JJ
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- May 1, 2008
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- Funster No
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- over 50 years
We all use our motorhomes in many different ways depending on our needs and desires.
We all, over time, develop our preferences and rules.
I have motorhomed for a long time and I enjoy the independence and freedom to move. I do not enjoy being parked in one place for any length of time. I enjoy being in my van. I eat in my van and sit in my van... not outside it. I do not like awnings, levelling blocks, wind breaks and the like. I rarely stay on campsites. I don't camp in my van... I live in it.
Others are different and have the full Monty... BBQ's, table and chairs etc. Fair play to them all, we all enjoy different things.
But I am feeling a bit smug today. I realise "smugness" is a sin but I can't help myself.
This morning we were visited by the GNR. They went around the "off-site" unofficial parking location and looked at the vans one by one. They took pictures. I got out and asked what was happening and were we a problem.
The response was delivered calmly and very gently by a young policeman.
"In Portugal it is illegal to camp outside official campsites."
I smiled inwardly as I thought of the hundreds and hundreds of motorhomes not using sites.
"Parking here is ok but camping, with tables and chairs and, pointing to a van with levelling blocks, this is not.
He then pointed to my Hymer...
"This is parking... this is fine..."
As they went from van to van some didn't wait but rushed around packing away their tables and chairs and making a run for it. These people, without waiting to learn what was being said, will now, as I write this, no doubt being spreading the word that motorhomes have been "banned" by the GNR from Pedras. Simply not true.
As a massively keen "off-site" motorhomer I have always preferred to park away from the hoards of vans that gather in various locations and start to look like housing estates. I never "tie" my van down to the ground with awnings and the like. It is just as I prefer it.
But I feel 90% of Funsters use their vans differently to me and they prefer campsites where they can spread out and use all the things they bought from the shows... Cadacs and loungers and... and...
I think each to their own and there is no problem with either life style at all except, here in Portugal, I suggest if you want to "camp" you stay on campsites but if you enjoy "motorhoming" the way I do you will be fine if you are sensible.
JJ :Cool:
We all, over time, develop our preferences and rules.
I have motorhomed for a long time and I enjoy the independence and freedom to move. I do not enjoy being parked in one place for any length of time. I enjoy being in my van. I eat in my van and sit in my van... not outside it. I do not like awnings, levelling blocks, wind breaks and the like. I rarely stay on campsites. I don't camp in my van... I live in it.
Others are different and have the full Monty... BBQ's, table and chairs etc. Fair play to them all, we all enjoy different things.
But I am feeling a bit smug today. I realise "smugness" is a sin but I can't help myself.
This morning we were visited by the GNR. They went around the "off-site" unofficial parking location and looked at the vans one by one. They took pictures. I got out and asked what was happening and were we a problem.
The response was delivered calmly and very gently by a young policeman.
"In Portugal it is illegal to camp outside official campsites."
I smiled inwardly as I thought of the hundreds and hundreds of motorhomes not using sites.
"Parking here is ok but camping, with tables and chairs and, pointing to a van with levelling blocks, this is not.
He then pointed to my Hymer...
"This is parking... this is fine..."
As they went from van to van some didn't wait but rushed around packing away their tables and chairs and making a run for it. These people, without waiting to learn what was being said, will now, as I write this, no doubt being spreading the word that motorhomes have been "banned" by the GNR from Pedras. Simply not true.
As a massively keen "off-site" motorhomer I have always preferred to park away from the hoards of vans that gather in various locations and start to look like housing estates. I never "tie" my van down to the ground with awnings and the like. It is just as I prefer it.
But I feel 90% of Funsters use their vans differently to me and they prefer campsites where they can spread out and use all the things they bought from the shows... Cadacs and loungers and... and...
I think each to their own and there is no problem with either life style at all except, here in Portugal, I suggest if you want to "camp" you stay on campsites but if you enjoy "motorhoming" the way I do you will be fine if you are sensible.
JJ :Cool:
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