We've just got back from our big trip round Europe - 4,600 miles in 7-1/2 weeks. Our van is a 1992 T4 Westfalia 2.4D, with 135,000 on the clock. It returned 31mpg for the trip, door to door, having run very well (almost - read on).
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We managed to have three breakdowns
- all brilliantly handled by Adrian Flux Recovery: can't praise them highly enough T:. First was a broken accelerator cable (Germany), second was a broken gear linkage (Italy), the third was a 'failed to start' (France), thanks to an airlock in the fuel pipe. A hint here - if you have to be 'recovered', get the garage to use Google Translator if you don't speak the language: it makes life easy! All three were sorted out quickly and efficiently on the phone by Anthony at Adrian Flux Recovery back in UK, who organised great service for us at the VW garages A:.
We used DFDS (Dover - Dunkirk) ferry because it was cheapest by far, leaving UK at end of April and arriving back at the end of June. Stops were on campsites in: UK - Drum Inn, Dover: Belgium - Spa-Francorchamps: Germany - Bacharach am Rhein, Creglingen, Bad Tolz (Aire/Stellplatz - cheap at 6 euros/night), Berchtesgaden: S. Tirol - Lienz: through the Dolomites to Italy - Lake Caldonazzo, Lake Garda & Bagni di Lucca, then round the Med coast on the autostrada, well worth the toll charges - a magical ride: into France - Fréjus, Florac, St. Galmier, Cromary (near Besançon): Germany - Kandern and Titisee (B. Forest), then Rhine Gorge again, finishing in Belgium - Oteppe, then Bruges, before returning on Dunkirk/Dover ferry. Amazingly, while Britain was slowly sinking under a few feet of water all the time we were away, we only got 4 wet days in the whole trip - now thinking of emigrating, as it still hasn't stopped raining!
Most moves from place to place were fairly short runs of a maximum 3-1/2 to 4 hours only (some were a lot shorter) - we had plenty of time. The only problem with visiting some of these places in May was that we were between winter and summer seasons, so not all attractions were open: worth checking beforehand on t'interweb if you're thinking of going at that time of year.
Best sites were Allweglehen at Berchtesgaden (views to die for), Tristachersee at Lienz (best of the lot!), Piantella at L. Garda (good bar/restaurant), L'Esplanade at Cromary (nice and quiet with BIG pitches), Bankenhof at Titisee and Memling in Bruges (handy for city centre) - all of these were very different to each other! The only really poor one was Feiola (L. Caldonazzo, north of L. Garda) - nicely situated on lakeside but with pre-historic 'facilities'. A coat of paint would have worked wonders, as well!
For those travelling from 'Up t'North' like us, the campsite at the Drum Inn, Dover is very convenient for the ferry - about 20 minutes away. Grab a night's rest and cross next morning, bright-eyed (if you don't stay too long in the pub), with a full day ahead of you. The pub's OK, but the campsite hasn't got the best 'facilities' we've seen.
Leave a post if you need any more info on campsites or destinations: we'll happily advise if we can.
We managed to have three breakdowns
- all brilliantly handled by Adrian Flux Recovery: can't praise them highly enough T:. First was a broken accelerator cable (Germany), second was a broken gear linkage (Italy), the third was a 'failed to start' (France), thanks to an airlock in the fuel pipe. A hint here - if you have to be 'recovered', get the garage to use Google Translator if you don't speak the language: it makes life easy! All three were sorted out quickly and efficiently on the phone by Anthony at Adrian Flux Recovery back in UK, who organised great service for us at the VW garages A:.We used DFDS (Dover - Dunkirk) ferry because it was cheapest by far, leaving UK at end of April and arriving back at the end of June. Stops were on campsites in: UK - Drum Inn, Dover: Belgium - Spa-Francorchamps: Germany - Bacharach am Rhein, Creglingen, Bad Tolz (Aire/Stellplatz - cheap at 6 euros/night), Berchtesgaden: S. Tirol - Lienz: through the Dolomites to Italy - Lake Caldonazzo, Lake Garda & Bagni di Lucca, then round the Med coast on the autostrada, well worth the toll charges - a magical ride: into France - Fréjus, Florac, St. Galmier, Cromary (near Besançon): Germany - Kandern and Titisee (B. Forest), then Rhine Gorge again, finishing in Belgium - Oteppe, then Bruges, before returning on Dunkirk/Dover ferry. Amazingly, while Britain was slowly sinking under a few feet of water all the time we were away, we only got 4 wet days in the whole trip
- now thinking of emigrating, as it still hasn't stopped raining!Most moves from place to place were fairly short runs of a maximum 3-1/2 to 4 hours only (some were a lot shorter) - we had plenty of time. The only problem with visiting some of these places in May was that we were between winter and summer seasons, so not all attractions were open: worth checking beforehand on t'interweb if you're thinking of going at that time of year.
Best sites were Allweglehen at Berchtesgaden (views to die for), Tristachersee at Lienz (best of the lot!), Piantella at L. Garda (good bar/restaurant), L'Esplanade at Cromary (nice and quiet with BIG pitches), Bankenhof at Titisee and Memling in Bruges (handy for city centre) - all of these were very different to each other! The only really poor one was Feiola (L. Caldonazzo, north of L. Garda) - nicely situated on lakeside but with pre-historic 'facilities'. A coat of paint would have worked wonders, as well!
For those travelling from 'Up t'North' like us, the campsite at the Drum Inn, Dover is very convenient for the ferry - about 20 minutes away. Grab a night's rest and cross next morning, bright-eyed (if you don't stay too long in the pub), with a full day ahead of you. The pub's OK, but the campsite hasn't got the best 'facilities' we've seen.
Leave a post if you need any more info on campsites or destinations: we'll happily advise if we can.
