Thursday, November 15, 2007

Vicarious Books New Folkestone Shop

No need to shop vicariously any more!

Due to popular demand and us out growing our current premises we decided to buy a shop in Folkestone. As so many campers use the Dover ferry's we could only be better located if we were in Dover. But we don't like Dover as much as Folkestone.

We believe this to be the only specilist motorhome, caravan and camping bookshop in the country.

We had to wait six weeks to get the broadband connected but we finally move in this weekend 20th November 2007. As you can see it was a paint shop and we have not changed the sign yet.

Tontine Street leads up from the old ferry terminal. Conveniently all the signs are still up for the ferry so it is dead easy to find. It has been a terribly run down street for many years but is under a huge revival. The chap that used to own SAGA (head office in Folkestone) decided to swap a load of property (rummer) with another Folkestone landlord. He has now set up the Cultural Foundation, which is centered on Tontine Street and the old High Street. He also owns what was the amusements on the sea front.

There is now a College a theater is being built and many of the shops are being rented to artists and other fluffy things. I think the vision it to make it trendy like Brighton. A second potential boom will come when the fast train line to London is operating in 2009.




Vicarious Books shop is opposite the Brewery Tap Inn a handsome building with a unique tile facade. There is also an empty plot next to it, that is kept as a war memorial, the building having been destroyed by a bomb. This building now belongs to the Cultural Foundation and is being re opened as a trendy Tapas Bar. Convenient as it is next door to the new theater under construction above.

So can you come and visit us? Yes from Monday though parking is not brilliant if you are bringing your motorhome or caravan. I think the easiest thing to do is park with the trucks on the old ferry port and walk the 300 yard to the shop. It is possible to to park on street and you would be advised to stop in the first space that is big enough.


Friday, November 17, 2006

2007 CamperStop Europe


The long awaited 2007 CamperStop is in production CamperStop Europe, Pre-order Now www.vicariousbooks.co.uk

The new edition is greatly improved, it has 800 more stopovers, now over 7000 are listed. The full colour, clearer layout is much easyer to use and the directions are supported by satnav, making every stopover easy to find. A small section for UK has been included, and this remains the best aires guide for English speakers. This guide is multilingual including English. Camper-stops are places exclusively for motorhomes encouraging stopping overnight, often for free. They are in Idyllic locations, nestled in quaint hamlets and in the suburbs of capital cities. Most have water, many have toilet dumps and some even have free electric. The icing on the cake is the GPS support, you will be able to download specific countries and upload them onto your satnav system. We were given a Garmin nuvi 350 loaded with the French aires and Dutch camper stops to trial and have found it to be excellent so far, it even has bus and truck modes so hopefully wont lead you up the garden path in your large motohome.

Probably the most useful feature is being able to zoom in to street level before you set off, making it much easier to decide if the camper stop looks like somewhere you want to stopover. This feature will also help owners of very large motorhomes and RV's as you will be able to decide if there are suitable roads to and from the camper-stop. We have met many users of the old CamperStop at the shows some swear by it others complain that the directions are inadequate. Interestingly I have looked at the Dutch only version of CamperStop 'Camper Guids' and the directions are the same, only in Dutch. We believe the new 2007 edition of CamperStop will continue to be the best available stopovers guide available to English only readers and the GPS support negates the worry of not finding your chosen stopover. We will be able to supply fully loaded Garmin nuvi 350's in a few weeks once all the camper-stops are charted. We also have a competitive price so that makes thing easy. We will keep you posted as things develop, I spoke with the author and publisher yesterday and she assured me it would be available in December.

http://www.vicariousbooks.co.uk/ Vicarious Books LLP are the UK distributor (trade enquiries are welcome).

Thursday, October 26, 2006

New stopover at Bury St Edmunds

Well done Bury St Edmunds, we are extremely pleased to let the motorhome community know about this wonderful resource. I have checked, overnight parking is permitted, as it does not say in the press release. Lets make the most of it, use it responsibly and hopefully councils throughout the country will take note.

26 October 2006
Providing the perfect parking place

It is now even easier for motorhome owners to enjoy the sights and sounds of Bury St Edmunds after specialist parking spaces were created in the heart of the historic market town.
St Edmundsbury Borough Council has created five spaces in the Ram Meadow car park which are entirely dedicated for motorhome use. The spaces, which are extra wide and long, have been specially marked out and are only a short walk from the town’s main tourist attractions, including Moyse’s Hall Museum, the award-winning Abbey Gardens and the newly completed tower of St Edmundsbury Cathedral. An all day stay is charged at £1.20, there are no height restrictions at the site and public toilets lie close-by.

Cllr Terry Clements, council Portfolio Holder for Transport, Planning and Leisure, said:
"St Edmundsbury has really gone the extra mile by providing these specialist spaces in the heart of the town centre to give visitors easy access to the sights and sounds of Bury St Edmunds. We are delighted to be able to offer dedicated parking for motor homes – which is fairly unique in the UK – and hope it will encourage even more tourists to visit the borough."
David Tofts, a member of the Camping and Caravan Club caught the motorhome bug earlier this year. He said:
"Motorhomes are becoming even more popular with more and more new registrations every year, but not all towns in this country welcome them. With height restrictions or a complete ban on motorhome parking at car parks, some towns actively discourage them."
Mr Tofts added:
"In France the opposite is true – with even the smallest towns providing good parking facilities for them. So I am very pleased that Bury has now joined the league of motorhome parking friendly towns. Well done Bury St Edmunds!"
St Edmundsbury is the first council in Suffolk to provide specialist motorhome spaces. For more information about the tourist attractions available in the borough, or for directions to Ram Meadow, visit www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk

Friday, August 18, 2006

Buying Your Dream Motorhome or Camper van (Made Simple)

Motorhomes & Camper Vans appeal in as many different ways as there are people wanting one, therefore no ‘one fits all ’option is possible. When the motorhome and situation are compatible they are an excellent tool, providing unrivalled freedom and excellent after purchase economy.

The following is a highly cut version of Chapter two of Go Motorthoming Europe. We do not intend it to be a complete guide, more an introduction.

Abridged from Chapter 2 of Go Motorhoming Europe - Buying Your Motorhome

Motorhome manufacturers offer over 1000 new models and there are over
50 years of earlier models to chose from. Whether you are one of the 8000
people a year who buy new or prefer second hand, the following information will help you think about the right questions.

Motorhome Classes A B C

Motorhomes are divided into three main categories, referred to as
classes A, B and C. Camper vans are B class motorhomes
Most motorhomes utilise an existing light commercial vehicle
engine and chassis. Commonly used are Fiat-Citreön-Peugeot,
Ducato-Relay-Boxer built in the same Sevel factory. Others
include Mercedes Sprinter, Iveco Daily, VW Transporter and
Renault Master. Some motorhomes have an AL-KO galvanised chassis.

A-Class
A class represents all motorhomes that are ‘coach shaped’ the smooth lined body added to a bare chassis cowl. A class motorhomes are prefered by people going full-timing, but are the most expencive motorhome class.
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B-Class
B Class these are panel vans (such as transit vans) fitted out as motorhomes.
These are also called day-vans and camper vans.

C-Class
C class refers to a chassis cab conversion with purpose built ‘caravan’
body attached.

Buying Considerations

Budget

Consider both the purchase price and running costs. As prices range from
£1,000 to over £1,000,000 it is easy to become carried away, and you will
probably find you need to spend more than you originally thought. Factor in
insurance, servicing and recovery charges as well as fuel economy.

Condition
Check the overall condition of the motorhome including; chassis/underneath, engine and mileage. Check the seals and trims on the outside for cracks, sun damage, knocks and scrapes. Inside the motorhome check carpets, cupboards, handles and upholstery, be aware of any personalisation. Damp is a problem in older motorhomes but less so in camper vans but must be checked for, thankfully except in extreem cases can normally be cured. Damp in motorhomes has a distinctive smell, mildew in cupboards is a sign but an inexpensive damp metre is worth having. Motorhome floors can de-laminate giving a bouncy feeling, again this can be cured. Wear and tear should be in line with the age of the motorhome. Ensure, by testing, that all gas/electricity parts are working. An older motorhome or campervan in excellent condition may be preferable to a younger one in poor condition.

Motorhome Living Accommodation
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The Compromise
Compromise is the only word that explains the situation. Thousands of
motorhome layouts have been designed and continue to evolve but there is
no easy way to squeeze a kitchen, bathroom, dining room, lounge and
bedrooms into a motorhome, so try not to be too ridged, as none of them will be perfect.

Bathroom - Commonly camper vans do not have a separate shower or a
toilet, those who can rough it will survive without, but in reality this is
inadequate if you are concidering European touring or non campsite based holidays.

Bedroom/sleeping - Poor sleep can be a big problem when away in your
motorhome, roughing it for a week can be fun, but after a month you may
not be laughing. Many people prefere a fixed or over cab bed, both are great but still have issues.

Kitchens - Can be cramped so ensure there is enough space to prepare a
meal, but as with bathrooms they only need to be just big enough.

The above are likely to be your first considerations when purchasing a motorhome and Go Motorhoming Europe unravels all these and many other considerations you need to know to ensure you buy a safe, legal, comfortable and manageable motorhome or camper van.

Wait a Moment What About Weight?
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Weight Explained
Maximum Technically Permissible Laden Mass (MTPLM)
Maximum Vehicle Weight, Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW), and
Maximum Technically Permissible Laden Mass (MTPLM) all refer
to the legal maximum loaded weight including all occupants of a
motorhome. Converters of motor caravans can have the vehicle weight
re-assigned both up and down. The MTPLM should not be confused
with the Gross Train Weight (GTW) a higher figure that specifies the
maximum combined weight of the motorhome when towing a trailer.

Payload
We cannot stress enough how important it is for you to understand payload, and we make reference to it throughout the book.
Payload refers to the leftover weight between an empty motorhome (as calculated by manufacturers) and fully loaded to its specified MTPLM. We believe the payload should be sufficient in normal use to prevent you exceeding the MTPLM.
Unfortunately this is not as straightforward as it seems as manufacturers include or exclude different items into the empty
weight that is known as Mass In Running Order (MIRO).

Mass In Running Order (MIRO)
MIRO refers to the entire manufactured weight of a motorhome and the equipment required to operate and in the case of motorhomes includes ‘essential habitation equipment ’.
Currently each manufacturer interprets the regulations differently. Therefore motorhomes bought before harmonization and then and subsequently second-hand may have different MIRO and payload calculations. (This is a big subject and is vital to understand. We have produced a detailed chart of 70 motorhomes out of the 1000+ 2005 & 2006 new motorhomes you could buy that will provide you with sufficient payload).

Axle weights
Axle weights may total more than the maximum vehicle weight
MTPLM as this allows for load variation. Motorhomes with 60%
overhang or longer increase the risk of exceeding rear axle weights.
The most likely thing to cause an overloaded rear axle is 2/300kg
of scooter and rack hanging off the back of a motorhome.
Axles are always numbered from front to rear 1-2 and 3 when a tag axle is present.
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Size Matters!

Wheelbase, Overhang and Clearance
Wheelbase is the distance between the centre point of the front and rear wheels of a motorhome. Overhang; the distance from the centre point on the rear wheel to the rear of the motorhome, ideally this should be less than 55 per cent of the wheelbase to allow for towbars or bike racks, however 60 per cent is the recognised maximum legal limit. We once measured a factory standard motorhome with a 71 per cent overhang.

Size (UK Maximums)
In the United Kingdom the maximum permissible size of a motorhome is 12 metres (39 ’4") long and 2.55 metres (8 ’4") wide.
Six metres is the benchmark between medium and large motorhomes. Campsites, road tolls, ferries, insurance and recovery
prices are normally fixed for motorhomes up to six metres.

The above section briefly explains some of the legal issues of buying and using a motorhome. Ignoring these points could lead to you not being recovered buy your breakdown company, not being covered by insurance if involved in an accident or traveling illegally and having to answer to the police.

Go Motorhoming Europe also reveals many other factors involved in buying a motorhome including: The availability of parts,
fuel – whether your motorhome should run on diesel, Petrol or LPG, Left or right hand motorhomes, accessories…

The conclusion
We said at the start that this is a highly cut version of chapter two of Go Motorhoming Europe. We are repeatedly thanked and told that reading Go Motorhoming Europe has completely made people re-think what motorhome they thought they wanted and that it will probably save them thousands of pounds and countless of hours of research. We expect you to go away and try to find the answers to your questions but remember Go Motorhoming Europe is the only complete guide to buying, using and enjoying your motorhome. The answers are in one convenient place and the choice is yours but for the sake of £9.99 there really is no choice.
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For more informatio follow this link:-
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Thursday, June 15, 2006

Camper Stop Aires Guides on Review

Camper-stop guides
The Contenders
CamperStop Europe
Bord Atlas 2006 Reise Mobil International
Le Guide Official 2006 Aires de Service Camping CarLe Guide National des Aires de Service Camping-cars

CamperStop Europe
CamperStop Europe has 6200 camper-stops in 14 countries. This guide provides text in four languages including English. Information is not limited just to camper-stops as valuable tourist information, including market days and local attractions is included.
Finding the desired camper-stop is easy as the maps have pictograms on them identifying what type of camper-stop, they are. The second option it to look at the index, which is divided into regions; each camper stop has a map reference.
The town titles in CamperStop Europe although in bold, can be hard to spot. Once you have familiarised yourself with the book it becomes simple to use. A simple users guide is also included when you buy your copy from Vicarious Books.
For Holland (179 listings), Belgium (183), Luxemburg (21), Portugal (143), Denmark (98), Switzerland (64) and Greece (37) the information is fantastic and invaluable detailing every style of camper-stop, from sani station, municipal to farm site. This excellent information continues for the 1642 entries for France, 1119 for Germany, and 889 for Italy. The information on Spain and Croatia is disappointing to dedicated camper-stop users, but this is because camping outside of campsites is illegal in Croatia and there are very few camper-stops in Spain, however plenty of motorhome suitable campsites are detailed instead.

Bord Atlas 2006 Reise Mobil International
Bord Atlas 2006 Reise Mobil International is very clearly laid out, each camper stop is clearly defined with title, GPS, and photo. It also boasts 29 countries. This publication is available in German only.
Although it looks fantastic when you flick through Bord Atlas it isn’t that user friendly. Camper-stops are indicated by dots on the maps so you have no idea what kind of camper-stop it is. All the camper-stops for a whole country are listed alphabetically so you have to keep searching backwards and forwards just to look at camper-stops in the same area. On a recent trip back from Germany I needed to find a camper-stop just before the German/Belgium boarder. Using the front maps I had to randomly search around 18 camper-stops. I was looking for a free night halt and I found several restaurant stops before I settled for Wiehl.
There is limited tourist information provided for each camper-stop. Dumping at a German Stelpllatz
Finally Bord Atlas promotes 3400 camper-stops in 29 countries. However it is primarily a guide for Austria and Germany, detailing around 2500 German camper-stop and 120 Austrian ones. The only other useful country is Poland, after that information is limited with only 283 listings for France and 202 for Italy. Some countries such as Finland and Portugal only have one or two listings.

Le Guide Official 2006 Aires de Service Camping Car
Le Guide Official 2006 Aires de Service Camping Car boasts 6500 camper-stops for Motorhomes in 9 countries, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Croatia, Greece and Switzerland. This guide is written in French.
Included with the aires guide is very good fold out map showing the location of the French aires this is easy to misplace and would render the guide useless. There are no maps for the other countries. The French camper-stops are also indexed at the front of Le Guide Official 2006 Aires de Service Camping Car detailing what kind of camper-stop they are and whether they are free. However the index has no page numbers, so you have to find the region. Unless you know where regions are, or the name of an exact town you need to refer to the map to find the camper-stop. The directions are generally good, but there is no GPS or photographs to help. A small amount of tourist information is provided. First timers will need to be careful, as many of the listings are campsites that do not necessarily offer any motorhome discount.
Outside of France the book becomes very disappointing. Most countries have very limited information, the exception being Italy. There are no maps but the country regions are clearly identified.
A small, but useful point should you need a repair or part is Le Guide Official 2006 Aires de Service Camping Car has many dealer adverts listing their addresses across France.
Le Guide Official 2006 Aires de Service Camping Car lists 1,732 aires in France, 517 stellplatz in Germany, 81 camper stops in Belgium, 1,268 Aree di sosta in Italy, 71 in Portugal and 106 in Switzerland. Also listed in France are 735 France Passion stops and 1,683 French campsites. Croatia and Spain only have campsites listed due to the lack of camper stops.

Le Guide National des Aires de Service Camping-cars
The 2006 edition has 1600 stops in France only. This comparison is made with the 2003 edition, as I am yet to find the 2006 edition for sale – everywhere has sold out! Le Guide National des Aires de Service Camping-cars is easy to use if you have a little French. The maps at the rear are colour-coded so you can identify which type of camper-stop they are. The camper-stops are also indexed by region. There is no tourist information in this guide and very few photographs. Le Guide National des Aires de Service Camping-cars has fewer entries for France than CamperStop Europe.

Overview
If you intend to travel to in The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Portugal, and Denmark CamperStop Europe offers the most information and ideal for new users of camper-stops. Although Le Guide Official 2006 Aires de Service Camping-Car looks better on paper for Greece and Switzerland, far more information is provided in CamperStop Europe. If you would like information in English CamperStop Europe is your only option.
However if you are heading to Germany, Austria, Hungary or Poland Bord Atlas offers the most information. If you need GPS then this guide is the only one offering this information at present.
For France Le Guide Official 2006 Aires de Service Camping-Car is a good choice but interestingly it only has 90 more camper-stops than CamperStop Europe. It does have significantly more listing for Italy.
As an overall guide to Europe, CamperStop Europe is more favourable than the two other Europe guides as it covers countries in better detail, and although it might lack a few listings for France, Germany and Austria it has plenty to keep the average motorhomer happy.

If anyone knows of any other camper-stop books please let us know so we can add them to the overview.


You can order CamperStop Europe From www.vicariousbooks.co.uk for £13.99 = P&P

Rasing Urgent Funds


Hymer Camp 4x4 for sale
Those of you that have been following our growing pains, will know we sold our Swift Sundance motor home to get Go Motorhoming the book and website published. Well growth and developement are hurting a little more and we now need to sell our Hymer motorcaravan. I can tell you this is not a happy disision as we particually like this motorhome, and were really looking forward to testing the 4x4 capability.
The advert is as follows;

Hymer Camp 55, Manufacturers special order 4X4, 2.5D, 1991, 72400 miles, awning, Excellent 740 kg payload with driver, fuel, water and gas accounted for. 5.53m 18’2” long, 2.95m 9’8” high, 2.24m 7’4” wide.
100l water, 10l hot water, roller blinds/fly screens, blown air heating, bike rack. Satellite dish.
Absolutely amazing condition with the best layout possible. 10 months mot and tax. Suitable for daily use Europe or overland tour. £9500, 07989 277873, 0131 208333 Minehead. www.go-motorhoming.co.uk Home page.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Importing a Motorhome Fun & Farce

Its funny how things workout. After what seems like an eternity, we finally took our first delivery of the Go Motorhoming Books. The excitement was heightened when our web designer gave me £10 for what was the first book sold. He had an advantage, as he had kindly allowed us to get the books delivered to his shop, as we were busy.

Writing and publishing a book is neither easy, nor cheap, and our Swift motorhome had to be sacrificed to pay for print and web design costs. Curiously when we advertised for free in the Motor Caravan magazine we had a poor response. We had about four enquires from the advert placed on UK Motorhomes.net. Perhaps being February March time had an effect, I guess this is a good time to buy a campervan for early bird buyers. In the end we sold our Swift motorhome to our web designer, who appears to have suddenly taken great interest in motorhoming since designing our website. Ironically as I knew would happen, we started getting plenty of calls from the adverts in the Motorhome Motorcaravan Monthly magazine, MMM, and its sister publication Which Motorhome.

So our web designer got a cheap motorhome and we were able to pay our bills. Having calculated what money we had left the search began for our next camper. Within four days, I am reminded regularly, I found our next camper a 1991 Hymer Camp 55. The thing that clinched it was it was 4x4 and probably now the only one in the UK. Two weeks later we collected our motorhome from Germany.

So how is it possible to find and negotiate importing a motorhome from Germany so Quickly? Simple, really, I searched the German equivalent of auto trader, http://www.mobile.de/. By chance the sellers were Palmowski Hymer main dealers who regularly advertise in the Motorhome Motorcaravan Monthly magazine. They have a policy of ensuring their campers are in the first couple of cheapest adverts. Certainly our Hymer seems to be a bit of a bargain and in very good condition.

The logistics of getting out to Germany took three days of research. Not only were we travelling from a difficult destination, Exmoor, we also wanted to spend as little as possible. So a complicated timetable of walk, bus, walk, train, tube, B&B, walk, train, plane, hire car and walk were carefully mapped. Amazingly it only cost £300 for both of us including ferry and all worked like clock. We arrived at our dealers at midday.

The first thing they said was ‘Who are you and what are you doing here?’ Not exactly the welcome we were looking for and we optimistically assume this was a joke lost in translation. It is always interesting seeing the camper van you have purchased blind for the first time. Thankfully it was in better condition than we thought, but being a 4x4 you do need a stepladder to get in. The German DVLA equivalent was closed so we would have to wait for the morning to start the importation process. So our first night was spent sleeping on the dealer forecourt (in the motorhome).

You do have to take your brave pills when importing a motorhome. We have done it before, arriving in Bremen at 5pm and being back in Kent at 5am. This time things weren’t so quick and we didn’t get away until 7pm the following day and had a hard drive to make our ferry. Although spending the night on the dealers forecourt is very unglamorous, we do recommend this as we discovered some problems, primarily with the water heater that needed to be resolved. Unfortunately we were at the dealers at their busiest time and it took to us prowling around like demented caged animals for it to get fixed.

So you would think that once in the UK things would go smoothly. The process of importing a motorhome from Europe is actually quite simple but is not necessarily that easy. Thankfully the motorhome sailed through its MOT. Having sent off documents to DVLA, after spending many hours cross referencing and double checking, we completed our drive extension to fit the motorhome. Our neighbours had been very interested in our recent activity but were very disappointed with the continental large white flower that now adorns the front of our property.

The DVLA in their wisdom posted back all the documents, this includes sufficient information to make a clone of me, a worrying thought (Very worrying, one of you is quite enough – Ed). The only problem was, one of the many boxes in the registration form lacked the registered keepers address and I had not made the cheque for the tax disk out for enough. You would have thought a phone call could have sorted this out, but I suspect its policy.

I had a little fun getting the number plates made, as you can if you ask, have in very small writing some words of wisdom printed along the bottom, normally reserved for ‘Dave’s Discount Motors’ or the equivalent. So one day, probably sooner rather than later, someone will buy a motor caravan from me, with the words Go Motorhoming on its plates. The reason for selling is I want to import a motorhome from either Belgium or Holland to see if that is more viable. (There is more information on importing on the forum www.go-motorhoming.co.uk/forum and full details are in the book www.go-motorhoming.co.uk/ordering.htm - Ed)

So there you have it an exciting week followed by our maiden motorhome voyage over the weekend on British number plates, I will try to get some romantic pictures of campers in their element on Exmoor, to brighten up this blog.

Happy motor caravaning
From the Go Motorhoming Authors

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Go Motorhoming Europe Intorduction

Welcome to the Go Motorhoming Blog.
www.go-motorhoming.co.uk
Two years ago, Somebody (who shall remain nameless) exclaimed ‘We should write a book about Motorhoming’. Nobody was particularly enthused with that idea saying ‘you’ll never do it’, but after a year of research and 50,000 words Nobody joined in too. So after two years of unbelievably hard work the book is written.
The W word turned out to be a bit of a shock, having taken very early retirement to go motorhoming throughout Europe.
Now if only it was all that simple! The final hurdle is yet to be jumped but the book arrived at the printers today, and hopefully will be ready for distribution mid June.

Why write a book in the first place (somebody still asks this question)? We decided to jump ship from very stressful jobs to go full time motorhoming; the final straw was an airport proposal bigger than Heathrow, which literally would have seen our house under the runway tarmac. We struggled to find accurate, reliable information from the simple: how will we find campsites? How do we do the washing? What bank account should we have? Who offers the right insurance? To the more complicated: Should we import a motorhome? What are Aires de service? Are we at risk from a gas attack? What happens if things go wrong?

Two years, two motorhomes, two tow cars and two trailers to tow them on is all it took to discover what we needed – not exactly a quick get away. Even after all the research full time motorhoming was a real eye opener. We quizzed everybody draining the Dutch, gathered from Germans, interrogated the Italians and bombarded Brits with all the information we had gleaned along the way.

Somebody thought writing a book would be quite easy, but it actually took a whole eighteen months of additional research; checking leads from other motorhomers, finding points of further information and asking questions in every direction. It’s true what they say ‘if you want to know a subject – write a book about it’.

Judging by the letters pages in magazines and the posts in forums this book is desperately needed. Not surprising when you consider a motorhome combines all the complications of a car and a house in one neat package, which can then transport itself to the furthest points of Europe and beyond. Go Motorhoming Europe answers all the questions involved in buying, using and enjoying your motorhome. Whether you intend to enjoy the most diverse country in Europe, the UK, or not take our word for it and go and explore Europe with all the knowledge you need to make your experience the best it can possibly be.

There are four contributors to the Go Motorhoming Book. Meli George and Chris Doree who do all the research, planning, writing and driving, fellow travellers are Somebody and Nobody. Nobody is responsible for failing to turn the gas off before we depart, failing to do the washing up, failing to secure fridge door and secure loose items. Somebody never empties the toilet, never remembers the shoes and mat outside, and never puts things away.

Please ask us questions either via our forum www.go-motorhoming.co.uk/forum or by more conventional methods www.go-motorhoming.co.uk/contact. We look forward to sending you books soon. www.go-motorhoming.co.uk home page