Hunters European adventure

Update - we are in the south of France ... Staying at a campsite 'le Neptune' in Grau D' Agde ... There are about 200 pitches but you would hardly believe there are that many people here, good big pitches & well spaced out & good shade. Excellent pool to keep Ella busy & great cycle paths. We cycled to cap d'agde the day before yesterday & it took about 4 hours with stops & lunch etc. V safe paths for cycling on with a 5 year old. Enjoyed excellent meal of mussels last night at a little restaurant down at the front. Have also been enjoying the beautiful beach, it's 1.5km walk from the site. Moving on to Spain on Tuesday ... We can't believe that we are away 2weeks today ...

Any tips for managing the heat at night in the van - we were melting last night until about 2am.
We have all the internal blinds closed all day & the 2 skylights open & one fan on ... any other tips?

Thanks for that Fat Controller ...

Has anyone taken their campervan to portaventura theme park? Is it the same as Disneyland Paris & you pay a fee to use carpark?
We have bought 7 day ticket (we are roller coaster ride junkies!) & wondering re: parking ...
We can also take the bus from Pineda (the town/site we're staying in) but good to know all the options.

Just sitting relaxing & deciding to tell you one of our funny stories from the journey so far ... as Bryan has just reminded me it wasn't so funny at the time!
We were on route to Lyon & had stopped at one of the motorway aires for lunch. I got out first to drop our rubbish from along the journey into the bin, I had also lifted Ella's prescription sunglasses (£45 for a pair of child's sunglasses but essential purchase when you are going to be in the sun all summer & can't see without them!). By mistake I dropped the glasses into the bin with the rubbish. At first this doesn't sound so bad but when I lifted the lid of the bin up & looked at how deep it was I started to panic!! We're talking at least 7/8' deep & I am only 5'. The options started to run through my head -
A) climb down into the bin ... but how would they get me out!?!? & I really did NOT want to do that.
B) Bryan dangle me down in ... would he be able to hold my weight?!? & what if he dropped me head first into the bin.
C) ??? I had no other ideas!!
Just as I was about to really panic & shout for Bryan to come, I had the brainwave of getting him to bring the arm for rolling the awning in & out, I didn't know if it would work or not but at least I was providing a possible solution to the problem I had created.
He came over, I explained the problem & proposed solution (hook the glasses with the awning arm) but it was all picture & no sound ... need I say any more!
I could see people starting to look but Bryan was deep in concentration head first into the top of the bin!! I gestured to the man coming towards so that he didn't make a noise ... thankfully Bryan managed to hook them first time & bring them up the side of the bin. The whole episode was over in about 5 minutes, a lot quicker than initially expected!
Lesson learnt - I won't be putting the rubbish in the bins at the motorway aires - Bryan will!!

Yes, took a look online after I posted & that seems to be the just of it ... we might even Jo maxi it back & forward, see how we go!
I can PM you our mobile if she wants to meet up, we met with friends this evening who have a house in Agde & it was nice to hear a familiar voice!
Salou here we come in am!

Funny story number 2 - last night it was so hot we opened all the windows & pulled down the fly screens, it made an enormous difference & it made the temp much more comfortable. As usual we had the door locked from the inside by pulling the door handle up.
This morning we were going to stock up at Hyper U & get fuel & Bryan asked me about the location of the campervan keys ... we usually put them in the same place but they were not there ... who was the last person with them? Me of course!!
Now where would the last place the keys would be?? On the outside of the door of course! ie ALL night!
So as Bryan said tonight, last night he was lying in bed worrying about how easy it would be for someone to rip off a fly screen & get into the van when it was even easier than that ... all they had to do was turn the key!!

We have crossed over to the other side! We are in Spain ...
Observations so far -
A) far fewer motorhomes on the motorway
B) fewer aires/stops along the motorway
C) you drive much closer to the cities than our experiences driving on motorway in France
D) drivers not as good as in France ... Bryan was v impressed with the lane discipline in France, more 'hogging' of lanes here or maybe we just got them on a bad day!

Campsite v easy found, about 200 pitches in total, we have super shade from trees & it's 1/2 mile walk to the beach.
So far so good! Bryan in charge of the BBQ & I'm sorting the salad ... life is good

Thanks for all this info. it is better to be in the loop about things like this.
We are going to Barcelona zoo tomorrow on bus/train so we will be super aware of pick pockets there.

A new MH arrived at the site today & they have sides that zip around their awning making it into an extra room. We were v impressed with this & hope to find out more about it ... anyone else have one of these that can help keep us right?! Bryan & I have discussed it at length here this evening & there are positive & negative to having zip around sides. One of the negs being that's more to put away before you can drive off! LOL

My brother flies in tomorrow to Barcelona to spend the week with us, it will be his first time staying in our MH & I suppose our first time having guests! It will be interesting to see what he thinks of this lifestyle!

This is a great site, a v short walk to the beach (this pleases Ella that she doesn't have too far to walk). We were surprised at how quiet the beach was today, we were at the end near the oil refinery & dock area & enjoyed watching plenty of ships go in & out!

Fairy cafe highlight of the day for Ella!! Thanks for the heads up on that one. That's a real wee hidden gem in the middle of Barcelona.
Super day had by all, we're all exhausted! Night night

We have been chilling out for the past week at the beach & then the theme park (Portaventura) in the evenings.
There are far fewer MH in this part of the world & from what we see v few suitable parking spaces at the beaches etc.
We are at the much quieter end of things which we realise as we drive through Salou on the bus ... it is bedlam!!!
My brother is staying with us this week & it has been great for Ella to see her Uncle Paul
We drive back into France on Saturday ...

Packed up ready to move on. We have it all down to a fine art now!! Bryan has his jobs (mostly outside things) & I sort out inside the van. While all this is going on Ella sleeps! Bryan had a right job getting the pegs into the ground here & so of course it was a real handling getting them back out!! He practically had to dig them out ... lesson learnt - bring a hammer with a claw on it! Talking about things we needed to bring we are going to start a list of things to remember for next year ...
1) Superglue (don't ask!!) - Bryan says I have hams for hands & on average break one thing a day ...
2) hammer with a claw
3) cable ties - as my brother says, if you can't fix it with a cable tie it's not worth fixing!

Bidart here we come ... the satnav says 6 hrs ... big drive today after being bedded in at this campsite for 10 days ...
It will def. be a case of saying 'keep right' a few times!

We enjoyed 2 nights in Bidart & moved on today.
Bidart has great beaches with some super waves for surfing, we enjoyed watching the surfers yesterday.
Big 6 hour drive again today & we have arrived at Les Moutiers En Retz.
The last hour of our drive was through villages, we have been mostly driving on motorway so this was a lovely change.
It is about another 7 hours to Calais & we will head that way on Saturday.
Bryan turns 40 when we are at this site!... so will have to make a plan of what we are doing this Thursday to celebrate him being 40 years young
The BBQ is being lit as I type & the sun is shining, long may it last!

PS Mark we found a rubber mallet with a hook on the end in Super U this afternoon sorted!