And we’re off

[BikerGraham]

Well 40 minutes from leaving home to all checked in, boarded, kit dropped off in cabin and sitting in sky bar with a lovely cold beer.
Magic
Here’s to our 1st motorhome adventure in Europe

See you on Sunday John n Jinny

 

[irnbru]

Have a great trip!

 

[John n Jinny]

Well 40 minutes from leaving home to all checked in, boarded, kit dropped off in cabin and sitting in sky bar with a lovely cold beer.
Magic
Here’s to our 1st motorhome adventure in Europe

See you on Sunday John n Jinny

See ya soon pal ,just been get the last of our essential kit see ya Sunday .Stay Safe .

 

[Sue and Rick]

Where are you going?

 

[dazandandrea]

Have a cracking time

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[BikerGraham]

See ya soon pal ,just been get the last of our essential kit see ya Sunday .Stay Safe

See ya soon pal ,just been get the last of our essential kit see ya Sunday .Stay Safe .

Yep got the essentials in too, you never know

Peroni, Sancerre, nice claret, run, barcardi. Night have to survive the first night onnour own …..

Safe journey across too

 

[BikerGraham]

Where are you going?

Sailing from Newcastle now then meeting a couple of Funsters in Ypres for a few days then no idea.
That’s the best part just following the coin. Heads for left and tails for right

 

[BikerGraham]

Have a cracking time

Thanks

 

[GAVLAD]

Have a great time - I'm sure you will.
Ypres is a favourite of mine - try catch the last post at Menin Gate.
Sanctuary Wood, Tyne Cot and Langemark all worth a visit.
Brugges and Ghent are lovely. If going east, Maastricht is nice with a decent aire.
Wherever you go, it will be great - You're on your holidays! yeeha

 

[Justus3]

"Ypres is a favourite of mine - try catch the last post at Menin Gate."
That's on my to do list have a soft spot for Ypres my Grandfather was heavily involved in the fighting in that area.
The post is played by volunteers from the local fire service.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Jo662]

Have a great trip BikerGraham and post lots of pics of places you go

 

[BikerGraham]

So off the ferry at Ijmuiden yesterday and headed for Lille. Have a couple of the apps that sync with the Garmin camper 780 which was great.
Found this lovely little site Le Petit Clos in a lovely village village. Great bread shop with fab cakes too.

Nice spacious pitch. 15 euro with electric.

Had a lovely night.

Now at Ypres at camping Jeugdstadion for a few nights.

Cheers Funsters

Loads of British vans

 

[ChesterB]

Graham - could you note the current fuel prices before you leave France & put a note on here please?
Cb.

 

[ChrisL]

If you should pop into the bar next to the Menin Gate, could you find out if it's still run by Beatrix and her son Leroy, I visited there a couple of times in the past and they have always been very friendly and helpful, I may visit again later this year.

 

[BikerGraham]

Graham - could you note the current fuel prices before you leave France & put a note on here please?
Cb.

Yep. No problem. Will do

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[monzer]

What apps are you using and how do they sinc with your garmin? Is it wired or wireless via Bluetooth or something?

Sounds really handy.

 

[BikerGraham]

Hi monzer

The sat nav comes up with ACSI and Campercontact which seems to link with the phone. When I set up I synced it with Bluetooth. The phone also picks up live traffic and keeps the sat nav updated.

That’s as much as I know one really I’m not technical with this sort of stuff.

It also has campsites as a poi and also has Tripadvisor too.

Doesn’t have the camping csr park one though. But am sure will find a way round that.

Yesterday it just seemed brilliant. Got close to Lille the. Stopped at an air and went on the st nav to find something. Took us straight there. So easy

 

[John n Jinny]

And were off , BikerGraham, sat in a boozer in Folkstone .See you in the morning sometime

 

[Chris Laing]

Hi Graham

I’m interested to know your experience on the Newcastle ferry. We are looking to do that next August instead of driving to euro tunnel from Edinburgh. What’s are the cabins like, do you have a dog with you and onboard experience.

Chris

 

[Chris Laing]

Also if you are heading towards Luxembourg there are 2 places I can recommend.
Bastogne if you are into Band Of Brothers and WW2. Superb location for museums.
And secondly the Stella platz at Vianden. It’s absolutely superb and one of the best locations we have stayed at this year.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[BikerGraham]

Hi Graham

I’m interested to know your experience on the Newcastle ferry. We are looking to do that next August instead of driving to euro tunnel from Edinburgh. What’s are the cabins like, do you have a dog with you and onboard experience.

Chris

Hi Chris

The ferry is a great way to start the holiday. Used it a few times over the years but this was the first time with the motorhome. Been on motorbikes in the past.

Cabins are basic but functional. Fairly small but you can get larger ones and they do “commodore” which are like mini suites. Apparently. We just get basic ones with double bed though.

Plenty of places to eat and drink on board. Prices not too bad. 11 euros for 2 pints.
We ate in one of the restaurants on Friday night and the food was very good. Service excellent. Was 35 euros for 2 course or 40 euro for three, each.

Breakfast is Buffett and a good wide choice. That’s 15 euro each.

There is live entertainment on in the evening in one of the bars. We had a good sing along . Just be careful with how much you drink.

Staff on board are very friendly and helpful.

Just remember it’s a ferry and not a cruise ship so more basic.

Customs and loading at Newcastle was quick and straightforward.

At Ijmuiden it took a while before they offloaded where we were and it was tight but ok. Just taken it easy.

Only 4 customs booths open. One just for motorbikes.

The other threee had all vehicles going through whether EU or not. A Marshall directed you to one of the three lanes. They breathalysed all in one of the lanes.

The customs were quick and efficient though. Didn’t go into the van at all.

Exit from there is virtually straight to the motorway system. Easy to navigate.

We live 10 minutes up the road so it’s really handy and great when getting home too.

We’re on board for 2:30. It sails at 5 and gets in at 9:30 next morning. We were through customs and on the way around 10:30.

Cheers
Graham

 

[BikerGraham]

Also if you are heading towards Luxembourg there are 2 places I can recommend.
Bastogne if you are into Band Of Brothers and WW2. Superb location for museums.
And secondly the Stella platz at Vianden. It’s absolutely superb and one of the best locations we have stayed at this year.

Thanks Chris. Will make a note as probably going to head that way next year.

 

[Chris Laing]

Hi Chris

The ferry is a great way to start the holiday. Used it a few times over the years but this was the first time with the motorhome. Been on motorbikes in the past.

Cabins are basic but functional. Fairly small but you can get larger ones and they do “commodore” which are like mini suites. Apparently. We just get basic ones with double bed though.

Plenty of places to eat and drink on board. Prices not too bad. 11 euros for 2 pints.
We ate in one of the restaurants on Friday night and the food was very good. Service excellent. Was 35 euros for 2 course or 40 euro for three, each.

Breakfast is Buffett and a good wide choice. That’s 15 euro each.

There is live entertainment on in the evening in one of the bars. We had a good sing along . Just be careful with how much you drink.

Staff on board are very friendly and helpful.

Just remember it’s a ferry and not a cruise ship so more basic.

Customs and loading at Newcastle was quick and straightforward.

At Ijmuiden it took a while before they offloaded where we were and it was tight but ok. Just taken it easy.

Only 4 customs booths open. One just for motorbikes.

The other threee had all vehicles going through whether EU or not. A Marshall directed you to one of the three lanes. They breathalysed all in one of the lanes.

The customs were quick and efficient though. Didn’t go into the van at all.

Exit from there is virtually straight to the motorway system. Easy to navigate.

We live 10 minutes up the road so it’s really handy and great when getting home too.

We’re on board for 2:30. It sails at 5 and gets in at 9:30 next morning. We were through customs and on the way around 10:30.

Cheers
Graham

Thanks Graham

That brilliant. We are defo looking at this option, but we have a small whippet and he likes his comfort as much as we do but I’m not sure Dogs are allowed in the commodore cabins We’ll have to check otherwise it will be steerage

 

[Bobbydaisy]

Hi Graham

I’m interested to know your experience on the Newcastle ferry. We are looking to do that next August instead of driving to euro tunnel from Edinburgh. What’s are the cabins like, do you have a dog with you and onboard experience.

Chris

As BikerGraham has said cabins are basic but comfy and fine for the crossing , easy route to get to Europe for us northerners ( for us from Glasgow an easy drive to Newcastle) . They have an outdoor dog exercise area at the front of the boat and you can take the dog in the cabin , not sure about the public areas indoors ( we didn’t have a dog at that time but being dog people we spoke to a couple who did and they were happy with the setup) . Easy embarkation and disembarkation at Ijmuiden (7.5m Motorhome) , almost straight out onto the motorway. Would recommend for getting from Edinburgh to Europe without the hassle of the journey down to the tunnel or Dover etc.

 

[BikerGraham]

Thanks Graham

That brilliant. We are defo looking at this option, but we have a small whippet and he likes his comfort as much as we do but I’m not sure Dogs are allowed in the commodore cabins We’ll have to check otherwise it will be steerage

Am sure you will be ok mixing with us peasants in steerage for the one night we can be quite friendly at times.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[BikerGraham]

Had a couple of lovely days at Ypres with fellow Funsters (John n Jinny) and now on a municipal site camping municipal La Vallage, Mattigny. After a pleasant meander down through the countryside. It’s Just east of Reims.
Lovely location, close to the canal and town centre. 36 euro for 2 nights all in. Good sized pitch.
It’s very quiet, we are only British here.decent shower block and friendly “wardens”

 

[chaser]

Had a couple of lovely days at Ypres with fellow Funsters (John n Jinny) and now on a municipal site camping municipal La Vallage, Mattigny. After a pleasant meander down through the countryside. It’s Just east of Reims.
Lovely location, close to the canal and town centre. 36 euro for 2 nights all in. Good sized pitch.
It’s very quiet, we are only British here.decent shower block and friendly “wardens”

We must be on a similar route, we started from gravelines this morning past Ypres and are now south of Reims.

 

[BikerGraham]

Where are you heading ?
We have two nights here and then going towards Dijon / Beaune area. So beautiful around there and the wine is great.

 

[ChrisL]

If you're going to Beaune and like steak you might like to try Picu'Boeuf, 1 Bd Perpreuil they do other meals as well but it's mostly all local suppliers and very nice.

 

[Garfields]

BikerGraham Made the mistake of letting Mrs G have a Comador cabin ounce.
Will not go steerage now
Unloading is just a lottery depending on which deck you were put on.
We went over the day before you.
Heading for Germany but not made it out of NL yet.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}