Jane & Rog’s retirement tour, Morocco 2023

[Jane And Rog]

I like reading these so thought I’d try to keep a thread up to date. The more family focussed version is on our blog.

We were booked on the 07:50 Eurotunnel yesterday, but as it’s a mere 20 minute hop from home we were there in good time and were bumped to a train leaving an hour earlier. Met another Adria Twin owner in the car park who usually travels with two Spinones - makes our one German Wirehaired Pointer look rather lacking in ambition.

We headed off from Calais in the driving rain, and took the autoroute to try and outrun it. Quite a cost - I haven‘t totalled it properly but must have been about 95 euros? We’ll try to avoid the tolls today, now the weather has improved.

Spent the night in a fantastic place we found on Park for night - a level, dry car park outside Vounieul-sous-Biard. (Just west of Poitiers.) It was very peaceful, even on New Year’s Eve. Also a great spot for dog owners - trails lead directly off the var park along the river valley.

The town has a pharmacy, a bar, and Google maps says it has a small Carrefour too - we didn’t walk that far.

We had a special celebratory “last day of last month of salary” meal, which featured English wines and a Wiltshire truffle, just to show those Frenchies.

 

[Mikey RV]

Happy new year and happy travels.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Today was another driving day - still aiming to cover some kilometres south to get better weather. We avoided the tolls today and only lost around an hour, due to the excellent N10, which was
a dual carriageway, and well supplied with aires and restaurants (closed as it was Sunday and New Year’s Day). Lots of these were aimed at HGVs - I suspect it’s a popular route to Spain.

We decided to use a Camper Contact aire, as we have credit with them from signing up, and not using, the service back in September. We chose a site at Labanne Océan, managed to find the Camper Contact card, and then discovered that you have to be a premium member to book a site for the same day (or, I think, tomorrow and the day after). So, wanting to get on and look at the water heater (see next para), we coughed up, which multiplied our spend so far today (2€ for a fizzy water for Rog) by more than 10x

Yesterday we discovered that the Whale heater wasn’t working, so no hot water. Chasnam had a potential solution, so the first order of the evening has been for Rog to check that out while I walked the dog. On returning, no joy

Rog now suspects that it may be because we didn’t drain the heater down over winter - something we didn’t realise we had to do.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

There are lots of free Aires you can stop at or some that are only a few euros on your way down through France to Spain. Some with facilities and some just somewhere to stop overnight.
Check out park4night .

 

[Jane And Rog]

Thanks - we did that the first night but wanted emptying facilities today. The actual cost of the night isn’t bad, at 12€ - it’s just the premium thing so that you can be more flexible.

Anyway, at this rate we might be going home - no water heater yet

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[CamperJack]

Thanks - we did that the first night but wanted emptying facilities today. The actual cost of the night isn’t bad, at 12€ - it’s just the premium thing so that you can be more flexible.

Anyway, at this rate we might be going home - no water heater yet

Can you find someone to have a look at it? Or even rough it for a bit? I never had a water heater in my van. Just a kettle. And I lived in it. Seems a shame to go home. You've only just got going!

 

[cliffanger]

Thanks - we did that the first night but wanted emptying facilities today. The actual cost of the night isn’t bad, at 12€ - it’s just the premium thing so that you can be more flexible.

Anyway, at this rate we might be going home - no water heater yet

Hope you get it sorted and can carry on with your travels.

 

[peterc10]

I suspect that you are referring to Camping-Car Park, not Camper Contact, who are a different organisation

 

[Stonemags76]

If it’s Camper Carpark you mean, you can still see how many are on & use the Aire without paying to book. Bit late now if you’ve paid though!

 

[Jane And Rog]

I suppose we could manage without. Might be a bit grim though! I’ve found a couple of service places about an hour away. One in France, wrong direction, but I speak French. One in Spain, so Google translate, but it gets very good reviews.

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[Jane And Rog]

I think it must be Camper Carpark - can’t get past the boiler engineer to check the card right now. How do you get on the aire without booking? I could see there were spaces…

 

[Stonemags76]

Just put your card on the pad on the green machine & the barrier will lift. You then have to make sure you have enough money on your account for however many nights you’ve stayed. We stayed at Labenne a few weeks ago - it’s a convenient stop!

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Thanks - we did that the first night but wanted emptying facilities today. The actual cost of the night isn’t bad, at 12€ - it’s just the premium thing so that you can be more flexible.

Anyway, at this rate we might be going home - no water heater yet

Just put the kettle on when you need hot water. You can get it fixed in morocco.

 

[martin2603]

Never needed to put money on our account, insert card on entry , pay on exit

 

[Jane And Rog]

I’ve emailed CCP asking for a refund, as it wasn’t at all clear what to do. Not much hope, but worth a try.

We had a good night at Labenne Océan. My previously-made butter chicken and garlic paratha for dinner, followed by a stroll to see the sea. The latter was most impressive, huge breakers and a massive booming sound. Flynn was not allowed to investigate.

It’s very warm here, despite the wind. It got up to about 23 yesterday! Must be abnormal, or surely there’d be more people here? All the bars and restaurants are closed. Although the people we did see were wrapped up in down jackets, because wherever the thermometer says, it’s January.

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[Wingingit#1]

Ive just found this thread and watching it with interest.
Van looks very clean , have you been out there with a sponge ?
Hope you sort the heater and good luck on your travels.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Thanks - no, van was last cleaned back in September, so I’m amazed. Probably the massive rain we had on day 1. You should see the inside though - keeping the van clean when there’s a massive hairy beast in it, and the dog, is hard work.

 

[Westbarn1]

Good luck with sorting the water heater, nice looking van, love the colour!

 

[Grianan]

Loving the van - stunning colour. We have PVC too but 4.5 years off retirement. Following your blog for inspiration! Really hope you get water heater sorted.

 

[Jane And Rog]

It was much colder today - yesterday must have been a weird anomaly. We decided to head on to Spain, it felt too depressing to turn left and stay in France. We did use the motorways today, as particularly in France and over the border, they saved considerable amounts of time compared to the cheaper method. Not very costly though - the day’s total was maybe 15€.

We called in at a Carrefour first, where we exited having only spent €8.50 - a first. It’s weird not being able to put almost anything in the trolley, but of course we’ll get used to it, and get much better value for money. We bought some Bayonne ham, a baguette and a camembert - the latter to be cut in half (the difficult way) and the remainder of the Wiltshire truffle sliced thinly and laid inside.

First stop was our motorhome repair shop - super friendly, but they don’t stock Adrias and their experience is with Truma heaters. They told us the names of the two nearest Adria dealers, but both are closed until Jan 8th for Spanish reasons.

We google-mapped another dealer en-route who wasn’t off on his holidays, and set course for Salamanca. But wary of driving too long, we called it a day at an aire just outside Astudillo, highly rated on park for night. W3W: raring.packs.robots

The aire is a little open feeling but has fresh water and black and grey disposal, all free. (None tested though.)

Astudillo is a gem of a small town. First we walked the dog up the hill and discovered some caves glinting with gypsum…

And great views of the town…

Then we wandered around the town - a very pretty main square with a bar or two, a couple of churches and a convert. We kept hearing loud bangs, and while I thought it was small boys with firecrackers, Rog was convinced it must be exploding nuns.

The most interesting part were all the little cellars, set into the mound of the castle and apparently running all under the town streets. We could see all their little chimneys poking out of the green mound like hobbit houses.

It looks as though a few of them open as bars, but whether that’s at 10pm tonight or in July, we are unable to tell. The tourist office can arrange tours, but it was closed on Monday 2nd, despite claiming only to be closed on Dec 31st and Jan 1st.

Now we’re back at the van for a cuppa, with the intention of wandering into town later and at least getting a drink, if we can.

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[Grianan]

January 5th/6th Epiphany is a big celebration in Spain. El día de los reyes magos. It may be that workshops are closed until the following Monday. However, definitely worth being in a decent sized town on the afternoon/evening of the 5th to take in the processions.

 

[MartynSuz]

Really good reading about your experiences on your way to Morocco. We are heading to Morocco in late January for the first time so will be making notes. Pity about the water heater but not a disaster. Take care

 

[ontheroadagain]

Whale have a customer service department. You can phone them or send them an email. The details are on their web site. Hopefully they will be able to identify the problem.

 

[Wingingit#1]

Looks pretty

Whale were a waste of space when i needed them the last couple of times
fingers crossed its something simple .

 

[Jane And Rog]

Thanks all - we chose a night out over fettling last night and hope the experts can help us today. If not, there’s some good suggestions on our broken heater thread to check out.

Had a good time out last night with a visit to a couple of bars and some tapas with every drink. The Central 2.0 was great value, at around 6 euros for two glasses of the local rioja, and two tapas. We had some delicious pork belly, prawns, mussels, egg with anchovy and black pudding. Luckily there was a cashpoint in town, as neither bar took cards.

This aire has gone into Mundus! (Mentioned before so I hope Jim doesn‘t mind - it’s the iOS map-based app I wrote for us to keep track of holiday places to visit - tourist sites, restaurants and a variety of campsite types.)

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[Wingingit#1]

Looks cracking ! (but you can keep your anchovy)
We've not been out on and evening for such a long time .

 

[Reallyretired]

Enjoying this thread, keep up the good work Jane And Rog.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Just filling up at the petrol station opposite the aire for a very reasonable €1.69 a litre. Also has a small cafe which according to Rog sells coffee and cakes now and beer & tapas in the evening. Also has a cashpoint. A very convenient stopover aire.

This morning it’s foggy and -3!

 

[Wingingit#1]

Early start for you guys , where are you heading for now ?
Its 13° currently here on the other coast at benicassim.

 

[Reallyretired]

Maybe a bit of the egg sucking grandmother but I assume you have the necessary titre test for your hound.

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