Stopped here for breakfast with the nuns Instead I was swapped by a tsunami of the great unwashed- just like myself, having slept in a builders van all night. And so it goes
Finally made it to a proper camping place. Sleeping free is all well & good but it can be bloody noisy! Stopped at Ike d 'Oleron. £15 per night with power showers and a free bus to the town. Ideal. La Rochelle - nearby- is wonderful. View attachment 343557
'Wild' camping is much more accepted in France than the UK. With a bit of practice it's possible to find real gems to hide your van. Obviously easier in the mountainous areas, but still possible to find places around the coast in the North. Did anyone mention the park4night app? Obviously people don't post the best spots for fear of spoiling them, but certainly can help.
Thanks man, I will check the app out. Three days of long days driving and exploring, plus limited sleep, and the. "Are" with showers beach front and quiet were just what I was in need of!
Went to Bordeaux for a few hours and took in the sights. That city has clearly been making a lot of money, from a lot of wine, for a very longtime. Incredible municipal buildings... Drive on to Biarritz to find myself in the midst of some surfing festival/ competition. There must have been at least 10k spectators milling around the waterfront road on which I was driving. I felt like I was trying to deliver.ice to the pyramid stage at Glastonbury . The city has become enormous; it certainly wasn't like that 30 years ago when I last visited. Eventually I made it through and followed the "toutes directions" and headed south. I've learn a few things this trip so far 1. Siri doesn't understand French town names, at least when spoken by me. 2. French prices that were in francs are now the same number but in Euros. 3. French bread is a wonder of the world. Drove until late stopping off at a little Spanish village for the night. Woke up to wind and rain - how dare you? My planned stop off in Galicia was therefore curtailed to a mooch around a couple of seaside villages. Had a an amazing fish of some type for lunch from a shack beside the boats for Pennie's. Weather was still pretty poor at Santiago de Compostella, in a very in pilgrim like way, I gave the religion a swerve and left. I'll stop the night here at Cambados near the border and cross in Portugal tomorrow Van seems to be holding up pretty well. It's a bit crap on some massive long climbs up mountains, but no more than you'd expect, I imagine it could do with an Egr or turbo solenoid changed. I'll look into it when back in Blighty,
It's been the same almost everywhere (not Biarritz). In Spain -so far- even the motorways are empty. Plus the road surfaces compared to the UK are wonderful. Wasted on a van but I do appreciate zero back jarring potholes!
Looks like a great trip Jez. La Rochelle is nice, I was heading there myself next week on the bike but decided on Brittany instead
Brittany is great. Everywhere in France is better after August 25th when their summer officially ends and the kids go back to school. You will have a great time. Enjoy!
Porto was OK for a short while in the rain showers Lisbon was enormous and rammed with most of the countries population and all of their cars. Couldn't bring myself to see a second city in the same day... Got caught in the rush hour and with horror saw the temp gauge climb higher and higher. Just when I was beginning to think the rad was bound to melt down, the traffic thinned as we finally got moving. Phew! I'm going to have the fans checked when I find a Renault place. So ever onward. The sun suddenly burst through the clouds and all was well. If Siris knowledge of French is poor, her Portuguese is non existent - like mine. Got chatting to a couple of girls working a the petrol station who spoke Spanish, and they have sent me off to their favorite place on the coast. Rural Portugal for those who haven't been is like this I've just arrived at what seems to be a small village resort . It's dark so I'll spend the night and see if it lives up to it's recommendation tomorrow.
put your heater and heater fan to full in slow traffic until fixed. it will help keep the engine temp down. or at least slow its rise.
Mate you are a star! I was seriously wondering how I was going to explain why and how I had jammed the capitals major entrance to the south motorway. Knowing that trick might make the difference if I get in a similar jam. THANKS!
A hot blast, if the heater fan is anything to go by! Keep on reporting back, we are enjoying your escapades
