So now we have a rough idea of the route to take that should avoid Paris and its dreadful inner and outer rings, I have started to check out overnight stops.
Although if I was a real vanlifer I'd only be looking for free aires, I do like Camping-Car Park aires. I have booked one in advance at Formerie.
We have stayed before and it makes a good overnight for a first night away.
Claire worries that we won't have enough room to stock up on raw dog food when we get to the other side.
Reggie is on raw food. Putting it delicately tinned mank is not good for his guts. He's not too bad of Forthglade but even so, and XL "sac à déjections canines" is useful to have....
The problem of the small fridge and freezer in the van has been overcome by the combination of Amazon and China.
After much deliberation we plumped for a £119 car fridge that was reduced to £94. It scores 4.8 on Amazon reviews. Arrived with free delivery on Prime.
I was hoping to test it during my Octopus "free" hour of electricity, but on reading the instructions it said to let it settle for six hours before switching on.
Later on I set the temperature to aim for at 0°C. It shows current temperature of 22°C. It took 35 minutes on mains electricity to get to 0°C.
My plan is to set it much lower overnight on mains at home and then load it in the van to run off 12v. Any suggestions from users of this sort of kit in the comments please.
Still on the subject of raw dog food. We have been using "dogador" from Picard. We get it from the store by Auchun in Coquelles. It's "volaille" and not complete food. We serve it with vegetables. He's a dog so he eats almost anything...
As an alternative we have also been using Easy-Barf. Their website lists all their stockists across France. We have tried a few and when going into Spain we stock up at Narbonne.
I suppose we could just take his usual snap from home and risk the chance of a fridge check?
Although if I was a real vanlifer I'd only be looking for free aires, I do like Camping-Car Park aires. I have booked one in advance at Formerie.
We have stayed before and it makes a good overnight for a first night away.
Claire worries that we won't have enough room to stock up on raw dog food when we get to the other side.
Reggie is on raw food. Putting it delicately tinned mank is not good for his guts. He's not too bad of Forthglade but even so, and XL "sac à déjections canines" is useful to have....
The problem of the small fridge and freezer in the van has been overcome by the combination of Amazon and China.
After much deliberation we plumped for a £119 car fridge that was reduced to £94. It scores 4.8 on Amazon reviews. Arrived with free delivery on Prime.
I was hoping to test it during my Octopus "free" hour of electricity, but on reading the instructions it said to let it settle for six hours before switching on.
Later on I set the temperature to aim for at 0°C. It shows current temperature of 22°C. It took 35 minutes on mains electricity to get to 0°C.
My plan is to set it much lower overnight on mains at home and then load it in the van to run off 12v. Any suggestions from users of this sort of kit in the comments please.
Still on the subject of raw dog food. We have been using "dogador" from Picard. We get it from the store by Auchun in Coquelles. It's "volaille" and not complete food. We serve it with vegetables. He's a dog so he eats almost anything...
As an alternative we have also been using Easy-Barf. Their website lists all their stockists across France. We have tried a few and when going into Spain we stock up at Narbonne.
I suppose we could just take his usual snap from home and risk the chance of a fridge check?
