Always one of the most popular areas of the UK for holidays, it’s a great area to visit in the spring and early summer, when we were there. Our trip started with an overnight journey from the East Midlands to Exeter services on the M5, where we rested for a couple of hours and had an early breakfast.

As morning approached, we continued on down to Dartmoor, driving through Dartmoor National Park. This would normally be very scenic but was unfortunately very foggy on that particular morning. Continuing onwards (we had decided to start at the end and work our way back) we visited Tavistock and Truro, eventually ending up at Lizard, a rather grim and bleak settlement that shares a name with nearby Lizard Point, the most southerly point in mainland Great Britain.

Geographic features duly noted, we moved on again, heading towards Penzance. Our final stopping point was a parking area just outside Marazion, a fishing/tourist village that’s pretty empty out of season but quite attractive. The road runs alongside the sea at this point, meaning that we were parked directly by the beach – a stunning spot that is also directly opposite St Michael’s Mount, a historical castle in Mounts Bay to which one can walk at low tide.

The view from the side door of our van to St Michael's Mount

A closer view of St Michael's Mount

The next morning came and we trundled onwards towards Penzance, which is everything you’d expect a large town-cum-seaside resort to be. After investigating the town and slurping an ice cream, we headed inland a little along the B3311 in search of a Cornish pottery that doesn’t welcome visitors (don’t worry, we just drove by!). That done, we continued on our journey towards the resort town of St Ives, which is on the northern side of the Cornish peninsula.

Carn Pottery, Nancledra - visitors aren't welcome, artistic solitude required...

The ruins of an old Cornish tin mine, looming out of the fog

St Ives is picturesque, trendy, expensive and very busy in summer. However, we were there just before the season got going and it was pleasantly quiet – yet everything was open. The weather was doing a passable imitation of summer, so we enjoyed the blue skies, beach views and fresh air and just wandered around for a while, until it became time to think about going somewhere for the night.

St Ives was sunny and warm but the summer tourists hadn't arrived in great numbers yet - perfect!

Fancy a dip?

The Sloop Inn, St Ives

Due to other commitments, we had to cover a substantial distance that evening so that we were back where we needed to be – near Exeter – the next morning! Our eventual stopping place was in Bovey Tracey, as small town close to Newton Abbott.

Topsham Quay area

Next morning, it was back into Exeter, then onto Topsham, a small, picturesque place by the sea that’s close to the M5, just south of Exeter and has a huge antiques centre. That done, we headed to our first proper campsite of the trip, Wear Farm, near Teignmouth. An internet search will reveal plenty of reviews of this campsite – our experience was that it has a cracking location by the Teign and that the shower and toilet facilities in the main block (a bit of a walk) were dated but very clean and in excellent order. Access to the site is a little steep – no trouble in a motorhome but perhaps requiring care with a caravan. The campsite is away from nearby towns, so don’t imagine yourself walking out to pubs/shops in the evening – you can’t.

The view down to the river at Wear Farm Camping and Caravanning Site

The next morning, we left Wear Farm and started a leisurely amble along the south coast that took us into Dorset. One of the highlights of the day was the Donkey Sanctuary, at Sidmouth. This organisation both cares for the welfare of working donkeys – at seaside resorts, for example – and cares for abused and abandoned donkeys. It also does valuable educational work with children.

The Donkey Sanctuary has its headquarters, and visitors centre, at Sidmouth

They've even got the donkey equivalent of the Kilburn White Horse

We ended the day parked by the harbour in Bridport, Dorset. A pleasant fishing town with a tacky holiday park attached, it nonetheless provided us with some wholly-satisfactory fish and chips and a peaceful night.

Bridport Harbour

From Birdport we went on to Weymouth, to visit an exhibition, before moving on to Springfield Touring Park, a campsite at Corfe Mullen, near Wimborne (just to the north of Poole). Springfield Touring Park was very nice indeed, with immaculate modern facilities and well laid out pitches. It was almost a bit too posh for us, in our self-converted Transit…

The final two stops on our tour were Poole and Salisbury:

The Sunseeker Yachts factory at Poole - each of these is probably worth more than my house...

The Poole Arms, covered in the tiles that were once a local product

Salisbury Cathedral

Here’s a map of our route:

Doing this means booking your motorhome on a ferry (or Eurotunnel). Whichever option you choose, there are a number of things to remember when booking your ferry/train tickets. Here’s our five-second guide to booking ferry tickets for your motorhome:

1. Measure the total length and total height of your motorhome, in metres. Remember to include roof boxes, bicycle racks, etc.
2. Decide which ferry routes you are interested in.
3. Visit our ferry booking page to compare ferry prices or go direct to a ferry operator such as P&O Ferries, Norfolk Line or DFDS.
4. Book your ticket.
5. When checking in to the ferry port, remember to have your tickets/booking reference and passports to hand.

Finally, remember that you cannot use gas on board ferries or in the tunnel. Your motorhome’s gas supply must be turned off at the bottles before boarding. If you’re worried about the temperature inside your fridge, here are a few tips:

• If you’re only taking a short crossing (e.g. Dover-Calais or the tunnel), then don’t worry. Assuming it’s cold to start with, your fridge will easily stay cold during the crossing
• For longer crossings, consider putting some frozen ice packs or bottles of water/milk/fruit juice into the fridge before leaving home. Pre-chill the fridge at home on mains hookup if you can and make sure it’s running on 12V during the journey to the ferry port. You can also run it on gas while you are waiting to board, but make sure you turn off the gas before boarding. Above all, don’t open the fridge before boarding and it will stay suprisingly cold, even on an overnight crossing.
• If you need the fridge to stay constantly cold – because of storing medicines, for example – then contact the ferry company beforehand and ask if any mains hookup points are available on the vehicle decks. Some ferries do have a limited number of these available – some refrigerated lorries require them.

After leaving the M6 near Kendal, we headed along the A684 and then the B5284 towards Lake Windermere and Windermere itself. The lake is scenic to drive around, although both lake and local roads can be heavily congested with leisure traffic in summer. Windermere isn’t my favourite town – it is very touristy and, in season, very busy indeed.

Lake Windermere is long and narrow - it's often more convenient to use the car ferry to cross it than to drive around it. Here, we're waiting for the ferry, which is just approaching.

We decided to press on that night and followed the B roads that run up the western side of Lake Windermere until we reached Ambleside, where we managed to find a parking space for the night (albeit by a road). We ate at a nearby Chinese restaurant and, after a stroll around the town, called it a day. Ambleside is quite pleasant and makes a good base for a visit to the area.

Our first destination the next day was the Hardknott Pass. This is a very minor road that takes in some great scenery and fairly steep hills; the road is 1-in-3 in some places. To reach the pass from Ambleside, take the A593 out of town then turn off quite soon for Little Langdale. Keep following the road through Cockley Beck.

Hardknott Pass - going down ...

... and up again (beyond he parked cars)

The pass itself is home to the ruins of a Roman Fort – say what you like about the Romans, but they certainly knew how to build roads and forts and didn’t shy away from the huge effort that must have been required to build them in such inhospitable (but strategically important) locations.

Needless to say, the Hardknott Pass is not a route you would attempt in snow or icy conditions, nor in larger vehicles – it’s steep, narrow and has tight hairpin bends in places. Panel vans up to 3.5 tonnes should be fine, larger coachbuilts might find it stressful and anything over 3.5 tonnes would almost certainly be a bad idea, not least because of the difficulty of passing oncoming vehicles. There might be a 3.5t weight/6′6″ width restriction on the road anyway – I can’t remember.

Next stop was Ravensglass where we had a look at some of the narrow gauge steam trains in use on the Ravensglass and Eskdale Railway. We didn’t have time to ride the train on its 7 mile journey to Dalegarth, but it encompasses some of the most dramatic scenery in the Lake District, including some of England’s highest mountains – so well recommended, in good weather, at least. It also gives you a taste of the scenery that’s visible from Hardknott Pass, if you don’t fancy driving the road yourself.

The Ravensglass & Eskdale Railway - one of several narrow gauge steam engines in use on the line

One of the halts on the Ravensglass & Eskdale Railway - The Green

After leaving this area, we made our way down the A595 to Broughton-in-Furness and then onto the A593 to Hawkshead, our stopping place for the night. The A593 runs alongside Coniston Water for much of this stretch, making it a very attractive drive with some possible stopping places.

Hawkshead itself is a pleasant place to stay a night or to base yourself for a holiday in the Lake District. We stayed at the Hawkshead Croft campsite, which I’d recommend. Not only is it a good campsite, but it’s located right in the centre of Hawkshead, enabling you to walk to pubs, shops, etc – unlike so many campsites. As a result, we had a very pleasant evening in a local pub…

The next morning, we headed back towards Windermere and treated ourselves to a cruise on the lake, followed by lunch in a local pub (it was our wedding anniversary!). We then headed down to the southern end of the lake to the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway. It’s actually possible to link in a trip on this railway with a cruise on one of the lake’s steamers – the Lakeside terminus for the railway is right by the lake, from where it departs to Haverthwaite, which is a few miles to the south on the A590, near Newby Bridge.

Lake cruises are operated on an almost industrial scale on Lake Windermere. This is one of the smaller boats.

One of the steam engines in service on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway

We finished off the day by driving up the east side of Lake Windermere and on to Ullswater, where we spent our final night in an unrestricted private car park by the lake. (All council facilities have overnight parking bans, this private car park, for a lake steamer service, didn’t. Naturally, we did buy a parking ticket for the remaining chargeable hours that day.)

The location of this wondrous parking spot (which we shared with another motorhome) was Glenridding – the Glenridding Ullswater Ferry Landing. However, this was several years ago – I wouldn’t be surprised if overnight parking restrictions had been put into place by now…

Ullswater at twilight

I had never visited Ullswater before and it was one of the most breathakingly peaceful and tranquil places I’d ever seen (although surpassed last year by the Konigsee in southern Germany). This effect is helped by the fact that most of the land around Ullswater appears to be privately owned – resulting in limited access to the lake and very limited development around it. It’s a marked contrast to Windermere. The next morning, we took a small, self-drive hired motorboat out onto the lake to enjoy it a little more, just managing to avoid a torrential autumnal downpour, towards the end of the morning.

Cruising on Ullswater is a rather more elegant and small-scale affair than on Windermere

Ullswater isn't very busy - this is the view from our self-drive hire boat

That marked the end of our trip and we made our way home (in the rain), via an antique fair in Penrith.

There is a Lonely Planet Lake District guide book which covers the whole area. As with all Lonely Planet guide books this is very comprehensive:

Here’s a map of our route:

View Lake District 2006 in a larger map

Unlike England and Wales, Scotland has always offered campers and motorhomers the ‘right to camp wild’ – meaning that Scotland’s large expanses of beautiful countryside are far more open to motorhomers than similar areas in the rest of the UK.

Unfortunately, as is so often the case, the actions of the few look likely to ruin this privilege for the rest of us. According to this article in The Times,wild camping on Loch Lomond’s east shore looks likely to be banned by next Spring, thanks to people who leave “the remains of tents, burnt down trees, abandoned campfires and countless bags of rubbish” behind once they have finished camping in the area.

Hopefully this problem (and its remedies) will be restricted to this popular area of Scotland, not extended to apply to the much larger areas of rural Scotland that don’t routinely experience these problems.

All the Aires Benelux & Scandinavia

One of the greatest things about motorhome travel in Europe, for me, is the aires system.

Aires have different names in different countries, but the principle is always the same – approved overnight parking for motorhomes where you can cook and sleep. Some aires also provide service points (fresh water, waste water and toilet disposal) and some even provide electric hookup. Cost ranges from free to hourly pay-and-display parking, but it’s usually pretty affordable compared to a campsite.

In some countries, finding a suitable aire for the night is as easy as driving into a reasonable-sized town and following the signs – German stellplatze are particularly well signposted, for example. However, some of them can be much harder to find and having a comprehensive guide that allows you to plan overnight stopping places is very useful.

France and Germany, again, are very well organised in this regard. Both countries have established books that are the definitive guides for each country – in Germany it’s the Reisemobil Bordatlas, which I have used and which is comprehensive and excellent. It is in German, but the minimal translation required is fairly easy to work out.

All the Aires Spain & Portugal

For other countries in Europe, the leading English-language publisher of aires guides seems to be Vicarious Books. I have two of its guides:

• All the Aires Spain and Portugal
• All the Aires Benelux and Scandinavia

In 2009, I toured Spain and Portgual for a month and used the Spain and Portugal guide most nights. Some nights, we wild camped, but we didn’t need to use a campsite once – we always managed to find a suitable aire whenever we needed to service our motorhome.

In addition, many of the aires are in great locations – either very rural or centrally located in pleasant towns and even cities. One particularly memorable location was in the Spanish city of León, less than 15 minutes walk from the city centre.

The guides themselves contain details of aires around each of the countries covered. All aires have been inspected and include photographs, directions and GPS coordinates, as well as a comprehensive guide to the facilities that are available. Having multiple photographs of each location is especially valuable – you know what it’s going to be like before you get there, unlike some of the other guides on the market.

In our experience, the descriptions of the aires are accurate and reliable and the additional background information included in each guide is also very useful. This tends to include information about the types of service points found in each country, codes of conduct, driving information and various other useful topics. A guide to LPG filling stations is also included – useful for those with refillable gas cylinders.

Vicarious Books also publishes a number of other guides that I haven’t used, including an English-language guide to French aires, unsurprisingly called All the Aires France. Unlike the popular French guide, this is in English and only lists true Aires de Camping Car – not other motorhome stops, such as France Passion locations and municipal campsites. From what I’ve heard, people seem to be divided over whether this, or the French Le Guide Officiel Aires de Services Camping Cars is the best bet for French aires. I’m planning a trip to France later this year and will purchase one or both of these books – I’ll let you know what I find.

Most Vicarious Books publications are only available direct from the company’s website – visit www.vicariousbooks.co.uk to learn more. A preview facility is available allowing to you see a few pages of each book before you order – very useful.

However, there’s always someone who has to go that one stage further – and it’s no surprise that they come from the land of unlimited autobahns, BMW, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz! In this case the culprit is a tuning company called Goldschmitt, which has taken a standard Hymer Car motorhome and turned it into a bona fide, Guinness World Record holding speedster.

The Goldschmitt-tuned Hymer Car

The Hymer smashed the previous 191km/h record with an official measured speed of 207km/h, placing it firmly into the Guinness Book of Records. Heinrich Bloemer, the Goldschmitt engineer responsible for the project, was keen to stress that the van was a standard 2.3-litre diesel Fiat Ducato model, not the more powerful 3-litre upgrade.

Bloemer said that “It would have been far simpler if we had taken the 3-litre version of the Fiat Ducato. But we wanted to show that the Ducato engine of lower cubic capacity has an enormous power reserve and is still very economical despite the present high output of about 200 hp”.

The magic ingredient, it seems, was gas, which is somehow mixed with standard diesel fuel to create a massive power boost – a Goldschmitt speciality. This van has ‘about’ 200hp – considerably more than the 130hp or so that the standard model puts out. There were a few other modifications, too – flush fitting windows and some underfloor aerodynamics were added to help airflow over the van.

Goldschmitt isn’t planning to rest on its laurels; the next challenge for this Hymer is to break 230km/h within 1000m from a standing start. The idea is to commemorate Goldschmitt’s 30th year in business (hence 230km/h) with the record attempt, which is planned for this spring.

In wonder if it’s road legal? I’d pay a lot of money to see the look on the Porsche drivers’ faces when you eased up behind them on the autobahn at 100mph…

Note: Record-breaking motorhomes aren’t new – over in the US, the GMC motorhome is a favourite with tuners and is in fact one of the previous holders of the title ‘World’s Fastest Motorhome’.

I hopped over to The AA’s website and found that it is running a winter offer, with “up to 42% off”. I was very happy to be offered Roadside, Relay and Home Start cover for my campervan for just £99. Although there are cheaper breakdown services around, I like The AA and it claims to fix more breakdowns at the roadside than any other organisation – which alone is a good advert for their patrols.

As we’re talking about motorhomes, I should mention the size restrictions that apply to AA’s standard UK breakdown cover. At the time of writing, based on my policy documents (please check for yourself before purchasing), the only restrictions seem to be:

• Up to 3.5 tonnes
• Maximum vehicle width 2.3m (7′ 6″)

Motorhomes are acceptable as long as they fall within these measurements – which basically means that any 3.5t panel van conversion and some coachbuilts can use this service.

European Breakdown Cover

While we’re on the subject of breakdown cover, I should mention the AA’s European Breakdown service. I have had cause to use this, once in the event of an accident abroad, and (in my personal experience) it is a truly excellent service. Needless to say, I remain an AA European Breakdown customer.

The operations end of the service is run from an office in Lyons, France (I believe), completely separately from the UK breakdown operation. The operations staff all speak English and usually several other European languages. They are very helpful, fairly flexible and pretty reliable.

The AA also seems to running an offer on European Breakdown at present – up to 30% off, according to The AA’s website – so if you are planning to go abroad soon, it might be worth getting a quote for this service. Campervans/motorhomes are covered as long as they fall within the following restrictions (valid at time of writing, please check for yourself):

• Maximum weight of 3.5 tonnes
• Maximum length 7 metres
• Maximum width 2.3 metres
• Maximum height 3 metres

The vast majority of Europe is covered, including almost all of Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Highly recommended.

The new Renault Master - UK launch 9th April 2010

The new Renault Master van will be launched in the UK on April 9th. Renault has just published the specifications and price lists for its new van – so naturally, I had a look to see how it shapes up from a motorhome base vehicle perspective.

FWD, RWD, 4 Lengths & Up To 4.5 Tonnes!

The new Master will eventually be available in no fewer than 350 versions, including both panel van, chassis cab, crew cab and minibus variants.

The panel van will be available in 4 lengths, two roof heights and in both front and rear-wheel drive, with gross weights from 2.8 tonnes to 4.5 tonnes. Rear-wheel drive models have twin rear wheels and a differential lock is available as an option – ideal for poor surfaces.

The dimensions are very similar to those of the Mercedes Sprinter and Ford Transit range – the longest model is just under 7m and boasts an impressive 4.3m internal load length. The internal width is 1765mm – similar to the Sprinter and Transit but 10.5cm less than the Fiat Ducato. This extra width is one of the reasons the Ducato is by far the most commonly-used van for panel van conversions – it makes transverse beds more of a realistic proposition and gives more layout options than narrower vans.

All models of the new Master will use the same 2.3 litre dCi diesel engine, which comes in three versions – 100, 125 and 150hp. Although one engine for all models seems restrictive, in practice, there should be an engine option that’s suitable for everyone, I think.

Inside The Cab

As you might expect from a new model, the cab of the new Renault Master is well specified and aimed at the needs of working van drivers.

The dashboard of the new Renault Master van

This means lots of creature comforts, including built-in sat nav and air con on many models, as well as clever storage and office features – including storage for large items below the twin passenger seat and a clever arrangement where the centre passenger seat folds forward to become a desk-cum-drink holder – ideal for motorhome use if you can live without a swivel passenger seat.

The central passenger seat folds forward into a desk - great for in-cab lunches or maps and laptops

Will Motorhome Converters Switch To The New Master?

When I saw switch, I mean switch from the Fiat Ducato chassis cab. The answer, of course, is no. Fiat has tailored its offering to the motorhome converter market and offers the widest and (I think) lowest chassis cab platform for motorhome converters building coachbuilt motorhomes – the majority of the motorhome market. The Ducato panel van is still the widest on the market, too, offering the layout advantages I mentioned earlier.

Cost, too, is an issue. Ducatos are reputed to be far cheaper (at trade prices) than anything else on the market. Even at current UK list prices, Ducato panel van prices start from £17,415 +VAT while launch prices for the new Master will start from £20,795 – quite a big difference.

Finally, Fiat’s Camper Assist service provides breakdown cover across most of Europe, tailored to the needs of motorhomes. No other manufacturer has a service like this that can easily be packaged with every Fiat-based motorhome.

However, there are always a minority of models built onto different base vehicles and the Renault Master has always had a share of this section of the market, along with the Transit and the Sprinter. I can certainly see a niche for the new Master as a platform for large, 4-6 berth family coachbuilts. A 4.5 tonne, rear-wheel drive chassis cab ought to allow for greater payloads, better weight distribution and better driving characteristics than a front-wheel drive 4-tonne Ducato, rather as the 5-tonne Sprinter does at present.

Will It Fall Apart?

Despite the slightly flakey reputation of Renault cars, previous generations of the Renault Master have enjoyed fairly decent reputations for build quality and reliability. It will be interesting to see how this model fares – and how it drives, compared to others on the market.

Would I Buy One For My Next Motorhome Conversion?

It’s too early to say what kind of reputation this van will gain for itself, but at first glance, if I was planning another panel van conversion, then my base vehicle shortlist would probably include the new Master. I really like the idea of a rear-wheel drive van with diff lock as a compromise between a front-wheel drive van and a 4×4 van. The extra traction and stability of this setup could be an asset for unsurfaced roads, snow and ice and muddy campsites (especally if combined with winter tyres). I don’t think Ford or Mercedes offer a locking diff, although both offer four-wheel drive versions of their vans.

The ebook comes on a professionally-produced CDROM in a hard case and takes the form of a 58-page PDF document, divided into a number of logical chapters that cover all aspects of a self-build van conversion. The main part of the ebook deals with the practicalities of the conversion and is very good, with clear explanations and a good number of photos and plans (click here for some examples). It’s divided into logical sections, such as “Fitting Windows and Roof Vents”, each of which would serve as a good reference for anyone planning their own conversion.

The book notes, as should any prospective self-builder, that tasks are not completed in the order of the chapters. Some tasks must be partially completed before others and then finally completed at a later stage. For anyone who has carried out even a simple conversion, this will be obvious – but the book makes this clear and explains why this is necessary.

The book stays away from much technical discussion about base vehicles – the authors, by their own admission, are “not mechanically minded” and as current van models change so regularly and second-hand van choices vary so widely, their decision not to get bogged down in considering the pros and cons of different vehicles was probably a good one.

This book is not a manual which you could follow step-by-step to convert your own van – it does, however, contain most of the information you would need to develop and execute a full conversion. As such, it’s excellent value for money at £10.99 and I would recommend it to anyone planning a conversion or simply interested in understanding how motorhomes can be constructed. The Paddisons take plenty of time to explain the reasoning behind their design decisions and the alternative choices they might have made, leaving you with a good understanding of the whole design.

Convert A Van To A Motorcaravan comes in CDROM format and can be purchased directly from Impart Publishing. Visit www.impartpublishing.co.uk/motorcaravan/ for more details or to order a copy.

Apparently, the current ship, the Pride of Bilbao, is reaching the end of its charter and as the service loses money, P&O can’t justify the cost of building a new ship and have not been able to find a suitable replacement to charter. P&O say that passengers with bookings up to and including the 27th September will not be affected by the change. Passengers with bookings after this date will be contacted by the company for “alternative arrangements or refunds”.

P&O Ferries chief executive Helen Deeble said: “We have examined every option very carefully and have been trying for more than three years to find a suitable replacement ship in order to continue the service profitably. The Pride of Bilbao has served us well but is now an old ship nearing the end of her commercial life and needs to be replaced.

“However, we have reached the sad conclusion that such a replacement vessel is not currently available and as this loss-making route is unable to fund the cost of a new purpose-built ship we have no alternative other than to close it.”

From a practical point of view it shouldn’t make much difference to motorhome travellers – assuming Brittany Ferries’ Santander service keeps running, it will still be possible to get a ferry to the north coast of Spain from both Plymouth and Portsmouth.