Well, the title says Holland Trip; and well it might have been except for a number of factors:
When we arrived back from France in July 2014, the question was where next? The answer to that was Holland.
Next question was when? Answer: Mid September until Mid October. That way we could be back in time for the NEC motorhome show, but still catch the Spanish festival at Leiden.
We had a few days in Dorset and during that time we sought out a few motorhome dealers. This set our minds thinking. Do we want to change?
Next factor was the Beds DA meet at Willington. This was best described as a disaster with two units plus us as stewards. The two other units needed to leave by midday. We now had the Sunday afternoon free.
We drove home that afternoon by way of Hitchin Caravans, and then we saw it; a shining new 2015 Bailey Approach Autograph 740. We looked around and fell in love. The layout was exactly right, the specs way above any others. We were smitten.
A chat to Matt Pearson, the director, revealed that not only was this the new model, but he had a brand new ex-factory model due which we could have if we were interested. A night’s thinking and our minds were made up; this was the motorhome for us. We dashed over to Hitchin to place our order. The question now was delivery. We decided on 1st October as that would give time for the van to arrive from the factory and for everything to be readied.
So, what was to happen to our trip? We could put it back to 2nd October and still be in Leiden for 3rd. That would give no time for shakedown before a Continental trip, not advisable. In the meantime Ginnette had bought a caravan and needed an acclimatisation weekend with that.
So, the decision was to stall the Holland trip until after the NEC Show.
In the meantime we had the first blast of autumn, I don’t do cold weather so when I checked the forecast for Holland for late October, I felt a considerable shiver.
A thought then struck, Mel and Kath and Cath and Fred had gone down to l’estartit for a few weeks and the weather looked good. We decided to head their way.
And that is why this Holland trip has no further reference to the land of the Dutch.
Friday 17th October and we are due on Euro tunnel today. The day started badly and soon declined. First issue was a possible problem with the heating on the motorhome; it seemed to be running even though it was switched off. We were reassured by Steve at Hitchin Caravans that it would be okay. Next, I mounted the bikes on the rack and locked them on when panic struck me. I couldn’the find the keys. A search of the house proved negative. It then struck us, were the keys left in the old Motorhome? I phoned Hitchin Caravans to check, they would phone me back. It turned out that they had found some keys, but could not confirm their purpose. I jumped into my car and drove over to them. Success! We now had the keys.
At last we were on the road, but first another panic; we had forgotten to switch off the heating and hot water at home. A quick call to Paul fixed that.
Arrived at Eurotunnel early, as usual and managed to get an earlier train. This would put us at Coquelles early so we could make an earlier start in the morning.
Saturday 18th October:
Up reasonably early and a quick dash into Carrefour for supplies and then Auchan for fuel. It is always nice to get Diesel at less than £1 per litre. In order to get to l’Estartit in three days we needed to cover about 250 miles per day; we also wanted to avoid tolls as much as possible, so today was going to be the slowest day. Northern France is quite devoid of toll free motorways and dual carriageways because it is so built up in comparison to the rest of the country. We made is as far as Marray by about 16:30 and the aire looked clean and good enough for one night, so that was home for today. The aire at Marray is behind a farm with individual pitches marked out on gravel. There is drainage for waste and chemical toilet, but no fresh water. That was ok, we didn’t need water. we ate and had an early night.
Sunday 19th October:
Stage two of our trek. We do not like long distances as it takes the pleasure out of the trip, but if we are going to get to l’Estartit, we needed to do it. The roads are clearer on a Sunday as there are hardly any trucks and a lot of today’s travelling would be on dual carriageway and the A75 toll free motorway that goes through central France from North to South. We decided to put in as many miles as possible today so that hopefully we could get to our destination by Monday rather than Tuesday. After discussion, we settled on an overnight stop at a Motorway services. I know it is frowned upon by those that believe that you are no longer safe once outside the UK, but we had deadlocks on the cab and alarms on all windows so any noxious gas would have to be introduced from underneath. As laughing gas is heavier than air we were safe.
We eventually stopped at an Aire de Services on the A75 motorway, lovely spot with picnic areas and a view of the Pont D’Eiffel. This is the French equivalent of our Ironbridge. Just as famous as it was built by Gustav Eiffel, who built the Eiffel Tower. By 19:00 we were on our own and Val felt uneasy, not until halfway through dinner mind, so we had to wash up and then pack up to move. Fortunately, the move was only a few miles down the road to the Aire de Services at La Lozelle on the A75. This is a lovely spot with an Arboretum and a Geological park on site. Each parking bay has a Limestone monolith beside it. This made the ideal stop for tonight. It wasn’t particularly quiet, but was safe and different.
Monday 20th October:
We awoke to fog, not mist, thick fog. This was to be the big push through to l’Estartit and at times it was impossible to see the vehicle ahead of you. Fortunately, we limit our speed to about 52mph, so the slower traffic due to the fog just brought their speed down to match ours. We had decided to use the motorways and toll routes for the final part of our journey, this made sense as the older main roads twisted and turned around Perpignan and then into Northern Spain and would have added considerable time to our journey.
The Millau Bridge in fog is a spectacular sight as it seems to rise up out of the clouds below it, spooky. Eventually, as we cleared the high ground and drove ever closer to the Meiditerranean around Beziers, the fog cleared and the travelling became much more relaxed. Over the Spanish border without stopping, we finally arrived on site at about 15:00.
The girl on reception recognised us as we had met at the Motorhome Show at the NEC the previous Thursday. She wasn’t expecting us until Tuesday, but was pleased to see us. Camping Les Medes at l’Estartit is a friendly, family run site on the outskirts of the town. The facilities are spotless and as they are open all year, there is a heated indoor pool.
Just after we arrived, Mel and Kath returned on their Monkey Bike and shortly after that Cath and Fred arrived. They had been on the site for four weeks and were due to go home on the Wednesday. They were slightly surprised that we had driven down, but not completely surprised. We now had almost half of the Beds DA Committee on site.
Pitches on Spanish sites are tight to say the least. We chose one that appeared to suit us, but it was too cramped and we could not fully extend the awning. This was fine for the first night, but we would want to change pitches in the morning. One benefit of being out of season is that there are spare pitches. For today, we were tired and planned an early night.
Tuesday 21st October:
Time to discover the town. Last night Fred in his own inimitable way had briefed us on the local restaurants and places of interest and given us clear directions to all of them. It must have taken all of 10 minutes. That is not to say that there was very little on the list, rather that Fred has a way of assuming that you know everywhere like the back of your hand even though you have never been there before. We took a walk into town, taking the seafront walk in and the back roads out. l’Estartit is an interesting little town if not all that photogenic and at this time of year it has lost it’s holiday season sparkle. However, it is worth the trip and good for a holiday. The prices in restaurants and bars are not the silly prices that you find in other resorts.
On Tuesday evening Kath and Mel and Cath and Fred invited us to join them for their farewell meal as they were leaving first thing in the morning. It seemed like a good idea to join them especially as we were the only ones with an awning still in use. We had roast chicken with all the trimmings and apple pie for desert. It was excellent, rounded off with Kath’s special coffees. I had said to Mel that I would take our awning down before bed as the forecast was for increasing winds overnight. I’m glad I checked the weather forecast as at 01:00 the winds accelerated madly. By morning we were being shaken out of our beds.
Wednesday 22nd October:
Now that was a wild night and according to the forecast, not expected to improve until at least the early hours of Thursday morning. And they were right. We were experiencing gusts of in excess of 80kph (50mph). The sea was very rough and the sand at the beach was making a good job of cleaning the corrosion from everything it touched. This was a day to batten down the hatches and keep safe. Mel and Kath and Cath and Fred had decided rightly that it was too dangerous for them to leave today and that they would try again tomorrow. Of course, that meant that last night’s last supper would have to be followed by last supper mark 2. This time it was Kath’s turn to cook Spag Bol, which we dutifully ate in Cath and Fred’s van. As can be expected, we ate too much, but thoroughly enjoyed it. We also managed to see off a variety of very good and extremely cheap wines.
Thursday 23rd October:
The wind has dropped right back, still some gusts, but certainly not dangerous any more. The travellers got away on time, not without some disaster. As I said earlier, the pitches are very small and there is a tendency to go for it when there is a large enough gap. Mel did this exact thing, but unfortunately he bumped down a kerb at the side of the pitch and snapped the waste water drain pipe at the point where it left the waste tank. Not a total disaster, but one that couldn’t be fixed on the spot.
Val and I decided to take a bike ride to Torroella, the next major town. The ride was a challenge as none of the back roads and tracks are signed and they do not appear on the maps. Of course, we could have taken the main road, but Fred’s directions made it so easy. Well, we made it safely and after a couple of hours strolling had to find our way back. Amazing, you can never find the same way back, but we made it.
Friday 24th and Saturday 25th October:
Two days that were pretty much the same. We have done plenty of walking and cycling around l’Estartit. On Saturday afternoon we took a stroll into town and as it was so hot Val decided that we deserved a glass of Sangria each. Oh! and nearly forgot the comedy act that was the Germans attempting to site a caravan. It had a mover that was fully engaged, but they still insisted on six people trying to move it at the same time.
Sunday 26th October:
This is our last day here at Camping Les Medes. A cycle ride for supplies in the morning and a walk into town this afternoon. The Germans are getting very annoying; it seems that they currently hold the World Record for the amount of noise that one man can make on a Sunday afternoon. An industrial compressor for the bike tyres and a hammer drill to wind the caravan legs again. The clocks went back an hour last night so it will be darker earlier. There is a chill in the air as I write this at 17:30 hours. Tomorrow we set off northwards and head homewards. That means that most packing will be tonight with just the bare minimum in the morning.