campervanliving

Whether you are an innie or an outie, there’s no doubt that this Brexit nonsense will have some kind of effect on your camping plans at some point. In reality it may not affect this summer that much but, depending on what our government (whatever or wherever that is right now) negotiates in the months and years to come it may have some long term resonance. This week we are concerned about the exchange rate for our forthcoming trip to Spain (we leave on Sunday) but that’s just about it. We still have to conform to the rules of the road, we still can enjoy the benefits of our reciprocal agreements with the EU and, hopefully, we will still be able to enjoy French and Spanish hospitality. So, in case you decide to head over to continental Europe (or Europe as it should probably henceforth be known), here are a few things to think about. What’s your pound worth? I checked the exchange rate on Thursday ahead of the referendum results. For my £500 of holiday money I would hav...

It’s that time again. I’m flapping like an old fishwife, trying to work out what to pack for our three week adventure in Northern Spain. We’re off in less than a fortnight so we’re getting close to the off. And that means we are getting close to packing time. This year I have given each of my family a box to fill with whatever they like. They can take millions of pairs of pants and no hats if they like or they can take 10 pairs of trousers and no socks. It’s up to them really. The reason for this is that I know my family like to overpack. They produce new outfits each day while I bum around in the same old pair of shorts for weeks on end. It’s happened before. They are crazed packers, fitting in as much as they could get away with. Until now there was no way of knowing if it would all fit in. The only way I’d know was when we’d get to the packing the van stage and we’d suddenly find that we’d run out of room very quickly and everyone would have to reconsider what they ta...

What does a camper van mean to you?  Good times? Camping? The open road? breaking down? A love affair? It was a simple question that I asked as many people as I could get hold of (including the good and great of the camper van scene as well as a few van owning 'slebs) when I was writing my new book 'The Camper Van Bible'. I wanted to find out what people thought of their vehicles and to look into the kind of relationships people have with them. I wondered if I'd get a load of hippy drippy stuff or something more pragmatic. In the end we got some sensible stuff but also some really emotional musings. Some people's connections with their vans run deep. Mostly though, the feeling was the same: camper vans make us feel free for a while. My favourite line, from Sarah Riley of Inspired Camping was this: "And just as we found we often had to fix it... it also ended up fixing us." So true. So let's hit the road. The quotes appear in full in T...

We are off on a big adventure to northern Spain this summer. It’s been 4 years since we ventured across the channel to mainland Europe and I, for one, can’t wait. It’s the promise of getting away from the PC and the DIY and the mortgage and all the everyday trappings that excites me most. We’ll have three weeks to meander around Spain and France doing the things that make us happy. We’ll camp, of course, but we’re also searching for good walking, surfing, wild swimming and snorkeling. We have a number of great books to guide us on our way, including one of the Wild Swim books and the latest guides to the aires of France and Spain from Vicarious book. Some of these are available on my website at martindorey.com , where you’ll find a hand-picked selection of camping and campervan books. These are books that inspire me, make me want to pull on my walking boots of strip off and dive into a rock pool. The Guyrope Gourmet  Let Josh Sutton transport you to a place where...