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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. Les mer
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  • European Van Tour

    Lago Barasona

    12. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    We have made it to Spain.

    After our walk this morning we drove over the Col du Portillon (again, lots of hairpins) and then south thru the Tunel de Viella (probably the longest tunnel we have ever driven thru).

    The roads in Spain (so far) not as good as those in France but we will see. Landscape very different.

    We're now at Camping Lago Barasona, right next to a big lake. Hoping to go swimming in it tomorrow. May stay here a couple of days.    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Labitolosa and La Puebla de Castro

    13. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    A circular walk from the campsite, taking in Labitolosa (the remains of a Roman village), La Puebla de Castro (the local hilltop village) and Iglesia de San Román de Castro.

    The village was a twisty maze of passages and the bar was shut unfortunately (we were hoping for a coffee) but the butchers (Embutidos el Cortante) was open and sold cold drinks and local vegetables which was good because the campsite shop is a bit basic to say the least.

    I convinced Sara to walk an extra mile and was half up a hill to see the Iglesia de San Román de Castro (church) which supposedly has paintings from the 3rd century (or something like that) but the place was closed when we got there. Bloodly churches... no commitment to customer service!

    Despite that it was a very nice, if a bit hot, walk. We deffo needed a beer (alcohol-free!) when we got back.

    Oh, and we had to turn the van round when we got back because the Belgian couple about 3 pitches along from us insist on playing their radio all day (not loud, but loud enough that we can hear it). Our awning now faces away from them. Funny, because you expect disturbance to be coming from younger people, not people our age! Tut, tut.

    Btw, today marks 2 weeks away, so a quarter of our traveling time has gone. That said, we still have 6 weeks, so no worries! 😀    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Crap!

    14. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Lots of rain overnight.

    We were rudely awakened at 6am by a very loud explosion. We both thought the pop-top had collapsed. Turns out that it wasn't that. Unfortunately though, our brand new Fiamma awning had completely broken, we think because of the weight of water, though we definitely had it at an angle so it should have been draining properly.

    Anyway, once it got lighter and I could see properly, it turned out that the damage was worse than I hoped. No damage to the van thank god, but it wasn't possible to safely store the awning away so we couldn't drive the van anywhere.

    I phoned the insurance company who were pretty useless, leaving us on our own to get it repaired.

    Now, everyone loves a problem... just not an £800 problem.

    I managed to borrow a step ladder from the campsite, a set of allen keys from our English neighbours, and some small nuts and bolts from a nearby German couple. Very helpful these campers!

    With those, I spent a fraught, and muddy, couple of hours getting the awning roadworthy again (though not exactly usable). Now we just need to decide whether to leave getting it properly fixed to when we are back in the UK or to get it fixed in Spain. There are three Fiamma dealers in Zarogoza (according to the Fiamma website).

    (To be fair, the campsite also went out of their way to buy us some nuts and bolts from the nearest hardware store but I had managed to fix things by the time they got them).

    All in all a pretty miserable morning. We both feel pretty sick about our new van being damaged 😟😟.    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Camping Saviñan Park

    15. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Our plan today was to walk the gorge in the morning, then drive to Zaragoza and spend a day on a sort of ‘camping’ city mini/break.

    Unfortunately, the municipal camping in Zaragoza was full when we got there and the nearest alternative that we could find was Camping Saviñan Park in a little village called Sabiñan.

    This place is really nice though, even though it is a shame to miss the sights of Zaragoza which we were both looking forward to. We are now about an hour further on so don’t think we’ll bother going back. We did find the best supermarket ever in Zaragoza so not all a wasted journey!

    Mackerel, potatoes, spinach and courgettes for tea. Beautiful. Not too shabby for two-pot campsite cooking even if I say so myself.

    Btw, we were tempted by the Euro0.90 Vino Blanco Brick but ultimately decided on the more traditional bottle!    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Cafe con leche

    16. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We’re not very good at finding places to stop for coffee in Spain. Not sure why but this morning we drove around a couple of places before we found somewhere. I think it is the layout of towns or something. Anyway, we finally stopped in Cariñena and found a decent bar. Got back to the van and realised we’d parked right next to this place.

    Also popped into a hardware store and bought some wire to try hacking some sort of repair to the awning.

    My most common opening gambit in Spanish is rapidly becoming: “Lo siento, no hablo español muy bien.” followed by a garbled attempt to say something more complicated based on 3 weeks of Duolingo, followed by speaking English :-(.

    The guy in the hardware shop this morning even said, “ah, you are English, so you only speak English” which was a bit hurtful (but, admittedly, technically correct). That said, I did manage to reserve a campsite stop for this evening by phone totally in Spanish this morning (about 3 sentences) so I am definitely improving! Ish. 😀    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Quick walk after lunch

    16. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Looked for somewhere to stop for lunch on the way to the campsite and found this place - Acueducto Romano Albarracín-Gea-Cella. Andy was hoping for more of a walk as it was only about a mile! Quite interesting tunnels - not sure what they were built for though!Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Albarracín

    16. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    We are at Albarracín, billed (at least by our campsite website) as “the most beautiful city in Spain”. It is a very beautiful place but we feel overall that the last city we were at, Alquézar, gives it a good run for its money.

    It is pronounced Alba-rath-een btw.

    Another walk tomorrow, followed by a two hour drive south, towards Valencia.    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    El Vallecillo

    17. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    A 10k circular walk from El Vallecillo this morning, taking in waterfalls, caves and metal walkways! Slightly less impressive than we were hoping for on all fronts tbh, not helped by the fact that it rained for 90% of the walk.

    We had also forgotten that we were at over 4000ft so it was pretty cold and we didn’t really have the correct gear. Oh well live and learn.

    Another lovely lunch spot near the end of the walk. It would have made a great place to wild camp but we haven’t got the bottle for that yet I’m afraid.    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Kayaking on the Rio Cabriel

    18. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    No sooner had I written yesterday that we were going to chillax today, than I had booked us onto a white-water kayaking trip on the Rio Cabriel. It meant a 10am start from the village.

    We were both expecting something easy, a bit like the River Wye, but it actually turned out to have quite decent rapids. We had to wear wetsuits and helmets which were weren’t expecting.

    The trip included a section where we both had to swim down one of the longer rapids to practice our safety position - on our backs, feet first, knees bent and arms across our chests. It didn’t quite work out like that for one of us!

    We both had to be dragged out of the river at the end of this because we missed the rock in the middle of the river that we were supposed to climb onto 😀. It didn’t really matter because we then had to jump straight back off the rock anyway.

    Really tiring swimming across the river against the current. But also, really good fun.

    Now back at the campsite having a well-deserved beer and sandwich.

    (More photos coming we hope - but we couldn’t take our own phones with us because it was too rough, so relying on the photos taken by the organisers).    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Camping Altomira, Navajas

    19. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    We came here because there is a cycle path we wanted to try. Now looks like it might rain tomorrow. Will hire bikes anyway and put up with it I guess. Hey, we are British so we should be used to a bit of rain!

    Not overly impressed with the campsite so far but hopefully it’ll be ok.    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Via Verde de Ojos Negros

    20. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Lovely bike ride along the Via Verde de Ojos Negros (a Spanish greenway) to Jérica this morning, a town of Arabic origin in the Valencia region. Despite the forecast, we had no rain. Hurrah.

    There were tunnels but not a patch on Bath’s Two Tunnels Greenway! 😀

    My chain came off at one point and got stuck in my rear wheel. A Dutch couple stopped to help which was very kind of them.

    Unfortunately, when we went for a walk after lunch it tipped it down, including quite heavy hail and lots of thunder and lightning. Managed not to get too wet though.

    Now having an evening meal at the campsite restaurant, taking advantage of their “free” bottle of wine deal. Note that wine is so cheap here that not sure “free” amounts to much but the rose is perfectly drinkable so who cares. Think this counts as our first proper meal out - on the basis that the menu that we are on includes starters, mains and desserts!    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Camping El Roble, Valderrobres

    21. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Beautiful walk first thing this morning, followed by packing up and the drive to Leroy Merlin. Also stopped at a Mercadona (supermarket) which turned out to be in the same car park as Leroy Merlin (which, oddly, didn’t stop us starting Google Maps to find the way - yes, we were a little confused!).

    Like most supermarkets, this one had a great fish counter so we have got sardines for tea.

    Then a 2 hour drive to here, during which the weather tipped it down nearly all the way. Lovely evening though (so far).    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Prat de Comte to La Fontcalda

    22. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    The landscape in this part of the world is amazing. We are in the Parc Natural dels Ports.

    Today we walked from Prat de Comte to La Fontcalda, a gorge with supposedly warm springs. I had a quick swim. The water wasn’t that hot but was, I guess, a lot warmer than mountain streams normally are.

    The walk was about 8k and was pretty good but the walk back was mainly uphill and quite hard going.

    Apart from the fantastic scenery, the main point of excitement came after I had walked ahead to check out whether a tunnel under the Via Verde cycle path was passable due to thick mud. it wasn’t. As I was stepping at the edge of the path to avoid the mud I disturbed a snake which slithered across the path in front of me. I was so surprised that I leapt across the path, lost my footing and fell on top of the snake. I shrieked like a girl - sorry, I know that sounds sexist but it is exactly what I did - I absolutely shrieked and fell in the mud.

    Sara didn’t see any of this. She just heard my weird scream and didn’t have a clue what had happened. She thought I’d broken my leg or something. Anyway, I’m not sure who ended up being more scared - me or the snake. But pretty sure I ended up being more embarrassed! 😀

    No idea what kind of snake it was.    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Prades

    22. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    We are now in Prades where they appear to be preparing for some kind of festival by crocheting the biggest parasol you’ve ever seen.

    Lovely town. Not sure how long we’ll stay but possibly a couple of nights.Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Walk around Prades

    23. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Breakfast, packing up, then a quick coffee in Prades followed by a short walk this morning taking in La Roca Foradada, an arched rock formation. Shorter distance and less climbing than yesterday.

    Then a long, and quite busy, drive (well, about 3 hours but I think it was one of our longest) up the coast to L'Estartit - not exactly our cup of tea on first impressions but we thought it might be warmer on the coast. Evenings in the mountains have been quite cold.    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Càmping La Sirena

    23. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Here for the night in L'Estartit. There were also about 50 kids (year 7s or 8s we think) and their teachers on a school trip. It brought back a lot of memories for Sara!

    They went off for a disco at about 9.30 (it was their last night) and we thought it might be quite noisy when they finished but we went to bed and didn’t hear a thing.

    When they were packing up the next morning, one of the teachers bought over a couple of beers that they couldn’t take with them and I said to him, "how did you get all those children back to their chalets so quietly?". He said, "we work very hard with them". He seemed quite pleased that I had commented on how quiet they were.

    Forgot to take many photos!    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Begur and L'Escala/Montgó

    24. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    I (Andy) was awake early, like before 7, which used to happen regularly at home but hasn't happened nearly as much on this trip. Fresh air and exercise does wonders. Anyway, I left Sara in bed and walked to the viewpoint overlooking L'Estartit. Lovely.

    Then breakfast - porridge, seeds, peanut butter and fruit - as always!

    Then we decided to visit Begur where we had a lovely couple of hours visiting the castle, the church, a few (up-market) shops, and a museum followed by a proper tapas lunch that was delicious.

    After lunch we drove to Illa Mateua Càmping Resort at L'Escala (though we think it is closer to Montgó, which is a lovely little bay). It's about 30 minutes up the coast from where we were.

    We have booked in for two nights.

    We stopped off at a camping shop on the way. See if you can spot our new purchase in the photos. Let's just say it takes us up in the world!

    Ham, eggs and patatas bravas for tea, which is the closest we can easily get to ham, eggs and chips on our little camping stove!

    Weather not great today but looks better tomorrow. We decided to walk around the headland to keep warm before tea and it turned out to be further, and higher, than we expected but had some great views.    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Practical stuff

    25. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    For most of this trip we have been sleeping inside the van on the rock and roll bed. While we are at this site we are experimenting with sleeping in the pop top.

    It feels more like camping, which is nice. Also, it avoids the faff of having to make the bed every night, we can just leave our bedding where it is and push everything up into the pop top during the day. Much more convenient.

    The only downside is our nightly wee, which I definitely need every night these days (it's an age thing!). We have to climb down into the van and use the porta-potty, then climb back. Oh well, can't have everything I suppose!

    Getting the bedding (which now includes two thin air mattresses from Decathlon as well as our 5cm thick Duvalay mattress topper) into the pop top in the first place is a bit of a hassle which is why we don't bother doing it if we are only staying somewhere for one night.

    We have also put up our air gazebo at this site - again, too much hassle for a one-night stop. This gives us somewhere warm to sit in the evening. I find sitting in the van a bit uncomfortable. No idea why, the seats in the van are very comfortable for driving. Annoyingly, we spent £70 on an electric pump for the gazebo and we can't make it work properly at the moment so having to inflate it by hand.

    Finally, we are not using many of the other facilities in the van much. We are not bothering to fill the water tank - it's so easy just to get water from the campsite taps as we need it - so not using the sink and no grey water to empty when we leave. And we are cooking outside on our Campingaz cooker, so not using the cooking facilities in the van either - think we have only used them once all trip. The grill is a complete waste of space and I think we will get it taken out and just use the space as extra storage when we get back. The fridge and associated storage shelves are brilliant though.

    We haven't wild-camped or used "aires" yet (free or cheap places to stop but with few facilities and not a lot of space). The aires in France have always looked too cramped for us - basically just carparks. The ones in Spain have had more space but we are now in the habit of searching for campsites not aires and planning ahead for an aire feels a bit high risk.    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Illa Mateua Càmping to Punta Ventosa

    25. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Another day, another walk… this time to Punta Venta, one of the nearer high points on the cliffs around Montgó. One of us had a quick dip on the way. Amazing views of the Gulf of Roses. The path was pretty close to the cliff edge at points.

    We walked back thru the woods, listening to the sing-song of the Sardinian Warbler (at least, that’s what the Merlín app told us) - didn’t see one. The paths around here are very rocky and uneven which means you can’t take your eyes off the ground without stopping.

    Lovely weather this afternoon. We may even have had a little nap!

    Off out for a proper meal this evening - getting dressed up and everything! :-)    Les mer

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  • European Van Tour

    Chilling

    26. mai 2024, Spania ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We decided to stay here for another day and although we had a couple of tentative plans for how to spend it we have basically not done very much. Sitting in the campsite this morning reading our books and sitting on the beach this afternoon reading our books.

    The most exciting it got was realising we had accidentally bought chicken soup instead of chicken stock and having to make a risotto with it. It turned out ok anyway.

    Moving on tomorrow... we are approaching the half way point of our trip and I have booked a surprise hotel/spa break for a couple of nights in the Pyrenees.    Les mer

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