Tam n pups winter trip 2022

[Northernraider]

I keep thinking how can you do all this in 3 months then I realise you have the luck of the Irish… hope to see you in Morocco Paul..

Also Turkey, Bulgaria and Georgia are not in shengen

 

[CaptainPaul]

We came from Bulgaria back to Greece one time and it was the worst border crossing we ever encountered
Held us there for nearly an hour, searched the whole van from top to bottom and were very nasty and aggressive almost trying to provoke a reaction they were like paramilitary type cops definitely not a crossing you want to be arriving at if you can avoid it

 

[Riverbankannie]

Rack is handy but I think it needs something to warn yourself when reversing, cars parking up behind you and pedestrians walking past the back. Ok when a colourful scooter mounted on it as not so easy to miss.

 

[Northernraider]

We came from Bulgaria back to Greece one time and it was the worst border crossing we ever encountered
Held us there for nearly an hour, searched the whole van from top to bottom and were very nasty and aggressive almost trying to provoke a reaction they were like paramilitary type cops definitely not a crossing you want to be arriving at if you can avoid it

The worst I've had was between Bulgaria and Romania.....that guard was definitely after a bribe

 

[Northernraider]

Rack is handy but I think it needs something to warn yourself when reversing, cars parking up behind you and pedestrians walking past the back. Ok when a colourful scooter mounted on it as not so easy to miss.

I'm fitting extra reverse lights to it too and a beeper.

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[Gina M]

You need a fluorescent strip on all sides of it I think I have walked into one at night and made a right mess of my legs, nowt to do with the fact I'd had a few sherbets

 

[The Coops]

Perfect

Cheers guys

Tap up your local Highways Depot they will have hundreds of them, used to hold road signs on temporary frames

 

[Northernraider]

Tap up your local Highways Depot they will have hundreds of them, used to hold road signs on temporary frames

I got 4 on ebay for £8 that'll do

 

[Northernraider]

You need a fluorescent strip on all sides of it I think I have walked into one at night and made a right mess of my legs, nowt to do with the fact I'd had a few sherbets

Well if anyone is daft enough to walk in to it that's they're tough luck lol.

 

[Just smiffy]

What’s the black box on the back of the tv Tam…

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[Northernraider]

What’s the black box on the back of the tv Tam…

That's my hard drive. The media player is attached to the bottom of the TV. The hard drive has lots of films and box sets on it. Saves me carrying a load of dvds etc

 

[Northernraider]

Well I hope I haven't jinxed it but I'm booked on Newhaven ferry Friday 17th November.

 

[mackeellan]

So pleased for you for booking ferry and making plans. I hope you find a bit of peace and you make plans for your next move. Good on you pal.

 

[Grianan]

It’s good to have something to look forward to Tam. Do you leave the dogs in the van for the crossing?

 

[Northernraider]

So pleased for you for booking ferry and making plans. I hope you find a bit of peace and you make plans for your next move. Good on you pal.

Cheers I had contemplated asking you if I swung by if you'd give me a hand to repanel the bathroom before I head off but I don't really have time to do it now before it gets too cold. There's no urgency for it so I might do it when I come back to UK next year. Unless I get it sorted in Turkey.

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[Northernraider]

It’s good to have something to look forward to Tam. Do you leave the dogs in the van for the crossing?

Yeah and I really need that at the minute , I'm dreading the funeral bringing everything back to the surface and still a lot to sort out with the house and a fair few jobs still to do on the van before I leave. 3 more weekends of work to do and then I need the last week before I go to tie up any loose ends , sell the car etc .
I've also finally got my divorce going through the court after 19 years separated... but it should be straightforward. Although costing me £500 which I grudge but I'll then have zero ties here should I wish to relocate permanently.


Busy month ....I'll need a holiday afterwards

 

[Lenny HB]

Doesn't make the van that much longer.

It's stripped to just the frame at the minute as I want to repaint it and all the other bits before I assemble it. Will look much neater then.

I might buy another scooter or a wee Honda grom like dave Wissel has later but don't really have time to get one this year before I head off and I'm not sure how much I'd use one this year.

But the rack is handy to keep hold off View attachment 823198View attachment 823199View attachment 823200

Are you going to need a trailer board on that rack, I think I might have one you can have but not back home until 26th.

 

[mackeellan]

I've room with me if you need to sort the bathroom, before you leave or when you return. Regards

 

[Northernraider]

In other news I love love love my gas fire , van is toasty warm in no time at all , no noise and no drain on the battery .


Excellent

Are you going to need a trailer board on that rack, I think I might have one you can have but not back home until 26th.

Yeah but I've got one , bought a new led one a few weeks back .

 

[Lenny HB]

In other news I love love love my gas fire , van is toasty warm in no time at all , no noise and no drain on the battery .


Excellent

Yeah but I've got one , bought a new led one a few weeks back .

View attachment 823582

Working out well then.

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[Dutch 68]

Yeah I think so ....purely as at the minute the future is uncertain and I want to tick Turkey off my list. And I did Spain etc last winter so I like to change it up a bit. Still not sure I'd return to Morocco or not. I think it's a hard place to travel solo , if I hadn't met up with those other couples last year I'd have given up on it sooner I think. I'll probably spend Christmas in Greece then head to Turkey and go south first and maybe Georgia..then work my way back up and perhaps do Bulgaria and Romania again on the way home. But no set plan as yet. My only restriction this trip will be my mot which isn't due till late August. So I may be gone longer. Will all depend how I feel once on the road and how the camper does. I've a lot to think about once I'm doing it to decide my next plan .

As you never know what happens on the road, why not slap a new mot on it before you leave, then you give yourself a 12 month window, you can mot it as many times you like in a year

 

[Orca Brody]

I can't bring myself to delete her phone etc . She has a lot of photos on her phone she never deleted anything so I've been sending myself texts from her phone over the last couple of weeks. She had left her phone and kindle to me anyway so I'll be taking those with me.

Sorry to hear about your loss. I can relate to sending the texts over. I rarely delete texts and was so happy to still have texts from my Dad when he passed away over 4 years ago. The ache is still there 4 years later but it's more manageable. It took me a long time to get my head around it all. Sorry for your loss chief.

 

[Northernraider]

As you never know what happens on the road, why not slap a new mot on it before you leave, then you give yourself a 12 month window, you can mot it as many times you like in a year

Sod that lol I only got it motd 6 weeks ago

And to be honest with the shengen shuffle etc 9 months will probably be the max I'm in Europe. Don't need to come back to Scotland for an mot though just UK.

But I'll have decided by then if I want to come home and buy a flat to live in or rent out etc. Or if I just want to spend the next year or two constant travelling. Can't decide that yet. But 9 months will be long enough

 

[Minxy]

Don't want to rain on your plans Tam but who's going to sort out the house sale, clearing etc? Are you doing the latter before you go? It's a lot of work.

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

Don't want to rain on your plans Tam but who's going to sort out the house sale, clearing etc? Are you doing the latter before you go? It's a lot of work.

Worst thing ever going through your parents belongings and having to throw or give away their stuff
Most of Mums stuff was very modern so charity shops around my way have plenty of stock now Been over today to carry on sorting out the garage, seems most of the tools probably came from my garage as dad had a habit of “borrowing” bits and not returning them

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[Northernraider]

Don't want to rain on your plans Tam but who's going to sort out the house sale, clearing etc? Are you doing the latter before you go? It's a lot of work.

House goes on the market on 27th , if anything like my sisters it will be sold within 2 weeks, soon as the funeral is over I'm advertising most of the large furniture and we will be clearing out as much as we can before I leave. The rest if not dealt with my brother and sister plan to just have a house clearance type buyer come and take what's left. All person items etc will hopefully be sorted before it goes up for sale. Then it's just the solicitors bit to do.


My sisters flat 4 doors down from here had 12 viewings within 7 days of going on the market and closed the following week. I expect this house to have even more viewings . Its a highly sought after location for commuters etc. They don't come on the market often and sell quick.

 

[jumartoo]

Tam, you've done so much more with your van than we've done with ours in the nine (I think) years we've had it. It's definitely got to have some paintwork done, but fitting it in is difficult. We're just happy to keep on using it.

I have the same boomerang (well until the sun here faded it) but, most of all, I covet your back window. Our last van had wrap around windows, this one has one at the foot of the, transverse, bed and nothing else, and since we (Martin) fitted a Maxxfan, I don't even see the sky through the rooflight.

Great to see you've booked a crossing. Best of luck for your next trip.

 

[Northernraider]

Now have the rear view camera wired in and the cables ran to the rear of the van . Can't fit the actual camera till I've painted and refitted assembled the scooter rack..( waiting on my paint arriving) ordered lots of stuff off ebay today to finish off the jobs I want doing on the van before I go. Also treated myself to a couple of proper waterproof coats and a decent pair of hiking boots and trainers. Spent a fortune but easier to get the stuff now before I hit the road.

 

[Onemanandhisdog]

Good to hear your positive plans, both for you and the vicarious passengers on here! Your van would definitely be overweight if virtual passengers counted
Can't believe uncle Lenny will be away when you are passing, that's not very considerate of him!
Good luck will all the stuff you have to do between now and "lift off"

 

[Minxy]

House goes on the market on 27th , if anything like my sisters it will be sold within 2 weeks, soon as the funeral is over I'm advertising most of the large furniture and we will be clearing out as much as we can before I leave. The rest if not dealt with my brother and sister plan to just have a house clearance type buyer come and take what's left. All person items etc will hopefully be sorted before it goes up for sale.

It took me and my hubby over 50 hours to clear out, clean etc my Mum's one-bed flat so don't underestimate the time it will take. As for clearance companies, be careful, some will just come and cherry pick and leav eyou with a load still to get shot of, or will charge you silly money. We donated my Mum's furniture and kitchen white goods to a mental health charity who took the lot and will have had a good 'return' from them, all the others we contacted wanted to charge us silly money to give them the stuff!

Then it's just the solicitors bit to do.

There's quite a bit of legal paperwork for seller(s) to do themselves so might be an idea to have a shuftie at the property forms that will need filling in (your sister should have them already for her sale) to make sure you've got all the info for when your solicitor asks you to fill it in. I had to do Mum's when I was on holiday and stupidly the forms are not interactive so as I had no way to print & complete them by hand I had to prat around converting them to word documents, completing them, then reconverting them back to pdfs ... it was a right pain in the whatsit.

My sisters flat 4 doors down from here had 12 viewings within 7 days of going on the market and closed the following week. I expect this house to have even more viewings . Its a highly sought after location for commuters etc. They don't come on the market often and sell quick.

You're fortunate with your property selling system and being able to get a definite commitment early on in the process, here it can fall down at any time, my Mum's flat was put on the market in April, had buyers soon after but it took until September for exchange and completion.

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