Welcome to Club Motorhome.

clipped.......we also used to have several arguments about setting up the caravan and awning

That's a huge club you were members of............and there were lots of us in it. Now, if it's pouring with rain upon arrival, it's "handbrake on and kettle on". :thumbs:

Enjoy your MH.

Cheers,

Jock & Rita.

We are Mike & Rosie Sinclair. Our first motorhome adventure began in 1999 when we sold everything, bought a Benimar Junior and hit the road. Three years later and with many countries visited either with the Benimar or backpacking, we bought a 40 acre almond and olive farm in Andalucia. The motorhome sat idle while we farmed and renovated a 13 room traditional farmhouse. Eight years later we tried a caravan (Adria Action) but decided motorhomes were for us. Today we have a 16 yr old AutoSleeper Duetto in the UK and a similar aged Dodge Pleasure-Way in the US. Our 1 bed apartment on Isle of Wight is our only bricks and mortar. We spend half our year based in the UK and the other with our US motorhome. We are both musicians and spend our time playing our way around the world - for fun!

Hi Mike and Rosie and welcome to the forum.

Well - you seem to have a great lifestyle.

I would love to hear of some of your adventures in the US - I bet you'd had a few.

You don't appear to have 'let the grass grow under your feet'.
What instruments do you both play?

We both play ukulele and I (Mike) also play keyboards, accordion, dulcimer, native American Indian flute and melodica. I sing too!

Based up in Central Scotland, I (Andrew) spent 22 years in the Army and have been in the TA as a reservist for 18 years and still counting. Early retired (apart from TA), wife (Catherine)is also retired as a former Civil Servant (Council). We have been motorhoming for 9 years and are on our third van which we have had 6 years or so (Elnagh Clipper 90 Low profile) which is ideal for us with the fixed bed. We, usually tow a smart car on a trailer for our continental expeditions which gives us no problems anywhere with the local police. Did our first winter away down in Spain earlier this year and going again 2013 at the end of February. Absolutely loved it and are now hooked. We have done all the aires trips in France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium, Republic of Eire and all around the UK, so taking a break from the real touring. This is a great site and is a bit more homelier than other Motorhome sites. Nice to meet you all.

Andrew and Catherine

Golly - I bet you'd go down a treat at a rally - that's a good assortment of instruments.

I think we've another member on here who plays the ukulele.

Chris

Golly - I bet you'd go down a treat at a rally - that's a good assortment of instruments.

What? Are Andrew & Catherine surgeons or dentists by any chance Chris, and we intend to have a "live operation" on a rally? :ohmy: OMG!!!!!

Oh, I see now, you mean Mike & Rosie. Sorry. :blush: ................

Cheers,

Jock.

Hi Jock - you got ME worried then I wondered what I'd put.

Hope you & Rita are very well.

Chris (& Graham & Archie) :evil:

Hi Jock - you got ME worried then I wondered what I'd put.

:laugh:

Yes Chris, we are both very well thanks, and hope that you, Graham, and wee Archie, are likewise.

Cheers for now,

Jock & Rita.

This is a great site and is a bit more homelier than other Motorhome sites. Nice to meet you all.

Andrew and Catherine

Thank you Andrew and Catherine, I'm glad you've found it so and I hope you get lots of useful information from it .

Hi David & Ann. We're Mike & Rosie. So much in common with you guys, I just had to say hi! Where to start? Well, Rosie had 10 years working in the NHS who then became a client of our in our consultancy business. When we sold everything in 1999 we bought a Benimar motorhome from RDH in Nottingham. Three years of world globetrooting later we bought a 40 acre almond, olive and fig farm in Las Alujarras near a village called Cadiar on the south side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. We spent 8 years there. I'm known as "the uke man" because amongst other instruments, I play ukulele. Do you play sax, I wonder?

Cheers

Mike & Rosie

hola Mike and Rosie Wow thats some place you have. Our casa sits on 2.5 acres with olives and thats enough. We dont get about as much as we'd like to because 3 have 3 dogs; one old cocker /one spanish little jack russel type and a large dobie type outside dog. we can't take Kai the dobie with us because although he's very friendly with everyone our side of the fence ' he's not to others outside. So he's not fit to take in the "bus" !
When cocker and dobie have passed on we'll get off and tour much more with the little one.
I havent got a musical note in my body even though i bought a guitar 2 years ago and still can't play a note.Neighbours will tell you this is true. Would love to play the sax my favourite instrument.
We hope to visit Potes beyond Burgos in Sept to see the picos de europa if old cocker is able to travel.
Couldn't quite make out from your message if your still in Spain. let us know.
Kind regards
David and Ann (Taylor)
if photos attach then they are of us using the m/h as a mobile canteen when picking

We sold the cortijo two years ago today! Bought a one bedroom apartment on the Isle of Wight and now spend summers here and winters in the USA. We have a motorhome in each country and just love the freedom of being "on the road again"

We also loved the 8 years on the farm. We knew nothing about almonds, olives, figs or renovations. Our Spanish neighbour adopted us and became our agricultural mentor. He taught us pruning, grafting, harvesting etc. Fortunately we picked an area where, at the time, no-one spoke English except a handful of Brits. So we had to learn Spanish quickly and did!

We had a trusty dog who showed up one day, liked us and stuck around for the whole 8 years. He died on his land the week before we left. 5 cats, which at one time was as high as 14 made up the animal squad who kept the rats at bay.

Happy memories.

Cheers

Mike

Hi

We are Elspeth and Ian , originally from Scotland. We bought our first and only motorhome 10 years ago. It is a S700 Hymer and even though it is getting long in the tooth we haven't found anything we like to replace it with.
Six years ago we sold up and set off to tour the world. We are still here in Scotland! We had applied to join the Camping and Caravanning Club to work on their sites as a back up plan in case anything went wrong with the round the world idea and they offered us a job which we took for one summer - just to see how it went. Six seasons later we are still working the summers and travelling the winters! However, this October we shall finish our contract and head off to enjoy even more travelling.
We met Club Motorhome in Denia and this spurred us on to have a look at the website and join up. Looking forward to meeting up with more of you in the future.

Hi Dreammobil

A very warm :welcome4: To the forum.

It looks like you enjoyed your 6 years working with the C&CS. Will be interested to hear your tales of working on a site plus pick your brains of areas of interest to visit.

We look forward to meeting up with you on the Spain 2013 meet.

Chris

B) Hola Chris
Can you please remind me when the Spain get together is. Even if we cant get there in the van (because of our dogs and dogsitters etc) we could still come and meet in the car.
kind regards
David and Ann (saxman)

Hi

We are Elspeth and Ian , originally from Scotland. We bought our first and only motorhome 10 years ago. It is a S700 Hymer and even though it is getting long in the tooth we haven't found anything we like to replace it with.
Six years ago we sold up and set off to tour the world. We are still here in Scotland! We had applied to join the Camping and Caravanning Club to work on their sites as a back up plan in case anything went wrong with the round the world idea and they offered us a job which we took for one summer - just to see how it went. Six seasons later we are still working the summers and travelling the winters! However, this October we shall finish our contract and head off to enjoy even more travelling.
We met Club Motorhome in Denia and this spurred us on to have a look at the website and join up. Looking forward to meeting up with more of you in the future.

Hi Elspeth & Ian. :welcome2:

How goes it with you two?

We feel the same about our ageing E690 Hymer, ie, not found anything else we like, and TBH, even if we did, we couldn't afford it anyway. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Good to see you on Club Motorhome.

Cheers for now,

Jock & Rita.

Hi Saxman

The dates for the Spain meet are 15th April 2013 - 5 nights at the campsite at Rugat then onto the Calpe Aire (20th April) for 10 days.

You'd be very welcome to come along & meet up with other Club members.

Chris

Hi George - a very warm welcome to the forum. Are you new to motor homing or a 'seasoned' traveller? What m/h have you got or looking at getting?

Have a look around the forum & get posting if you've got any queries or answers.

Chris

Hi Folks. Just joined yesterday and thought it would be polite to say hello rather than be a "ghost in the machine".
My wife and I have just retired and we are looking for stuff to do before the rot sets in! We have hired a motorhome for a few weeks in Oct / Nov to give it a trial run. We bought a small narrowboat earlier in the year and have hardly used it due to the atrocious weather, so maybe looking for more flexibility.
Our plan is to head for Spain (Murcia) for the sake of somewhere to point, but we will see what happens on the way "let the chips fall where they may".
First impressions of the website are very good. Looking forward to using it to help plan the trip.
Mike & Eileen

Hi Mike & Eileen - a very warm :welcome4: to the forum.

There's plenty of useful info re stopovers on the site so have a good look and if we can help in anyway ask away.

We bought our first Motorhome 5 years ago and have had some real adventures travelling around Spain, France & Portugal so I'm sure you will have a great time on your trip.

Chris

Hi I'am Nora other half is Neil.
We live in Galway. Ireland.
We have always had a Caravan when kids were small and in 1999 we cleaned out Neil work van, painted and made curtains and added sink and toilet and off we went to France for a month and we were hooked. Only downside we had to take it all out for Neil to get back to work. We had several weekend in Ireland and the following year we were off to France again. That Sept we went to look at Campers and bought a Auto Roller which we kept for 2 years and then went to Germany to buy a Burstner 680 and kepted that for 5 years. We returned to Germany in 2010 to buy our current van a 2007 Hymer 614. For us buying in Germany saved us a lot of money but then again we had no come back when the Truma heater packed up in France last year or when the cupboard doors all had to get new screws. Major problems with garage door locks.

We now travel to Europe for 2 months every May/June and around Ireland for the rest of the time. In years to come we hope to come to Europe for 4 months at a time and go home for a week or for the family to fly out to meet us. We love this kind of life and we love to cycle,read, play scrabble, cards and meeting new people. Neil like sports on TV so we are set up for that. This years we have traveled to Italy.

:welcome4: Nora & Neil.

Nice to see you both on here too. :thumbs: Unfortunately, we've not seen you both in person since Germany 2010.
Hopefully that will change some time soon.

Cheers for now,

Jock & Rita.

Hi we have just joined and thought we would introduce ourselves. We are Hugh and Antonia and have had various camper vans and motorhomes for the last 15 years. Now retired and spending 2-3 months at a time on trips to Europe. We spent this spring in Italy, a short 5 week trip to France (our favourite place)during September and are busy planning to go to Spain in February for a few months.

We are avid readers, scrabble players and wine drinkers. I paint, and he tinkers (to be fair he is pretty handy in the 'fix it' department.
Look forward to being members

Hello and a very warm :welcome4: to you both.

15 years motorhoming - well I think that could make you a veteran on this forum.

If you've any good tips or want to pass on good places to stay (or avoid) throughout the EU we would be more than pleased to hear of them.

Looking forward to hearing of your future plans

Chris

Just a reminder that with such a lot of new members joining us we would love to hear from you :thumbs:

Please feel free to add to this thread and tell us a little about yourselves.

Or, by all means, start your own introduction here

How long have you been motorhoming? What sort of motorhome do you have? What are your plans for this year? etc. etc.

Your input may also encourage others to do the same .

We look forward to hearing from you :thumbs: .

Ok here we go then
My name is Graham Partner is Christine, We live in South Guildford Western Australia.
I am currently 95% through building my own Motorhome a Toyota Coaster (EX mine bus). WE try to get away about 1 weekend a month to get out of the rat race.
here's a couple of pics

Hi Graham & Christine,

Your MH/Bus conversion is looking good, and it doesn't look too big either, ie, not ARV size.
I don't know about camp sites in Western Australia, but many sites here in the UK are now restricting vehicle lengths to 8 meters, including the Caravan Club. :ohmy:

Will you both be touring Australia full time, in your MH?

Cheers for now,

Jock (& Rita).

Hi Jock and Rita
It is 7m long and yes we will be going on the road full time in about 12 to 18 months
Graham

A good size to take into most places Graham. :thumbs:

We are 8 mtrs, and although I am an experienced truck, bus, coach, and former Emergency Fire Appliance driver, Rita gets quite nervous when I go into supermarket car parks (and similar tight places) with our MH. I don't know whether it is my driving skills, or that of others that she lacks confidence in. :laugh:

Good luck with the "full timing" plans. :thumbs: She's a huge country to tour. You'll be on the road for decades. :laugh:

Cheers,

Jock.

Yes Jock friends have just completed 1 lap and it's taken them 5 years. Seems Rita is a bit like Chris she gets nervous too, I've drove army Macks (10 tonners) for 10 years a while back been a courier for that last 19 years so I know what you mean.
Graham

Hi, we joined Club Motorhome just a short while ago. Previously we were fortunate enough to be able to use the Autosleeper of my parents' in law, this gave us the chance to see how much we liked the campervan ways; we used it in this country and parts of France over a period of about 6 years and found that it was just what we wanted. Sadly, a couple of years ago, as they were no longer using the van themselves they decided to sell it. The good news is (and the reason for joining this site) that we have placed a deposit on a two year old Burstner Nexxo t660. So before long we will be finding our feet in our own van and perhaps parking up next to some of you at some time or other, so until then all the best.

Paul and Deb

Congratulations Paul and Deb on getting a motorhome (soon). Burstner's have a good reputation. Wish you both happy travels.

Hi
We have had campers, vans and caravans for about 10yrs, while our eldest son raced Karts all round the country. A year or so ago I progressed to my dream of an RS, which are purpose built for various motorsport enthusiasts.

I love it, big I know, but I guess that I am a frustrated Trucker. Its perfect for the Job it does carrying Karts and kit, and giving a comfortable base to race from.

Karting is a great sport, a great way to spend time with your kids as they grow up and enjoy their hobby. We have made so many friends, and have fond memories of some great weekends.

I would recommend to any Motorhomers who are interested in motorsport to find a circuit near them and camp over (in the summer especially). Most "Proper" circuits are listed on the governing bodies website, find their contacts and go take a look. Be careful its addictive !!(http://www.karting.co.uk/ABkC/#Index)

Our boy (now heading towards 20) races less and less, and will be travelling around the world as a mechanic in Aston Martin's race team. Which leaves us with a lovely motorhome and weekends to fill in.

I probabley won't be able to justify keeping teh cmaper beyond this year, and so plan to take to Spain in the summer (1st time), as well as France which we have done a few times before.

I would love to be able to get something similar and tour warmer climates during winter, but thats probabley not going to be for a good quite a while yet, and will take some serious negotiations with her in doors. Still plenty of work to do before I can retire.

If anyone can recommend sites or contries to tour, we like the Sun and walking around interesting towns, shops, etc...)

Hi all
We are Kathy and Steve...... Yep , took us ages to think up our user name! I bought "Hettie" our 2001 Hymer B510 in Germany in 2006, best purchase ever. A few years later I shamelessly used my dream machine to entice my now husband Steve to join me in my travels. His first words on the subject, and now famous last words......" Oh yes I'm looking forward to coming away in the van with you, but I'm not like you you know ..... I won't be going away every month, I'm a bit of a home bird" Ha! Hettie and I were quietly confident and after our first trip away he was hooked. We now go away in the van as much as our very fortunate work rota permits ( 2 weeks on 3 weeks off ) and have been storing the van in France and Spain while we come back to the UK to do our 2 weeks work then hop on a flight out again.
We met Neil and Caroline in Denia and decided to join the club, have met some of you before ( Mosel and Rhine 3 years ago, Denia 2 years ago and St Augustin last year )
Unfortunately we will both be offshore so will miss the meet in April but look forward to meeting some of you on the road.
Happy travels everyone!

:welcome3:
Hello and welcome Kartingmad and KathyandSteve.

Glad Steve became hooked

:welcome1: :welcome4:

Hi all
We are Kathy and Steve......

Hello you two and :welcome1: and about time too I might add

Hope you find lots on here to help with your travels and look forward to catching up with you again sometime soon :thumbs: .

Hi Kathy & Steve,

Welcome to Club Motorhome. :thumbs:

have met some of you before ( Mosel and Rhine 3 years ago),

I'm good at faces and places, but names often get the better of me. Rita and I were on that Mosel/Rhine trip too, and had a great time.

Happy travels everyone!

Same to you two, and hope we meet up some time. :thumbs:

Cheers for now,

Jock (& Rita).

Hi Neil
Yes I know it is about time! We are always either offshore or away in the van so Internet access is very limited and when we get it we never manage to get more than halfway down our list of things to do. We will make a real effort to see you either before or after the rally ( really gutted we will be offshore and will miss the "taste of Spain"
Hi Jock
Yes indeedy we did meet on the German rally, I'm the southern lass with a wild mop of hair and Steve is a bald Geordie ex fireman ( long time ago, he's been offshore for 25 years) look forward to seeing you both again sometime ..... Have found a pic on my iPad, here we are just outside Granada, Christmas Day

Its been a little while since the last post in this thread so I thought I'd bump it to give some of the newer members a chance.....

....to tell us, who are you?

Hello all

I have finally finished my self build demountable camper which mounts on my Ford Ranger. Just returned from Loch Lomand and thence the Lake district and everything tickity boo. Next tour will probably be over to Spain. We enjoy wild camping sites and have toured across Europe in a self build Transit camper but now with the 4x4 we can hit the beaches as well without worrying about being towed out.

Cheers

Hi,

I retired, quite early, nearly 10 years ago. I bought a Moncayo motohome and travelled through France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and then Portugal for nine months. Finally, when money was getting quite short, I found a part time job in Jaen province (Spain) looking after a small campsite…sadly now closed. This turned into a (long-term) part time job and enabled me to return to studying: something I have wanted to do for a long time.

After settling in Spain for the last 10 years I wanted a change and to travel again. Having viewed a number of second hand motor homes locally, and being appalled at the general condition (one had three large holes in the shower tray!), I decided to purchase through a dealer in Cartegena. I have just bought another Moncayo (the 721 Silver, I like the fixed bed and good bathroom layout). My old model was just faultless and, I feel, amazing value for money. This model has the Fiat 3.0 Power engine and seems slightly sprightlier than the old 2.8 JTD that I owned before. I know it may be boring to buy a very similar model to my old one but it really was faultless and nothing ever failed.

I found this website site after a considerable amount of Googling (if that’s a real word?) and was impressed by the content and how easy it is to naviagte. I’m really interested in any vegetarian recipes anyone may have that can be ‘thrown’ together in a motor home…I don’t have Jamie Oliver’s skills in the kitchen department! You may have guessed that I’ll be consulting the ‘Pub Stopover’ section over the next few months. :unsure:

I set off next week, first heading to the east coast of Spain and then through France and back to the Midlands for July and August. I have to sit an exam later in the summer so will be in England for a while.

Well…that’s my basic introduction. I hope you all have a good summer and look forward to hearing from members.

Cheers Russ. :thumbs: PS I have attached a couple of very poor photos (one external and one of the bathroom)of my 'new' motor home. I hope the attachment works.

Hola i'm david - Ann and i retired 10 years ago out to the small pueblo of Sax about 25 k up from Alicante right near the Madrid motorway after many years in the NHS.We now have 2.5 acreas of olives, so busy most of the year doing something !!
We used to sail our Sigma 10m boat out of Nidri Greece but had to sell when we came here.Flights to Preveza were very expensive. After two years here we decided we couldnt afford another boat (Marinas mucho dinero) to contiue our wanderings so we purchased a 2 year old Benimar 6000 europa (2002) 6.76M long with a 2.8jtd . we have visited France a few times, England once and Italy on our annual hols but mainly use it for 2/3 days away in Spain.I converted the rear single bed at the back into a cosy double so she is now just right for us.
If anyone requires any help or info of this area please feel free to contact me and i'll tryto help.
Kind regards
David T and Ann T B)

Hi Russ

A very warm welcome to this friendly forum.

Your motorhome looks very nice and if you've found a make that suits you its a good idea to get another.

Our first motorhome a Burstner Argos 747 had so many faults we decided 3 years on to replace it with a Rapido 9066df which suits us very well.
I've just got back home after touring around France and Spain for the last 8 weeks and its developed a couple of faults so its back to the Dealers as its still under warranty.

With regards to the veggie recipes - I'm sure someone will have a delicious motorhome friendly one for you but there's nothing simpler than making a vegetarian paella - I'm all for one pot cooking.

Chris

Hi David & Ann T

A very warm welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you've had a very adventurous time with your sailing.

Thanks for the offer of advice around your area I'm sure you'll be called upon by members.

2.5 acres of Olives sounds a bit like hard work to me - do you harvest them yourselves and sell them?

Chris

Hola Chris
Many thanks for your warm welcome.
Yes we do collect our own olives and prune all 118 trees twice a year. methinks i'll only be doing this for another year or two though. Time for some rest soon.
If anyone is passing please feel free to call in we can just about get a 7 metre "bus" into the garden via 5 m gates but the track is rough and narrow. Mine is nearly 7m and i get in ok reversing.Anything smaller is a doddle !
take care
david

Hello Folks
My husband and I have both retired from jobs within Education. I was a primary school head teacher and he was head of a behaviour service for the local authority, providing support and sometimes alternative provision for children with behaviour problems. We have 3 children aged 35, 33 and 27 and one little grandson for whom we provide care for 4 days a week.My husband enjoys painting and goes to art classes. I have been learning French and quite like aqua aerobics.
We started motorhoming with a Swift but found it was too big to move around when we were on site. Tried a caravan next - nightmare. Hated the lack of spontaneity, towing, storing yuk!! So have now gone back to a motorhome. Bought a 2008 Burstner Travel van last year which is very much a family resource. Our eldest son, his wife and little boy have just come back from Denmark with it and we are off to france in 2 weeks. We are pleased with it so far but for the cupboard and door locks and catches which need to be oiled regularly or they don't work. We love the fact it has two full size single beds at the back which can be used as an even bigger double and an enormous garage underneath. The integral awning is fab too. Memories of threading the caravan awning through the channel around the caravan and the almost divorce that resulted makes this a real plus. Not much room for cooking which I guess I will miss a bit but the BBQ is always on hand and hey who wants to be cooking on holidays?? We have always had an Oyster Caro satellite system and have had it fitted on this van too for those night when you just don't feel like going out. I like to think of it as my little mobile hotel room.
I initially found this site when I googled a problem we were having with our Swift and signed up for a newsletter after I had received so many helpful suggestions. I recently posted a question about where to stay in Folkstone and another on reverse polarity and received similar support. I looked at another site to subscribe to but chose this one because it was smaller and had a 'family' feel to it. Also I found the site easier to navigate, the bigger one being too cluttered. Wood and trees spring to mind.

Well that's us. I hope everyone has a really fab summer (if it ever comes) motorhoming!

Well…that’s my basic introduction. I hope you all have a good summer and look forward to hearing from members.

Hi Russ and welcome!

Your motorhome looks great and as Chris has said - why change when you find a make/layout you like? It sounds like you will have a busy summer with your trip to the UK (nice to escape the Spanish heat sometimes though )

And good luck with those exams!

Hola i'm david - Ann and i retired 10 years ago out to the small pueblo of Sax about 25 k up from Alicante right near the Madrid motorway after many years in the NHS.We now have 2.5 acreas of olives, so busy most of the year doing something !!

¡Hola David and Ann! Welcome to Club Motorhome :cheer:

I envy you with your olive production but know how back-breaking it can be. I love watching how they develop and get harvested while I'm walking Digger in the campo there is a lot of production around where we are based for parts of the year.

We too considered a boat before going down the motorhome route and we're sooo glad we didn't get one - the running and marina costs are eyewateringly expensive. Now I grumble when I have to spend a couple of hundred pounds on shock absorbers, goodness knows what I would have been like with a boat :laugh:

Thanks for your offer of local help too.

I initially found this site when I googled a problem we were having with our Swift and signed up for a newsletter after I had received so many helpful suggestions. I recently posted a question about where to stay in Folkstone and another on reverse polarity and received similar support. I looked at another site to subscribe to but chose this one because it was smaller and had a 'family' feel to it. Also I found the site easier to navigate, the bigger one being too cluttered. Wood and trees spring to mind.

Well that's us. I hope everyone has a really fab summer (if it ever comes) motorhoming!

Hi sukieduke, Thanks for your nice comments about the website and I'm delighted you have had some benefit from it already.

I think from your introduction, that you are going to enjoy your forthcoming travels very much

And the great thing about having a motorhome is that if the summer doesn't come you can just go and find it somewhere else!

Hi we are Frank and Pauline ,both now retired ,when I retired 4 years ago we did a 12 week trip of lifetime,spending 6 weeks in a rented Motorhome in New Zealand ,never ever had a motorhome but we loved it .The van hired had a rear lounge and when we returned to uk the hunt was on for a 6meter rear lounge van for about25k found a 04 Eldiss Sunseeker 200 11k on clock in good condition.
Three years later we have 35k on the clock,ashamed to admit most of mileage has been done in Europe,one 6week trip France,Spain,Portugal,back through Northern Spain and France,and other trips to Germany,Just back from 2 weeks going down to Fussen via Romantic rd back via Kehl and Strasburgh,Mosel.We loved the freedom of travel abroad the ease of parking and must say the friendly locals as we travel round.September we are heading to France ,Paris ,Carcassonne,Sete are all in the plan.
We love are little van ,had the upholstery and foam changed last year looks great.

Hi all,

If you've read some of this already in the "Welcome" forum, we apologise in advance.....................but none of it are lies. :laugh:

We are Jock & Rita, and although I had to retire early from the Fire Service, (medical reasons), Rita wasn't able to retire from her occupation, in order that we could make an extended trip across Europe in our MH.
Having left the RAF Fire Service after 12.5 years, I became a Wholetime Fireman with a local authority in England. As a married couple with a young family, shift work meant that I was able to carry out part time driving of HGVs and PSVs during my off duty time, in order to make ends meet.
Later, Rita worked for a major High Street supermarket chain, before moving across to A.N.Other supermarket's Pharmacy chain.

For sixteen years we were tuggers (caravanners), until the task of erecting and dismantling an awning in the wind and rain, finally took it's toll on our leisure pursuit. Sukieduke's comments above of their possible divorce due to awning antics, rings very true with Rita and I. :laugh:
Our current MH (and our first) was spotted on the internet. Having viewed the same model at the Peterborough MH Show, we went ahead with the private purchase from the Torquay area, back in May 2005. Since then we have toured Ireland, France, Germany (our favourite)and recently spent time with friends in Denia & Calpe, Spain. We also use it when visiting family both in Scotland and South Wales, as well as regular weekends away with the various Camping and MH Forum clubs here in the UK.
Over the last seven years, we have met many folks and made so many friends on the MH related forums and clubs.
Rita and I are still currently working part time, which is a necessity if we are to continue enjoying our MH. Unfortunately, current fuel costs do have an effect on just how far we travel these days, especially at weekends.

Regards to all,

Jock & Rita.

I'm Nickd.
Bought a 1996 Peugeot Boxer Auto-Sleeper Symphony last year as I have a bit of a wanderlust. Awaiting the return of same after a failure at the MoT. Still trialing the concept and visited Ireland a few months ago to see if it worked. It did. Don't need to carry around as much as I thought but there are things I could have done with!
I'm waiting for Karitek to instal a roof-rack carrying system and backbox so that I can do some kayaking in places like Applecross to where a lot of vehicles have no access.
In the meantime, I can chuck the grandkids, or daughters if necessary, in there if they visit. A total win-win situation. And no poll tax... :laugh:
If all is done in time I may even try the continent. I think a small generator would make the whole concept complete and off the grid if I were to be in a nice place and not wish to find a site to recharge. Anyone know the sort of generator that would do?
Diesel engine ... diesels are everywhere... Ukraine and Byelaruss look interesting. Any bad thoughts?

Nickd

Tried to add these on pictures on previous posting,one is the great views from the castle of the spires in Wurzburg.
Found this great stellplatze as we went down the Romantic Road in Germany.Feuchtwagen= Thurnhofen pge 239 Board Atlas

Hi Nickd

A very warm welcome to the forum.

It looks like you've gone things sorted. I'd happily go 'fulltiming' but my other half can only manage 3 months at a time with me 24/7.

We've got a Honda generator which is very quiet but now we've got the solar panel fitted we don't use the generator very much.

Do you do much kayaking? If so, whereabouts.

Chris

Hi Chris,
I used to do my kayaking on Loch Shin or off the North East of Scotland but I want to move about and spend a couple of days in various areas. The West coast around Gairloch is wonderful - the seals sometimes pop up to check you out!
I'm interested in producing electricity to top-up the fridge or mobile or DVD player if I'm free-camping. Got any links for solar? Mind you I've noticed that as soon as you want to save the planet - the equipment is incredibly expensive to buy - hmmm, wonder why that is?

Hi Nickd

We are looking at going up the West coast next year. We have an inflatable sevylar canyon canoe (unused so far) but are looking forward to getting into the water.

With regard to solar panels/alternative energy - I've pinched this bit of info from another website
"A. Independent Power - Which one?  A frequent and tricky question!  None of the solutions are perfect with each having its own advantages and disadvantages. Solar and wind power are the greenest followed by fuel cells and then LPG & petrol & diesel generators which have the biggest carbon footprints. None are completely green of course each having materials and manufacturing footprints so power conservation is important too.
Solar panels are more or less fit and forget with a modest but long hours output that tops up your batteries unattended - whenever parked, out for the day, on a coffee or lunch stop, or even before you get up in the morning!  In combination with multiple leisure batteries they work well and especially so if you don't go too far north!  Wind generators produce more peak power but require more effort because for motorhome use you have to erect and then dismantle & stow them each time they are used so they are unlikely to be in use for as many hours as solar panels. They can also seem quite noisy in the camping environment. Both types can be inactive at times, in winter and when heavily overcast for solar, and on calm days for wind power. Solar is very popular on motorhomes, wind power more so on boats where off-onshore breezes are common. And set to become even more popular on smaller motorhomes with our new space saving slimline panel for crowded roofs (left).
In contrast fuel cells and 'gennies' are completely independent of the elements and can run at any time you feed them with fuel. These can be free standing for ad-hoc use or built in and automated for convenient low user input. Fuel cells are virtually silent and seen as very green with their very low emissions but are expensive to buy while gennies are relatively cheap but with a strong tendency to pollute the local environment with both fumes and noise!  All generators require fuel so you've got to carry and manage this of course, the lpg and diesel types can be installed to take fuel from the motorhome's on-board tank/s. Built-in lpg generators are fairly quiet but the others tend to be noisier and may be very unpopular on some campsites.  Increasingly their use is time restricted - we found they were restricted to 10-12am and 2-4pm on one site we visited recently."

I can't recommend any alternative power but I think a member on this site does fit solar panels to motorhomes at a very reasonable price.

Chris

Hi, I'm Sue and my partner is Ady. I have just bought my first Motorhome (never even been camping before) in at the deep end. Living on board at the moment trying to find the ideal property or a boat to live on. In Banbury currently but hoping to travel around the country and discover what we have in beautiful Britain, then on to Europe eventually. Wish us luck, we're going to need it!!!!

Hi Sue and Ady

A very warm welcome to the forum.

I've no doubt you will really enjoy your Motorhome. There's so much to explore in the UK. I myself like the coastal paths & being by the sea (possibly because we live in Sheffield 100miles from the coast).

We've just got back from 8 weeks in Spain and France & but only been to Scotland (fort William /glencoe) for a week so we must remedy - ah but the weather!!

You're just starting an adventure so enjoy it - any questions please ask & We'll be happy to help if we can.

Chris

Hi, I'm Sue and my partner is Ady. I have just bought my first Motorhome (never even been camping before) in at the deep end. Living on board at the moment trying to find the ideal property or a boat to live on. In Banbury currently but hoping to travel around the country and discover what we have in beautiful Britain, then on to Europe eventually. Wish us luck, we're going to need it!!!!

Hi Sue & Ady,

You are doing what many of us dream of doing.........but don't have the confidence to do. Good luck to you both, and welcome to Club Motorhome.

Like Chris & Graham, we too have recently come back from our first MH trip to Spain, but if it wasn't for the unpredictable weather here in the UK, we wouldn't bother going abroad at all, as there is so much we haven't seen in our own country.

Cheers for now,

Jock & Rita.

Good luck jock and rita

Good luck jock and rita

Thanks, but don't you mean "Sue & Ady"?

Regards,

Jock.

Hi,We are Clive and Christine,we finally transfered from a caravan to a motorhome in nov 2011,we finally decided on a swift voyager 635 with end kitchen altough it can sleep 5 easily we needed space for our two dogs,alls been well so far looking forward to some better wheather though,we also used to have several arguments about setting up the caravan and awning but now its "you done already".love the idea of just driving onto blocks to level it and plugging in the electricity and its all done.storeage of certain items is my problem at the moment once that is sorted all will be rosey in the garden.great website