Why bother !

[Rioja]

For years I have been motivated by the dream of early retirement and using the van to tour Europe. Now I have got there I can't be bothered. Help !

Last year , my first of idleness, we managed two weekend trips, a week and a months tour of Scotland ( to see if we could stand a month in one go) We really enjoyed ourselves, and this year I am determined to get better value out of the van.

We have booked a week in South Wales, a week in the lakes and it was our intention to go to France for a month in September. Trouble is I can't see the point anymore.Unlike being in Britain you can't just come home when you feel like you have had enough without the complication of ferry travel.We want to avoid the peak months of July and August and because of commitments to family can't go before. Trouble is September, things start to close down in Europe.We don't seem to be able to get a ferry from Hull, so it's a drive to Dover. Too expensive to go from the Portsmouth area.You then have a long drive to the south where sites are still open.

If you go abroad you need extra insurance, ferry fares, extra fuel and unknown campsite fees.

We have booked another tour of Scotland (I do love the place) but I can't help wondering what about my dream. What am I missing,Your simple lists of main reasons to leave these shores in the van would be appreciated.

Incidentally, we had three foreign holidays last year, so far we have had one this year and intend going somewhere next winter when the weather starts to depress us.

Persuade me and re kindle the dream !

 

[ValA.]

Here are some of my suggestions:

1. The weather is lovely in September in France.

2. All the best campsites are still open and you don't have to travel right to the south - but a month is plenty of time to get to the mediterranean if you want to.

3. Campsite fees can be a modest

 

[ValA.]

Just to help to persuade you I did a very quick quote on the Camping Cheque website (quoting 2nd September outward ferry, return 1st October, car of less than 6 metres, and van between 6 and 7 metres as an example) - and for a total of

 

[Rioja]

Thanks for the suggestions Valerie, you are rekindling my interest !

Somebody told me it wasn't that easy to find sites that took camping cheques.

 

[JohnW1]

We have used Camping Cheques for several years now and find them excellent value for money. I have only found one site in their handbook I wasn't prepared to stay at, the others have all been of a high standard.

Why go aborad?

1) Fully serviced pitches are the norm not the exception in most of their sites.

2) People are friendly , and if you try a few basic phrases in French/Spanish/Italian you will be amazed at the results.

3) Especially if you travel further South the climate is much better.

4) I agree with all Valeries comments plus if you choose the right crossing you can get Channel Tunnel for next to nothing.

Campintg Cheques have their own web site that is well worth a look http://www.campingcheque.co.uk/en/ and gives you details of all their sites.

Go for it...You'll have a great times

 

[hymerman1]

May I suggest "The Rhine in Flames" these are village wine festivals with firework displays, quite a sight. plus the scenery along the Rhine and maybe the Moselle. This would be the back end of August and the beginning of September,

Try googling

 

[DavidKlyne]

Rioja

I worries me that you are so easily put off!!! Surely the answer is to give it a try and then make up your mind. I would not mind betting that you will become as hooked as the rest of us. If you have got lots of time take easy a spend a couple of days to get to Dover where you can get the best fares. As Valerie has said investigate Camping Cheques where you will get far better value than any UK campsite. To whet your appitite why not have a look at my website my website

David

 

[DavidKlyne]

Rioja

I worries me that you are so easily put off!!! Surely the answer is to give it a try and then make up your mind. I would not mind betting that you will become as hooked as the rest of us. If you have got lots of time take easy a spend a couple of days to get to Dover where you can get the best fares. As Valerie has said investigate Camping Cheques where you will get far better value than any UK campsite. To whet your appitite why not have a look at my website my website

David

Never quite worked out this linking business on this forum, try www.caravantravels.co.uk

 

[RayS]

Agree with the other pro Europeans - go for it !

Many of the municipal and a la ferme sites in France do not accept Camping Cheques but make up for it by being very reasonable. EG the municipal in Aubigny worked out at just over

 

[EvansofSprot]

Its just better abroad!

 

[nigel_5120916]

The way you are talking i would sell up and go on holiday with the derby and joan club. The trouble with people your age is you have too much time on your hands, stop moaning and injoy life.

 

[emmerson2]

Nigel, that's a very sweeping statement!I also am retired, but I can assure you that I don't have too much time on my hands. In fact, if rioja has any to spare, I could use it. There's far too much living to cram in before the Grim Reaper strikes, and I think you'll find that almost all pensioners feel the same way. Do I detect a touch of envy in your post?

 

[JohnW1]

"The trouble with people your age is you have too much time on your hands, stop moaning and injoy life"

I must agree with Emmerson. I just don't know how I found time to work.We are full timing in Spain at the moment , having taken a couple of months to travel through France enjoying various Wine Festivals etc en route.

The Spanish treat Easter as much more of a festival than the English. If one is open minded enough to try and communicate it's a lot of fun, and more like a Rave than a Derby & Joan Club.

One day you might be able to join us Nigel. I hope by then you'll be a little less blinkered and more tolerant.

 

[Rioja]

Hi Nigel, You must be desperate for free time if you are sat on this forum at 3.00am. I would have responded earlier but I have been too busy to check out the forum !

Did I actually say I was bored, fed up, ready for my cardigan and slippers ? No, I just said that I couldn't see the point in driving all the way to the South of France with the caravan in tow, despite the fact that it was a dream that carried me through the latter years of my working life.

The truth is I have an incredibly full life and don't want to waste it towing the van unless the end destination is worth the effort. I can be in Scotland and on holiday within 24 hours whereas I would still be waiting for the ferry at Dover if I went south. My reasoning is that the money saved by going to Scotland would give me an additional 2 weeks to take a package deal somewhere sunny when the weather starts to get bad in Britain.I welcome the comments that give me some good reasons why it's worth the effort.

Sorry if you are jealous of my position, particularly if you make a fortnight's rat run down to the South of France once a year. I would certainly think that was not worth the effort.

Good luck anyway and I hope you too can retire at 54.

 

[cris_408518]

Having put off going to the South of France with the caravan for quite a few years we kicked our self when we first made the effort.

Driving is so easy in France it is no rat run!

Fuel is cheaper and even not using toll roads traffic and road conditions make it easy travelling.

Apart from the weather in France you should find better campsites at lower costs and in General most things are cheaper from eating out to buying in the hyper market. And I still maintain that I've spent less in twenty years of parking in France than I did in 1 week in Cornwall.

I would never expect to tow a caravan from home to Scotland in a day. But Calais to the south of France can be done with few problems and shared driving!

Apart from weather and lower costs and great sites we first started going to France with the Caravan as life there is more civilised. Sites are quieter and there is less drunken behaviour and thugery in resorts unlike in the UK.

We've spent three plus weeks in France and often only seen 4 or 5 police unlike Cornwall where we've seen more outside a pub in one evening with more at other pubs and clubs and mobile patrols and behaviour that you quickly exit away from if you have children!

France for us with children and now as a couple is far easier touring than UK touring and takes far less effort. I also know I can tour in France without booking months in advance.

 

[DavidKlyne]

Having put off going to the South of France with the caravan for quite a few years we kicked our self when we first made the effort.

Driving is so easy in France it is no rat run!

Fuel is cheaper and even not using toll roads traffic and road conditions make it easy travelling.

Apart from the weather in France you should find better campsites at lower costs and in General most things are cheaper from eating out to buying in the hyper market. And I still maintain that I've spent less in twenty years of parking in France than I did in 1 week in Cornwall.

I would never expect to tow a caravan from home to Scotland in a day. But Calais to the south of France can be done with few problems and shared driving!

Apart from weather and lower costs and great sites we first started going to France with the Caravan as life there is more civilised. Sites are quieter and there is less drunken behaviour and thugery in resorts unlike in the UK.

We've spent three plus weeks in France and often only seen 4 or 5 police unlike Cornwall where we've seen more outside a pub in one evening with more at other pubs and clubs and mobile patrols and behaviour that you quickly exit away from if you have children!

France for us with children and now as a couple is far easier touring than UK touring and takes far less effort. I also know I can tour in France without booking months in advance.

Rioja

I think you should give up on the idea as you clearly lack any enthusiam for the idea. Clearly going to Europe does require longer tows and if you feel that Scotland is about as far as you want to travel I suspect you would not like the idea of spending two or three days travelling despite the delights that await you. I am not fully retired but we usually take a 3/4 week holiday to Europe each year, usually May/June and the we usually go back for again in September for a couple of weeks. In your position where time is your own why not try it even just to confirm your own views.

David

 

[DavidKlyne]

(sorry orinially posted as a comment to another post in error)

Rioja

I think you should give up on the idea as you clearly lack any enthusiam for the idea. Clearly going to Europe does require longer tows and if you feel that Scotland is about as far as you want to travel I suspect you would not like the idea of spending two or three days travelling despite the delights that await you. I am not fully retired but we usually take a 3/4 week holiday to Europe each year, usually May/June and the we usually go back for again in September for a couple of weeks. In your position where time is your own why not try it even just to confirm your own views.

David

 

[Clubman1]

I have watched these postings with interest. Everything is relative, From Hull Rioja can possibly travel to Scotland in one day, but which part of Scotland? For me, living in the extreme south of England, Hampshire, a trip with the caravan to Fort William, Bunree CC site, is a good 2 days on heaving motorways. Where as I can be in the Vendee, Auvergne or other areas of France in the same period of time including the ferry crossing. The driving is much more relaxed on the autoroute system, drivers more forgiving and petrol prices more competetive. It also follows surely that the inward journey will be the same as the outward journey, and if you wish to return home early I have never had any problems with re-arranging my return ferry

travel. So at the end of the day it comes down to personal choice and, even though we enjoyed our 4 week stay in and around the Highlands last year, we enjoyed our trip to Brittany last September much more, and had no trouble at all in finding good sites that were open until mid to late October. Give it a try Rioja, you may find you enjoy it and make that early retirement even more worthwhile!

 

[Chrissylizzie]

Hi Rioja

My husband recently retired and we too had a similar dream. We leave on April 29th to travel to France and Italy and I will let you know if it was worth it when we get back.

Chris

 

[Rioja]

Hi Rioja

My husband recently retired and we too had a similar dream. We leave on April 29th to travel to France and Italy and I will let you know if it was worth it when we get back.

Chris

I look forwar to hearing about it .Have a great time.

 

[Chrissylizzie]

I look forwar to hearing about it .Have a great time.

Thank you very much.

Chris

 

[Rioja]

Thanks to your replies, the dream is rekindled.

Have confirmed ferry booking today,going for the whole of September. For now , time to dig out the atlas and start planning.

 

[ValA.]

Fantastic news, Rioja, see you there? We're off during last week in August/first in September, and can definitely rekindle your interest in touring France - we've been doing it for 26 years, and not run out of site/interests in the whole of that time. Let us know where you fancy, and we'll meet you there, and show you why you should have done it last year or the year before!!1

 

[Le Chant]

Now there's an offer you can't refuse!

 

[Chrissylizzie]

Thanks to your replies, the dream is rekindled.

Have confirmed ferry booking today,going for the whole of September. For now , time to dig out the atlas and start planning.

Ho Rioja

Have a great time and we look forward to hearing about your trip too.

Chris