England – Getting to Heathrow

Posted on by

For some reason, instead of renting a car to get to the airport like we normally do, we decided to catch a bus to save money. This was a big mistake. Not only did we spend more, we have also decided to never catch the bus again. Here’s how our trip to Heathrow went.

We dropped Bertie (our van) off at Mich’s work, and walked 30 minutes to the Poole bus station. When we got there the driver wouldn’t let us on board. The reason was not pleasant.

Someone had spewed up on the bus on the way down from London. Apparently it was everywhere! But they had no replacement bus. So the driver cleaned it up as best he could, and told us we’d have to travel on the sick bus to Bournemouth (about 45 minute drive).

I picked a bad day to forget to bring a face mask. Thankfully a lady waiting for the bus lent me one. We all piled on the vomit bus and headed to Bournemouth. Thankfully I didn’t notice the smell through my mask.

At Bournemouth station there was a delay waiting for the replacement bus. A couple of people waiting were getting a bit stressy as their flight was later that day. Thankfully we were smart and our flight wasn’t until the next day so we didn’t care too much.

Eventually the bus arrived and this one smelled way worse. There was a toilet on board and really pungent toilet smells wafted around the bus for the entire 3 hour journey. I think I would have preferred the puke bus!

The driver was telling us how he got stuck in a traffic jam on the motorway the day before for 4 hours! Thankfully we had a good run in to Heathrow with no delays.

We stayed in an airport hotel, and the cost of bus and hotel was a lot less than a rental car. But by the time we added dinner, breakfast, and taxis to and from the airport, it worked out to a lot more. But no problem, we had a nice hotel stay, nice breakfast and a low stress morning before our flight.

England – Telford

Posted on by

As I mentioned in my last blog, we were heading up to Telford for an event. The plan was for a mini road trip, however the weather was so bad, we decided to stay put at the Salisbury campground.

It was just as well we did, as that day there was major flooding on our route. People were stranded on the M5 motorway and having to be rescued!

So the next day we had a four hour drive to Telford which turned into a 5 hour drive. Have I mentioned why we are heading up?

Some YouTubers we’ve been following for years have just finished driving their old van around the world and we’re having a welcome home party. So we thought as we were in England it would be a great night to attend. We actually met Chris and Marianne on Vancouver island, but we hadn’t met Trudy, their van.

It was a really good night. 3 course meal, some talks about their travel and we got to meet a few other YouTubers who attended.

The night finished up with dancing, and as per tradition, we were one of the last to leave at 1.30am.

It was a good fun night!

England Road Trip

Posted on by

We left Bournemouth and started heading north to Telford, for an event we’d booked into on the 27th sept. But we got as far as Salisbury, an hour or so from Bournemouth, and stopped. The weather was miserable, cold and wet, but thankfully Bertie is super warm and cosy with the heater going. And no leaks so far!

We’d been putting off booking our flights home, not really knowing what we are doing.

But a few things at home are calling us back. We both have medical things to be checked out, and Mark and Sophie (our flatmates) are moving out, and then there’s all the work we need to do in Wellington.

Our travel insurance runs out on the 30th sept, so we needed to see if we could change that first. I had to stay up late (10pm) to call them, and was blown away by how much they were going to charge each week we were away! I think they don’t like you to be away for more than 6 months at a time!

So that prompted us into action. Thankfully we found a flight on special just a week away.

We’re still about 4 hours drive from Telford, but more about that later.

England

Posted on by

We’ve been hanging out in England for the last week or so, catching up with family, and Mike has been doing some enhancements on our van.

The biggest improvement is setting the electrics up so our house batteries charge as we’re driving along from the alternator . He has also set up an electric hookup so we can hookup at a campground. we’ve yet to test this out!

We’ve also put some storage baskets up where we can store cables and bits and bobs.

We’re going away tomorrow, heading north for a mini uk road trip. We just found out Eddie has Covid though, so we may not get too far if we get it. Keeping our fingers crossed.

France

Posted on by

We found a nice place to stop for a few days overlooking the Bay of Biscay. I am definitely sick with a lot of snot and aches, but not feeling too bad. Just don’t feel like going anywhere.

We are camped right on the beach and there are some beautiful sunsets. There is also a nice coastal trail, with the Camino markers on it.

We ended up staying here a week to get over my sickness, and basically to have a good rest. I managed to get 2.5 videos edited, and Mike got some special beach time.

There was a cool beach bar a short walk from the camp, where we spent a couple of nights drinking beer beside the sea.

It was a much needed rest.

Day 5 – Nothing Happened

Posted on by

Today was a bit of a blah day, drizzly and damp. We said goodbye to Wayne, Sue, Jason and Dawn, and started driving south.

Absolutely nothing happened today, except for the drive. We stopped at a nice campground beside a river on a cycle path. I’m sure we cycled along here once, back in 2011.

We were both exhausted after yesterday’s events, and I am feeling quite achy. Hope I’m not getting sick.

Day 4 – St Malo

Posted on by

We’d found a place to park on the street overnight in St Malo for 80c. What they didn’t tell us was there was a night club opposite! The loud music was ok but then the loud, drunk yelling happened. Thankfully it was pretty short lived and we were able to get some sleep.

Today started good but ended really shit. The plan was to spend the day sightseeing with Wayne and Sue, but Sue was unwell so stayed in her room.

So we went off to explore and vlog st Malo with Wayne. It’s a walled city from the 12th century but 80% of the city was destroyed during the war. It’s still a cool city to walk around and the sun came out and it was really hot.

In the afternoon we went for a late lunch with Wayne’s brother and sister in law. Mike had the moules frites which were delicious and I had a burger which was average.

After lunch things took a turn for the worse but I’m going to keep the details private, but we are all fine.

Day 3 – Going to St Malo

Posted on by

At 5am I was rudely interrupted by our new Bluetooth speaker yelling at me.

“Low power,” it screeched. And as if I hadn’t heard it, it repeated itself, over and over again! I gave up trying to sleep and threw the thing out the window! Just kidding, we don’t have a window. But I turned it off and shoved it in a cupboard.

Today was a lazy morning as I struggled to finish my video for this week. It’s hard being so far behind, but I don’t want to spend my days editing either. But I got my video finished, now I just need to upload it.

About 2pm we headed to a special beach as Mike wanted to work on his tan. It was a gorgeous sandy beach on a rocky bay, but it was too cold for swimming. Or sunbathing as Mike found out. So we headed for St Malo, where we caught up with Wayne and Sue, the YouTubers from Canada. Yes they are here! They are doing a whirlwind tour of France with Sue’s brother and his wife.

We went out for a delicious meal at a fancy pants seafood restaurant. I had the salmon and it was divine. Mike had the duck. It was actually reasonably priced, but Sue picked up the tab before we could say anything. She is incorrigible!

I think the plan is to mooch around St Malo and possibly do a YouTube collab with Wayne.

Day 2 – Back at Mont St Michel

Posted on by

We awoke to rain. I looked at the cycle tourists next to us, sheltering in their tent, and my first thought was, glad we’re not cycle touring!

We spent the morning lazing around, trying to get my latest video edited. It will be late this week.

We had to top up our water in the pouring rain and by the end, us and Bertie were drenched. Bertie, if i haven’t mentioned it, is the name of our campervan, named by his original owners.

We had a few things to get for the car, so we headed to a town called Avranches where they had a Decathlon store. It had nothing we wanted. So we found a big supermarket as we needed extra blankets and an extension lead, blue tooth speaker.

There were no freedom camps in the area so we had to head towards mont st Michel. We found a wonderful spot overlooking farmland and about ten steps to view the magical Mont st Michel. We actually cycled past this area two years ago, and again on our cycle tour is 2011z it’s so weird revisiting these places in a campervan!

We watched an amazing sunset over Mont st Michel.

Day 1 France

Posted on by

We caught the 8.30am ferry and were in France by 2.15pm. It was a smooth crossing so no seasick tablets required.

We weren’t sure where to head, and we were both tired, so we went to the same campground we cycled to on our first night two years ago!

We spent a bit of time sorting the van out, getting it ready. When it came time to cook we realised we had no gas. So we ate a baguette and some pork pies

I’ve forgotten how annoying it is that French campgrounds don’t have toilet paper. Or hand soap!

We’ve already worked out that we need electric hookup on our van. Mike is gonna be busy when we get back to England!

I’m still trying to work out where my composting toilet is gonna go. It’s the one thing keeping us from being fully off grid.

Last time we camped here we were going to go watch the sunset over the ocean but we were so tired after cycling we fell asleep. So we made up for it tonight and it was the most spectacular sunset!