motorhome and away

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UK touring
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Europe Sites & Aires :
2005	2006
2007	2008
2009	2010
2011
Touring Europe Tips
France an Introduction
Austria and Switzerland

Links
Motorhome Tips

Europe trip 2009
around France Switzerland and the Italian Lakes

Europe 2008
Germany, Austria Czech Republic and Hungary

France Spain 2007

Europe 2006

Slovenia 2006

France & Italy 2005

Our European tour costs

Campsites
an Introduction

Touring Europe
A Beginners guide

UK campsites visited
2011
2010
2009
Previous years

Features:

A friend's Tour des Grandes Alpes
and
Tour of Sotland in 2011

WW2 Martyrs village
Oradour-sur-Glane

An amazing place to visit in France . . .
The Palais Ideal at Hauterives, Drôme

Venice

Italy - Piano Grande

Vosges & Alsace

Lac Vert - Haut Savoie

Camargue

Bourgogne

Read about our earlier tours to France in
2001
2002

Our Scottish holidays
2000
2003

Our Adria Twin

Our Autosleepers
Symbol

our economy
"Awnings"

Fitting deadlocks to a Peugeot Boxer

visit our home site www.stevepyke.co.uk

Welcome to our website for motorhome enthusiasts
and all about our travels in Europe and the UK

We use our motorhome frequently throughout the year combining a trip to Europe for a couple of months with shorter stays touring Great Britain and occasionally attending meets and rallies.

To share our enthusiasm we started this website about eleven years ago as a wintertime hobby to provide useful information about our travels, places we've discovered and sites we have visited with plenty of our photos. We have also added a write up of our tour around California using motels in 2010.

We use a mix of campsites, preferably more basic ones, and overnight stops at official "aires" (but definitely not on motorways!) and occasionally free or wild camping places when we have felt it was secure. All the sites we have visited are listed, with GPS co-ordinates for recent years.

There are also pages giving practical hints about touring Europe and tips gained from our experiences of using our various motorhomes.

We welcome feedback from our visitors and will try to answer any questions you may have about motorcaravanning and touring. In the past we have answered queries from Motorhomers in the UK, Australia and Canada who are planning to visit Europe. We have also published trip reports submitted by other motorhomers.

We hope you enjoy our site and find some useful information for your future travels!

Latest Updates - March 2012
New links added for Brit Stops and other stopover schemes in Europe, also other links added.

Various pages updated with latest information and prices.

December 2011
All our 2011 trip details added
Part 1 France and Central Spain
Part 2 Southern Portugal
Part 3 Portugal Coast and Country
Part 4 Douro to Minho
Part 5 Green Spain Galicia and Asturias
Part 6 From the Picos de Europa to Bilbao

November 2011
Our UK Campsites 2011 list added

Other recent additions
A trip report of a Tour of Scotland contributed by Jenny Vowden, to add to her
Tour des Grandes Alpes 2010 - an interesting diary of a six week adventure across the French Alps

Using our Adria Twin and improvements we have made so far.

This website is our own personal site with no commercial backing or advertising as we just like to share our travel experiences and provide useful information. Whilst you are free to use any information on the site (at your own risk and with due acknowledgement) we would welcome a small contribution via Paypal to help towards our web hosting costs.
(The button should now work! November 2011)
Thanks Steve and Sheila

New to Motorcaravanning?
To find out what it's all about?
Start here

Costa Nova Portugal

San Francisco cable car

Chaumont sur Loire
Garden Festival

Les Calanques Cassis France

Mont St Michel

Millau Viaduct - feature

A collection of signs seen in 2006

EU standards - NOT in France obviously!


Our Motorhoming History
We decided to get a new motorhome in August 2009 and still keen to have a van conversion bought a new Adria Twin (actually an '08 model on a Fiat Ducato Multijet 100) with a fixed bed across the back and four belted seats. This layout is very popular in Europe and it has suited us for the many trips we have done in it despite the rather wet weather. See here for improvements we've made to it
In 2003 we changed our motorhome to an Autosleepers Symbol Hi-top van conversion on a Peugeot Boxer 1.9 turbo diesel. A typical Autosleepers panel van layout with all facilities. Ideal for two people and small enough to use as our only vehicle
Our previous motorhome was an Elddis Eclipse coachbuilt on a Renault Trafic 2.2L petrol chassis. A basic compact motorhome that we found ideal for two people, with lots of storage space
Our first motorhome was a Holdsworth Romance HTL Super hi-top conversion again on a Renault Trafic (2L petrol). An unusual layout with a good sized kitchen area but no rear door access. (Photo taken at Neufenen Pass Switzerland!)

Places to visit and where to stay in the UK and Europe
Our personal opinions about some of the places we have visited in recent years including most of the campsites we have stayed at in Europe.

Hints and Tips
Useful information about motorhomes and ideas gained from our own experiences over many years of motorcaravanning.

Links page
For motorhomes, camping and touring and other useful websites
NEW links added January 2012

Get Involved! . . .
For lively discussions on motorhome and related topics and contacts with other motorcaravanners why not subscribe to the UK based mailing list at www.motorhome-list.org.uk

There are various Forums that we contribute to where useful advice and lively comments about motorhoming and other topics are available . . .

Out and About Live hosted by the publishers of Motorcaravan Motorhome Monthly (MMM) magazine

motorhomefacts.com A very lively forum which has a useful database of campsites and aires, many articles and also organise members rallies across the UK and abroad - annual subscription required to post after initial trial.

Motorhome Today various topics on technical aspects of motorhomes and advice on touring. Also occasional members meets are organised.

The Caravan Club have recently added a discussion feature for members

updated 29 Mar 2012

	Motorhome and Away
	*The guide to Motorcaravanning, UK and European touring*