Hi all ,
New member here and just spotted the intro part of the forum, only after I posted on the thread below about my Safefill bottles, that thread is locked so I will also continue a little about our Norway trip here as was requested , our first crack at the Continent.
forums.practicalcaravan.com
Our van is a 2007 Bailey Pageant, we were new to caravanning last year, lockdowners I guess. I had a misspent past with a rather large boat and a lifetime hobby of electronics/electrical tinkering so it was inevitable we would not want the thing to remain as standard. Longer term goal was the max off grid capability possible for European (or UK CL) touring. Norway was a particular interest after past travel there. It is an unusual van with a large crossways fixed bed filling the tow hitch end and lounge at the rear. Perfect for what we wanted, fixed bed van for two with lots of space under it to add electrics. It’s not a layout that would suit families and I don’t think it sold all that well at the time. But it makes a superb two person van-life capable thing! Payload is just over 200kg, not too bad, though we started with a mover already added. It’s now got 600Ah of lithium batteries (60 kg), though we gained by ditching the lead acid. Two 175W solar panels that I fitted, Victron charger. A further 50A Mastervolt AC charger. Victron 1600W inverter. Oh and the two large Safefills, so propane capacity is 20kg. I think that swallows about half of the payload, clothes awning etc travel in the car, an estate. The van can pretty well run indefinitely in the sunnier half of the year electrically speaking, and as mentioned on the other thread I hope it is good for at least a few weeks off grid without gas refills. The van is pictured below somewhere near Stavanger.
Here goes about our recent trip mentioned elsewhere...
Cutting a long story short last May with a years caravanning almost under the belt we set off for for Norway on a three week trip. We had gone through a learning curve over that year on UK soil, taking in the Isle of Wight and Jersey so were pretty comfortable by then with the van and ferries. The prior learning curve included learning all about tail swing out on turning on narrow stone walled Jersey roads, hence the gaffer tape on the near side rear pictured. I’ve got quite good with gaffer really, a cracked window has also departed (somewhere in Germany). I now also know the Danish for plywood too.
Route to Norway was Hook of Holland, N Germany including an off grid Autobahn first night, then staying at a site at Ribe , S Denmark. Horribly well organised and huge for our taste. We drove up Denmark for a night at Hirtshalls , lovely site there, before getting the ferry to Kristiansand Norway and had a couple of nights there. Lovely area actually, if not a headline UK traveller touring destination. We then headed North and ended up near Stavanger on the coast. Lovely site behind the dunes. Unexpectedly all pitches had full EHU, vans capabilities not tested really, other than never needing to use an AC charger. We decided not to spend the Norway time touring with the van beyond here as Norway is not quick to get around, spending our time touring to nearby Fjords by car and getting the boat up Bergen for 3 nights, staying centrally. By this point we felt like we were partly living on RoRos.
So we didn’t stretch our vans capabilities that much in Norway, but it made a great base. We did reconnoiter a lot, and have a handle on how it works there now. In particular the many municipal type motor van parking places that also used bycaravans. These are often in pretty remote little towns and villages we found. We have ideas for future touring there, stretching the vans capabilities more.
Return was pretty much the same route. We managed a nice Norwegian night inland by a lake on the way back to Stavanger. Though to make the best of that part of the trip we found that Amsterdam has a nice and central site just north of the river. That made a pleasant 2 day diversion and is not so many hours away from the UK.
Anyway if our modest Norway experience is of use to anyone fire away with any questions.
I attached a van pic in a rather nice Norwegian lay-by. Also with its rather overspecified re power Audi S6 towcar.
Steve
New member here and just spotted the intro part of the forum, only after I posted on the thread below about my Safefill bottles, that thread is locked so I will also continue a little about our Norway trip here as was requested , our first crack at the Continent.
Page 2 - Safefill Fill Ups. Dave Croft Garage Near Chesterfield Gone
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Our van is a 2007 Bailey Pageant, we were new to caravanning last year, lockdowners I guess. I had a misspent past with a rather large boat and a lifetime hobby of electronics/electrical tinkering so it was inevitable we would not want the thing to remain as standard. Longer term goal was the max off grid capability possible for European (or UK CL) touring. Norway was a particular interest after past travel there. It is an unusual van with a large crossways fixed bed filling the tow hitch end and lounge at the rear. Perfect for what we wanted, fixed bed van for two with lots of space under it to add electrics. It’s not a layout that would suit families and I don’t think it sold all that well at the time. But it makes a superb two person van-life capable thing! Payload is just over 200kg, not too bad, though we started with a mover already added. It’s now got 600Ah of lithium batteries (60 kg), though we gained by ditching the lead acid. Two 175W solar panels that I fitted, Victron charger. A further 50A Mastervolt AC charger. Victron 1600W inverter. Oh and the two large Safefills, so propane capacity is 20kg. I think that swallows about half of the payload, clothes awning etc travel in the car, an estate. The van can pretty well run indefinitely in the sunnier half of the year electrically speaking, and as mentioned on the other thread I hope it is good for at least a few weeks off grid without gas refills. The van is pictured below somewhere near Stavanger.
Here goes about our recent trip mentioned elsewhere...
Cutting a long story short last May with a years caravanning almost under the belt we set off for for Norway on a three week trip. We had gone through a learning curve over that year on UK soil, taking in the Isle of Wight and Jersey so were pretty comfortable by then with the van and ferries. The prior learning curve included learning all about tail swing out on turning on narrow stone walled Jersey roads, hence the gaffer tape on the near side rear pictured. I’ve got quite good with gaffer really, a cracked window has also departed (somewhere in Germany). I now also know the Danish for plywood too.
Route to Norway was Hook of Holland, N Germany including an off grid Autobahn first night, then staying at a site at Ribe , S Denmark. Horribly well organised and huge for our taste. We drove up Denmark for a night at Hirtshalls , lovely site there, before getting the ferry to Kristiansand Norway and had a couple of nights there. Lovely area actually, if not a headline UK traveller touring destination. We then headed North and ended up near Stavanger on the coast. Lovely site behind the dunes. Unexpectedly all pitches had full EHU, vans capabilities not tested really, other than never needing to use an AC charger. We decided not to spend the Norway time touring with the van beyond here as Norway is not quick to get around, spending our time touring to nearby Fjords by car and getting the boat up Bergen for 3 nights, staying centrally. By this point we felt like we were partly living on RoRos.
So we didn’t stretch our vans capabilities that much in Norway, but it made a great base. We did reconnoiter a lot, and have a handle on how it works there now. In particular the many municipal type motor van parking places that also used bycaravans. These are often in pretty remote little towns and villages we found. We have ideas for future touring there, stretching the vans capabilities more.
Return was pretty much the same route. We managed a nice Norwegian night inland by a lake on the way back to Stavanger. Though to make the best of that part of the trip we found that Amsterdam has a nice and central site just north of the river. That made a pleasant 2 day diversion and is not so many hours away from the UK.
Anyway if our modest Norway experience is of use to anyone fire away with any questions.
I attached a van pic in a rather nice Norwegian lay-by. Also with its rather overspecified re power Audi S6 towcar.
Steve
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