Summer in Sweden (Part 1)

When we did the main part of our European Tour in 2010/11 we were aware that we were rushing through quite a lot of places that we would really like to have stayed longer. Sweden was one of those places - which is why we chose this year to re-visit. Having started to write the blog we were reminded of just how much there is to see and do, which is why this is going to be a two-parter!

Windmills on Oland

Our first thoughts of Sweden before we travelled were the obvious ones - Abba, snow, saunas and lots of blonde people (usually frolicking in the snow on their way to the sauna). Our other references came from Swedish crime drama, of which we are both big fans. Having just watched 'The Bridge' and endless repeats of 'Wallander' you might think that there is a gruesome murder every 15 minutes.

So we can confirm that there are indeed lots of blonde people in Sweden and yes there are lots of saunas too. Many campsite have saunas, some of which make a small charge and some of which are provided for free. We can also confirm that there are NOT lots of murders in Sweden but if you are fans of crime drama, you can do lots of site spotting, particularly in the south.

The harbour at Ystad

In terms of the practicalities, we have tried a couple of ways of getting there. Sweden is well connected via ferry directly to Germany, Denmark, Poland and the Baltic States leaving you plenty of options. Assuming you are travelling from the UK, your best options are the Travemunde (Germany) day long crossing to Trelleborg on the south coast. Other options include the shorter ferries from Helsingor (Denmark) to Helingborg or of course there is the amazing 5 miles long Oresund Bridge, which is actually a combination of bridge and tunnels. 

As we couldn't work out the best way to go based on price, we did a round trip using the Travemunde ferry to get over and the Oresund Bridge to get back. The bridge has the added advantage of taking you right past Copenhagen, which makes a fantastic stop if you have a couple of spare days.

Once you are there you can expect Sweden to be generally a lot less busy than other summer destinations, with a few tourist hot spots. The climate may come as a surprise because although it doesn't get as hot as southern Europe, you can still expect temperatures in the mid to high 20s.

Swedish archipelego

The southern coast is basically one massive sandy beach, which seems to run the entire width of the country. The campsites here do get busy, mainly with German tourists. However, there is so much beach to go at that it is still possible to find yourself a quiet spot. There are many beautiful villages and towns all along this stretch all accessible on relatively quiet and easily navigable, toll-free roads. Inland from the beach, are acres of open, mainly flat country made up of corn and wheat field. Before the harvest it is essentially gold, green and blue as far as the eye can see. 

We travelled from Trelleborg along the coast focussing on the area beteen the two major harbour towns of Ystad (a must for Wallander fans) and Simrishamn which are at either end of this beautiful stretch. If you travel east from Trelleborg you can follow the coastline all the way round to Malmo, which itself is worth a visit. As well as the main towns, the tiny harbour of Kasaberga is worth a visit. It is home to a handful of fish restaurants, but the real star is the Ale's Stones, a megalithic monument made up of 60 large boulders forming the footprint of a boat, perched on a windswept cliff face next to the Baltic Sea. It's stunning at sunrise or sunset and you can stay overnight on a massive aire for about a tenner.

Giving alms in Karlskrona

Our plan was to follow the coast all the way up to Stockholm and there are lots of choices as you head north. We visited the glass blowing area known as the Kingdom of Crystal where you can buy or even blow your own glass. We also visited the naval town of Karlskrona and the coastal town of Kalmar, with its castle. From here you can cross the (free) bridge onto Oland (The Island). This is one of Sweden's hotspots in summer, particularly popular with Stockholmers. It's small enough to drive around in a day and boasts a couple of castles and hundreds of small windmills, some of which date back to the 17th century.

Our journey then continued north towards Stockholm, which on this occasion would be our most northerly point. More on that plus Sweden's two largest lakes and a trip across the Oresund Bridge in part two!

The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

Our first visit to the Baltic States was in 2010 when we were on a massive tour that looped all the way around Scandinavia before dropping into Tallinn, the capital of Estonia via the ferry from the Finnish capital Helsinki. We really didn't know what to expect and it's one of the few places we have visited where we were a bit nervous before going.

18th century stately home in Latvia

About a month later we left having had our eyes well and truly opened. The Baltic States are now officially my favourite part of Europe (although it never gets hot enough for it to go into top spot for Wendy). We travelled in September as the season was dying off. Due to the weather, which is similar to that in the UK, they tend to have a fairly short season and most of the sites close down at the end of the month.

In that time we came across  a lot that we didn't expect. I'll start with the bits we did expect. Firstly you have the three capitals, Tallinn (Estonia), Riga (Latvia) and the lesser known Vilnius (Lithuania). There's too much in all of these places to do justice to here. Suffice to say that you could happily spend at least a week in any of them. The capitals combine the old with the more recent Soviet influenced past plus a lot of modern development. In many ways they are typical modern capitals combining history, commerce, tourism and lively eating-out and night-life.

Traditional and modern transport in eastern Estonia

Outside the capital the other expected aspect of this tour was that a lot of the areas remain very agricultural and pretty basic. You will still see old women in head scarves and horses and carts trotting down the road, especially in the eastern parts of each country. Many of the roads, particularly in rural areas are not tarmacced, which can be a bit of a surprise, although all the major routes are. The roads were quite quiet although in common with the rest of mainland Europe there are always plenty of lorries around.

Another aspect that we expected was the Soviet influence, which can be seen all over the place. You can see this in many of the cheap housing blocks, the old tram systems, the statues and monuments and the civic buildings. There are also many museums dedicated to their recent past including a KGB musuem in Riga and the amazing Grutas Park in southern Lithuania, where an enterprising mushroom farmer bought up thousands of old statues and turned them into a tourist attraction.

In terms of the unexpected The Baltics boast some wonderful coastline. It was of limited use to us in September, but earlier in the year these places get packed out with locals. In Latvia there is the Curonian Spit, a 94 kilometre long peninsular onto the Baltic Sea. Another surprise were the aspects of much older history including castles (in Cesis for example) through to 18th century stately homes, such as Rundale Palace in Latvia and churches (Russian Orthodox and Catholic) such as the Aglona Basilica in Latvia.

There is also plenty in the way of forests, lakes and country parks making it very easy to get out walking and cycling, or just touring.

Beautiful modern campsite in Cesis.
Note the Union Jack put out for our benefit!

Next surprise was how much the Baltic States have latched onto the tourist trade, but not in a way that has spoiled the place. For example the town of Druskininkai in southern Lithuania has fashioned itself as a spa town appealing mainly to wealthy Germans. All over the Baltics there are towns making the most of what they have got and there is no shortage of decent campsites, restaurants, supermarkets etc - all the things you expect and need as a tourist.

Finally, it's worth mentioning that the people are incredibly friendly and really pleased to see you. Yes, they are happy to take your tourist pounds off you but personally I like travelling to places where they don't take you for granted. Also, the prices are good. The important things like diesel and beer tend to be a lot cheaper than most other parts of Europe. Food in supermarkets and restaurants is also much cheaper than most of western Europe.

There is loads to see and do in the Baltics. In addition to the places mentioned above a 'mustn't miss' list could also include:

Russian Orthodox Church in Tallinn

1. The Lehamaa National Parks in Estonia
2.The Livonian Coast
3. Gauja National Park
4. Trakai island castle
5. Kaunas
6. Klaipeda
7. Tartu
8. The Hill of Crosses
9. Daugavpils
10. Lake Peipsi

This could be a much longer list. Eyewitness Travel do a really handy tourist guided covering all three countries that we have used quite successfully. You really do need a guidebook in countries like this as it's quite easy to miss things and they do not have such an extensive network of tourist information offices that you might find in other countries.

The Soviet influence is never far away.

You probably need a month to do justice to it, and you do have to allow a few days to get there and back, depending on how you get there. We drove back through Poland, but next time we would use the Kiel to Klapeida ferry as this would massively reduce the driving time.

Can't wait to go back.

Holland by motorhome - Clogs, Canals, Cheese, Cycles, Castles and Camels!

It goes without saying that there are windmills.

Another favourite for us when we are short of time and/or money is Holland (or the Netherlands as we should call it really). Yes it is flat, but as we live near Lincoln we have got quite used to the flat landscapes and big skies that characterise Holland. We are also keen on cycling and as Holland has thousands of miles of traffic-free, clearly marked cycle paths, we often gravitate towards it for a short break.

We usually use the Dover Calais crossing and chug along the E4 motorway through Belgium to Holland. It only takes a few hours and although this stretch of road is a bit boring, it does take you very close to Bruges and it would be very easy to pop in on the way there or back if you wanted. For campsites, if it is low season we use our ACSI card www.eurocampings.co.uk/‎ (12 - 16 euros a night ) and for high season it's the mini-camping scheme www.vekabo.nl/‎ which vary from 10 to 20 euros a night.

The southern and central parts of Holland are where the lion's share of the population lives and where most of the main cities are located including the capital. Driving distances are relatively short around the country and the roads are brilliant and almost entirely toll-free.

We couldn't quite believe it either but they were in a
field in Southern Holland.

The most obvious tourist attraction is the capital, Amsterdam. Plenty to do (and eat) here as you might expect. The first thing to say is that we wouldn't recommend driving your van into Amsterdam. It's very easy to park up at one of the outlying train stations and use their hyper-efficient railway system instead. There's too much to Amsterdam to do justice to it here. The best way to see it is via the canals and there are lots of options to do this relatively cheaply. Allow plenty of queuing time if you want to visit Anne Frank's house.

So, apart from the capital, what's worth visiting in Holland. Here's a top ten:

1. Cities. Any number of interesting cities including Delft, The Hague, Arnhem, Amersfoort, Edam, Utrecht, Maastricht, Eindhoven, Alkmaar, Rotterdam, Dortrecht. The list goes on and all of these are within a few hours of each other.

2. Art. It's ridiculous how many famous artists have come from Holland over the years. There are art galleries in most major cities and beyond including the Hoge Veluwe near Arnhem (worth a visit in its own right) and there is a lively programme of visiting exhibitions throughout the country. 

3. Cycling. A bit obvious this one, but if you want to have a decent bike ride where you don't get buzzed by motorists and the cycle paths don't run out after a few miles, then this is the place to come. Visit the local tourist information office (the VVV) and get yourself a cycling map or follow the really easy numbering signpost system. You never have to go up a hill and you get to cycle along some beautiful stretches of waterway.

The Hunting Lodge in the Hoge Veluwe National Park

4. Castles. Yes, castles. Amazingly, Holland has a couple of hundred castles, many of which are in the southern and central belt. Some of them are private homes and some can be visited. We did a 'castle tour' on our bikes in 2010. It was fascinating!

5. Cheese and Clogs. We are not that bothered about either of these, which is why I've grouped them together but some people love them. I will confess to once buying a pair of clog shaped slippers, but that's as far as it went. The cheese is mainly of the Gouda/Edam variety and by our standards tends to be a bit mild. I'm probably being a bit of a snob on this one, but you can't beat a bit of Stinking Bishop.

6. Canals. These are an engineering marvel and basically stop Holland from being under water. They range from the massive trade routes with 200ft long barges to the web of urban waterways you will find in the cities, down to small networks of dykes. You can follow many of them via the towpath, which is almost always a dedicated cycle path.

You will see miles and miles of fields of bulbs in the springtime

7. Beer and Food. Holland are big on lagers and most regions and cities have their own local brews, many of which are familiar to us in the UK such as Heineken, Grolsch and Amstel. I think it's rude not to try the local beer every time you come across one. Food-wise, the Dutch don't tend to be internationally famous. We have found that they have embraced all food styles (a bit like the UK) and that the portion sizes tend to be quite generous.

8. Flowers and Bulbs. Beautiful in the spring, even if you are not particularly into horticulture. Keukenhof is a must if you are a fan of such things. It's not far from Amsterdam (to the south) and is open all through spring.

9. Beaches. Perhaps not an obvious spot for a beach holiday, but all along the eastern coastline there is plenty to go out. The beaches are flat and sandy and busy in the season.

The art deco style radio station in The Hoge Veluwe

10. The North! Although many of the obvious attractions are in the southern and central belt, a drive up to the north is well worth it. The university town of Groningen is beautiful and you can see how the land simply disappears into the sea along the northern 'coast' a bit further up from here. Fields, roads and hedgerows simply vanish into the water! Come back down across the Afsluitdijk, the 20-mile long causeway.

The Cabo de Gata in Spain

Boats on the beach at San Jose

It's finally gone cold properly. Nice as it is throwing logs onto the fire and settling down in front of the TV, our thoughts have turned to the next bit of decent sunshine we might see. For us this usually means Spain, and it usually means getting as far south as possible. 

One of our favourite areas is the Cabo de Gata which is on the southern most coast on the Costa Almeria. I checked the temperature there today and it's still 18 degrees even though we are half way through November. According to the temperature charts, it is normal for it to stay in the high teens throughout the winter period.


We last went at the beginning of April. Our friends in the UK were texting us about the sleet and cold temperatures, so we text back a photo of us in an outdoor pool with the temperature gauge just topping 25 degrees.

The coastline on the Cabo de Gata

We tend to be quite flighty, never staying anywhere more than three nights. The Cabo de Gata is one of the areas where we manage to slow down a bit. This area is not for everyone and we have met a few fellow motorhomers who don't see the attraction. We've also met plenty who head down here for the whole of the winter, so I guess it depends what you like.

The area is fairly sparsely populated particularly when you compare it to the urbanisation that you will encounter just a couple hours drive up the road in the Costa Blanca. The area is characterised by a desert-like landscape inland and sharp craggy rocks by the sea. Along its length you will find a number of charming villages and a few larger towns.

Our personal favourite is San Jose, which has a small fishing port and good range of restaurants and cafes. The beach here is flat and sandy and of course you are on the med, so going into the sea is like getting into a bath.

Further along the coast you will find the windswept Las Salinas, which is a large area of nature reserve comprising miles of quiet open coastline. You can really get away from it all here, particularly if you are traveling out of season. We have seen flamingos and eagles here and we are not even that good at bird-spotting!

The rugged volcanic rock near Escullos

On this stretch is the Church of the Almadraba. You could imagine yourself being in Mexico with this amazing little church standing isolated among the sand, with the rocky mountains as a backdrop. It's easy to see why they filmed a lot of the 'spaghetti westerns' in this area and you actually can visit the Costa Brava film studios, which are about half an hour away inland from here.

There are plenty of other places of interest up and down the coast here. We tend to stay fairly local and either walk or bike up and down the coast, perhaps stopping off at one of the local cafes for a beer. 

It's true that there are no major attractions in this part of Spain, as the area, most of which is national park, is the attraction. It is quite rugged and barron and you can still expect to see shepherds walking their flocks of sheep and goats around trying to find a bit of green grass.

However, if you want to get away from it all, this is the place to come. There are three campsites in the area. We have never tried the Camping Albergue Tau near San Jose, though it seems to get reasonable reviews. We can however recommend both:

Camping Cabo de Gata (www.campingcabodegata.com) 
Los Escullos (www.losescullossanjose.com)

Your typical coastal town on the Costa Almeria

Both are on the ACSI scheme and offer discounts for long term stays. Both have excellent facilities and really friendly and helpful staff and they open all of their facilities  (including the pool) in the quieter part of the season, which some Spanish campsites do not.

It's a fair old drive down there, but if you have the time, it is definitely worth a visit. It is one of those places that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, even when you are back home in the UK in the middle of November!

Within 2 hours of Calais

Amiens Cathderal - the largest
Gothic cathedral in France

With ferries being relatively cheap at the moment, we try to get away as often as we can. When we don't have much time or if we don't want to spend too much money, we often stick quite close to the port. We've done this a few times in France and Holland and have had some fantastic short holidays. As well as keeping cost and drive-time low, you also get to see parts of the continent that you might normally just whizz through en route to somewhere else.

We can usually get a Dover-Calais return for the two of us and our van for around £80. Factor in a couple of tanks of diesel and stay on the aires and you can get a week away for around £300 all in. You could easily spend that on a B&B in the UK for a short stay!

During the half term in October we did had one of our short ones staying in northern France. At no point were we more than two hours from Calais and we were only away for five days but in that time we were able to visit some beautiful coastal towns and villages, two major cities, several WW1 sites and museums, the Agincourt battlefields and we even had time to stock up on cheap booze on the way back. 

What was more surprising was how much else there was to do in this area that we simply didn't get time for.

Tour highlights:

The highlights of our mini tour in the order we did them were:

Grand Fort Phillipe

Coastal towns and villages: We went up towards Dunkirk but didn't stop as we weren't in the mood for shopping. Instead we drove along the coast road stopping at one of two of the small coastal towns. Our favourite was Grand Fort Phillipe which has an overnight aire if you need it. It's only a small place but you can walk out along the coastal defences and the towns itself is quite pretty.

Cassel: Basting about the only hill in the Flanders region this very attractive medieval town has the hill that the Grand Old Duke of York marched up. There is a nice 2-mile walk that takes in all the sites including some great views from the top. 

Lille: This is an under-rated city. We spent a great day here with all the major sights being within walking distance from the main train station. We don't think there is an aire or any campsites in the city itself but there are plenty in neighbouring towns (such as Armentieres or Bailluel) from where you can catch the train.

Amiens: The most notable thing about Amiens is the massive gothic cathedral - the biggest in France. There is plenty of other sites to keep you busy for a half or full day here.

The walled town of Montrueil

The Bay of the Somme: There are some beautiful coastal towns and villages either side of the bay, most of which have aires. We really like Cayeux-sur-Mer and Le Hourdel but there are at least a dozen others you could choose from. For a bit of glamour you could try Le Touquet, favoured by the Parisians. For nature lovers there is one of France's largest bird sanctuaries (Marquenterre) and organised seal watching trips, or you can walk across the entire bay at low tide.

WW1 sites: There is much of interest here including the war graves and several museums, the best of which is at Peronne.

WW2 sites: Although most of the fighting took place further west in Normandy, this area boasts a couple of sites of interest mainly related to the V2 rockets. A massive bunker and musuem at La Coupole are well worth a visit.

Azincourt: There is not much to see relating to the Battle of Agincourt except an interesting visitor centre in the village itself. This was OK for a rainy day, but you would probably need to a be a fan of this period of history to really get value for money out of your 7 euros 50.

The main square in Lille

Montrueil, Saint Omer, Douai, Abbeville, Arras: There are many decent size towns of interest in this region. Montrueil is perhaps the best of these as it is surrounded by ramparts allowing you to walk round the entire town.

The bits we didn't get to see this time

Within this same regions we could have visited:

• The Matisse Museum at Le Cateau Cambresis 
• The Mining Musuem at Lewarde 
• Nausicaa Marine Centre in Boulogne
• Chateaux de Hardelot near Boulogne
• The Louvre at Lens

All in all, we were amazed by this area as all we have ever done before is driven straight through it. We are planning to go back again soon for another week to take in all the bits we found out about, but didn't have time to visit.

Choccy treat at Le Touquet

On top of all of this there's the food (sea-food mainly) and the beer (St Omer) and the bread and pastries (had the best Suisse ever in Grand For Phillipe).

Motorhome friendly countries

A typical free 'aire' on the harbour at Valdermarsvik in Sweden

One of the questions we get asked a lot is which countries are the most friendly when it comes to motorhomers. There isn’t an easy answer to this one, and it depends to an extent on how you use your motorhome and where you want to park it! The simple answer is that everywhere is motorhome friendly to a greater or lesser extent. So which countries are the winners and losers?

Our very unscientific (and at times slightly tongue-in-cheek) test is based on:

·      

•       Category 1 -  Campsites / Overnight  parking
•    Category 2 -  Park and ride
•    Category 3 - The road network
•    Category 4 - The price of diesel

Category 1 – Campsite / Overnight parking

Winners: France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland

As motorhomers, those countries with cheap or free overnight parking areas (aires or stellplatz) as they tend to be called, tend to rank as being very motorhome friendly. France and Germany are particularly good for these and you can buy books that list them all.

Vicarious Books is your best bet for French Aires, as it is published in English and you can get it before you go. We bought our Stellplatz guide from a bookshop when we got to Germany. We found the Reise Mobil version to be the best. It’s all in German but it’s very easy to work out. It also came with a second guide that includes aires in other European countries. 25 euros well spent.

The Scandinavian countries enjoy the ‘right to roam’, which means that although there are certain restrictions, in theory you can park your van up overnight and stay anywhere. Some places actively encourage it and others have started making a charge. Here’s a tip: Biltema, which is the Swedish equivalent of B&Q even allow you to stay in their car parks overnight for free and for 50p you can have a coffee and cake and use the loo in the morning!

Losers: Holland

Aires should be motorhomers only but
you can forgive this outfit who had
made it to Calais from Denmark!

Least friendly in terms of the ‘wild camping’ in our experience has been Holland. I guess with it being such a small country, they have to be careful. They do have a few aires, but they tend to be three or four spaces at the back of a municipal car park – not the place you would really want to spend your holidays!

However, Holland does have a really good network of small campsites called ‘minicamping’. These range from being the equivalent of “CL” type sites through to 50 pitch sites with full facilities. They don’t tend to have the swimming pools and shops etc, but the price reflects it as they range from around £10-£20 for the night. They have a scheme with a book of sites (in Dutch) called VaKeBo, which you can pick up on any member site for around a tenner.

Category 2 – Park and ride

Winners: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia

This is a difficult one. Many motorhomers accept the fact that they might not be able to park right in the middle of a busy city. Having said that, it is possible. We have parked slap bang in the middle of Vilnius, Brussels and Toulouse to name three of the top of my head. However, we reckon that we manage about a 10-20% success rate on city centre parking, unless it’s Sunday, when it goes up to about 50%.

Instead, we use public transport and our bicycles a lot when we are travelling. Our van is only 6 metres, which means that we can usually find somewhere to park it on the outskirts and then either cycle, bus, tram or train in.

The real trick is to find a campsite or aire that is commutable to the centre. For example, In France we use a site in Melun. It’s on the ACSI scheme out of season and is less than a mile from the train station, which in turn is half an hour and about £15 to Paris. We have used this same method throughout Europe and it works very well. Public transport also allows you to see more of the country.

Losers: French and Italian coastal towns in high season.

One of the unfortunate consequences of the increasing popularity of motorhoming is that, particularly in the high season, busy areas have simply banned motorhomers from parking, and in some cases even driving into the town.  We found this quite frustrating in some of the French coastal areas where they seem to maintain the motorhome parking ban even out of season. Tres mal.

Having said that, public transport in both countries is excellent. Worthy of particular note is the Italian railway system. The network is really easy to use, with automated ticket booths in English. They operate a two-tier ticket system where you can pay less for a slower train. We travelled from Pisa to Rome on the slow train. It took over four hours but only cost about £20, and the journey was beautiful.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Italy has a superb train network.

Category 3 – The road network

Winners: Pretty much everywhere – apart from the tolls, congestions charges and vignettes!

I can’t pick a clear winner on this. Driving on the continent is one of the great joys of motorhoming. Whether you want to make progress on the motorways, or veer off onto the smaller roads through the little towns and villages.

Spain has to be one of the favourites as they 

have miles and miles of quiet toll-free motorways.  Rural France is amazing particularly if you avoid the tolls. You need to be a bit careful if you are travelling north to south as you can easily rack up around £70 in tolls on one long day of driving.

Tolls in general are a bit of a bug bear, particularly as you sometime get charged as being a car, other times as a van. In addition to tolls, many countries notably Switzerland and Austria have a vignette system whereby you need to purchase a ‘tax disc’. You need to check the local information to see how to do it. Usually it’s from petrol stations. Some borders still have controls where you can stop and buy a vignette. Switzerland very helpfully stop you on entry and extract the £40 odd quid there and then. They also charge you for a whole year! Other countries are more generous and only charge you for a few days.

Some towns and cities have introduced congestion charges too. Many Norwegian towns do this and will alert you to the fact. It’s all done electronically from your number plate and you can pay at petrol stations or wait for the bill which they WILL send through the post for when you get home!

The E6 that goes north and then further north in Norway is pretty spectacular. As it’s the only road going north, you are rarely alone and if they need to mend it, they have to do it while you’re driving on it! However, you are rewarded with amazing views that make you go ‘wow’ a lot.

Losers: Northern Poland.

Tram in Gdansk, Poland.
Great public transport, slightly scary roads!

We are sorry about this one. Poland is a beautiful place. We’ve been in the northern lake district and across the northern coast to Gdansk. However, our worst driving experience where we were a bit scared was north Poland. There was a lot of work going on the roads, but when we were there, the motorways were heavily rutted to the extent that you are actually in ‘tram lines’ that can be several inches deep. Road signage is OK, but if there are temporary road signs for roadworks, they can be a bit random. They are also very short on lay-bys and roadside stops in this area and when you do find one, it’s full of trucks.

Category 4 Winners – The price of diesel

Winners:  Luxemboug and Andorra.  

This might be a bit of a bloke thing, but I’ve got a bit obsessed by the price of diesel. Outright winners are really Luxembourg and Andorra. Basically they keep their prices low (along with alcohol prices) to tempt people to divert via their countries, just to fill up with diesel. The price is so low that I drove around the block a few times, just so I could get more in.

Eastern Europe seemed to be cheaper in general although many of those countries are now seeing prices of everything go up a bit.

The really amazing thing is the variation in prices within the same country. For example, on our last trip to France we saw prices of anywhere between 1.25 euros and 1.60 euros. Some of this variation was regional. For example, the area around Cognac seemed to be quite cheap, whereas northern France was more expensive. Much of the variation however was based on the specific locality.

Motorway diesel was by far the most expensive, followed by petrol stations on main roads and in very rural areas. The cheapest was the supermarkets and non-staffed stations. The simple trick really is never to buy on the motorway, but take your chances with a brief detour into a local town when you need to fill up.

Category 4 Losers: Britain and Norway

Luxemboug - fairytale castles and cheap diesel!

Norway has always had a reputation for being expensive for everything. I think we may have overtaken them now in terms of fuel prices. There’s not much you can do about this really. We try to save filling up until we get on the continent and we fill up before we come back again. In Norway, you just have to bite the bullet. Service stations can be few and far between if you are going north, so you need to fill up when you see one. Many motorhomers go up through Sweden for as long as possible before heading into Norway.

Summary

As I said at the outset, all the countries we have visited are motorhome-friendly these days. In high season, you are bound to encounter some restrictions and this is understandable. However, everywhere we have been, the locals have been pleased to see us. We’ve never had a parking ticket or anyone having a moan at us about where we’ve parked our van.

The beauty of motorhoming is that you probably get to see much more of a country than you would with any other type of holiday, so you can afford to be philosophical about the odd  ‘No motorhoming’ signs that you only tend to see in coastal areas anyway.

If you’ve got an opinion or experience to share, feel free to comment.

Welcome

The first leg of our trip - 3500 metres up in the Alps.
It was boiling hot and the roads were still closed due to snow!

Hello and welcome to our blog. We are Bob and Wendy Reeves. We run our own tour business - Crossings Motorhome Tours Ltd.

We have been motorhoming for four years in total. Our first trip was a weekend in Scarborough. We quickly followed that up with slightly longer trips to Hadrian’s Wall, Loch Lomond and Snowdon before we embarked on our adventure of a life time around mainland Europe. Over a three year period, we motorhomed through 30 countries racking up over 30,000 miles - and we’re not done yet!

Over the years we have learnt a lot about motorhoming, particularly in Europe. We’ve met hundreds of motorhomers and have learnt an incredible amount from them as well as learning from our own experiences (and mistakes).

The idea behind this blog is to share some of those experiences and to encourage other people to do the same. One of the things we’ve noticed about motorhomers is that they are quite a disparate bunch of people, who do not necessarily all enjoy the same things. In our own house we tend to disagree on what makes the perfect motorhome tour. I tend to like countries where the beer and diesel are cheap and it’s not too crowded. Wendy, on the other hand, would much rather head south, usually to the Spanish coast to soak up the sun.

Therefore, the list of topics for our blog is going to be broad and varied and will range from the common:

Our 'soon to be retired' Hymer motorhome taking a
well-earned rest in the Alps.

• What to take with you on your trip
• Driving on the continent
• Where to go and how to get there
• What to expect of European campsites and camping areas including wild camping
• How much it costs to go motorhoming
• How to choose a motorhome

We will also veer onto the less obvious but equally important topics such as:

Our first stop-over.
Haro, in the Rioja region of Spain

• Motorhome etiquette on the continent
• Continental driving habits
• The best supermarkets to go in each country
• The best places to buy diesel and how to figure out European petrol stations

And we might even cover specialist topics such as:

• How to fix a Thetford toilet at 10pm
• How it’s possible to have three lanes of traffic on a two way stretch of road
• Is Santa real and if so where is he?!

We would love to hear your feedback with any comments or questions you have about the blog or motorhoming in general. We are real motorhome enthusiasts and are always pleased to hear from fellow ‘chuggers’ or anyone considering becoming one.