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Phantom

Phantom

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We bought our motorhome almost 8 years ago with the intention of a European trip, but for various reasons it's finally actually happening now. Today we booked Le Shuttle to go in January (a £40 Black Friday saving) and an 'Early bird' Santander - Portsmouth ferry for our return in April. Our dog is booked in for a rabies jab at our local vet who is not as expensive as some. The Crit'Air sticker was a bit of a PITA to get the correct class 4 for our 4.2T Euro 3 motorhome as it initially placed it as a dirtier class 5. GHIC cards ordered, though still need to shop around for some breakdown cover. It's all coming together and our motorhome is serviced all good to go.
Our initial plan is to get quite south for the better weather and our general route is likely through Western France towards Murcia, mainly explore Andalucia and probably see some of Portugal too. We have no fixed plan so will just make it up as we go.
 
Just go where the weather suits your clothes. That’s why you bought the Motorhome, isn’t it?

That’s my excuse anyway.
 
Phantom said:
We bought our motorhome almost 8 years ago with the intention of a European trip, but for various reasons it's finally actually happening now. Today we booked Le Shuttle to go in January (a £40 Black Friday saving) and an 'Early bird' Santander - Portsmouth ferry for our return in April. Our dog is booked in for a rabies jab at our local vet who is not as expensive as some. The Crit'Air sticker was a bit of a PITA to get the correct class 4 for our 4.2T Euro 3 motorhome as it initially placed it as a dirtier class 5. GHIC cards ordered, though still need to shop around for some breakdown cover. It's all coming together and our motorhome is serviced all good to go.
Our initial plan is to get quite south for the better weather and our general route is likely through Western France towards Murcia, mainly explore Andalucia and probably see some of Portugal too. We have no fixed plan so will just make it up as we go.
Click to expand...
We use Britannia Breakdown, which is backed by Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company, covering up to 7.5t and providing coverage for both of you in any vehicle, separately or together.


I think it was around £95 for EU cover last year, but I can't find the details at the moment. We've been with them for about 12 years, and great when we've needed them each time.


 
Happy travelling.
Use the designated parking on Aires, mostly with all the facilities you'll need.
If you're coming to The Algarve,
See if you can bring us a jar of Marmite and some ginger biscuits 😅.
C.O.D.
If you need any help, advice, or local knowledge,
We're always here.
 
Have you seen the prices, Kev ?
As a fellow Yorkshire man,
You'd be shouting, " 'OW MOOCH !!! ".
 
Indeed, it all depends on how much you need/want them.

Could you order from UK and get them delivered there cheaper?
 
Pauljenny said:
Happy travelling.
Use the designated parking on Aires, mostly with all the facilities you'll need.
If you're coming to The Algarve,
See if you can bring us a jar of Marmite and some ginger biscuits 😅.
C.O.D.
If you need any help, advice, or local knowledge,
We're always here.
Click to expand...
Several of us come over each year. Usually a few kms from Beja. Pomareo village. I’ve no idea how far you are from there. But I’m sure one (or more) of us can bring emergency supplies with us.

Btw, Aldi do a marmite alternative called MIGHTY Yeast extract. As a coiswer of this particular gourmet treat, dragged up on the genuine article, I cannot tell the difference between the two. Both they and Lidl do a mean Ginger biscuit as well.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
We use Britannia Breakdown, which is backed by Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company, covering up to 7.5t and providing coverage for both of you in any vehicle, separately or together.

I think it was around £95 for EU cover last year, but I can't find the details at the moment. We've been with them for about 12 years, and great when we've needed them each time.
Click to expand...
They charge £152 which is a good price for UK and EU breakdown.
 
Nationwide are offering £175 cash back if you open a FlexPlus account, so we did. It's £18/mth but over a year works out at only £41 for breakdown cover etc. Ideal for fee free foreign purchases too. Of course we could just close the account after our trip and be about £120 up! 😁
 
Alternatively Santander are offering £200 if you switch to them for a similar account.
 
We can get most British products.
It's a 25 miles drive, into the Millionaire, golfing belt.

You can get Saxa Salt, Andrex bog rolls, Tide and Omo ..
Waitrose tinned tuna , Sainsbury butter and Morrisons &Tesco own brand stuff. And much more....
All plus duty and VAT.

I bought Bury Black pudding, HP Sauce, frozen pork pies,
Waitrose Xmas pudding.
Proper back bacon, a Terry's Chocolate Orange and
Mc' Vities chocolate digestive biscuits , (for Management 's Xmas present).
All the fresh stuff has very short sell by dates, so must be sold off cheap by the producers.
Why a millionaire will only wipe his arse on Andrex have his shirt washed in Tide, and eat tinned tuna, amazes me, when the local stuff is fresher, cheaper and of equal quality..
The Saxa salt probably comes from the nearby sea salt pans.
 
Phantom said:
We bought our motorhome almost 8 years ago with the intention of a European trip, but for various reasons it's finally actually happening now. Today we booked Le Shuttle to go in January (a £40 Black Friday saving) and an 'Early bird' Santander - Portsmouth ferry for our return in April. Our dog is booked in for a rabies jab at our local vet who is not as expensive as some. The Crit'Air sticker was a bit of a PITA to get the correct class 4 for our 4.2T Euro 3 motorhome as it initially placed it as a dirtier class 5. GHIC cards ordered, though still need to shop around for some breakdown cover. It's all coming together and our motorhome is serviced all good to go.
Our initial plan is to get quite south for the better weather and our general route is likely through Western France towards Murcia, mainly explore Andalucia and probably see some of Portugal too. We have no fixed plan so will just make it up as we go.
Click to expand...
We're due to leave Scotland on 3rd December, and booked on Portsmouth-Santander Ferry on the evening of 4th December. No return plans yet, but we have Home Insurance for 90 days Unoccupancy ... AA UK Breakdon Cover, and Ill be sorting out European Cover with AA too. RAC/AA offer large discounts in Year 1, and then jack the renewal through the roof, so we alternate. AA Black Friday [on a mid-week day ...] was discounted 50% to £74 for the year, compared to £120+ for Green Flag

I *think* that Nationwide Breakdown is limited to 3.5 tonnes now that Aviva have taken the service over; might be worth checking the T&Cs

Steve
 
Pauljenny said:
We can get most British products.
It's a 25 miles drive, into the Millionaire, golfing belt.

You can get Saxa Salt, Andrex bog rolls, Tide and Omo ..
Waitrose tinned tuna , Sainsbury butter and Morrisons &Tesco own brand stuff. And much more....
All plus duty and VAT.

I bought Bury Black pudding, HP Sauce, frozen pork pies,
Waitrose Xmas pudding.
Proper back bacon, a Terry's Chocolate Orange and
Mc' Vities chocolate digestive biscuits , (for Management 's Xmas present).
All the fresh stuff has very short sell by dates, so must be sold off cheap by the producers.
Why a millionaire will only wipe his arse on Andrex have his shirt washed in Tide, and eat tinned tuna, amazes me, when the local stuff is fresher, cheaper and of equal quality..
The Saxa salt probably comes from the nearby sea salt pans.
Click to expand...
The millionaire is used to lining his/her pockets, so Andrex to protect the lining of his/her arse must seem logical ... :ROFLMAO:

Steve
 
Though very low power users, in anticipation of this trip we added a further 175w solar panel to supplement the existing 120w panel and replaced it's twin flex lead with a proper one. The combined result was a higher voltage so about £120 well spent. Though no doubt most battery charging will be from driving.
 
We're very low users, no TV, microwave, no blown heating, etc, 2 x 85w panels and a 100ah LA battery, just 2-3 LED lights on as needed, 2 phones, 2 tablets and a Chromebook, but we do drive at least 50 miles per day, we are usually down to 12.5-6v by morning.

We went into Europe for the 1st time last year, DFDS to Dunkirk, as we wanted to avoid Calais. We also used the VIP lounge, £30, no kids, no queueing for anything, free??? Food and drink, inc booze, with waiter service, better seating, a very peaceful way to cross.

I started a thread about it you may get something from that, loads of advice from the experts.

It's a very big thread, with some humour, so worth a look.

Trip to France

Well, I got my passport yesterday so it looks like we are going to France, starting at Dunkirk, Normandy landings, American cemetery etc, then who knows, we do like coast roads, but French villages are lovely too. I have been before twice, once in 89 and again in 95 both times on Motorcycle so...
wildcamping.co.uk wildcamping.co.uk
 
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