on the bigger picture view of how to get to a location rather than the micro detail of each minor road and shortcut. If we’d have done this we could have gotten to Sancerre in about an hour even with the road closure. Still, every day is a learning day!

    We parked and ate lunch at an aire in Sancerre looking out over the vines – due to the diversion route we had taken we still had a long way to get to Molinet – shock horror there wasn’t time to try or buy any wine.

    As we had lunch, we watched three people walking through the vines with a wheel barrow that was quietly on fire, pruning dead branches and adding them to the smoking hand cart. It was really beautiful and will be on the list of places for us to return to as it would be great to try and buy the wine and enjoy the region a bit more.

    The Sancerre vineyards. Viewing only this time round!

    We drove on and then got to the aire at Molinet. This aire was really quiet, there was a service area, we didn’t use it as we still had water and did not need to empty the grey or black waste. We spent the night and it was very quiet with only a black labrador causing Merlin a little distraction in the morning before we headed off. Again this was a free aire. We knew we would soon need to get some LPG (how we heat Beatrix and cook!) and were debating whether we should wait until we got closer to the mountains, as the LPG mixture changes when you are in lower temperatures nearer the mountains. When we researched a bit further, we found that almost all of LPG in France changes to winter mix in November. This was lucky as when we woke in the morning the gas had run out so the heating, fridge and, causing somewhat of a crisis, the tea-making had stopped.

    We use a great app called myLPG.eu which shows where you can buy LPG. It’s great as it also tells you when the LPG station was last used, the price and the location – it’s really helpful both in the UK and abroad. We found an LPG garage in Digoit just up the road from Molinet. We filled up with LPG and then got onto the autoroutes to help get some kilometers under our wheels. We travelled the A6,A463, A4 and the A6 to get us to a campsite in Vizille called Le Bois du Cornage which was just outside Grenoble our last stop before Montgenevre our ski season location.

    We stayed 2 nights in Vizille to help us get prepared for going into the mountains. Ville Bois du Cornage is an ACSI* campsite and although the showers were closed it did have drinking water and waste dumping and it was a cost of 27Euros for 2 nights. The site was relatively close to an Intermarche supermarket so we stocked up our cupboards. It was a lovely town and we walked to the chateau on Sunday and as we had Merlin we were not able to go into the gardens however it was stunning. We planned our route to Montgenevre – there were two routes we could have chosen and we decided on the longer route – which should take us about 3 hours.

    The beautiful Vizille Castle

    Aside 1*: ACSI is a discount card that you can use for campsite in many countries specifically out of season. If you are interested in getting a card we have provided the link below to get more information and to get the ACSI card.

    We woke, breakfasted and emptied everything ready for the trip. It was really cold with frozen water pipes and there were people on site who blamed me for breaking the water tap at the cassette emptying location however I hadn’t broken it, it just didn’t work.

    It was the 23rd January and we left the campsite at 10am filling up with diesel in Vizille before our very exciting drive to the mountains and Montgenevre!!!

    Our route took us to Gap around Lac de Serre, through Briancon and then onto Montgenevre. It was due to take 3 hours so we should arrive into Montgenevre at 1pm. We know that we usually add 15 minutes for every hour that we are supposed to drive, however we eventually made it to Gap at 13:00. The drive was really long and was the first time we’d consistently been driving up then down really big hills just to get to Gap. There were a few occasions where we were driving for long periods at an incline of 3% and over and Beatrix showed signs of overheating. Toby got very nervous seeing the temperature gauge going upwards, however Beatrix’s fan kicked in and thankfully she didn’t overheat, handling the change in terrain far more calmly than we did.

    This was the first time we had tested Beatrix limits and started learning what she could and couldn’t do. It was a very loooonnnnggg drive! Similar to the trip we did to the Lake District in October we knew the last few kilometers would be the hardest, getting from Briancon to Montgenevre had hairpin bends and steep inclines as we were travelling 500 meters vertical to get up the mountain. Toby was already tired and we probably should have stopped, but we just wanted to get to the aire and finally stop for a beer, so Toby valiantly carried on and we drove through Briancon and started our ascent to Montgenevre.

    It’s only 12 kilometers but it’s a little terrifying driving on mountain roads in an 8.8meter motorhome. Toby was mostly driving on adrenaline, he managed to navigate us through the five hairpin bends to get us to Montgenevre. He was incredibly focussed and determined – and only raised his voice a couple of times as he could not see certain parts of what was coming next on the road.

    We finally got into Montgenevre to find a massive traffic jam. Our delay meant we had arrived as the mountain was emptying and was really busy for the weekend. Unfortunately someone had hurt themselves on the Italian side of the mountain and the road out of Montgenevre to Italy had been closed by the police.

    The traffic was horrendous and queuing three or four cars wide on the single road though the village. Not what we needed after already nearly 6 hours driving. We ended up driving round and round Montgenevre using the roundabouts at the top and bottom of the village.

    Not what you want to see after 6 hours driving!

    The road did eventually open and we drove into the aire filled up with water and found a pitch! Finally after a very long drive with overheated engines and fraught drivers and traffic jams we got to our next dream location – doing a ski season in Montgenevre.

    We enjoyed a well earned dinner and settled in for the night. The next morning we walked to Montgenevre to try and buy some skis and pick up our season ski passes. We had foolishly hoped that there would be some second hand skis for sale and although there were some we ended up doing a try before you buy option with the intersport. It meant we got to try a couple of sets of skis before buying some. What was great was that we were skiing within 2 days of being in the resort. We were ready for our new normal: skiing, enjoying being in the mountain air, burning loads of calories, walking Merlin, going to the Durancia spa one a week for a relaxing swim – jacuzzi and long hot shower and moving Beatrix once a week so we only paid the optimal price of 10Euros a night for the aire.

    The mountains never fail to take my breathe away, whether that is through their beauty or sometimes nervousness when conditions are bad or my faith in my ability to ski down them fails – all of these feelings made me very much feel alive in Montgenevre. It truly was living up to the dream we had imagined 5 years ago.

    Mountain life in Montgenevre

    Thanks for reading.

    Sally, Toby and Merlin

    ACSI Camping Card

    MyLPG

  • Final preparations for France, Eurotunnel firsts and French roads

    Final preparations for France, Eurotunnel firsts and French roads

    So a new year, 2022, starting in Exeter. Our first year where we start the year travelling in Beatrix and have a full year of travel planned, at least in our heads. There was much to be looking forward to. First however, we needed to do some Beatrix maintenance and all of us, including Merlin and Beatrix, needed to prepare for our first trip to France.

    We needed to clean out the water tanks, to remind you had we have two water tanks, one that is our main tank which holds 300litres of water and our waste tank, the cleaning of these tanks is an annual task and we wanted clean Beatrix herself – which is no mean feat – as she has quite a lot that needs to be cleaned. We also wanted to put in a new Alde heating pump. We were able to do all of this at Grindlebrook Farm an independent campsite just outside Exeter . The cleaning activities just took time however the pump change was a little more complex. For that we needed to borrow some tools – some clamps more specifically and even so Toby managed to get the Alde heating fluid on his hands and had quite a nasty reaction to this. First lesson of 2022 always wear gloves when working with Alde heating fluid. The pump change over, although messy, went well and Toby again proved that he is really good at fixing and maintaining things on Beatrix.

    We had booked our tunnel crossing to France in 2021 for our first ski season and we were due to leave the UK on the 6th January. Having used our Tesco clubcard points to reduce the cost and we were desperate not to have to change our travel plans. France however, did not lift it’s Covid restrictions which were put in place in December and we ended up moving the Eurotunnel booking to the 18th January. As we had planned everything we had booked Merlin’s Animal Health Certificate (AHC) on the 4th January in Exeter. We decided to keep this appointment and see if our luck would hold that we would be able to use this AHC if we could leave within 10 days of the AHC being issued.

    Aside 1: Animal Health Certificates – a relatively new nuance travelling with a dog in the EU due to the fact that the UK is no longer in the EU. Now for your pet (cats, ferrets or dogs) to travel they needed an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) not a UK pet passport as these were no longer valid. This was a shame as we had been forward planning this for a while and Merlin had a UK passport which we had been keeping up to date knowing we wanted to travel with her. We made sure her rabies and vaccinations were tracked. The AHCs need to be provided by an « OV » Official Veterinarian and not all vets can, or will, do AHCs. The AHCs are a very paper oriented process being 14 pages long with check boxes that the vet has to complete after checking the dogs microchip and vaccination history. They are a significant cost as you need one for each trip to the EU. The first AHC we got in Exeter cost 194GBP and was never used!

    The new Eurotunnel was booked and France decided to lift it’s Covid restrictions on the 13th January- with the proviso that you needed a PCR test within 48 hours of arriving in France. We very swiftly arranged a postal PCR test to be sent to us and get the results in time for us to travel on the 18th Jan. The PCR cost 44GBP. We also spent this time waiting planning our travel down to Montgenevre and how we would travel through France. We will do a post about planning trips as it takes some doing!

    We slowly made our way from Exeter to Folkestone. With the extra days to wait until we could travel we decided to stay at Hunters Moon campsite in Dorset and then spend some time in Brighton.

    Hunters Moon is a Caravan and Motorhome Club Campsite in Dorset and it was a lovely site although a little in the middle of nowhere. There were some great walks and the weather was typically British and we got very muddy as did Merlin! From here we then headed to Brighton via Southampton to try and pick up some new windscreen wiper blades for Beatrix as the jets on Beatrix were not really effective at cleaning the windscreen when it rained. The trip to Southampton was not effective however we spoke to a great guy who recommended a company where we could order the wiper blades and they would arrive before we needed to head off.

    Brighton was a club site and it was great walking down Brighton seafront with memories of times spent there with my girlfriends when I was much younger – here we learnt that we should always check we know what the entrance to a site is like as we very nearly missed the turning and would have gotten into all sorts of trouble had we not noticed just in the nick of time.

    We then travelled to Black Horse Farm campsite – our last campsite before heading to the Eurotunnel. This drive showed us how poor the roads in England are – the M20 was noisy and bumpy and had many potholes – the suspension in Beatrix is pretty agricultural and we found this part of the trip a little tedious as she bounced around a lot and our salt and pepper pots nearly fell out of their holders. We then had to arrange for AHC number 2 for Merlin. We booked her into a great vets in Folkestone and this time it cost us 165GBP. We scooted to Tesco in Folkestone to get a few last minute things for dinner and I was a complete klutz as I dropped the bottle of bolognaise sauce for dinner on the floor and made a right mess. At this point it might be worth you all knowing that I have a tendency to be a bit klutzy – luckily Toby still loves me and I do clear up after myself although this time round there was a fabulous Tesco employee who helped with the glass and tomato mess in this instance. We did a final clothes and sheets wash at Black Horse and to put snow chains on Beatrix for the first time.

    Aside 2: for travelling in the mountains in winter in France you need specific tyres (see our kit list for more information) and snow chains in the event of snowfall. We had ordered our snow chains and not had the chance to put them on Beatrix. If any of you have used snow chains they are difficult enough to get on cars let alone an 8.8m 6.5tonne motorhome, We had some giggles and frustration as we followed the instructions and sort of managed to get the snow chains on and then off. We were watched doing this by other campers in the campsite – specifically a French man. He came over and asked us if we were expecting snow. He mentioned he lives in the Pyrenees and had never needed to use his snow chains as the main roads to the ski resorts are always cleared for the buses. This was reassuring as we hoped we would never need to use ours!

    We put on our Anglemort stickers, in France if you are a long vehicle and over 3.5tonnes, and yes Beatrix is both long and over 3.5 tonnes, you need to warn people of the blind spots. This is a French law and is often a discussion point on motorhome forums as people don’t like them as they can impact the paintwork and visuals of your motorhome. We are law abiding individuals and so placed them on Beatrx and now she was ready for France. We just needed to do our final activities which was taking our antigen tests – it’s quite nerve-racking waiting for the results to come through – luckily we were all clear. At this point we scooted back into Folkestone to post off family birthday cards before we left and to get some cash out, Miraculously both Toby and I had our bank cards eaten on the same day so we were travelling to France for nearly 3 months with only a credit card and our Revolut card. We ordered new bank cards however did have to wait until we returned to the UK to pick them up.

    18th January 2022 will be a date I will remember as it was our first trip on the Eurotunnel. The train we were due to get on was 09:20 and we knew we needed to get Merlin through the pet passport area. As we arrived at the check in for the Tunnel Toby got really nervous as the entrance to the check in had some pretty large concrete and metal barriers. Toby slowed right down as he was not sure we would fit in, I got out of Beatrix to take a look and the lady at the kiosk was laughing at us as she said if you can’t get through here you won’t be able to make it on the train. Which kind of makes sense and with that Toby drove slowly to the kiosk and we booked in. We managed to miss the sign for the Pet Passport and ended up having to walk across the car park to get Merlin through her checks. It was really quiet and there were not many dogs or other animals in the pet passport area.

    Then we just sat and waited. As mentioned this was one of the first days of the restrictions into France being lifted and Eurotunnel was not busy. We were stopped to make sure we had switched off our gas tanks and then slowly pulled up to the train. Luckily we were behind a big vehicle and it gave Toby confidence on the line to take to get onto the train. The train is really quick and what is great is that Merlin could stay with us which on a ferry she would not be able to. 30 minutes later and we were being informed we could disembark. I had to remind Toby to drive on the right however actually as Beatrix is a German Carthago she is left hand drive and so it actually makes it easier for her to be driven in France and the EU.

    We immediately noted two things – the roads in France have less traffic and are in much better condition than those of the UK. We will make many comparisons between France and the UK along our travels however this one still resonates with us and we notice on both sides of the channel! We drove a short distance to our first Aire in France and there were many kilometres to go to get to Montgenevre which we will cover in the next blog.

    Thanks as always for reading, let us know your thoughts.

    Sally, Toby and Merlin

  • What the festive season is all about – seeing friends and family – December 2021

    We drove from Sheringham to Leavenheath near Sudbury for our second « staying at a friends » house, visiting Anthea and Kevin. We had been to their house lots of time before, however never with Beatrix. We double checked that Beatrix would fit on their driveway and even sent measurements as we did not want to get any shocks and check that we could fit without inconveniencing them too much. When we arrived they had not realised how big we were and yes we did fit which was a relief.

    The drive from Norfolk to Leavenheath was on easy roads, however, our friend the weather impacted us again. It was very windy and there were a few moments where Toby had to slow down as the wind was blowing us across the roads.

    Whilst we were with Anthea and Kevin we got to catch up with other friends by celebrating the engagement of Sarah and Richard. I managed to get my Covid booster at Colchester United football ground. We scooted to the ground then went to see my mum and dad and borrowed their car so we could spend the evening with them and get Merlin who had been looked after by Kevin. What I can tell you is that it is quite cold using Sons of Anarchy in December!

    Whilst we were at my parents I got a phone call from someone I used to work with offering me a full time role. Although it was fantastic to be thought of I told the individual that I was now not looking for a full time role. This company also offers associate coaching work and I did mention that I would be interested in being an associate coach if that was available when I returned from skiing in France in April. He said I should get in touch when I got back from France. One thing I have learnt is it is always good to not fully close doors when you leave work that you enjoy doing and also ask for what you want as you may just get it! Watch this space for more about the progress of this opportunity.

    We headed back to Leavenheath to pick up Beatrix and take Anthea and Kevin out for dinner not realising that Kevin was already out that night – best laid plans! We ended up having a great meal with Anthea in Nayland to say thanks for letting us: use your driveway, washing machine and shower and clocked the fact that we owed Kevin a great dinner.

    Not wanting to outstay our welcome with these friends on our first Beatrix home visit with them, we had arranged to stay at a campsite on the outskirts of Colchester to be able to see other friends. Strangely from a timing perspective, Eddy and Alex, friends who moved to Germany a few years ago and have a motorhome, were over visiting friends in Colchester at the same time. We managed to catch up with them and Watson their dog. We had a wonderful evening, enjoying storytelling, catching up and trying a new vegan restaurant Hanks in Colchester. We got takeaway and the food was interesting and tasted great. We popped in to see mum and dad and drove mum to Marks Tey to pick up their favourite pensioners fish and chips from their favourite chippy. It was great to spend multiple part days with my family and just be with them without having to rush off and help out when needed.

    The list of friends we were able to see was not finished yet. Toby and I met whilst we were both working at a company called Betts in Colchester. We have some great memories of nights out with some of our co-workers who are now very good friends as we have been on a few motorcycling trips with them. We took the bus from the campsite into town for an evening of reminiscing in Colchester and drinking at some old haunts. It was raining and I may have had a few too many wines that night and felt very rough the next day. We could not lay in though as we had a surprise 50th birthday party to go to in Braintree. Toby, my hero, scooted to Greggs to get bacon sandwiches and we then scooted to my sister in laws brother’s for her surprise 50th. We did not stay long and went to bed early as it was a moving day to start heading to Exeter for Christmas. The trip to Exeter was not all done in one day, we staged it so we could enjoy some time in places we wanted to visit and get some tasks done.

    Our first stop was Ashridge Caravan Club Site, to get Sons of Anarchy serviced. It was a really easy drive to get to Ashwell – which is a really cute small club site. We had thought we had the wrong address however we had not and we managed to squeeze Beatrix into the site. Toby scooted Sons of Anarchy to Letchworth for it’s service. We also realised Emma, who Toby used to work with, lived in Ashwell and we managed to spend an evening with her and her partner and some fantastic barbecue food. Ashwell is a very beautiful village and whilst we were walking around admiring the Christmas lights we saw Brian and Claire who we had met in September 2021 as this is where their home is. We went for a cup of tea and catch up with them and then bought some amazing Ashwell pies from the butcher which had been recommended by Ben.

    From Ashwell we travelled to Salisbury Camping and Caravanning club site. It was where we had been on day one of our travels this year. We arrived and enjoyed doing some Christmas shopping in Salisbury and thankfully no wasp stings this time. Whilst we were there though we both got pinged to say we needed to do a PCR test as we may have Covid as we had been around people that had Covid in Colchester. It put everything into perspective. We scooted to get our PCR test done and then had to wait to see if we would have to isolate for Christmas. Luckily the results came within 24 hours and we were both clear. We decided, seeing as we were so close, that we would do an early morning expedition on Sons of Anarchy to see the sunrise at Stonehenge. It was a chilly start and we made coffee so we could enjoy it when we stopped to watch the sunrise. It would have been perfect had it not been so darned foggy and cold. We were not able to see the sunrise and Stonehenge doesn’t open early in the morning. At 07:50am we sat outside the gate to the visitors centre of Stonehenge drinking coffee before heading back to the campsite. First attempt at Stonehenge failed – we will try again – although next time with Beatrix!

    Beatrix withChristmas decorations!

    Our last drive before Christmas was getting from Salisbury to Exeter. It was a long drive and we needed a stop. Just to make things interesting we ended up stopping for a breather at a petrol station. Somehow we ended up going the wrong way into the petrol station and caused mayhem with the cars who were trying to go the right way. It must have been quite intimidating being a small car and seeing an Beatrix driving towards young matter how slowly we were driving. I can only imagine what the people working at the petrol station were thinking. We didn’t stop at this petrol station we just got out as quickly as we could and ended up stopping 5 minutes up the road where the entry and exit to the petrol station was easy for a Beatrix sized vehicle.

    The rest of the drive to Exeter went swimmingly and we arrived at our Christmas camping location Grindlebrook Farm. We would be staying with Toby’s mum and Laurie for a lot of the time however Beatrix was safely stowed there. Christmas was as wonderful as you can imagine as we spent over two weeks with Toby’s mum and Laurie and his brother and his wife. We enjoyed walks around Exeter and watching the rain a fair bit as the weather was pretty awful. So the end of 2021 – the year we started on the road less travelled. We have a lot more to share so hope you continue reading.

    Thanks for reading

    Sally, Toby and Merlin

  • Norfolk and friends – November 2021

    We left Cambridge and headed east towards Nortfolk and more specifically Sandringham. The site was again beautiful and with a club site you know exactly what to expect. We walked around the Sandringham grounds and found out that there was a light show which was due to start. We got to see the preview of the light show without having to pay which was pretty fantastic. We all enjoyed walking and running (for me still jogging) in the area. We also arranged to see Toby’s mum, Laurie, Kelsie and her little girl. It was a lovely day, the sun was shining, although it was chilly and we had lunch out and had a short walk on the beach. Sandringham was beautiful although clubs sites come at a cost. 

    Our next stop was to visit friends in Norfolk. It would be our first « friend visit » and we would need to think about how we would manage boundaries without seriously annoying our friends and how we could help them. First stop one of Toby’s friends from school. 

    Whilst we were there it was lovely – as the friends are incredible. They have two beautiful daughters and it was nice to live with them for a few days and offer some help – looking after the girls and having some genuine great conversations and seeing what their world looks like during the week. This was what our travelling was about, as well as visiting great places, we wanted to spend some quality time with our friends and family and the people we care about. It was nice to re-engage and almost kick start the friendship again. I think the friends also enjoyed spending some time with us. I can only offer my thoughts on this! We plugged our electricity into their garage and had permission to use their shower and washing machine. This was luxury as home showers are wonderful in comparison to the shower in Beatrix and campsite showers.  What staying at a friends gave us was a bit of extra support and comfort to start doing some maintenance tasks on Beatrix. Toby decided to drill a hole in Beatrix’s roof to add a Wifi booster aerial. Being at a friend’s house meant if anything went horribly wrong we could stay in the house and would have some DIY tools to be able to fix things. Luckily it was a relatively easy thing for Toby to do. He then scooted to Kings Lynn to get some sticky pads to stick the wiring onto the roof. A successful fix. I also fell in love with this friend’s washing machine and tumble dryer. The washing machine sings at you and the tumble dryer is amazing as you can specify how dry you want the washing to be. A luxury and it saved us a shed load of money as each wash in a launderette is on average 7GBP. It was a wonderfully relaxing time. 

    We didn’t want to overstay our welcome so only stayed a few days. As it seemed to work we said we would probably be back to visit again. We then went to another club site in Norfolk, Seacroft near Cromer. Again it was an easy drive from our friends to this site. We arrived in good time and I had made an error booking saying we did not need an awning space and when we arrived the couple who were managing the site said we would not fit on a non awning pitch. Luckily they had had a cancellation and we ended up with a great pitch. We filled up with water at the front of the site. When we then tried to restart Beatrix she would not restart. It seemed like her engine had just died. We went to let the site couple know as we were blocking their motorhome service area. They were having a miserable time as they also had another broken down motorhome at the only other water point on site – it would be a problem for them. One of the guys offered to use his tractor to try and jumpstart Beatrix, he was just going to try and sort it when Toby retried Beatrix and she started. It was not ideal as we did not know why she had not started however at least she started and we could settle onto our pitch. Phew for us and the campsite team!

    The pitch was lovely and we stayed long enough to get to know the area. We had some fantastic weather being able to walk from Cromer to Sheringham in glorious sunshine and able to walk on the beach.

    The scenery was amazing. We also had the opportunity to watch a small plane doing acrobatics twice over the sea. We had chosen Cromer as we hoped to spend some time with a couple of other friends and managed to do that by having dinner at their house for another friends 50th birthday on Saturday. There were high winds on that day and we were glad we were in a house that evening. Whilst we were at Cromer, we learnt a bit more about Beatrix in that her great table, as well as moving left to right and front to back the table also moves up and down which means you can make a bed in that area. As we learnt how to do that we used the table as a « bed » to watch a film using the projector on the front screen of Beatrix. It was actually very cool – a real cinema experience in our motorhome. We both jogged to get fitter cut Merlin and did our tax returns. It would be rude not to have chips on the seafront – although the seagulls did try and steal the chips and were very menacing looking!

    Summary of November

    Spending time with people you care about is important, friends and family. By our new life we were raising the priority of this for us and it was great. We were loving it and I hope our friends and family are noticing the difference. Great Britain has some wonderful scenery Norfolk, Cambridge and I also know it helps when the sun is shining. Things sometimes go wrong or things break and it is how you deal with it that is important. Having a Toby who is great at fixing things helps.

    Thanks for reading

    Sally, Toby and Merlin

  • Cambridge and family – November 2021

    Wortley Hall was our first stay in November and is a beautiful looking building, however it was booked out to a wedding and it was raining. In better weather I think there are some lovely walks around the hall to do. We went for a run and then headed toour next stop, Greetham House a CL near Oundle (anyone remember what a CL is? If not go to the blog post in early October). The entrance to the site isn’t brilliantly sign posted and we had a bit of a mix up as nearly went up someone’s drive way before realising our error. The site is on a farm and is really reasonably priced as it is very basic, there is EHU (electric hook up) and very basic waste disposal and water. We did not use the water as we had enough left from the Lakes. Greetham is very beautiful and had two great looking eateries, one was not open on a Tuesday and the other it was not clear if it was open or not. We decided to give it a go as we had not really spent any of our « eating out » budget. The pub was open and it was pie night. We both had pie and chips, Toby had a couple of pints and I had a couple of glasses of wine. The food was amazing and it was a really good price (£32 for everything).

    We left Greetham after walking Merlin in the morning having tea and breakfast and doing our leaving checklist (will provide a link to this when we add to the blog!). Getting out of the site was also interesting as it was quite a narrow road to pull out on however it was quiet. The drive to Cherry Hinton in Cambridge was again an easy drive. It was a lovely site and as I had phoned them ahead of time to let them know how long we are and how much we weight they had saved us a pitch. It’s a relatively small club site and was quite busy considering we were out of season in November. We were booked for a week although I knew that I was going to spend a couple of days with my mum. We walked into Cambridge after night one, it was quite a long way and although I could probably walk to the train station to get the train to my parents – we decided I would get the bus. The walk to Cambridge was wonderful, it’s such a beautiful city.

    On the Friday I got the bus to the train station and then got the train from Cambridge to Colchester and then from Colchester to my parents. It felt very strange waiting for the train at Colchester as we used to live a few miles up the road in West Bergholt and had driven past Colchester station many times. This time Toby was home alone with Merlin in Beatrix! I enjoyed spending some time with my Mum and my brother helped out by giving me a lift back to the Cherry Hinton campsite so my nieces could get to meet Beatrix.

    We had another day in Cambridge this time getting the bus in and having lunch in town and having dinner out at the local pub to the campsite. We scooted (electric scooters) to the local Tesco which was fun to do and there were a lot of electric scoots in Cambridge. We also tried cutting Merlin and had a degree of success although not perfect. 

    Thanks for reading

    Sally, Toby and Merlin