One Month Anniversary!
- John
- Aug 13, 2019
- 5 min read
Wow! A month has passed already. To be honest, it has been a struggle for us to keep track of days and we often need to ask each other what day of the week it is, or look at our telephones for confirmation. Life on the road is very fluid, one day merges into the next and it is all very relaxing. We no longer make an effort of keeping track of the days, unless we need to be somewhere or do something specific.
France seems to close completely on Sundays, so it is useful to make sure we have enough food and wine for that day. We avoid traveling on a Friday and during peak times on week days.
So, how has the first month been?
A Framing the Car - has it been worth bringing the car?
An absolute YES! If we were moving every day, then we probably wouldn't have brought the car. We can connect the car in about 10 minutes, ensuring we change the plates, running through the brake checks etc.
However, as we have been setting up camp for up to a week at a time, having a run around has been so useful. Many of the beautiful places we have stayed at have not been close to supermarkets, laundrettes etc. We have been able to go about normal life very easily and it has allowed us to explore so many places we wouldn't have had the chance otherwise.
Instead of moving the motorhome every day and traveling to another site, we can site ourselves quite centrally and then travel out on day trips as required. We still cycle and walk - if something is within walking distance, we will by default walk or cycle. But for longer stretches, the car has been amazing and we do not regret bringing it.
Air-conditioning - worth the expense?
Having the air-conditioning installed onto the motorhome was something we thought about a lot about. The unit and installation was not far off £2,300 and in motorhoming terms, that buys you a lot of diesel and sites (not to mention wine).
Shortly after arriving in France, Europe saw an intense heatwave and temperatures where we stayed reached over 40c. When you are in a house, it is warm but you are still insulated from the heat. Being in a motorhome, made of metal and with much less insulation, things really heat up and it quickly becomes uncomfortable. We took Audrey into consideration mostly when we made our decision to have it installed.
We are traveling through hot countries at the hottest time of the year (France, Spain, Portugal, Greece) and there would be absolutely no way we would leave Audrey in the motorhome when it was hot. By having the aircon, we can set the thermostat to 20c and the unit will work to maintain that temperature even if the outside temperature doubles, maintaining a comfortable and safe temperature inside the motorhome. We can leave, knowing she will stay comfortable.
For us it has been a wonderful luxury. The temperature has been in the mid 30s and we have been able to retreat inside the motorhome and enjoy relative coolness! It has made night times especially comfortable. It also doubles as a heater for when we travel in the colder months, so it is versatile. We chose the Dometic unit especially because it is from a new range of air-conditioning units which run on lower amps. This is very important on the continent as you are often limited to 6amps in total for your motorhome (UK offers 14amps). This Dometic unit uses a maximum of 4.8amps so we are well within our allowance (most units require over 10 amps so would have immediately tripped the supply).
GasIt refillable gas cylinders
We've pondered for a long time about having refillable gas cylinders installed. Given our previous use of the motorhome it was really an extravagant luxury considering we probably used two gas bottles a year. However when you are not connected to electricity you need to be able to run the fridge and heat water for showers and washing up. Robyn and Dave's travelling year confirmed to us that this would be a good investment for our year away. The installed versions like Gaslow were very expensive so we researched other brands and decided upon a self installation with GasIt (UK & EU approved). Of course the recommendation is for a professional install given you are dealing with gas but John found it quite a straight forward operation to install the 6kg and 11kg cylinder with auto switch; ie if one cylinder runs out it will auto switch to the other cylinder. The filler for the LPG is within the gas locker which avoided the need to drill the bodywork of the motorhome. Filling has proved to be simple although it was imperative that we bought the various adaptors as the filling systems vary to the UK. There is also a nifty bluetooth gadget that fits to the bottom of each bottles and 'reads' the gas level feeding back to an app on our phones.
So far we have only topped up once the 11kg tank was about 30% full and the refill cost around €12 - already saving money as a replacement Calor cylinder would have been around £25.
Basic essentials
We've stayed on a lot of pay for aires as these supply electricity which allows us to use the AC on hot days. We have done a couple of overnighters on unpaid aires when the temperature was cooler. We have battery power and a solar panel which tops up the leisure battery allowing us to charge phones, watch TV, have the luxury of light etc. We've tended to top up with water before we leave an aire and emptied out the grey water as well as empty the loo. We've learnt from bitter experience that the option to empty the loo is not always available!!
Laundry
In France outdoor 'Laverie' are a common occurrence often at supermarkets, located in the car park. You can wash an 8kg load for about €4 including the detergent. There are also 18kg machines which cost around €8. They have worked very effectively for us, once or twice we have used the dryer €2 for 15 mins but they take up to 18kg in weight. More often though we have brought the washing back to the van and pegged it out on our little whirligig. The hot weather we have had has seen it dried very quickly. We've also learnt that there is no need to iron with judicious shaking and pegging out.
Living in a smaller space
We have well defined areas in the van, a living area, the kitchen, bathroom and shower and bedroom. This makes living in the motorhome so much easier as each area doesn't spill into the other. We have made some adjustments as well, instead of hanging clothes in the wardrobe which uses a lot of space we've purchased two stacking drawer units. These fit in perfectly and mean that we can have about two weeks supply of clothing available. Our sofas are comfy, we have one each so it's nice to be able to put your legs up. The driver and passenger seat twist around facing into the living area adding an extra seating dimension. Of course with the weather being warm its lovely to sit outside for meals so there's no sense of being cooped up. Under our bed is a large garage in which we store the two bikes, the A frame when not in use, our table and chairs, bbq, and a pile of essential stuff.
What, no dishwasher?
Having lived for many years with the luxury of a dishwasher, how have we coped without one? The answer of course is perfectly well! At this point we must thank Southern Water who provided a sink drainer at Eastbourne Christmas market a few years ago which we have kept in the motorhome. This is really useful for ensuring that solids don't go down the sink - for two reasons, they could block the pipe and they make the grey water waste smell.
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