An impossible dream?

Olivia

Guest
Just joined today after I had this mad idea (dream) that suddenly came into my head. Always been very adventurous but haven't camped since I was 12.
Thought it would be a great idea as I have now retired early to get a small motorhome and me and my german shepherd dog could roam over France, Spain (where I used to live in the early days, before it became civilized) and Italy for 3 months after Xmas, and who knows where after that. However, nasty shock when I came to check out various campsites to find that they want an arm and a leg and the rest besides just for a pitch for the night. On my pension impossible! So I've landed up on this site, where a little glimmer of hope has started to glow.
Is it possible for me and my dog to wildly camp most of the time in Europe and the UK staying on proper sites from time to time to sort out my dirty washing and get cleaned up, or is it an impossible dream?
Any advice from you very experienced wild lot would be much appreciated.

Olivia
 
Hi.

This is not an impossible dream. We just came back from 3 months in Europe and only went on a campsite once. Wildcamping is pretty much legal in most countries and in France (where everyone has a MH) it seems a god given right. They will put height barriers up if they dont want you there but after that its all fair game. France has thousands of Aires (Aire De Service or Aire de Camping Car) where the sensible French put asside areas in villages or towns where you can stay often for free. They have service posts where you can empty the loo and fill with water and some have electric but not many. IF your moving around every few days you dont need electricity anyway. You generally pay a couple of euros for water but sometimes that is free as well. Other countries also have Aires and wild camping is allowed but for us France is the best and its so huge you could spend years discovering new places!

Cheers
Barry
 
Hi Olivia and welcome to the site. Like barryd said, it's not an impossible dream, here at home or on mainland Europe.
Just been to Scotland for 6 weeks and it cost us £12 in site fees:eek: so go for it and good luck.
Lots of info in the forums, any specific questions, fire away, answers always available on here.

Happy Camping:)
 
Olivia said:
Thought it would be a great idea as I have now retired early to get a small motorhome and me and my german shepherd dog could roam over France, Spain (where I used to live in the early days, before it became civilized) and Italy for 3 months after Xmas, and who knows where after that. .

Olivia
Click to expand...


please miss... can i carry yer bags...:eek:

regards:rolleyes:
aj
 
As Pioneer rightly said its possible to wild camp here as well. Scotland is fantastic and this site is all about sharing "hot spots"! Currently as I type this I am sat right next to the sea in the Van at Lochranza on the Isle of Arran. Only us here watching the sun go down over Kintyre, Cold beers in the fridge and the misses watching Eastenders (well you cant have everything). We live in the North Yorkshire dales and there are places you can wild camp there and we are only 45 minutes from the Lake district and despite what people will tell you you can camp wild there as well. Again its all on this site. I dont know if you have got your eye on a motorhome yet but the members here will help you with that as well. Took us ages to find our first van. Motorhome Forum, UK Motorhomes, Motorhomes Reviews, Motorcaravans, American RV, Motorhome Facts, Sales, Campsites (free) and UK Motorhomes, Motorhome Information, Motorhomes Reviews, American RV Reviews, Motorhome Forum, American RV forum, Sales, Campsites -> News (£10) are also useful sites. The MH world seems divided into those who love to wildcamp and those who want to use campsites which is great as its good that we are all different. Personally I dont see the point in spending a fortune on a MH which has every facility you need and then paying £25 to park in a field with loads of other vans, caravans etc but each to there own.

Me and Mrs D are hoping to take a couple of years off soon and do the same thing. Takes so much planning and its very hard to break away from society. Just doing three months was a nightmare but now we are hooked we will find a way!

Best of luck with your Dream!
 
Hi Olivia
And welcome to this super site..If you need any information about motorhomes or where to do a bit of wilding just ask through the forum--You will get lots and lots of good information:D
Bye for now
Freddie:D
 
Go for it

Hi Olivia..................Just do it and enjoy.

49 days in France, Spain & Portugal and just 10 Euros on Aire fees.......Cheapskate eh! Fuel is the main expense £650 (2,500 miles)

BW
 
Thanks to all of you who have now given me hope that my dream is not impossible after all. You sound a really fun bunch of people, so I'm very happy I found this site. Now I've got to do some serious planning!!! - and loads of research. Haven't consulted the dog yet but he's sure to love France as dogs can go everywhere there, even restaurants.

The cost of petrol may be a problem if we want to travel far. Can anyone recommend an economic van, if there is such a thing. I was looking the Bongo (about the right size for me) but surprised at the high fuel consumption, about 23mpg??

Once again, warm wishes to you all and many thanks for the info.

Olivia x
 
Go for it Olivia! I've heard Spain can be a bit more difficult because wild camping is officially prohibited, but I don't have personal experience of there, only camped in France and NL which were great, especially NL.
 
Hi Olivia and welcome.

I am surprised at the mileage figures for the Bongo. I had an Elddis Autoquest coachbuilt and I could get up to 30 mpg if I drove it between 60 - 65 mph although it dropped sharply in a strong headwind or if I was driving faster because it was an overcab model and had a high profile.

I used it solo a lot as I worked around the country when on construction jobs and it was only just over 5 metres long but felt roomy with the rear lounge design.

Instead of making up a double bed, I made up a small piece of foam and could make up a single bed across the back in seconds. This left me more room in it. I also made it up to make comfortable travelling for my dogs when attending shows.

The overcab is a big roomy area for storage. I even kept my microwave oven up there. If you put everything on boxes, especially the ones that securely stack on top of each other then you can utilise that area very well.

You will probably not need a dinette if you are on your own so look at rear lounges. the 2.2 litre Peugeot Boxer base vehicle is lively and easy to drive and Elddis models are classed as entry level vans and are a bit cheaper than most others.

This is the time of year to buy as there are some bargains about and you can get a big reduction off the forecourt price at dealers.

Remember that if you are taking the dog with you, it takes about 7 months for the process of obtaining a dog passport. Your vet will tell you what is involved.

Hope this helps. Good luck.
 
Probably obvious but whatever you buy make sure its Diesel for Europe as Petrol in France is blooming expensive in comparison. Diesel is between 80p - £1 per litre depeding where you buy it.
 
Thanks for your useful info. Yes, we have already got the dog passport, think he realised something was in the air after multi trips to the vet! Will hope to start looking at some vans next week and your advice is really handy.

Thanks. Olivia.
 
Olivia said:
Just joined today after I had this mad idea (dream) that suddenly came into my head. Always been very adventurous but haven't camped since I was 12.
Thought it would be a great idea as I have now retired early to get a small motorhome and me and my german shepherd dog could roam over France, Spain (where I used to live in the early days, before it became civilized) and Italy for 3 months after Xmas, and who knows where after that. However, nasty shock when I came to check out various campsites to find that they want an arm and a leg and the rest besides just for a pitch for the night. On my pension impossible! So I've landed up on this site, where a little glimmer of hope has started to glow.
Is it possible for me and my dog to wildly camp most of the time in Europe and the UK staying on proper sites from time to time to sort out my dirty washing and get cleaned up, or is it an impossible dream?
Any advice from you very experienced wild lot would be much appreciated.

Olivia
Click to expand...

Hi,

Why not hire a MH for a few months?
We have a Burstner Solano (3 berth) which is available from Jan-Mar next year.
 
Your idea is something many people only ever dream about. If you can, persue that dream and follow through. As you get older you never know what`s round the next corner(healthwise) that could prevent your dream from ever coming true. Wishing you the best of experiences while travelling. Have a great time!
Sarina, Rick and their camper cat 'Salem'.
 
Fuel consumption

The cost of petrol may be a problem if we want to travel far. Can anyone recommend an economic van, if there is such a thing. I was looking the Bongo (about the right size for me) but surprised at the high fuel consumption, about 23mpg??

Once again, warm wishes to you all and many thanks for the info.

Olivia x[/QUOTE]

Hi Olivia,
I recommend a Nissan Vanette or Nissan Cargo Van, for just the two of you. Just have been on holiday in our Vanette, to Cornwall, Dartmoor and Isle of Purbeck (a 700 mile trip, including all our day trips and outings in places) on two full tanks. There were 4 of us in the van with lots of luggage. It cost us between £120-130 on Diesel. We found travelling very ecconomical. And the little van is build like a small tank/war machine, that takes alot of weight and pulls it with much power. Also, this type of small van is much easier to handle on narrow lanes, is damn easy to park in a normal parking space, will even enter most car parking towers without any trouble, gets in under barriers and should be easier to handle if you can find one with power stearing. Unfortunately ours hasn`t got that power stearing and I find it hard work when turning the stearing wheel at times.
Wish you lots of luck in finding what you need,
Sarina, Rick and camper cat Salem.
 
hi and welcome i hope your dream comes true, i cannot help you with your dream of traveling in france but i can say this .we have been in our van now for 4 months in the uk and are loving every minuite of it ,and we havent payed for a campsite yet :D albeit we do stop off at our daughters for washing cloths and the like ,so if we are finding it easy to find spots to stay here it should be easy in europe .so go for it and enjoy :D
 
Just giving it some thought, wont a Bongo be a little small for a long term trip? Mrs D and I are still working on our full timing dream and did a three month trial this summer. Our van is a 6 berth with rear lounge, front dinette and overcab luton so loads of storage space and also more importantly space for each other! Right now Im sat at the dinette on the net while Mrs D is in the back watching some garbage on the TV. I wouldnt want to be in a smaller van, certainly not for a long period. Might be worth looking at some bigger stuff as well as the smaller vans. if you say the Bongo only does 23mpg then this is typical of most bigger 6 berth diesel vans. Road tax is probably the same as is insurance. Piece of cake to drive once you get used to it. Just a thought.
 
No wild dream - definately do-able :)

We have friends who live permanently in their (admittedly very large) MH travelling all round Europe and they rarely reckon to have to go on sites. Indeed it is a bad day for me if we end up on sites too, but we only do it for months away, not years.

Easy peasy in France, especially out of season. Friends found Sardinia really easy last winter, but reckon they won't go back to wintering in Spain as these days they get moved on too often - note they aren't on camp sites and the worst thing to happen is you get the police knocking you up in the middle of the night to move you on. Spanish cops seem to always wait till around 3am - bless them :eek::eek:

Your dog will be a big asset as undesireabe folks are far more likely to leave you alone. ;)

You'll quickly get to find the wrinkle of getting water in all sorts of unlikely places. Cemetaries are good :rolleyes: if you are really desperate. Other like minded travellers along the way will soon tell you where the best places are. You'll not be alone as there are loads of people doing it. Enjoy :)
 
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