At last, chance to report on our Summer trip:
We got packed up with lots of spares and I was ready for the worst case scenario with 2 headgaskets when we set off.
First overnight stop was just outside Newbury at a Britstop. I can't recommend britstops enough.
THe next day we set of for the ferry at Newhaven, we had plenty of time so did Bognor, Brighton and Eastbourne, before hitting Newhaven in good time for the midnight ferry.
We arrived at dieppe at 04:30 the next morning and in pitch black we decided to head for Le Havre, along unlit roads, With out lights pointing the wrong way...with oncoming french drivers...lol.
We hit Le Havre and spent the rest of the day recovering.
The next day we had our last big drive which was the 135 miles to St Mere Eglise
We Spent two days here, checking out the site of the first American landing point for D Day. We were lucky enough to be around for 2 fantastic food markets. A little disappointed by the glorification of the d-day landings here and declined the offer to buy a screaming eagle shirt, or a set of dog tags or one of those cricket clickers
We then headed for The American beaches, both Utah and Omaha.
and tried to get my head round what it must have been like during the d day landings.
Next stop was the American Cemetery which really brought the events of 1944 to focus.
We spent the night in the orchard at a cider farm in Formigny.
Next day was Bayeux and saw some old Knitting
We then hit Arromanches for one of the British beaches and saw the remains of the Mulberry Harbors. Stayed in a Municipal site which was a bit of a dump. Spent the next couple of days bimbling about before we ended up somewhere...the name rang a bell but I couldn't place it till I saw the bridge and it all became clear...Pegasus Bridge.
This was the highlight of the trip for me and was honored to be able to walk across the actual bridge.
After this another couple of days heading back to Dieppe via coursuelle sue mere, luc sur mer, hermanville, ouistream, hornfleur, etretat, fecamp and St valerie en caux.
The last day was spent in Dieppe. France was great, the driving entertaining, the food was excellent, the cider was a relevation and the van did not miss a beat.
Back to the UK and onto Bournemouth for an overnight stop, cue, traffic, rain and a squealing fan belt. Which got worse at low speeds until it gave up the ghost just outside Poole, We made it to the campsite where we got stung for £35 for a nights camping. Found fitted a new belt and found the alternator was out of line due to a missing bolt, I tried a temp fix, which got us as far as Dorchester the next day. We have an electic water pump and fan, so the fan belt had no effect on the temperature.....so why was it climbing. We found a halfords, bought a spare fan belt before getting the circuit tester out and found a failed thermostatic switch on the fan controller, easily bi-passed with a switch purchased from Halfords. Left Dorchester with a coughing misfiring engine, Pulled over and guessed at dodgy fuel filter, easily changed, still nothing, then I noticed that the alternator bracket had snapped and the alternator was sitting against the fuel hose. Fixed this with a strip of meccano and made it to Yeovil to stay at Josie's uncle. Next day was an uneventful and boring trip back to Nottingham.
Very pleased with the van, having covered 1,500 miles with few problems, the temp never moved above halfway.
Camping in France was cheap, and you sometimes got the luxury of bread delivered to your van in the morning.
THe aires were great, costing £5-£6 a night, the only issue here was that you had be totally self sufficient, so we had the fridge on gas, lights were courtesy of the tilley lamp and out toilet facilities were "Creative"
The van turned more heads that it does in the UK, and in my opinion could have been designed by some crazy French man.
Anyway...where too next year?
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b25/katiebf/IMG-20130310-WA0000_zpsc08d35f3.jpg
We got packed up with lots of spares and I was ready for the worst case scenario with 2 headgaskets when we set off.
First overnight stop was just outside Newbury at a Britstop. I can't recommend britstops enough.
THe next day we set of for the ferry at Newhaven, we had plenty of time so did Bognor, Brighton and Eastbourne, before hitting Newhaven in good time for the midnight ferry.
We arrived at dieppe at 04:30 the next morning and in pitch black we decided to head for Le Havre, along unlit roads, With out lights pointing the wrong way...with oncoming french drivers...lol.
We hit Le Havre and spent the rest of the day recovering.
The next day we had our last big drive which was the 135 miles to St Mere Eglise
We Spent two days here, checking out the site of the first American landing point for D Day. We were lucky enough to be around for 2 fantastic food markets. A little disappointed by the glorification of the d-day landings here and declined the offer to buy a screaming eagle shirt, or a set of dog tags or one of those cricket clickers
We then headed for The American beaches, both Utah and Omaha.
Next stop was the American Cemetery which really brought the events of 1944 to focus.
We spent the night in the orchard at a cider farm in Formigny.
Next day was Bayeux and saw some old Knitting
We then hit Arromanches for one of the British beaches and saw the remains of the Mulberry Harbors. Stayed in a Municipal site which was a bit of a dump. Spent the next couple of days bimbling about before we ended up somewhere...the name rang a bell but I couldn't place it till I saw the bridge and it all became clear...Pegasus Bridge.
This was the highlight of the trip for me and was honored to be able to walk across the actual bridge.
After this another couple of days heading back to Dieppe via coursuelle sue mere, luc sur mer, hermanville, ouistream, hornfleur, etretat, fecamp and St valerie en caux.
The last day was spent in Dieppe. France was great, the driving entertaining, the food was excellent, the cider was a relevation and the van did not miss a beat.
Back to the UK and onto Bournemouth for an overnight stop, cue, traffic, rain and a squealing fan belt. Which got worse at low speeds until it gave up the ghost just outside Poole, We made it to the campsite where we got stung for £35 for a nights camping. Found fitted a new belt and found the alternator was out of line due to a missing bolt, I tried a temp fix, which got us as far as Dorchester the next day. We have an electic water pump and fan, so the fan belt had no effect on the temperature.....so why was it climbing. We found a halfords, bought a spare fan belt before getting the circuit tester out and found a failed thermostatic switch on the fan controller, easily bi-passed with a switch purchased from Halfords. Left Dorchester with a coughing misfiring engine, Pulled over and guessed at dodgy fuel filter, easily changed, still nothing, then I noticed that the alternator bracket had snapped and the alternator was sitting against the fuel hose. Fixed this with a strip of meccano and made it to Yeovil to stay at Josie's uncle. Next day was an uneventful and boring trip back to Nottingham.
Very pleased with the van, having covered 1,500 miles with few problems, the temp never moved above halfway.
Camping in France was cheap, and you sometimes got the luxury of bread delivered to your van in the morning.
THe aires were great, costing £5-£6 a night, the only issue here was that you had be totally self sufficient, so we had the fridge on gas, lights were courtesy of the tilley lamp and out toilet facilities were "Creative"
The van turned more heads that it does in the UK, and in my opinion could have been designed by some crazy French man.
Anyway...where too next year?
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b25/katiebf/IMG-20130310-WA0000_zpsc08d35f3.jpg
