Back in cold, grey Blighty

[MyrtleGuru]

Back in cold, grey Blighty after our latest Iberian tour of 33 days. Although, to be fair, Portsmouth was quite sunny on arrival yesterday.

The tour was a mixture of coast, mountain and plain. As far as the weather was concerned it was great for December: one very wet day, one drizzly day, two foggy/cloudy days and the rest bright sunshine. Temperatures ranged from the mid-twenties C on the Med coast to below zero in the mountains/plains at night.

Overnight stops were a mixture of free aires, car parks, camper stops and campsites -- a couple of old favourites, but most were new to us.

The house is feeling very big after living in a space <6m x <2m for a month!

 

[Langtoftlad]

Welcome home - what mapping app did you use to get that record

 

[Boringfrog]

Did you stay anywhere for more than 1 night?

 

[zac]

Welcome home - what mapping app did you use to get that record

Interested in this also having just spent 23 days in southern Spain and that Algarve. Now sat on ferry (cap finistere) heading towards Portsmouth. The end of another journey and back to all the stress of work and family.

 

[MyrtleGuru]

Welcome home - what mapping app did you use to get that record

I fitted a cheapo Chinese tracker to the van (£12) and put a GiffGaff PAYG SIM in it. I was going to set up my own tracking application on a web server to let family follow our progress, but ran out of time, so signed up to GPSWOX.COM (£35 per year) and used their web application to generate the route history maps and saved as PDFs via the web browser. It also lets you do other stuff like speed history, geo-fencing and a load of other stuff more suited to vehicle fleet management.

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[MyrtleGuru]

Did you stay anywhere for more than 1 night?

Mostly 1 or 2 nights, but we did have to park up at one place for 6 nights while I caught up with work -- I was officially on duty that week, so had to be available 9-5 (or 10-6 in Spain)!

 

[MyrtleGuru]

Interested in this also having just spent 23 days in southern Spain and that Algarve. Now sat on ferry (cap finistere) heading towards Portsmouth. The end of another journey and back to all the stress of work and family.

Yes, you can tell who still has to work. On our way out (December 3) the age profile was considerably older. On the way back on the Cap Finistère on Thursday the age profile was much lower -- everyone dashing back to start work -- and even quite a few kids too, heading back for school.

How was the Bay of Biscay, by the way? It was a little bumpy Thursday night, but not enough to stop us enjoying our last blow-out meal. Friday morning was calm, and we looked out of the cabin window in the morning to see porpoises playing in the ship's wake.

 

[zac]

Yes, you can tell who still has to work. On our way out (December 3) the age profile was considerably older. On the way back on the Cap Finistère on Thursday the age profile was much lower -- everyone dashing back to start work -- and even quite a few kids too, heading back for school.

How was the Bay of Biscay, by the way? It was a little bumpy Thursday night, but not enough to stop us enjoying our last blow-out meal. Friday morning was calm, and we looked out of the cabin window in the morning to see porpoises playing in the ship's wake.

The crossing was the calmest we have ever seen, no rough spots at all. The best we have endured over the last 4 years. Unfortunately unloading was another matter. It took so long to unload that we were the last van to go through pass port control. They were checking everything, getting everybody to open vans, trailers and anything with a cover. Checking underneath etc etc. Never seen then be so thorough. This added nearly 2 hrs to the journey. Time we got home it was gone midnight. All seems a distant memory now

 

[MyrtleGuru]

The crossing was the calmest we have ever seen, no rough spots at all. The best we have endured over the last 4 years. Unfortunately unloading was another matter. It took so long to unload that we were the last van to go through pass port control. They were checking everything, getting everybody to open vans, trailers and anything with a cover. Checking underneath etc etc. Never seen then be so thorough. This added nearly 2 hrs to the journey. Time we got home it was gone midnight. All seems a distant memory now

Sounds like we were very lucky on Friday, then. One of the first off the ship and drove straight out of the port -- no checks at all. However, loading at the other end took ages, as the Spanish were searching every truck and van (including ours); from the kind of searches they were doing, it was clear they were looking for people rather than anything else.