Onto the next update... So the summer fun with the van highlighted that the van is pretty good and not a lot that needed doing urgently… which is great however there were a few bits I wanted to sort so I headed back to my parents to use my dads garage and also because my Capri is parked there to tinker.
The first thing that I wanted to sort was that the rear cupboard was just an empty space with one shelf. We store our camp chairs in here and was always a bit of a mess and lottery if you open it something will fall out. So I built some shelves that have made it a lot more useable
Still a bit of a mess but a lot more user friendly. Once I’d done this I attempted to fit an electric fan but couldn't get it to fit between the rad and engine as didn't want to mount it through the radiator again. I did an oil change and once over then dropped off the van at Saffron Walden Motor show whilst I tinkered with my Capri.
Plenty of cool cars (over 500 and a real mixed bag) but unfortunately I was camera shy that day though so didn’t get any pics :-(
The other thing that was a bit of a pain/rubbish was our brown curtains. They are on wire so are a bit awkward to open and shut and also we had pipe cleaners to hold them open that wasn’t ideal.
They can be seen here in my beer drinking pose
So first thing was to fit some rails. I found this place had the best looking, cheapest metal rails for what I needed. I purchased a set that would enable to do the rear doors and side windows that ended up being a package to do a whole bay window camper.
www.madmatz.co.uk/micro-curtain-rail-set.htmlThe rails were easy to fit as no bends required in the installation. The cab front had pop up curtains so didn’t need to bend the rail around the windscreen. I’d recommend these rails to anyone as the quality is good and they were powder coated white so have blended seamlessly in to the rest of the interior
My GF mum, who is a bit handy with the sewing machine made us up some new curtains which we fitted the night before going away so the photo of them complete is actually us in the que at Dover to get the ferry
There are some more photos below of curtains and what a difference they make, probably my favourite thing we’ve done to the van. I like the fabric and seems to go with the general Orange and blue theme that we’ve sort of fallen into.
So that brings us to the start of the next trip down into France. Apologies if it gets boring just seeing essentially our holiday snaps but hopefully will have enough car content to keep it relevant. :-)
So the plan for the trip was to head into France and loosely try and make it down (and back) to Biarritz over 2 weeks. We had a rough plan that involved Normandy, Loire valley, Bordeaux, Biarritz and Pyranees then back. So packed up we headed to Dover early on Saturday morning of the August bank holiday weekend and jumped on the ferry!
Obligatory parked on Ferry pic:
Straight away we decided to skip Normandy as wanted some heat and sun so we headed down to the Loire Valley to Cheverney. We travelled avoiding the toll roads and a top speed of 60mph meant we were always longer than google maps time. We left at around 5am and got to the campsite about 6pm without to many breaks but plenty of fuel stops (38litre tank means 200mile max range between fill ups) so was a good stint in the van
One thing about France is that a lot of infrastructure has been put into touring so all campsites were well equipped. We generally decided to go to private places rather than the cheaper municipals or Aires as this was our main holiday for the year so ended up at a campsite with a pool (which seems to pretty much be the norm)
So we rocked up and the campsite and tried our new awning out (purchased for the trip)
www.funkyleisure.co.uk/vw-t2t25-campervan-sun-canopy-awning--brilliant-orange-1651-p.asp
Not quite as neat as the shop pics but did the job through the trip
We chilled out around cheverney and ate some baguettes
Saw some hunting dogs and a chateau and did some bike rides around the vineyards
After a few nights relaxing we headed off to the Dordogne. It wasn’t on the list of places initially but thought would be a good place to stop. We went via Tours which elongated the journey slightly
We had a convoy moment
And ended up at a campsite
at the foot of a chateau
With balloons flying over
Was a cool place with the Dordogne next to us which we kayaked down one day,
I was happy. Lots of Wine and BBQ food!
After another few days we decided to head across to Cap Ferret which is by Bordeax
Lots of Vineyards passed
We stopped at Saint Emillon for lunch. V. Expensive as a bit of a tourist hot spot but was on the way and would of be rude to not of bought some wine. The curtains are shown better here
Campsite was cool and amongst the trees
About 10min walk over a dune to the Atlantic!
And loads of cool vans all over the campsite… Love these big merc vans
And a bit of a green theme with loads of cool T25s and a handful of bays
There was a big cool american RV that I didn’t manage to get a pic of and loads of overlanding stuff
We did some cycling on the superb French cycle paths
And saw some cool cars in the surrounding area when exploring
Surf Bug
Saw about 5 jeeps
Then this Porsche - My favourite spot of the trip
My limited porsche knowledge suspects this is an early one. I love the exhaust through the bumper
Love how its sits. Also how it seems that its being used and not a perfect example
Also love that in France (esp as you head south) there is loads of older stuff in use everywhere. Must be a combination of good weather/lack of salt and no scrappage scheme. I saw loads of Renault 4s, 205s, AXs, Pandas, 2CVs, J5 vans, a few mk2 transits(that are a rare sighting in the uk) and all sorts of stuff that I hadn’t seen for years.
Next stop Biarritz!
Not much retro content but after being in a pine forest for a few days it was nice to crack out the bbq again:
And sunsets were amazing
We got out the body boards out and had loads of fun in the surf
And again being a surfer type place there were some cool vehicles about
And a some of the first contingent of the Zlombol rally (www.zlombol.pl) rocked in our campsite on our final night.
Apparently its the biggest European charity rally. I think the only rules is that it has to be a communist based vehicle. Anyway provided plenty of entertainment as we drove North.
So as we’d reached as far South as we wanted we headed North to Ils D’Oleron
There were some cool stuff on the Island like this tractor
And this Dodge Ramcharger
We discovered these whilst cycling around. Was a great Island and very flat so great for cycling around.
We left early the following morning and took a swing by the sea to get a pic of the van laden up
And this not very stealth merc truck camping out in the car park
Onwards to Honfleur. As we didn’t fancy a 8hours+ driving and also because we didn’t want to be knackered when we arrived we started to use the toll roads as made the driving considerably easier and enabled us to shave a cpl of hours off the journey time even at 60mph. This was to be our final stop before the ferry the following day
Honfleur was a cool place loads of antique shops and lots of belgian beer available. Was a suitable ending to the hols. I think I did see my favourite van (close second vehicle to the porsch). It was an Opel camper truck
Just looked right.
Following morning we were up early to do the final stint to calais then home
Weather was a bit rubbish but made a cool picture
Not much happened on final leg but was good to get home although will miss being in the van!
All the driving gave me a lot of time to think about stuff to do to the van… Things I’d like to do in no particular order would be fit the old front grill and rear lights, fit a larger fuel tank, remove the water tank and sink (never used it), fit a solar panel on the roof, scheme a means of adding a roof rack that can raise with the roof, make the bike rack swing away from the tow bar so I can open the doors without removing the rack and fit an overdrive to the gearbox.
Things I need to do are to go over the underside and give it a paint to stop it rusting away and thats it. Its great that there is so little that I need to do and can just use the van as it is.
So that wraps up the trip definitely want to go again maybe make Northern spain or Italy. We did 2000+ miles in 2 weeks in a 39year old van with no issues at all. Happy days! We are scheming our next trip already…. Can’t wait.
Thanks
Josh
been using it for years to repair and reinforce plastic dashes, usually screw tabs and bits that are too small to plastic weld.
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