We bought our first van in 1979, a bay window VW, a Holdsworth conversion with two small bunkbeds in the elevating roof. We had alot of fun in Bluebell, several holidays in Brittany and a great trip to see friends near Venice traveeling through Germany alot the Romantic Route and then through the Dolomites and down to Venice and Lake Garda. You saw the whole country then, main roads went through all the towns and villages, marvellous arriving on Market day to stock up with provisions. Another trip was to the French Riviera, Nice and Grasse and returning over the Route Napoleon. We started with one child and one on the way and eventually as they got bigger and the van 6 or 7 years older, we needed more space and changed to towing a trailer tent.
After 10 or so years of that, and our oldest muttering about needing a car, we had a brainwave and bought a VW type 4 Autosleeper Trooper for just the two of us and the kids could use our cars when we didn't need them. We travelled alot to Italy and to France and odd weekends away in the UK. After another 4 or 5 years I was seduced by a La Strada RegentLon a Sprinter at a motorhome show around 2000. I couldn't afford a new one, and then one cropped up in MMM, 3 years old, it very quickly became ours. It was great with the bed in the roof and it could be left made up and less than 6m long. We had numerous trips in it, but it had two draw backs for us, the washroom was protected by a flimsy curtain when using the shower and did it cling. Also the tall van rolled like the ferrry on Plymouth to Roscoff, and now all the villages in France and Germany have bypasses and roundabouts and are often off camber, so we rolled from side to side.
I wanted a better bathroom, we were using more and more aires and the occasional wild camp and you need showers in Southern Europe in July and August ( we were stuck with school holidays). We changed up to a Geist with a fixed transverse rear bed and garage, great the bikes were safe and under cover, the shower was much better and then the van had grown, 7.4m long and 2.3m wide or so. Then we had an interesting holiday in South Devon and Dorset. We seemed to spend alot of time in the hedge, whilst buses tried to get past us and the boss didnt like that at all. Then the sprintshift gearbox on the Merc started to act up. the First time was at Assisi in Italy, all the prayers offered up to St Francis didnt help and we waited for the mechanic to turn up via the RAC. What is it with the rescue services when they want all the info including your inside leg measurement and the mechanic says whats up? But in Italian! Anyway when I tried to demonstrate the problems it went into neutral and the engine started. It was ok for 6 months or so and then it happened again, and several times more and I had to agree that it had to go. We bought a Hobby Van Exclusive and that for 5 years was great, we were retired and it took us all around Italy, to Dubrovnik and to Morocco. Then the stylish rear windows warped slightly and wouldn't close tightly and dust started to get in and the shower tray cracked quite badly and with 40k on the clock we started to look for something else. The Hobby was narrow and it gave my wife much more confidence on the odd occasions she drove. In late summer 2015 our dealer still had a Cathargo Compactline with more or less the same layout as the HObby but an A class.
It was narrow, had a layout we liked and if we pushed ourselves and as it getting to the end of the season, we bought it. So we been to Sicily twice and other parts of Italy, twice to Brittany, various parts of Scotland and our at least annual trip to Devon to see family. And tomorrow we're setting off to look for some warmth and sun but have you seen the forecast for Europe for the next week. This year is going to be busy, we're off to Greece in the early summer and then in the autumn joining the Carthago owners club in Slovenia.
So its definitely keep travelling cheers alan
