sleeping gypsies
by Rach, who thought she might be concerned about sleeping in remote places, but who has felt totally safe so far
at the end of the causeway opposite Holy Island, England
We met a few Poms in Holland. They all raved about motorhoming in France.
“Even though we are British, they still treated us very well,” we were told. Some of them had just done their first stint in Germany – like us. Difference was that we thought it was fantastic and they thought it hard work finding decent spots to stay. Made us think France would be a piece of cake. (Remember Germany was our very first motorhoming ever so we had nothing to compare it to, but we found it was not at all difficult to find a lay-by if you were on an Autobahn, or a proper Stellplatz in the towns and cities.)
The same Brits, and all the others we have met, have been most apologetic about motorhoming in England. They explain their country is really not set up for it like Europe. Take, for example, our “Stellplatz” map (places you can stay for minimal or no cost, usually with fresh water and dumping facilities) – France and Germany are almost blotted out there are so many places. England has seven; two of them are expensive campgrounds and four have no facilities whatsoever! We stayed at the other one – and that had a big sign up saying the grey-water dumping station was about to be closed permanently.
Campgrounds here are pricey, and to avoid this expense we lined up couchsurfing hosts for the first two weeks while Aunty L was with us (we didn’t want to waste her precious time looking for somewhere to sleep each night). Since then we have just gone where the wind blows us and have had no trouble at all finding somewhere to stop; usually free, sometimes for the cost of a parking ticket. The main problems are the *services*, so readily available on the Continent, but almost non-existent here. Fresh water can be denied at campgrounds if you are not staying a night (even if you offer to pay – but another ground up the road will give you as much as you like “for a couplea quid” – yes, they really do speak like that here! And when you’re done they say “Ta-ra”!) Petrol stations often have water taps too. And we have been told, but as yet have not needed to use them (although we have checked some out and discovered it to be true), that graveyards will usually have a tap for watering flowers – some even provide a watering can! For the past 24 hours we have had a bowl outside catching the rainwater off our roof! So we have not run out of water.
Getting rid of waste water is a tad trickier. Thankfully, when we have not been able to find official dumping places, we have been on remote country lanes with big enough grass verges to discretely open our tanks and send our water out. We have no qualms about doing this as it is Just Plain Water – we do not use any chemicals or harmful substances. Even our toilets use green-eco-sanitiser (despite the formaldehyde stuff costing half the price!)
Toilets, yes they are the trickiest. We have dumped in official spots, dumped down public toilets, dumped in public chemical port-a-loos, dumped in a hole dug on a friendly host’s property, and we have even fertilised a wheat field and a stand of stinging nettle when really desperate. Mostly we try not to use our onboard facilities and hold on til we get to Sainsbury’s. There’s a Sainsbury’s supermarket in nearly every town and they have the cleanest loos around. Besides, the very first day we arrived and were looking for toilets, we were told to go to “Sainsbury’s m’love, Sainsbury’s” – a little catch-phrase that has stuck and is said at least once or twice every day! You gotta say it with your pommiest accent OK!
As I say, finding somewhere to stay is not difficult. Sainsbury’s often comes to the rescue with that too – a couple of times we have turned up lateish and done some shopping, then with a full shopping trolley, gone and asked permission to remain in the carpark overnight. The Information Desk girl has to ask the Duty Manager, who in turn needs to ask the Store Manager, but so far we have not been denied.
Other times we find a waterfront carpark; pay-n-display often finishes at 6 or 8pm, and if there are no signs forbidding it (which, in all honesty, often there are), it seems you may stay the night. Judging by the number of motorhomes we wake up next to in the morning, others reach the same conclusion as us!
Carparks by attractions are occasionally a go. More often, not. But we haven’t been kicked out of the sports ground carparks we have chosen yet. And in the north, there are lay-bys off the side of roads. I’m not sure why they didn’t have them down in Cornwall, but the further north we have travelled, the more prevalent they have become. In the first three weeks in England, we stayed in a campground only once. The allure of hot showers with more than a trickle of lukewarm water was pretty strong at that point and we were thinking of finding one that night….but the carpark at Hadrian’s Wall was so flat and free that we just stayed put and went for a walk to another mile station instead.
Using the couchsurfing network was handy – but it takes more time to line up a spot than to drive into a town and just look for something, and so we abandoned that source of parking. Also, we enjoy the freedom to not be expected somewhere at a particular time….the day the exhaust fell to pieces we still had a couple of hours to travel and felt compelled to get to the destination so that the hosts would not be put out – if we had not had an arranged meeting, we would certainly have stopped before dark! (But for someone in a reliable vehicle with a limited time frame, this would be a useful source of carparking…not to mention, meeting new people and getting a hot shower).
Having found England to be inexpensive accommodation-wise, we are really looking forward to France and Italy. One of the British couples we met gave us a book with French Aires (equivalent of the German Stellplaetze) – a cursory glance at the booklet has shown us that we can realistically set the goal of not paying a cent for overnighting in France, and that we will not have to go looking for water or dumping spots – France is going to be a holiday!
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I wrote most of this a week ago. Since then (actually for the past two weeks) it has rained at some point of the day every day….and for the past 24 hours nonstop. The wind is blowing a gale, shaking the vans and bending trees over.
The allure of France is strong!! Very strong.
I mean just take a look at this:
Wouldn’t *you* go to France?
The rain brought out a poem little ditty, and we’re negotiating with the powers that be to effect a change of direction.
it’s raining
it’s pouring
everybody’s snoring
the clouds are low
the wind doth blow
we’re off to greece in the morning
You see, if we head south now, we’ll save the Scotland ferry money (because actually we have been unable to get on the ferry – you really wouldn’t think the ferry to Coll would be booked out so far in advance, but there you have it, it is) and because our accommodation in London will be unavailable, we’ll save the parking in London charges and a week’s worth of underground fares too….meaning we’ll be able to afford the none-too-cheap ferry to Greece instead.
I was initially disappointed at the turn of events for Scotland, but with the rain set in for at least another week up here (that’s as far as the weather forecast would divulge – who knows it might be like this:
“Well, I allus remember going to Coniston on a pouring wet day, and I said to an old gentleman called Linnie Dixon, ‘When is it going to stop raining, Linnie? Dreadful!’ And he says ‘It’ll stop raining when the lake finds its level. If it goes down low in the summer, once it does rain it usually rains till the lake finds it’s own level.’ And I said ‘Well it’s not high yet, so it’s a bit to go.’ And he said ‘Yes well, it will, as soon as it finds it’s level it’ll stop.” (from the archive, Ambleside Oral History Group)
Which means it just might never stop raining. And even if the sun were shining, we’d hardly be taking a quiet stroll – this sign is a mere two metres from The Bear Cave!
So in a matter of hours we go from expecting a week or so in Scotland followed by a week in the Lake District and then a week in London……to considering a complete turnaround. Right now most of us are happy to call this a very successful rural England tour and we’ll take on the Big City and Scotland another time!
Time on the road: none!
Distance covered: 0km
Tags: 2008/09, housing, postcard: England, postcard: Germany, transport
rayres
Dear Rach thanks for all the great travel reports, where did you file the Southern Germany pictures of houses with fairy tales? I wanted to show them to my friend and can’t find it again….
I had the same weather in the UK 2007, headed to the South of France, what a change….do it, you will be refreshed! Save the money for the Greek ferry, you won’t regret it!! I am off to Thailand in 05 Nov, onto Germany April…. your blogs inspire me in this boring winter weather here, love Renate (Nati)
hmmm greece & france do sound pretty tempting… they do have castles & cathedrals too after all…. but what about the eccles cakes & clotted cream?! 😉
Shame to be so near yet so far ,but it will be a very busy hetic time now,as all the schools are breaking up for the big summer holidays ,hence why the ferry was booked so far in advance,us English like to be organised !!!!
The Lakes are amazing ,& as for London ……..what can I say !
Safe travels wherever you go
Anne
Sorry you won’t be heading down our way in august. I think if I had the choice between Greece and Scotland I’d take Greece too! If you change your minds you are still very welcome, we are home on the first. Best wishes x
Well, Greece is warm, but the Lakes District is wonderful!! I vote for both 🙂
Hi guys
We are kiwis who have been living in the UK for 15months and I have been following your blog since before you left NZ. We leave on 27th to begin our journey back to NZ. We are crossing over on the Dover-Calais ferry and have 3 weeks tenting in France before 3 weeks in Italy and 10 days up through Germany and Holland before flying home. It would be great to connect in France if possible so I will be keeping an eye on your blog! Do you have any general plan for France? Amanda
LOL. In Australian military areas, we often have signs similar to the one above, but they say “do not touch anything, it may explode and kill you”. (A bit less specific than “do not pick up anything metallic”!) The first time my brother (or was it my husband? Can’t remember) saw one of these signs, he was in hysterics at the mental image of patting a kangaroo and having it explode and kill you 😛