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European Van Tour
  • Andy Powell
  • Sara Hunt
  • Andy Powell
  • Sara Hunt

European Van Tour

Our first 2-month trip to Europe in the van. We are planning to visit France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and maybe a few other countries. Crossing to Cherbourg on April 29 2024. Read more
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  • Trip start
    April 29, 2024
  • European Van Tour

    First campsite

    April 30, 2024 in France ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Slightly stressful getting here tbh… our first choice campsite was shut when we got there so we had to drive a little further. This one is nicer though. The sun is shining and we are right by the river with a lovely cup of tea!Read more

  • European Van Tour

    Lunch and toilet break

    May 1, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Wet today so we are driving south a bit. It is a holiday in France today so nothing, I mean nothing, is open. Luckily we made sandwiches before we left. We have been looking for an aire for the last 30 minutes or so, just to have a lunch break. Finally found this place which is ok and has a toilet. It is basically a car park though!Read more

  • European Van Tour

    Cold

    May 1, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    We are camping near Noirmoutier and it has got quite cold this evening.

  • European Van Tour

    Walk around Noirmoutier

    May 2, 2024 in France ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    Loop walk around Noirmoutier followed by a lunch of galettes and cider, then a brief stop off at Lidl on the way back. We haven’t been able to find peanut butter anywhere so far - we want it for our porridge in the morning. Will keep looking.

    Weather good today but still not overly warm and looks like we still have a few more days of rain coming. Can’t decide whether to head for Île de Ré tomorrow, which was our original plan, or push further south while the weather is crap.    Read more

  • European Van Tour

    Île de Ré

    May 3, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    We’re at the Camping Municipal de Saint Martin de Ré (on the Île de Ré obv.). Most expensive campsite so far and worst facilities unfortunately but good location. Omelette and couscous for tea! Awesome camping cuisine!

    Weather looks awful for the next two days. We are hoping to do some cycling but that may not be possible. May catch the bus into La Rochelle as an alternative?    Read more

  • European Van Tour

    Muddy

    May 4, 2024 in France ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    Heavy rain overnight and our pitch has turned into a mud bath. The comments about this campsite on the Search for Sites app did say this might happen.

    Luckily, Sara found these boards discarded around the site and we have commandeered them so that we can get from the gazebo to the van and back fairly cleanly.

    Btw, we stopped off at a Decathlon on the way here yesterday to get new camping chairs and additional thin air mattresses for the bed. These go under the Duvalay that we already have! We are both struggling a bit with comfort levels in the van and our backs aren’t great but these seem to have helped. Fingers crossed.    Read more

  • European Van Tour

    Île de Rain (and La Rochelle)

    May 4, 2024 in France ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    We got the bus into La Rochelle and back. No point in cycling today. It has pissed down all day. Nice lunch of tuna and fried potatoes, followed by a trip round the Musée Le Bunker de La Rochelle (which kept us dry for about an hour),Read more

  • European Van Tour

    Walk around Les Portes-en-Ré

    May 5, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Raining again this morning so we decided against cycling. Instead, we drove to Les Portes-en-Ré and did a 10k walk around the coast. Just managed to sneak into Les Huitres do Trousse Chemise within La Reserve Naturelle Nationale de Lilleau des Niges - they had closed (it is Sunday) but we only wanted a beer so it was OK. Lovely walk and interesting to see the way that the sea water is managed in the marshes around here.

    Visited the Phare des Baleines on the way back but it was very busy and touristy so didn't stay long.    Read more

  • European Van Tour

    Camping Du Vieux Château

    May 6, 2024 in France ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We are in Rauzan, south of Saint-Emilion, vaguely heading to Contis Plage on the coast south of Arcachon, an area we visited several times when we were much younger (younger than today). Weather-depending, we may stay here tomorrow and do a wine tour but not sure yet.

    Packing up this morning took a while because we had to wash the mud off of everything but it stayed dry while we did it which was a bonus. We stopped at an aire on the peage and made sandwiches for lunch.    Read more

  • European Van Tour

    Beach

    May 9, 2024 in France ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Beautiful day today so we made sandwiches and spent a couple of hours on the beach. We walked thru the forest to get to a completely deserted part of the beach south of Saint-Girons plage. Lovely.

  • European Van Tour

    Morning walk

    May 10, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    One of us was up with the fishermen, the runners, the early-bird surfers and the metal detectorists on the beach this morning!

  • European Van Tour

    Camping Le Saillet at Lestelle-Bétharram

    May 10, 2024 in France ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We're just getting to the foothills of the Pyrenees, staying at a nice quiet campsite at Lestelle-Bétharram right next to the river (well it would be quiet if the local yoof would stop riding around on their mopeds!).

    The Pyrenees have been growing on the horizon all day. They are still snow covered although you can't see that from here.

    The drive down was lovely, apart from a small cock-up trying to find a decent supermarket in Pau.

    We stopped at Linxe to look at the local market, then at Castets for coffee, then on the banks of a lovely river in the La Forêt Communale de Bouillon. While we were eating lunch the far side of the river was a complete song-fest of frogs croaking which made Sara a little nervous to say the least. She isn't great with frogs!    Read more

  • European Van Tour

    Bagnères-de-Luchon

    May 11, 2024 in France ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    We're at a very quiet campsite in Bagnères-de-Luchon, annoyingly just out of reach of any bars. It was a bit of a last minute decision to come here because our original choice of campsite in Loudenvielle was full (our first full campsite on arrival).

    Tbh, Loudenvielle looked very busy - probably too busy for us, although it did have an amazing mountain backdrop and there was a lot going on including lots of paragliders descending from the nearby mountains.

    Anyway, we now have the opposite problem of not enough going on! We would have liked to stay here for a couple of nights but now think we will have to move on tomorrow.

    Spain we think, probably over the Col du Portillon. Driving across the Col d'Aspin today was amazing.    Read more

  • European Van Tour

    Vallée du Lys

    May 12, 2024 in France ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    We were up early today... well, we had left the campsite by 10.30!

    We drove up to the Vallée du Lys and spent of couple of hours doing a circular walk taking in a couple of big waterfalls. The walk was only just over 3 miles long but we did approx 1000ft of climbing which was quite tiring.

    Beautiful walk. Cloud cover grew during the morning which obscured the highest peaks but we were mostly in forest so didn't get great views anyway.    Read more

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