Velonews website for me.

A friend bought a camper van on a credit card.

In simple terms, it turned out to be a death trap, garage she bought from wouldn’t help, credit card refunded the full amount.

Primaloft + thin insulating hat + spare gloves for the repair(B&Q = cheap, white cottony things with a grippy palm for diy stuff)

Had no idea it was that day again – have recently built a set of offset 29+ wheels for my Pugsley using WTB rims and it feels fantastic.
Dug the fat wheels out yesterday instead and had forgotten how much fun Nate’s are in the mud. Got to be my favourite tyre of all time.

Sorted now – he thinks the emails may have gone to ‘spam’

Cheers all

Another ‘thanks for the thread’ from me – kept me sane over the last few weeks with everyone’s contributions too. I’m going to go back to the start of your journey now as I only joined part way through.

Cheers

Just tried to leave a message…….eventually get an automated voice that tells me I ‘can’t leave a message’ so I guess there is no answerphone.

Thanks for the replies – haven’t got Messenger so will leave phone message as you’ve suggested. Fingers crossed.

Try Decathlon when you are there – we got good maps which were aimed at cyclists and had loads of local routes marked on them

I did, but not anymore. Have now moved to Freerider Pros and can’t see me ever moving back. Great shoes

A few years back I rode quite a bit of what you are about to do, but over two trips. I did the eurovelo route, but started from Lourdes (which was an experience). Also from Santiago to Biarritz. Really enjoyed the region you’ve just passed through. The section from Biarritz to Bilbao was fantastic though, loved that.
If you decide to keep going in Spain you’ll pass the largest sea cliff nesting colony of vultures in Europe – you’ll know when you are there as they fly just above your head in considerable numbers. I followed the northern most Camino route along the Spanish coast. Lovely people, awesome food and stupidly cheap – had a 3 course dinner, with a full bottle if red, for 12 euros on one camp site (possibly Santandaer)

Old French couple, huge, old Peugeot saloon, small tent, table, chairs & all the kitchen utensils from home. They had visited the same camp site near the Ventoux each summer for years and insisted on giving me a bag of apricots and some fresh coffee. They must have been in their eighties & the memory of our chat still makes me smile.

Would be very interested to know how much the various setups people have cost

Portsmouth to Caen, overnight ferry – no issues. Slightly more to the security checks on the UK side, just as quick as ever on the French side (i.e. super fast). I’ve never been impressed with Dover Calais even before Brexit. No surprise it’s gridlock so easily now = Brexit reality.

I wonder, for Dover Calais, if we moved French passport control back onto the French side would they really keep the ferries from unloading as checks are going so slowly? Same with moving uk checks back into England too.

Wine box Merlot for me too, plastic mug though. 3 litres in this box!

Nobody has mentioned beer/wine so far, or spare batteries. Gas cooker? Matches and/or lighter. Spare gas canister too (keep a jet boil in my van, just in case).

What keeps the little one occupied? Paper, pencils, crayons, games etc.

Most of our gear goes into ikea bags. We never bother with quilts, way too bulky, always sleeping bags and liners. All sleeping gear is put into one of the giant bags used to cover a rucksack when flying – the bags are cheap, huge. My wife always wants her own proper pillow too.

We started with a T4 almost 20 years ago, also had young daughter and a dog to accommodate. Best significant purchase ever, but couldn’t afford new now. She’ll be getting a van herself in the next couple of years.

Enjoy

You’ve really been through the mill – hope it gets properly sorted for you today, take care
David

T4 SWB van with standard conversion – lab travelled in folding crate, karabiner secured crate to floor via lashing eye.
Overnight, crate was folded and put in front footwell, dog slept in her bed either at end of ours or (she preferred) under ours. Unless it was cold, in which case my wife would feel sorry for her so we would gain a dog shaped hot water bottle that snored

We walked from Greenwich to the Thames barrier a few years back, lots of pubs and constant changes between old & new stuff on the way. Nice little nature reserve half way. Walked part way back then got to boat the rest of the way. Loved it.

P.s. what you’ve said above sounds good, will give it a go next time.

Have stayed a few times and love it too. Last trip was bikepacking – flew to & stayed a night in Innsbruck then cycled over the Brenner pass and into the Dolomites. Loved every minute.

And it’s fixed 🙂

The problem? Wall switch was faulty.

However, now I know more about the fuse box I’m planning on getting the electricians back to upgrade that too.

Thanks for all the responses, I’m off to reset all the clocks that aren’t attached to the cooker (no, it still doesn’t have a clock), then out on the bike

Ah, if only it had a clock…….it’s a simple device this one, no clock

No fuse in the cooker from Amica’s online info. And no fuse where the wires enter at the back either.

Looks like it’s time for an electrician then.

Thanks for the replies folks

If by a fused spur you mean there should be a fused switch, then no there is no fuse for the switch. The only fuse is on the house fuse box.

No clock on our cooker, but the oven lights, fans, rings and ring lights all fail to operate.

Yep, old style ‘replace the wire’ type fuses for our fuse box (except the cooker one).

I’ve been looking for 29+ish tyres for days, 2 ordered, thank you

I’m pretty sure the shimano ones that require a spanner (same as used for external bottom brackets) around the outside will do this – you can get thin and thick too

Yep, ‘twas absolutely fine…the shape of the teeth on the chainring had me nervous, but ran as smooth as a very smooth thing, so all good.

Ok, looks like I’ll be the first then

Halo have a reasonable range of widths so might be worth a look. Personally I’d build a set for each bike, but I quite like building wheels…

P.s Halo Vapour 650b, 21 internal, sub 500gram, 64.99 are showing as in stock

Got a zitto (I think) 11-40 8 speed cassette, on a rigid bike, from SJS.

Fitted an old Deore rear mech, extender for mech, ancient stx shifter, new KS chain.

No problems so far – bike is rigid front & back.

Aluminium or magnesium pedals? They’ll be sticky if it’s cold.

Hiya – I’ve been the ‘delivery guy’ too & the conditions many of you work with are indeed poor. The problems I’ve experienced are mostly not due to delivery people, but due to the instructions and processes you have to follow. I’m polite and friendly to everyone too by the way.

Don’t think that would have worked, they’d probably have left it at Saruman’s house

Got one 🙂. They actually left the small package at the local post office as direction.

I won’t be getting the other though ☹️. The local Post Office tell me that they think the hatch size is too low for my wheel rim to fit. Parcel Force online accepted the redelivery, but don’t tell me there is a problem of course. Guess the only thing to do is wait for them to return to the supplier so I can have a refund.

Ah, DHL. Ordered a new phone. I asked if I could collect from the depot and was told no, the phone company insisted it had to be delivered to the home address.

It was delivered to….someone outside the house. I’ve no idea who it was, and nor did they as they’d subcontracted the delivery and the driver hadn’t been back to them since.

I’ve got one that we used to use for our lab, she was just under 25kg.

Happy to let it go for free if you are willing to collect from Swindon.

Folds when not in use. We also used it as a ‘crate’ for the dog when travelling too.

Let me know if you are interested.

GR70 in France (the ‘Stevenson’ route)- lovely touring route. Saw lots of donkeys. Snow, bikeparks, boggy bits of Scotland too. It/they’ve even commuted to work, which is around 18 miles each way on mixed surfaces.

Terrible here too on Android. I’ll pop back in a week or so to see if it’s sorted.

Just changed wheels & tyres on my t5.1 as the tyres we’re nearing replacement anyway. I’m not lowered and have gone with 17″ steels with Goodyear winter tyres which are 235s and load rated. Less than £900 from mrwinterwheels seemed fine to me when compared with the cost of alloys. First drive will be tomorrow night…..

I agonised for a year on this for my barn door t5. A trip to a trail centre, and the site of all the empty towbar racks jutting out into the car park from the backs of vans was enough to convince me that a Fiamma rack was better for my needs. 2 bike rack, fits 3″ tyres no problem as the rails are a new shape. Have to watch bike weight a little, but that’s it. No regrets.