Trivial, but useful tips for anyone planning their own trip

Some trivial and useful tips for any holiday in a campervan

Haircuts - after a few months it becomes necessary to get your hair cut, this can be difficult in other languages. Anthony takes a passport photo of himself taken just after a previous cut, he shows this to a hairdresser and ask for a cut that is the same.

Take a dressing gown - we felt this was something we didn't want to make space for, but soon bought one. Useful at camp sites where showers are too cramped to get dressed, for keeping warm while making the morning cup of tea and for wearing on the way to the swimming pool.

Visit a weigh bridge - load up and check what capacity, if any you have before you set off.

A journal - this helps us to remember where we have been and provides us with an opportunity to reflect on good and bad experiences.

Use skype - this is a fantastic way to phone home. We would usually pay for some internet access on a camp site, so being able to ring home at the same time is a bonus.

Silk sleeping bags - these were expensive, but an excellent investment. In very hot weather they are lovely to sleep in, keeping you warm enough at the coolest part of the night. In very cold weather they are a warm, extra layer with the duvet. They weigh very little and take up minimal space.

Mosquito nets - something to stop small creatures flying in on hot days is useful. We use muslin sheets hung over the doors, some vans have these built in, otherwise it is worth rigging up something.

Electrical adapters - it is worth getting a UK adapter for european plugs to use in the van if you have to buy some electrical equipment while you are away, for example a new kettle. This will allow you to plug it in to the UK socket in the van, without having to change the plug.

Teabags - Somehow European teabags are only strong enough to make dishwater. Take as many as you can carry and stock up if you are passing Gibraltar.

The weather on our trip

We thought other people planning trips in southern Europe might find it useful to have some idea what weather to expect. However, it is important to remember that the weather varies from year to year and the temperatures and conditions we experienced may not be typical.

In 2009 we were on mainland Europe for 254 days. Of these:

• 197 were sunny or fine days (80%)
• 23 days had some rain, either a thunderstorm or a light shower
• 34 days were dominated by rain, either constant showers or very heavy rain for most of the day (13%).

Those 34 days of rain can be analysed further, as most of our rainy days were in particular areas or at particular times:

April - as we travelled down to Italy, we had some rainy days.

Early June - we had one rainy day in Italy on the Gargano peninsular

June - we had some thunderstorms around Lake Garda

Late June - we had some rainy days in the Dolomites

July - we had some rainy days and thundery days in the Slovenian mountains

August - we had a couple of rainy days in Austria and a day or so of rain in the Aosta valley in the Italian Alps

September - it rained while we were in Provence for a few days

December - Spain experienced the wettest December for 50 years and from 18/12/09 we had seven days of rain.

We could have avoided some of these rainy days if we hadn't chosen to be in the Dolomites or the Alps. However, we also had lots of fantastic weather in those places.

Other thoughts on the weather in 2009:

May - a lovely month to be in Italy

June - temperatures reached over 30C in Italy by mid June

October - the south of France became quite cold and it was noticeably warmer as soon as we travelled in to Spain

November - from what others told us the weather was unusually hot for this time of year in Spain. We were still wearing shorts and temperatures were over 20C.

December - until the rain started, the weather in southern Spain was around 17C and fine.

2010

January - We had six days where it mostly rained and six days with a shower, the remaining 19 days were fine and sunny, temperatures were between 9C and 18C.

February - We had four days when it rained almost all day and ten days where we had a shower or two, but were still able to get out for a walk at some time, the remaining 14 days were fine, sunny and usually warm, around 15C. The general opinion with regulars has been that the weather is wetter than previous years.

March - We were moving gradually north. We had six days when it rained almost all day and six days when we had showers or rain some of the day. The remaining 19 days were fine, usually sunny and fairly warm, between 12 and 18C, although nights could be cold.

Generally, we feel we would prefer not to travel in our small van during the winter months again. Late spring, summer and early autumn were lovely, we could be outdoors most of the time, being active during the day, eating meals outside and enjoying the sunshine and we missed that in the winter.

Clothing

We spent many holidays in our youth backpacking and so we are used to having clothing for holidays that is easy to wear, can be hand-washed and dries quickly.

For this trip we planned the clothing we would need and purchased items over a period of 12 months. Light-weight performance clothing for walking, cycling and travel wear is often expensive and huge savings can be made by buying in sales or second-hand on Ebay; this is particularly useful for Rohan gear, which is very expensive, but if you have the time you will often find what you need on Ebay.

Our trip has given these items a long-term test and manufacturers we would recommend include:

• Alpine Lowe - their dual fibre dryflo briefs are the most comfortable and quick drying underwear money can buy. Their dry flo tshirts are also marvellous.
• Rohan - particularly good for trousers and shorts, light-weight fleece jumpers and shirts.
• Karrimor - some good light-weight tshirts
• Columbia - Anthony has one excellent tshirt of theirs, bought some time ago and never seen again!
• Icebreaker - their merino wool tshirts are fantastic to wear and wash
• Berghaus - tshirts and long-sleeved tops can be good
• North Face - good quality shorts

We also took Tilley underwear, but found this did not perform as well as Alpine Lowe. The Rohan fleece jumpers are so good, the cheaper ones we also took feel like a mistake.

In the van we always use camping or travel towels, such as LifeVenture or Blacks own brand. These dry quickly and don't get damp and musty when they can't be dried outside.

Everyone's needs are different, but we packed as follows (where there are two numbers, the lower one is Anthony's clothing):

• Shorts - 2 pairs
• 3/4 length trousers -2 or 3 pairs
• Trousers - 3 pairs
• Tshirts or shirts - 8
• Jumpers - 2 or 3
• Long-sleeved tops - 1 or 4 (Anthony does not feel the cold!)
• Nightwear - 2 sets
• Shoes - 2 or 3 pairs of sandals, 1 pair walking shoes, 1 pair of outdoor shoes and 1 pair of Crocs each

We also packed cycling shorts and swimming costumes.

National parks and protected areas visited

Once we had decided to concentrate our trip on national parks and other protected areas of Europe, we started our research by purchasing the book, ‘National Parks, Europe’ from the Activity Series. This doesn’t appear to be published in the UK, but you can find it new and second-hand with Amazon sellers.

Our other sources of information were websites, maps and relevant Lonely Planet and Rough Guides.

Total number of national parks and protected areas visited (by visited we generally mean walked or cycled in, rather than just driven through) – 34

Portugal

Portugal has only one National Park and 29 Natural Parks, Nature Reserves and other protected landscapes.

Total number of protected areas visited - 2

• Parque Natural da Ria Formosa
• Parque Natural do Sudoeste Atlentejano and Costa Vincentina

Spain

Total number of protected areas visited – 12

Spain has 14 National Parks, 5 of which are on islands and numerous Natural Parks; areas protected for their geology, biology or landscape merit. These different categories are not to suggest a lower level of protection, merely different characteristics.

• Parque Natural del Estrecho, Andalucia
• Parque Natural de los Alcornocales, Andalucia
• Parque Natural Sierra de las Nieves, Andalucia
• Sierra Nevada National Park, Andalucia
• Cabo de Gata-Nijar Natural Park, Andalucia
• Sierra Espuna Natural Park, Murcia
• La Albufera Natural Park, Valencia
• Serra d’Irta Natural Park, Valencia
• Delta de l’Ebre Natural Park, Catalonia
• Cap de Creus Natual Park, Catalonia
• Parc Natural dels Aiguamolis de L'Emporda, Catalonia
• Parque Nacional de Donana

France

Total number of protected areas visited – 4

France has 9 national parks and 49 Regional Natural Parks, areas designated for their scenery and heritage.

• The Ecrins National Park
• Verdon National Park
• Camargue Regional Natural Park
• Narbonnaiseen Méditerranée Regional Natural Park

Italy

Total number of protected areas visited – 11

Italy has 22 National Parks, numerous Regional Parks and areas with other designations; www.parks.it is an excellent website with information and links to all of them.

• Cinque Terre National Park, Liguria
• D’Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, Abruzzi
• Vesuvio National Park, Campania
• Pollino National Park, Calabria
• Majella National Park, Abruzzi
• Monti Sibillini National Park, the Marches and Umbria
• Gran Sasso National Park, Abruzzi
• Gargano National Park, Apulia
• Gran Paradiso National Park, Aosta
• Dell’Adamello National Park, Lombardy
• Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park, Venetia

Austria

Total number of protected areas visited – 3

Austria has six national parks, covering the most valuable ecologoical areas, where nature conservation is paramount; they are all covered at www.nationalparksaustria.at

• The Donau-auen National Park, Vienna
• Neusiedler See National Park, Burgenland
• Hohe Tauern National Park, Tirol and Salzburg

Slovenia

Total number of protected areas visited – 2

Triglav is the only national park in Slovenia. The Skocjan caves are a protected area and a World Heritage Site.

• The Triglav National Park
• Skocjan caves (protected area)

Literary matters

Novels

It was not possible for us to take enough books to read during a whole year. However, this was not a problem, as we were often able to swop books with other travellers and this was an excellent opening line with new friends. Some campsites in Spain in particular, have books in English you can take away. We swopped books and DVDs with Mike and Theresa each time we met up with them - this is the excuse for putting their photograph here.

We have tried to read some books that provide some background to the countries we have travelled in. Below is a list of some of the ones we found most informative.

Books about Europe generally:

• Europe in a Motorhome, HD Jackson – covers southern Europe and useful motohoming information
• In Europe: Travels through the 20^th Century, Geert Mak – fantastic book with so much information
• Journey through Europe, John Hillaby – a walk from northern to southern Europe about 30 years ago
• A Little History of the World, EH Gombrich – excellent background to European history

Books about particular countries:

• The Dark Heart of Italy, Tobias Jones – good background for contemporary Italy
• Pompeii, Robert Harris – good historical and geographical background for the Bay of Naples
• A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway – set in Slovenia and Italy in the first world war
• Ghosts of Spain, Giles Tremlett – good background for contemporary Spain
• Soldiers of Salami, Javier Cercas – A well put together story fluctuating between the present day and the Spanish civil war
• Driving over lemons, Chris Stewart – an ex-pat emigrating and farming near Orgiva
• A Moment of War, Laurie Lee – A well written account of his time in the Spanish civil war (George Orwell's book is also fantastic, if you are interested in this period)
• Zorro, Isabel Allende - an excellent tale and good background to Spanish colonialism in north America

In addition, we have Rough Guides or Lonely Planet guides to each country we have travelled in, depending on what has been available in the charity shop or shops when we arrive in the country, we don't really have a preference.

Walking and cycling guides

In Austria and Italy (usually) it was possible to buy local walking maps, which is our preferred way to plan days out walking. However, in Spain and Portugal we have not been able to find suitable scale maps and would advice others to buy maps from Stanfords, via their excellent on-line shop, before setting off.

The following guides have been useful:

• Walking in The Algarve, Julie Statham, a Cicerone Guide - 34 walks on the coast and in the countryside around The Algarve.
• Walking in Adalucia, Guy Hunter-Watts - walks in Natural Parks in Andalucia. We used this in Aracena and around Ronda and found it very useful.
• Cycling Southern France, Loire to Mediterranean, Richard Peace - information and routes for cyclists.
• Slovenia (Landscapes), David Robertson and Sarah Stewart - Very useful book for walks in Slovenia and includes some driving tours and picnic ideas.

Languages

For the countries we were sure we were visiting we took a dictionary and phrase book. Otherwise, the Berlitz European Phrase book is a permanent part of the kit in our van; ours covers 12 languages and means we will never find ourselves in the Netherlands not even knowing how to say thank you again.

The size of your campervan

We like having a small campervan and certainly in summer it is more than adequate for our camping needs. We spend a lot of time out of doors and use the van for cooking and sleeping.

Some vans have fixed beds to save the work of making up a bed every night. In summer, the design of the Sundowner means that we can leave the beds made up every day if we are eating out doors, we just put the sheets and duvets away. This gives us two couches which are excellent for lounging on, using the front seats that are turned round to lean against.

On our big trip we have been able to eat breakfast outdoors up until December in Spain; there have been some mornings when it has been too cold, but not too many. By December it is dark by 18.30 and we haven't eaten an evening meal outside since October in France, as we usually eat around 19.30 and it goes noticeably cooler, even in Spain, once it is dark.

Even in colder weather, the van is fantastic; the diesel heater soon warms up the small space and we are lovely and snug. The problem is not the van, but the campsite facilities. Our post for 14 December describes our experience at one campsite, but the same is true of many sites; the toilet blocks are rarely heated and often do not have exterior doors, this makes showering a drafty affair on days when it is breezy and cool and we look enviously at those vans with their own bathrooms.

The photos give you an idea of the space we have available in our Blue Bus.

This link will take you to an article that was published in Motorhome Monthly Magazine in 2012 about Living with a Devon Sundowner, if you want to know more about our van.

VW T5 Devon Sundowner

Our van is a VW T5 Devon Sundowner, built in 2007. If you see us, a wave is always appreciated!

Devon owners have now got their own website and forum up and running, thanks to the hard work of Bob.  The website can be found here and has some useful information about Devon vans.  From this site Devon owners can access the forum and make contact with other owners of Devon vans.

How?

You might wonder how we have managed to afford to buy a new campervan and spend a year not earning. This has been a project we've been planning for about three years and there's no magic answer for those of you itching to make your own escape; we've just earned and saved in a number of ways:

1. Selling stuff on Ebay - a big thank you to everyone that bought the stuff we cleared out.
2. Working - Anthony grafted away at the University of Central Lancashire and Carol has worked in many different posts over the past three years, sometimes three at a time, so thank you to all those employers.
3. Downsizing - we managed to sell our house, thanks to a lovely couple, and moved to a small flat to pay for the van.
4. Going without - over the past three years we've lived without new gadgets, clothes and stuff and saved instead.
5. Cheaper holidays - having bought our first Campervan in 2005, we've saved money as we've holidayed.