Has anyone wild camped in an American RV?

Maroy

Guest
Hi, loving the site and thanks for all who helped me on my last post when I asked for help with medical matters abroad. Hubby and I are planning to go over to France in March and take a year seeing Portugal, Spain and France. Just wondered if anyone had wild camped in one of these big motors as we really want to experience this. Camp sites are not what we have in our dream, but know it will be necessary to go on them occassionally. After a lifetime of working, we want to be FREE!!! No rules, no restrictions, just free as birds. Best wishes one and all. Mary.
 
You might like to consider joining France Passion www.france-passion.co.uk This is a booklet, with some maps, that give you names and details of where to find lots of lovely vineyard owners, farmers and others who happily allow MHs to stop overnight on their land for FREE !! The maps show, with coloured dots, where the locations are so you just check to see if you are near to one - then look up the 'how to find them' info in the booklet.

We have stayed in some lovely places and found all the hosts ever so friendly. We have picked grapes in Provence at one stop over, been shown round bottling plants, and been given free wine in some of our stops. It takes you to some out of the way places you might otherwise not explore.

I love it :D

Have you thought about all the other day to day little issues of being away for a whole year? Know you have covered the medical needs, but what about all those other little things which are in your mind?

Do you have 2 cassettes for your loo? Makes life a whole host easier as you don't have to worry if you have filled up one and cannot find a place to empty immediately.

Are you using bottled gas or fitting on board tanks - both have some issues in the countries you are visiting.

Have you thought of getting a Euro account? That way you know what you paid for your Euros (not a happy situation right now, but there is little you can do about that) and can simply draw out from holes in the wall as you need to. Caxton FX is the one we use but there are others.
 
Hi, thanks for your post flower3bird. I have a large tote and on board tank which will hold 40 gal. Usual way is to dump straight from tank, but if can't access a dumping point then use the tote to empty a load at a time (nice subject, sorry) I am hoping these two methods will suffice. Gas for cooking is also LPG tank holding roughly 100 Ltrs and have an extender stay kit fitted so can attach a bottle if I can't find a filling station. Though, understand in France these are readily available. May have trouble in Spain.

Very interested in the Euro account. Is it a card you load or an actual bank account you open? Best wishes, really appreciate your help. Mary
 
Wild Camping in France

Hi Mary

We did six weeks travelling around France in summer 08. We were not in an a large RV but we used the Aires (Aire de service) which are all over France (and I think in other EU countries?). You can buy a book with them all listed either off websites like vicarious books or from tabac type shops when over there - this is the cheapest option.
The Aires are very often just a hardstanding type area with no markings or bays so think you would be able to use these - most are free.
However, we did go right down to the Med to cruise along St Tropez to Monte Carlo, and found that whilst the rest of the country is camping car friendly along the Med isn't. We managed it OK but it is more difficult - so you really have to plan ahead more down there as there are height restrictions on parking areas etc. One thing to say is that we also toured the Camargue which is well worth a visit.
We also belong to France Passion and found it well worth the small annual cost (30 euros if I remember correctly)

Hope this helps

Cheers John
 
I think that the larger the vehicle the harder it is to find wild camping spots, and access to some roads is restricted either with weight, width or height issues. If you stick out, you might attract unwanted attention.

With heavy vehicles you always have to be conscious of whether the ground you are driving onto will cope with the weight, so you may find that a lovely spot down by a river is out of the question as you have to stay on bitumen roads.

That said, it only takes imagination to find the right spots, and travelling with all the "mod cons" has a certain appeal as well.
 
Hi, Maroy
France Passion is really to recommend. Make yourself member, it's worth it !
The Mediterean coast is not that MH-friendly, but Brittany (Finistère) certainly is MH paradise (look at the threads on this site; departements 22, 29, 35, 56) and also the Dordogne-region.
You will also find 'aires' (most are hardstanding) and wilder parkings at:
http://a.ccl.free.fr/annuaire/accueil.htm
Have a look at their 'yellow'-spots (super). Copy and print these lists off.
The best map you can have is the 'Michelin -atlas' 1/200 000
Nearly all shops, petrol stations and certainly the supermarkets accept VISA.
Have petrol at the supermarkets, lots cheaper. The same goes for gas.
'Super U' are generally MH-friendly, some have an 'aire' (services free or at most 2€).
Don't use the costly 'péages'.(don't overnight on motorway-parkings: unsafe) If you have time take the nationals or D-roads. You see something of the country.
Avoid the suburbs of major cities ('banlieu's') (e.g. Paris, Lyon, Lille...)

Have a nice time in 'la belle France' :)
 
We have been wild camping in France, Spain and Portugal. for the last 40 years. things have changed ,but not all for the worst, France is easy ,plenty of Aires, and laterly the new attitude in Western France, they love Campers. Spain - Almost all of East coast Spain is a No No and Costa Del Sol is worse there is no where to stop with in about 10 ks of the coast. any where away from the coast is fine ,From San Sebastian to La-Coruna down the west coast of Portugal to San Vicente is great. The Algarve is a No No. we have about 100 stopping places from Calais to San Vicente. All Free, most have water, some have cold showers, some have waste emptying, and all you can take a dog. in 40 years we have been moved a few times, and have had one break in , nothing after being able to take the dog, get set up with a refillable gas bottle, there is plenty of water (chlorinated) so also get a in-line water filter, that saves a lot of cash on bottled water. the size of your van is not an issue, we have had a Merc 509D with no problem ,(apart for being slow,rubbish on fuel, huge turning circle, and totally rubbish on hills. we now have a 30 plus to the gallon Iveco Unijet. to finish the most important is BREAK DOWN insurance, if you van is over 3.5tons and over 6.5mts long. check the small print very carefully. we are over 70years now and are having problems getting reasonabley priced cover. if you want to make contact ivanoxford@sky.com regards
 
Euro account - it is an account that you load from a pre-defind account. However if you want a true Euro account you can get one from the French Bank Credit Agricole, who welcome British account holders. You do not need to have a French address, they send balances etc to your UK address. The only trouble is it is all in French (rather unreasonable don't you think !! ;)) But at least they give you an english version of info on their web site :rolleyes:

Must say of our two accounts I prefer the CaxtonFX card, and just monitoring it via the web as you travel around and loading up again if (no when) it gets short.

Sounds like your van is pretty well set up for long distance travel. The insurance is a good tip. If you go for the recovery option you do have to watch that they really do have the ability to recovery larger vehicles though.

Have you thought about how you are going to keep in touch with us lot whilst you are on the road :D:D:D
 
Thanks to you all my confidence is growing, so many wonderful tips. Keeping in touch: I hope to find wi fi spots so can visit the web site regularly and to blog as I go. At the moment I use web'n'walk stick manager for access, but am worried that this may be expensive abroad, so looking for free access when I can get it.
Best wishes, Mary.
 
In fear of everyone jumping all over me and telling me what a bad thing it is, I am going to risk my life and admit...........

We go hunting open WIFIs. The best places to try are around high rise harbourside expensive apartments and Council estates ;) Hubby drives slowly round, I have laptop on lap and am continually refreshing the search. Mostly you find everyone has them locked, so you get a series of little padlocks, but we usually find an open one in the end :D Then it is a quick up/download of emails and on we drive.

Our best one was in one large high rise Spanish town which we had hunted round for ages. We had more or less given up and just as hubby turned on to the motorway out of town I yelled 'Ureka' - so he pulled in on to the hard shoulder, put on the flashers and I did the quickest up/download possible. :rolleyes:

If you keep your eyes peeled you do find a fair smattering of free WIFI cafes, also small yatch harbours and libraries can be really good too. It's a bad day if I have to pay for my 'fix' :(
 
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Santiago said:
(apart for being slow,rubbish on fuel, huge turning circle, and totally rubbish on hills. we now have a 30 plus to the gallon Iveco Unijet. to finish the most important is BREAK DOWN insurance, if you van is over 3.5tons and over 6.5mts long. check the small print very carefully. we are over 70years now and are having problems getting reasonabley priced cover. if you want to make contact ivanoxford@sky.com regards
Click to expand...

You should have tried acetone in the fuel! It helps with low end grunt, and fuel consumption.
By the way it is a 508d still although I am still welding bits of it up, adding diesel powered heating as there is too much condensation in winter and needs continuous dry heat at this time of year. But all in all she is running well.:D
Rick
 
flower3bird said:
In fear of everyone jumping all over me and telling me what a bad thing it is, I am going to risk my life and admit...........

We go hunting open WIFIs. The best places to try are around high rise harbourside expensive apartments and Council estates ;) Hubby drives slowly round, I have laptop on lap and am continually refreshing the search. Mostly you find everyone has them locked, so you get a series of little padlocks, but we usually find an open one in the end :D Then it is a quick up/download of emails and on we drive.

Our best one was in one large high rise Spanish town which we had hunted round for ages. We had more or less given up and just as hubby turned on to the motorway out of town I yelled 'Ureka' - so he pulled in on to the hard shoulder, put on the flashers and I did the quickest up/download possible. :rolleyes:

If you keep your eyes peeled you do find a fair smattering of free WIFI cafes, also small yatch harbours and libraries can be really good too. It's a bad day if I have to pay for my 'fix' :(
Click to expand...


Tsk tsk, naughty naughty!!. I have a programme called Network Stumbler which just discards the locked ones, although it has been known to crack the MAC addresses of the network server if someone is using it a lot. There are websites dedicated to "wardriving" I think its called, with GPS and sometimes even passwords - apparently its de rigeur to stumble on a private network, company networks are open season and watching 800GB movies is encouraged!!
 
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