I made a reservation to go via P&0 FERRIES from Portsmouth to Le havre, in France. As my first overseas trip I thought I would play safe and booked the overnight crossing. This meant that we could leave the West Midlands at tea-time to arrive in Portsmouth at about 10pm ready for the sailing at 11pm, Spend the night in a cabin on-board, have a good kip and be fresh for an early start in France. I used the on-line booking service at their web site and  was totally impressed, After entering all my details and required times i then made payment by my credit card. The web site gave me a booking reference number that i printed out and i also had a separate email sent to me to confirm the booking. On arrival at Portsmouth we pulled up to the check in and gave the booking reference number, the tickets and the key to my cabin were already done... Easy !!

Just before 7am the next day we arrived at Lehavre and as the doors of the ferry swung open i suddenly realised that i was the first vehicle to come off the ferry, so every one would be following me !! To make it harder the Foot & Mouth outbreak had just started so we had to go through extra formality for that. Finally we were off, out of the port, turn right and head out of Le Havre. The plan was to drive as much as we could to get through France with a target of reaching a municipal campsite that  i had found during a previous web search. The site was just south of  CAHORS. The plan started to fail a little because the weather was so bad with torrential rain that lasted all day and made our progress slower than expected. At just before 9pm that evening we arrived at the campsite to find it Closed !! By this time all we wanted was a cup of tea, a sandwich and bed... We parked on a car park just outside the gates of the site at that was it until morning. Our first night "wilding" as i later discovered.. 

So day 2 and a fresh start with a nice warm sunny day. Up and breakfasted we were back on the road before 9am and heading south again, within an hour we were passing Toulouse and with the next 2 hours we had reached our Goal.. SPAIN!!. Crossed  the border, where the nice Spanish official sprayed all the wheels to kill any foot and mouth, and we headed to our first resort at L'ESCALA, Costa Brava . I had done some web surfing before i left and found a web site at www.vayacamping.net  from where i had printed a list of campsites in the Costa Brava area. The plan was to locate a site here and spend the first night at least, but the area was a bit disappointing on first sight and very quiet, so we collected a few provisions at the local mini supermarket and headed a little further down the coast to L'ESTARTIT. We had been there a few times before on coach holiday "£29 special's" never knew where you were going until 2 weeks before, they turned out to good value and we knew L'ESTARTIT to be a reasonable size town / resort.
On arrival it was pretty quiet in the town, we located a campsite that we remembered for our coach holidays and were just outside the gates thinking how dismal it looked, when we were very fortunate that  some other Brit's walking past  saw us looking lost and came over. They informed us not to use that one and gave directions to another site just a little further on. It was a good bit of advise, camping xxx was a  nice site, the pitches were a little on the small size and a bit of a tight squeeze to get on and off but a nice spot for our first experience of a Spanish site. Our new neighbors were a British couple from nr Portsmouth and seasoned motorhomer's, we picked their brains for bits of advise over the next 2 days that we spent there

We had a 2 night stay in L'ESTARTIT and then headed south once again. It was debated by John, my co-driver and myself to take the coast road and see some of the sites on the way, our aim was to get near MALGRAT de MAR  for our next stop. The coast road was a treat in parts, with great scenic views, but in places became very poorly signposted and at ST FELIU DE GUIXOIS i ended up  in the centre of a small village with the road just wide enough for 1 vehicle and the quaint Spanish balconies that you admire when walking round were now my worst enemy as i drove down the street with my eyes looking up in the air more than at the road. Finally we cleared the street, just as an ambulance came behind me with lights and sirens going !!! The temperature must have suddenly gone up 10 degrees during those few minutes because i came out in a real sweat.... I had to pull over and give John a chance to drive. He then drove the scenic coast road through TOSSA DE MAR and into LLORET DE MAR. We enjoyed the views while he spend the next half hour turning the wheels and constantly changing gears up and down the winding road. LLORET was BUSY!!, we attempted to turn into the town and remembering our experience of ST FELIU earlier we soon headed out again as the main road in became smaller.. It was now mid afternoon so a campsite was needed soon, we followed on through BLANES and into MALGRAT DE MAR. As we drove down the main street in MALGRAT looking for a potential parking space, so that we could have a walk around, we came across roadwork's. They completely sealed off the road, making us follow a diversion to get back on the same road. At the end of the diversion we spotted a campsite across the road and across the railway... For anyone who has not been just imaging BLACKPOOL with all the shops facing the sea, put a busy road in front of the shops and then put a RAILWAY LINE!!  between you and the sea ?? 
We doubled back and found camping bon repos. This was a popular and large site that went straight onto the beach.
So here we stayed for 3 nights, although we had entered via MALGRAT we were in fact in SANTA SUZANNA as the two resorts blended into one. Being March it was very quiet and we had planned a night out as it was my wife's sisters birthday, It was a bit of a flop. It rained, there was no one around, the Dutch bar we found was nice but not much fun when there were only the 4 of us and no others in the place. Dinner was from the only place we could find open, a small cafe that managed to offer us Pizza... Still we made the most of it...

After 3 nights we started to backtrack and traveled just a short way back up the road to BLANES. A busy town in summer with a nice long promenade to walk along the sea front. There were a lot of sites that we found within easy walking distance of the beach and town but all were closed, except one. We gave it a try as we wanted to check out BLANES for future trips, they did not cater very well for vehicles moving in and out on a regular basis, most of the caravans there look like they belonged to Spaniards who came there in the summer and at weekends. Many caravans had extended awnings fitted and look like they had not moved in years. We were parked in a small row of 3 spaces behind a club room which was adequate but not very pretty for a long stay.  We used the opportunity next day to catch a bus into LLORET and had a great day out, it happened to be the equivalent of the RAC rally taking place and the cars were due to end at LLORET. So we had the extra benefit of the many displays by the car companies to look around and everyone was in a good party mood. After 2 night we left BLANES and our next stop was back into FRANCE and the ride home.

We departed BLANES and this time we missed out the coast road and just stuck to the motorway up to the Spanish / French border. Taking about an hour to drive, we came off at the border town of LA JONQUERA and did a little shopping (fags & booze) before entering back into France. The plan now was to stay somewhere on the French south coast near where we had joined the main France / Spain motorway, this would leave one complete day to travel back up through France and another 1/2 day to get to LE HAVRE for our afternoon crossing home. I had heard of somewhere called SETE, which is near MONTPELLIER so that is where we aimed for. On route we arrived at LE CAP D'AGDE and as mid afternoon was approaching we thought a campsite in that area would be a wise move and leave SETE for another time. There was a tourist office in the middle of a very large roundabout that we called into, they explained that it was really out of season and gave us directions to a site they thought was open. Within 10 minutes we had reached the site, up a small hill but set in a lovely surrounding of a pine forest.  BAD NEWS !! They no longer took Caravans or Motorhomes, they had changed all the facility to log cabins, with new directions of another site that they knew was possibly the only one open, we set off again.
It was now about 4.30pm and as we pulled up at the site we knew it would not be liked... We had little choice and spent the night in a very low grade site that looked more like a travelers camp. We were parked near the gate and were later joined by a couple from Sweden who were now taking 2 months to get back home after being away for most of the year. After a brief chat it was time for food, cards and an early bed.

Our last but one day had arrived and within 10 minutes of setting off i thought something was wrong, i could hear a funny noise outside the van.... ??    I pulled over and after a few minutes of kicking tyres and looking under the van i lifted my head upwards... There was my bedding hanging out of the small window of the cabover bunk !!  I had left the window open and the rush of air as we were traveling was dragging out my sleeping bag.. Window closed and bedding restored we were off again being grateful that there was no damage to the window itself. We had chosen another route back north, from just south of MONTPELLIER we headed north up the E11, parts of this route are still being "joined up" but i was a very scenic change with many hills to go over. We passed through a town called MILAU which looked well worth a future visit, situated right on the valley floor, but that would have to wait because we were already delayed with detours and roadwork's caused by the final parts of the motorway being built. North past CLERMONT-FERRAND and BOURGES, to join back on the A71-E9, still going north until we were north of ORLEANS and pulled in to a large service area for the night. This was only our second night without using a site, I had read stories of theft and damage to vehicles parked on motorway areas but thought little could and did happen on such a busy area. I slept like a log !! being an ex HGV driver and spending many night away had conditioned me to all the noise of trucks passing, the other however told me about all the noise next day as they go next to no sleep....

LAST DAY.  Off we go for the last few hours across country to LE HAVRE, arrived in time to get re-fueled with the much cheaper diesel and onto the docks to await of departure on the afternoon ferry.  A pleasant sailing back to Portsmouth and we were getting into our beds for midnight !!

A successful first overseas trip, no hassle, no problems and the van (ELDDIS AUTOSTRATUS EK) run like a dream..
Now a drink of cheap imported beer to the next trip...

THE END

So a cheap package holiday for just over £120 was found for a week in Salou, Costa Dorada, Spain. My idea was to let them have their week in Salou and me and John (my brother in law) could drive to Spain and meet them at the resort on the day before the holiday ended. My daughter and mom could fly back together and My wife (Irene) and her Sister (Sandra) could join us in the Motorhome and we could spend another 2 weeks down in Spain... All agreed by everyone and we waved the women off at Birmingham airport on a Tuesday afternoon. A few days for us to get ready and pack the van for our departure on the Friday afternoon. This time we were taking our new toy, a TV and SKY DIGITAL satellite system.
We never took a TV on the first trip, instead i had my laptop computer which had a DVD drive fitted, this way we were able to watch a few films during the trip. The 12" screen on the computer was more than adequate for viewing but the sound was not as loud as we had wanted but it did the job.

Friday morning,Van loaded and we are off to Portsmouth for the same ferry crossing we had used before to LE HAVRE, except this time we had booked an afternoon crossing.  I had booked again via the P&O web site and we rolled up at the departure desk and collected our tickets, straight on the ferry.. Next stop France. We arrived in LEHAVRE at about 10pm. filled up with Diesel at the service station next to the Ferry port and headed out towards ROUEN. The plan now was to clear the town of LEHAVRE and spend the night on a motorway service area. Midnight and we were parked at a service area on the A13 just south of ROUEN having a cup of tea and taking in the very mild weather, a big difference from the first trip....

Saturday and day 2, We had made a mistake on the first trip by taking a very slow route across country via LEMANS to get to the A10 going south. On the return last time we found a better route cutting across from ORLEANS, so this was the way we would head now. From ROUEN we followed the N154 that took us though EVREUX, DREUX and CHARTRES to join the A10 - E5 motorway north of ORLEANS. Past ORLEANS we took the A71-E9 to VIERZON and then the A20-E9 to CHÂTEAU ROUX, LIMOGES, BRIVE and CAHORS. On the last leg between BRIVE and CAHORS the motorway was still under construction, the main road is a nice drive but takes a long time when you are just trying to get south to Spain. After CAHORS we re-joined the motorway and stopped for an overnight on the first service area. It was now around 8pm and a warm pleasant night, we had picked up some fresh provisions from a supermarket on the way down and after having a good feed, washed down  with a "shandy" it was "TV TIME"..   We set up a table outside the van, put the satellite dish on a stand we had made before we left and connected the TV and Sky digital receiver. The TV as 12volt powered and he had an "inverter" on which the Sky receiver worked. Within a few minutes we had a signal using our alignment meter and there we were, watching BBC ONE as we sat outside our motorhome just north of TOULOUSE.

After a good nights sleep we were awakened by the dawn chorus... a coach full of French school kids at about 7.30am, who all wanted to hang around by the picnic benches next to our van and were as noisy as could be. It was a good excuse  to get up and have that first morning cup of tea, carry out the morning  oblutions and we were on our way heading for TOULOUSE.
It was now motorway all the way to Spain and our plan was to get near to Barcelona, find a site and have one more night of "freedom" before meeting the womenfolk in Salou on the Costa Dorada. We had a mid morning stop for an hour and eat breakfast outside in the warm sunshine at a motorway service area just before the Spanish border, then started again on the trek south and our target of Barcelona. Sunday afternoon saw us hitting the motorway around Barcelona, coming in from the east side and "trying" to aim to go out on the west side on to the A16 that runs along the coast. Well we got it wrong !!! After a wrong turn we found ourselves on what could be called "an inner ring road" which had underpass after underpass and when we got through all that we were back were we started and heading out of Barcelona towards France !!! A change of direction and when we got the chance we just followed the first sign to Tarragona, it took us further inland than we had wanted but it would get us to where we wanted to go. The Sunday night was spent at "park de Bara" on the N340 just east of Tarragona and less than 1 hours drive to Salou. Playa Bara we had stayed at before when on a coach holiday and i could remember always be envious of the people in their motorhomes as we walked past each day to our barracks... i mean "holiday mobile homes".. BUT here we were "living the dream" as one motorhome dealer states.. No chance of using the SKY TV here, we are surrounded by trees and decide it' not worth the effort.

Monday and we arrive in Salou by 11.00am, It was already planned that we would stay at "camping la siesta", again another site where we had been by coach and so knew of it's location. We booked in for 4 nights and made a phone call to our Women, "the boys are in town"... Great things these mobiles.. Within the hour we had everything set up, including the satellite dish, the awning was opened out and we were taking in the Tea and Sunshine when the 4 "hungover" women arrived. We then found out all the gossip, their hotel was only 5 minutes away, they had had a great time and last night was "see how much we can drink as this is our last night before the men arrive".... So they all had thick heads. That night we met up for a meal and drinks and next day we waved off my Daughter and Mother as they left for the flight back home. There were now the 4 of us to spend another 10 days on the trip before we had to catch the ferry home ourselves.

Salou was well enjoyed, the site was very convenient for the beach and town, but after 4 nights we were on our way again. Heading north we managed to get past Barcelona without any problems and made our way back to SANTA SUZANNA and camping bo repos where we stayed on our first trip. This time we knew the score and selected a better pitch, plus we made sure we could align our satellite dish, it was great to sit outside and listen in to BBC Radio 2 and catch up on Eastenders whenever we wanted. The site was now busier than in March and the trees had grown new foliage to make it all look much better. MALGRAT and the local area was a lot busier now as the season had started so this time we had shop and bars to keep us occupied. After a 3 night stay we were moving again, this time for a place called ROSES. It's one of the first resorts as you enter Spain from France and we had heard nice thing about it, so ROSES here we come.

Arriving mid afternoon we pulled up just before the main town started to consider where to stay, we were right next to a Roman fort that we would visit later on our stay. We had passed a few potential campsites as we drove in, so headed back and pulled into "camping salata ".  A reasonably new development,  most of the tree's were small and the site looked very open, but ample room with wide access roads and large pitches. This was our base for 2 nights as we explored ROSES. A busy town with a nice beech popular with windsurfers, however the lovely wind for the windsurfers was a bit of a pain for us, every day at 2pm the wind appears (so a regular told me, and was right) and on our second day a massive guest lifted our awning and pulled apart one of the support legs !!  It was only a minor break that we soon repaired with a small screw to replace the broken rivet... I have now bought an awning tie down kit....!!

A restful few days exploring ROSES and we are now heading back to meet the ferry, we had a plan of stopping off at the border town of LA JONQUERA, which we did for some cheap cigs etc and then to make our way up through France and stop in a campsite somewhere on route. But as we left the Spanish border i had a great idea of going to ANDORRA, so we made a turn left and started tracking across the country side. our new target was to reach ANDORRA by it's southern border with Spain and find a site near the border. It was an spectacular, but tiring, drive across country with wonderful scenery and on my list of area's to visit again. Late afternoon saw us arrive at LA SEU D'URGELL where we located the tourist office and were pointed towards the ANDORRA border, where we could find a campsite. Just 1km from the border was a site "camping Frontera" and the owners wife happened to be English, so no need for my Spanish here. We booked in and selected a pitch, as it was out of season the site was almost empty and the campsite bar and resturant was closed, so we set up the satellite dish and settled down for the night in the shadow of the Pyrenees... Next morning off to ANDORRA, we left camping Frontera and passed through the border with no formalities, made our first stop at a garage and filled up with the duty free Diesel or "gas oil" as it in known. I knew very little of Andorra expect that it was a seperate country to Spain  and that goods there are "duty free", so you can guess our next stop was to one of the many shops that are at the side of the main road that passes from Spain in the south to France in the North..  For drinkers and smokers it must be a paradise with spirits and cigarettes cheaper than in Spain, however there is a strict limit on what you can buy. You are only allowed 1.5ltr of spirit and 300 cigarettes and it was a good job that we stuck to them because we were soon the target of the French official as we passed over the border in the North back into France.. Andorra is certainly on the "do it again with more time" list.. BUT later in the summer when it is a little warmer.. The afternoon saw us pass out of Andorra, heading for Toulouse where we joined the A20 motorway northward bound. An overnight stop at the motorway services, where we had stayed on our first trip, just north of Orleans and an easy ride next morning back to Le Havre. We were now a little better acquainted with the roads and the ferry terminal, so this time we made a detour into a local hypermarket followed by a re-fill of French diesel... Then the afternoon crossing back to Portsmouth and home...

Another successful trip...

THE END

The day arrived and started as a total nightmare, a real cold night with a temperature of -6... The van had been loaded on new years day, apart from water and a few last minute items. Now we had a problem of a frozen hosepipe and had to resolve that before we could fill our fresh water tank and start off. We were going from Dover to Calais and our departure from Walsall was meant to be 11am but that turned to 1.30pm when we had a few family problems.. KIDS !!!!  At 4.30pm there was this motorhome going down the M20 towards Dover at 80mph to catch a 5.50 ferry, Graham had already called to say they were at the Ferry port and i had told them to carry on and check in, confident we would make it.. We did, JUST, with 2 minutes to spare....
On board we managed to "chill out" and have a fish and chip meal on the 90 minute crossing to Calais. We rolled off the ferry early evening in the dark and headed down the motorway a few junctions where we pulled off at junction 3, this is the popular stop for the cheap wine and beer warehouses, there is also a convenient garage where we put in the cheaper than UK diesel.
Weaving around the "assylum seakers" that seemed to be hanging around everywhere we started off and joined the motorway heading south past Boulougne and on to Rouen. I had not done this route before but found it an easy drive, the motorway is free for most of the route and when it ends it goes into a dual carriageway that puts you right in the centre of Rouen. From there you cross over the river bridge, followed the signs south, heading for the A13 and Evereux.  After a few hours driving it was now late evening so we spent our first night on the motorway services of the A13.

Day 2 was a chilly start with my thermometer showing -3... We made our way  overland to Orleans via Druex and Chartres. At Orleans we followed the motorway south as we had done before on our past trips. This was to be a day of pure driving with a few stops for tea on route and another at a supermarket to stock up on some provisions. By 8pm we had had enough driving and settled down at another motorway services just south of Cahors.

By the third day we had lost the freezing weather but it was still chilly as we headed for Spain. Past Toulouse and onwards to the Spain. I needed to check out some prices at the supermarkets located at the Spanish border of LA Jonques so we left the motorway as France met Spain and made a stop just as the heavens opened and the rain just lashed down on us. We did the usual price check on the Whisky (Bells at £5.80 !) and collected a few groceries.  I had planned to spend the first night in Roses at a site we had used before, it was mid afternoon when we arrived in the rain. Our 2 motorhomes  joined the 2 already on site and we spent the night in listening to the rain and playing cards!!

Next day we did a couple of hours showing our friends the local area and then we were off again bound for Salou.
There was only one problem when we arrived at Camping LaSiesta, it was closed!! I assumed, wrongly, that it was open all year. So it was a mild panic to locate another site a few more miles south. This we did but could not give it any recommendation... One night and we continuned southward. Now before departure i received my copy of MMM (Motorcaravan, Motorhome, Monthly) a magazine that has been a great help to me. In the write up's it gave details of a site camping Azahar. This was to be our next goal and after a steady drive on the Spanish main "A" road we reached the camp site and were amazed how many people were already there. A two night stop and we were refreshed for the next stage.   

Story to follow....