For 111 days travelling, I’ve spent approximately a maximum of £4000 with breakdown as below. The maxim ‘two can leave as cheaply as one’ does apply, although I found it more favourable towards solo travellers with in most cases charging for the pitch then for each individual rather than a price for pitch + two individuals as mostly happens in the UK.
Here I am back in my temporary base at my Mum’s house in Longridge, Lancashire, just one day after a fantastic drive (the fact that it was from 21:30 hours of course made the roads pretty empty) up from Portsmouth yesterday. I really enjoyed belting music out given that it was dark and only the driving to focus on, and determined that I must get some dancing in somewhere in the next few weeks.
Back in English countryside – lovely sunny day, and English (nippy) wind! Remaining wordly goods in the barn to left of Monte2, awaiting a permanent home.
It’s amazing how much I live in the very present. Have I really been trundling around France, Spain and Portugal as far as Cabo de Sao Vicente and Tarifa for the last 3.5 months? No money’s been coming into my bank account, and money has been going out on diesel, so what else have I been doing AWOL from work. Good job I’ve got the blog established to record the places but also the experiences of life in new lanes.
Here are my overall reflections on this time:
Still following my original outline plan of breaking my travels and returning to the UK across the main Summer
The experience has more than fulfilled my expectations; I’ve loved the opportunity and time to see all the beautiful places I have contemplated visiting for years.
Monte2 has been absolutely fantastic – runs like a dream, and loves cruise control (as do I) on all those emptyish roads; campervanning out of season means no booking needed, lots of choice for places to stay, ability to go where the sun is shining, but to escape temperatures of > 30deg when required; I may still get the tow bar removed as it grounds regularly and I’ve never used it, and take the opportunity to get the satnav maps updated from the 2013 road library. I am torn between wanting longer term to swap to a shorter length van with much the same configuration at the front, – because it’s easier to park, drive etc and I don’t need as much space – and wanting to keep Monte2, as it’s such a great van; I feel that I’ve been taking its reliability more for granted, and have relaxed more as time’s gone on when driving, irrespective of its size.
Gastronomy 1 – JB 0; can’t say really that gastronomic adventure has increased significantly! apart from Marcel’s intervention; my diet has in the main consisted of lots of fruit, vegetables, dairy and nuts, with the following essentials:
I have eaten in restaurants only very infrequently in an effort to restrict spending, but in addition to cheese balls and crisps, as well as toasted baguette for breakfast, I do enjoy preparing decent food in my little kitchen and getting a kick out of using all my equipment assembled over the years!
I will be enjoying the culinary delights of the UK in the form of fish and chips, various pies and pasties and chinese and indian restaurant staples over the next few weeks.
France continues to have my heart, and if it wasn’t for family, I think I’d go for trying to establish a full life there with work etc sooner rather than later. Have ended up speaking quite alot of French; listening to the radio and watching French TV, has improved it alot.
Felt safe for almost 100% of the time, as well as very healthy; have not allowed loneliness head space – reminding myself that I’m there for the Grand Tour, and have family and friends available at the click of a ‘send’; fellow travellers on sites or aires I have found only to be friendly, and I enjoy finding out about their travels, motivations etc.
Most traumatic – the first attempt to fill up with LPG on the continent; this came the day after the adrenalin-flooding experience of fearing the roads icing up at 1600m as we drove unplanned over the Col du Portalet in the Pyrenees with temperatures dropping to 0.5 degrees, wet roads and snowing, then trying to sleep in a rural setting car park outside the town hall in Lescar near Pau, where we were the only campervan; at least my sister was with me for the drive and the overnight!
Losses – feel too smug – so obviously heading for a fall when journeying restarts – as the only thing I managed to leave behind – and twice within the last 9 days – was my soap dish; I am very attached to all my equipment given the amount of research I carry out to find the ultimate combination of sought-after features – yes sad I know – so this soap box had been chosen with care after rifling through the plastic container section of many supermarkets with, most importantly, an attached lid and I think ultimately purchased by my brother-in-law several holidays ago; the first time I left it, I realised just before my departure from the campsite and was able to have reception call the cleaner who returned it; delighted! so to then find it missing again at my last campsite stop was bitter disappointment :);
In the second loss, I was a victim of crime: having stayed in 10s of places all over France, Spain and Portugal, with all manner of expensive equipment left outside mobile gin palaces, I had no reason to be overly protective of my van and stuff when it was very kindly accommodated in the very quiet little campsite next door, during the stay at my Mum’s house; there were no other residents in this site for 5 days, and on the 6th day 2 other motorhomes parked overnight there; when I came to leave later that day, I went to step up into my van and found my little plastic step, which was broken anyway, to HAVE BEEN NICKED! I’m very glad that I had chosen not to leave my chair outside, or my bike off the rack and unlocked; in more charitable consideration, I decided that surely this was a case of the perpetrators using the step to reach the ripe cherries on the adjacent tree, not knowing just where to step (as I have done for several years, attached as I am) to avoid its collapse, and then having caused its complete demise, hiding the evidence and ‘fous -ing le camp’ – the franglais phrase seems apt here 😂
So the travel interlude has started. Will mostly likely split my time between Longridge and Harrogate, maybe do some house hunting, and enjoy time with family and friends, before setting sail again I hope late August.
I visited the WWII cemetery at Hottot-Les-Bagues to look for the grave of Captain Arthur Deakin Eteson, only son of my Mum’s aunt and uncle, who died in the Normandy landings aged 27. In looking for his grave, (before realising there is an index in each cemetery) I found myself saying thank you across each row of graves. All nationalities were represented, but most seemed to be under 25, and as young as 18. The cemetery was beautifully maintained, as are they all, and places for reflection. What tragedy – no computer game!
I drove to Caen WWII Memorial Centre and spent 3 hours dedicated to reminding myself about this momentous and horrendous time period in not just Europe but the world’s 20th century history.
In continuing to my overnight stop at the village of Asnelles – the D-Day landing site ‘Gold Beach’, it was obvious how much this area of France commemorates with respect what happened in June 1944. Streets in Asnelles are named after British regiments – eg, Rue du Devonshire Regiment – there are plaques and streetlight banners highlighting armed forces individuals who fought in the Battle of Normandy. And up and down the beaches are wartime defenses, and equipment just left there as a very vivid reminder of what happened then.
I decided to watch the film ‘Saving Private Ryan’, which I really feel should be compulsory viewing in schools for all 16 year olds, as well as films such as Schindler’s List, as the still living participants and witnesses of it all become ever fewer. We should make all efforts to not forget the horror which was unleashed as a result of evil philosophy on behalf of leaders who in Germany, Italy and others were able to seize power, and then distort almost completely the moral framework of their citizens. The fact that such ideologies continue to flourish and have since then managed to escape Pandora’s box, and wreak similar evil in our lifetimes, means we must not take for granted the relative freedoms and prosperities we have enjoyed in our liberal democracies.
In conversation with others, the fear of the rise of populism and nationalism in its worst forms throughout Europe was a repeated theme.
As I set off this morning and stopped briefly on the cliff tops at Arromanches, I thought about the EU, and how I want to celebrate the force for good that I, in my simple perception and knowledge, feel it to have been through its evolution since the second world war. In reflecting on how difficult it is for the opposing sides in Northern Ireland to overcome the wounds and legacies of that historical conflict, imagine the gulf, the bitterness, and the need for revenge and retribution, amongst and within the nations of Europe arising from WWII, coming also after WWI. In the span of one person’s lifetime, I am proud that these nations’ representatives have worked so hard together within this structure and its previous incarnations, I feel, to establish an order which indeed has restrained enmity and sought to enable its peoples to flourish from out of the devastation of that war.
Perhaps one will say that indeed it served this purpose in the 20th century, but now it needs reform and is no longer right for the world as it is now, and Great Britain’s place within it. My view remains that all things considered, the EU is still a force for peace, for prosperity, for flourishing of its peoples, and yes for ‘good’ , which the United Kingdom is leaving for an empty slogan of ‘taking back sovereignty’, and a misplaced confidence in a Britain of its empire of the past. To face the challenges of now – strong-man politics, the rise of populism and nationalism, globalisation with potentially rampant corporations in reality stronger than nations, climate change, we need to be part of that bigger community, to be able to stand together as a block to defend and continue to develop the values of freedom, human rights and social democracy, which have been so hard won .
In conversation with others, whether Dutch, German, or French, sadness at the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU was a repeated theme.
Had a moment of mindfulness, or put more simply, I thought gratefully about my legs today, as they carried me back along Mont St Michel causeway to my trusty steed; decided to go with silliness in the sunshine – particularly given that my youngest sister demanded more than just pictures of ever more beautiful places – even before having a glass of chilled Normandy cider bought from roadside stall whilst watching THE semi-final and Day 1 of Wimbledon this evening.
Couldn’t do what I’m doing without them (or at least without huge adaptation), and though I say so myself, they’ve been a brilliant pair through all these years: no further stupid comments needed …..
So here’s them doing their normal day’s activity so reliably – but fear not, I won’t be giving the same tribute to other body parts. Now I know I’ve really lost the plot 😂
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked how I had been in terms of general ‘up or down’ over the 3 – 4 months of being mostly on my own. The answer was that over all, I have been very happy to be doing this exploring, and despite doing it solo, but I have enjoyed other travellers’ company or conversations at seemingly just the right time.
Some days, though, I recognise that I am exceptionally on top of the world, eg yesterday, having a great bike ride in the sun, just the right distance, not too hot, beautiful cycle routes along the coast from Benodet to Mousterlin Point, then to Beg Meil and back, then making myself set up on the beach, get the cossie on, to feel the warmth of the sand, and to enjoy the feeling of being in the beautiful clear water of the sea, and confirming how worth doing it was! Then out for a meal unusually in the evening with very pleasant, interesting company.
But this very next morning, I feel I should add to the record for completeness that for a couple of hours at least I felt pretty sad, and unusually for me recognised the need for a good shoulder to cry on. I had a walk and a coffee with another solo camper, and by the time I set off to head for north Brittany, I realised that my mood had lifted and it wasn’t simply due to the fact that I put my upbeat ‘Lovely Day’ playlist on the van stereo!! 🙂 It is primarily to do with the back story, the change in status, I suppose, that every now and again resurfaces and becomes acute.
Anyway, pleased to report that it’s been displaced once more by the usual things – the extremely significant sunshine, the beauty of the next lovely place living up to expectations, and the thoughts and research turning to coming back to the UK as originally planned for most of July and August before journey number 2 – heading south to Italy and possibly Croatia, which is still there on the list.
Not an emotional up or down but ……… have become aware that there are two ways of ‘following’ the blog – ie getting an automatic update when a new post is published; if you have not subscribed as an email follower, I get an email telling me that your WordPress profile name has subscribed, but I don’t get to know your email address and therefore have no way of contacting you. If you want me to stay in touch directly, then I think the only way is to subscribe as an email follower, so that I have your email address, and can reply. Thanks of course to the millions of faithful followers I am now keeping in touch with! Showing my age I know, but slight hints of Dame Edna Everidge, dear viewers.