Touring France in a motorhome October 23rd Day Fifty Seven

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October 23rd Day fifty-seven

And just like that our grand tour of France comes to an end. We depart Concarneau at 0930 and head north once more towards Roscoff and the ferry home.

Of course we stop at the ‘Big Red bus’. 90 euros! She spent 90 euros on wine and declared the place to be her most favourite shop ever! Seriously 90 euros on wine! I’m a tea totaller. I’m in shock! So are the rear tyres and axle! A shopping trolley full of wine bottles. Words fail me!

Down at the seaside Aire at St. Pol de Leon, we get a great sea view for 8 euros with water but no electric. The tide is out exposing extensive mudflats. We walk up the hill to the town and stroll the streets and admire the little cathedral.

An hour later, the tide has raced in. Boats have re-floated and gleaming white hulls reflect the setting sun and cast sparkles across the flat waters. Stunning as tide comes in across sand and rocks in sunlight but under grey clouds sun glinting off white boat hulls in distance. We give Bryony a final spring clean tidy and start packing things away into IKEA bags ready to offload her at home tomorrow afternoon.

Its been a great first foray into Europe. We have really enjoyed it and learned heaps about ourselves and our wonderful motorhome. Silly things like, for example

·        We can go off grid for two days before a full toilet cassette forces us to find a campsite or a motorway services point

·        Facilities at Aires vary enormously!

·        Never fill a freshwater tank from a tap situated above a black waste disposal bin. The number of times we saw motorhomers do that – I mean seriously?

·        Use your own hose when filling your freshwater tank. The number of times we saw people drop a supplied hose onto the floor, onto the floor around the waste water trap…..ugh!

·        If in doubt spray a service point with dettox before using it!

·        Don’t choose pitches with lots of hedges in mosquito infected places and ……. make sure you carry citronella candles at all times! Mosquito coils that you burn outside help as well!

·        It goes without saying – avoid pitches under trees in storm force winds!

·        Travel with some plans about what you want to see. Random wandering is all well and good but planning makes sure you don’t miss things

·        That myth about pouring coke into your waste tank to clean it? It isn’t a myth – it actually works. Don’t look too closely at what comes out afterwards though!

·        Take plenty of books to read

·        Book well ahead for those popular sites and destinations. Even in September and October, some places were full.

·        ACSI cards don’t work if you book sites on line. Pay a deposit on line and then haggle for use of the card when you arrive and have to pay the rest!

·        For those of you who own an Autosleeper Broadway – the gas tank indicator? Useless isn’t it! Here is our take on what the lights mean…..based on our experiences on this trip

o   Red light = 4 litres of gas left

o   One green light = 2 litres left plus the reserve 4 litres  = 6 litres

o   Two green lights = 4 litres and four reserve = 8 litres

o   Four green lights – 8 litres + the four reserve litres = 12 litres

o   Six green lights = 12 litres = 4 reserve = 16 litres left

o   Although the handbook says 20 litres when full, there is a safety mechanism that only allows 18 litres to fill it – leaving expansion room

o   Hope this helps take out some of the guess work – but remember it is based on our findings with our gas tank!! Good luck on this one!

·        If somewhere feels dodgy and you have a bad gut feeling about it – move on. If just one of you has the feeling – trust it and move on!

·        Don’t forget to try and clean the interior at least once a week – there is no excuse for slobby living! And no Maggie, me dusting is not a sign of me wasting my life minutes!

·        Carry a variety of water tap connectors of different thread diameters

·        Some sites have reverse polarity electric set ups – carry a tester plug and a reverse polarity adapter for your EHU cable

·        You use far more Sim mobile data than you might expect!

·        Work out exactly what watts and amps each appliance you have uses so that when off grid you don’t run down the batteries and when on a 6 amp EHU, you don’t overload the pillar and blow the trip switches for everyone else using the same pillar – go on – ask me how I know this – tell you what don’t – it was a painful, embarrassing lesson!

·        Don’t trust Google maps – ever – for anything navigational! Especially not for timings between places, accurate route planning or for actually getting you to the right destination!

·        Google maps street view is however great for seeing whether a car park has a height barrier!

·        Have a back up plan in case of medical emergency …… like both catching Covid badly!