# Hello from Lancashire



## maureenandtom

We are Maureen and Tom.   This is Tom tonight.  Tom has been a van user since 1990 but Maureen since 1995.   Tom is onto his third van, all older vans, and as a couple we are on to our second van.   Apart from Tom's first visit abroad in 1990 we have always wild-camped and his total campsite experiences were in his first few weeks in 1990.   We are not slaves to wild-camping and we have stayed in campsites very occasionally.   Not very often.   In fact only twice though one of the times was for a full three weeks in very bad weather in Portugal.

We have already had quite a lot out of your site as visitors and we hope to put a little back from time to time.   Our first and third vans have been based on Sherpas and the this one, our third, is our first coach built.   Very small and very old.   I say that at least I understand how it works!   The middle one we had for nearly ten years and was a home converted VW LT which was also converted to LPG in Portugal during the early years.   Our present van is petrol and, my word, do we miss the LPG.

As well as taking from the site, we might be able to give a little back with our wild-camping experiences which are a bit limited looking at some of the experiences we have read about here.    But our experiences are mainly abroad, just Portugal and France with a bit of Spain really, but we have some experiences of medical treatment on the E111, getting repairs done abroad, satellite television and we don't know what.  Our trips have been every year and usually for two or three months at a time.   Tom retired early.   If it's ok, we'll just sit back and put in a word now and again, or ask questions, when it seems right.   Our experiences are only France and Portugal with a bit of Spain, really.

Thank you for having us.


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## walkers

welcome to the site maureen and tom, hope you find it usefull and friendly. as to the lpg conversion i too have a petrol van but to have it converted proffesionally so that i can still get insurance is so costly, it would take years to make the savings back, did you have any problems with geting insurance for your conversion? regards tony and lynn


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## guest

*welcome from sammclouis*

hi and welcome to wildcamping a really nice & friendly site,we look forward to hearing of your wildcamping experiences,enjoy wildcamping sammx


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## maureenandtom

Sammclouis,

Thanks for the welcome and I promise we will bore you with our experiences.   But not just yet because I sense we are in the presence of people with much more experience than we have.   We'll make fools of ourselves gradually I think.

Tony and Lynn (Walkers),

We had the van converted in, I think, 2000.   The VW was an LT 31 with the 2.4 six cylinder petrol engine and I have a couple of not very explicit photos of the work going on.  We had been quoted something like £1500 to have the job done in England but we had it done in Portugal near Faro.   I will look it up if you want but it was done by the LPG agent at Quelfes.   If you need me to look that up to get the exact spelling then I'll do it.   It took two or three days because the workmen fitted us in when they had spare time.  We lived in the van on the garage premises.   There was no problem.  If they had had the time it would have been done in one day.   But Quelfes is out in the country, the sun shone and it was a pleasant time.

When we converted the van to a campervan ourselves we had to tell our insurers (I think Norwich Union) at the time a few details.   Nothing very detailed.   Just stuff like, how big was the bed?   How big were fitted fresh and waste water tanks?   Was there a built in table.   Things of a very minor nature like this.  I can't remember any questions I would have thought important like who inspected our gas installation - indeed who did it?   Very straightforward.  Much more straightforward than I would have thought.

Then the LPG conversion and I informed DVLA about change of use to Motor Caravan (I hadnt told them until then) and change to dual fuel.   No problems there.  Then we changed our insurers at the suggestion of our brokers who were Swinton.  New insurers were AXA and no questions other than the normal insurance proposal form questions were asked.   None that I remember anyway.   We submitted a copy of the new registration document and it all went through very easily and without any hiccups at all.

The cost in Quelfes was at that time, I think, in Escudos.   Actually, I've just been to my diary and the LPG conversion was carried out in 2000 and the cost was 190,000 Escudos which my diary says was about £600 at the time.  If you want his address to investigate a quote for yourself then I have his details here in my diary.

I had a smaller tank fitted than I wanted because the fitter was worried about ground clearance in the event of a puncture but I could have had another tank fitted at extra cost.   Foolishly I didn't have an extra fitted because LPG was only half the price of petrol.   I couldn't tell the difference operationally though I have heard people say they can tell the difference in power.  I don't think they can.   So I had a 75 litre tank fitted which gave me a range of about 200 and a bit miles - about 230 I think - but I started looking for gas after about 200.   I also had about 200 miles range in the petrol tank but it really broke my heart to use petrol.   A very thirsty van, it was burning 22 litres of gas per 100 miles.  I don't know what it was burning on petrol.

LPG was easily available everywhere I went except Spain.   I think, but I'm not sure, that LPG has something of the status of red diesel in Spain and is only meant for public service vehicles.   Whether it is or not, I was able to get served LPG in Spain.   Do you remember that petrol strike in England?   It didn't affect us.  We had a wonderfully quiet motorway trip to Devon while that was on.   I am an LPG fan and the next time I'm in Portugal I'll see what can be done for me then.

Tony and Lynn.  I've gone on a bit.   But if there's anything I can help you with then we are both happy to help.  Or anybody else too.

Tom (whichever of us it is we'll just sign our own names, ok?)


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## Guest

*Lots of experiences*

Welcome Maureen and Tom, looks like you have lots of experiences to share! 
regards Graham


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## walkers

thanks for that reply it was very informative, won't be converting the van now as am looking to replace it next year probably with a newer diesel engined van, fuel consumption isn't the only problem with petrol maintaining a decent cruising speed uphill is a bit tedious too i think maybe the torque from a diesel would help with that. and a newer van would be nice of course


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## christine

Hi, Maureen and Tom, we're new as well here. It's good to meet like minded people and share experiences.


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## pam

*wild camping*

Hi just found this site today ! We are off to Portugal in summer and wondered if you could tell us about any places to wild camp in the north and west ?


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## Trevor

Hello Maureen and Tom,
I know you's will love it on here.


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## sundown

pam said:


> Hi just found this site today ! We are off to Portugal in summer and wondered if you could tell us about any places to wild camp in the north and west ?



hi pam, and welcome to the site
sorry I cant tell you anything about portugal etc. 
but some-one else probably will
or you may find some info in the forums
wildcamping european 

enjoy the site!


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## Deleted member 775

hi and welcome to all you new members that i have not welcomed in other posts mareen and tom and pam  this is a brill site please enjoy


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## maureenandtom

pam said:


> Hi just found this site today ! We are off to Portugal in summer and wondered if you could tell us about any places to wild camp in the north and west ?



Christine, Mandrake and Trevor,   Thank you.

Pam,

Most of our experience of Portugal is the Algarve and we have our favourite places.   In the north the only place where we have stayed for any length of time - and that only a few days - is Figureia da Foz just to the South of Porto.   A huge, deserted beach car park.   I don't remember a water tap or loos so we must not have needed them for the day or two we were there.   But a beach car park - they must be there.  We had the car park to ourselves except for one night with a French van and another night when youngsters coming out of a night club had a game of football there.  A pleasant place well worth a look.

There have been quite a few places where we have done no more than stay overnight.   What was the border post at Vila Formosa was always a nice, quiet and safe feeling place to stay overnight.   If you have trouble finding it on the map then it's the border crossing between Guarda and Salamanca.

If you head south through the middle of the country then Castello Branco is fine;  we just parked on the side of the road.   Estremoz is wonderful.   We parked in the town square.   There are loos with water taps (locked at night I think but open early morning) and the only drawback is the town hall clock which chimes all night.   And, I think the bell is cracked.   But it's a lovely town.   It has the feeling of being a garrison town but I couldn't really tell you why it feels like that.

I sure you'll have a lovely trip.

Tom


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## hillwalker

enjoy the site..


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## zippybo

*Vw Lt31 Lpg*

Hello

I have just purchased an LT31 campervan with an LPG conversion (2.4 6 cylinder). I wondered if it is the same vehicle?
I would very much appreciate you sharing your experiences with the LT in terms of it's mechanical reliablity. I am new to LPG and this is also my first van so any insight would be helpful!


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## maureenandtom

zippybo said:


> Hello
> 
> I have just purchased an LT31 campervan with an LPG conversion (2.4 6 cylinder). I wondered if it is the same vehicle?
> I would very much appreciate you sharing your experiences with the LT in terms of it's mechanical reliablity. I am new to LPG and this is also my first van so any insight would be helpful!



Zippy,


We've been away for a while so sorry for the delay.   If it is the same van then we'll be thrilled.  We have photos of the construction and we'll be happy to pass on anything we have about it.

Very happy to share LT experiences even if it is not the same van.  

A PM will be on its way to you as soon as I can work out how to send one.

Tom


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