VAN LIFE

On one of our trips in Canada we met a fellow motorcycle traveler who just came back from a month in Europe in a camper van. He said it was fun and easy and would do it again. Ever since then it’s been in the back of our mind to try it out and this was our chance.

We did some research and decided to rent a camper van from Indie Campers. They rent campers worldwide and seem to be a reliable outfit. We ended up booking a Fiat based van for two weeks.

We learned that van camping is HUGE in Europe. We saw these type of campers everywhere and there were plenty of places to camp. Almost all of the small towns had a free public campground somewhere on the edge of town. There are also nearly unlimited free places to just park and camp. It seemed like nobody cared if you found a nice place and just set up camp. It was also recommended that I use the app Park4Night

We lucked out the first night and found a totally remote place on the top of a small mountain to just pull over. We had a beautiful view and a great sunset.

In the morning we explored a little and came across this sign.

In 1966 the movie The Good the Bad and the Ugly was filmed here. (Literally the sign says the Good, the Ugly and the Bad. I guess that sounds better in Spanish) There is a famous scene at the end in a cemetery. In the valley beyond the sign is that place.

We had to go down and take a look, our campsite was on top of the ridge to the right. Here is the famous scene on YouTube

We learned wine was plentiful and inexpensive. The stores were well stocked, here most bottles are less than $10.

We saw a number of these things, outdoor laundromats that were usually at grocery stores. We made a mental note should we have the need to do laundry while shopping.

On the motorcycles this was our typical way of doing laundry.

One of the main goals of the trip was to visit Deby’s friend Emily who lives in Monpazier, Dordogne, France. A small “Bastide” town with a population of 520. The following is from a visitor website:

Monpazier is a simply stunning town, founded in 1284 by Edward 1 of England. its medieval centre is preserved almost completely intact, and it is quite possibly the best of all the bastide towns to visit and recapture life 600 years ago. The arcades around the edge of the square are still present, as is the market hall (complete with weighing and measuring apparatus!). Unmissable. Monpazier is listed as ‘one of the most beautiful villages in France‘.

Emily shared her address which I dutifully entered into Google Maps. We arrived at the village in mid afternoon and I should have suspected something when the GPS told us to drive through this gate:

Yes, not a good idea with the relatively large camper van. We went a few blocks into the historic city when the road finally became too narrow to pass. We called Emily and she stepped out of her shop only a half block away and waved to us. She explained it would be better to park at the free community camping spot just outside the wall. Hmm, good idea, should have thought of that first. It took some careful maneuvering with Deby and Emily watching me make a U-turn backing into an even narrower ally. We managed without causing any damage to us, the buildings, other vehicles or passing cats. Of which, there were many. Soon we were settled in at a great grassy spot just steps away from the wall.

It wasn’t long before we had “camp” setup and invited Emily to join us for French wine, bread and cheese. It was great to see Emily again and check out her little shop in town. I highly recommend a visit.

We had only a few other fellow campers. This campground was typical of the many we stayed at outside of villages.

We spent a few days with Emily and she took us on a small tour to a nearby Chateau, the Chateau-beynac. The following is from the website: https://chateau-beynac.com/histoire/?lang=en.

Actually, an awesome place up on a hill with beautiful views and full of history.

We left Emily’s place and headed towards a place she recommended we visit, the Château de Rocamadour. Another amazing Chateau. We camped a few blocks away at another city campground and spent most of a day exploring. Wayyy too much history to get into here but you can read about it HERE.

Maybe this one picture sums it up, a huge structure built into the side of a mountain hanging on the rock wall.

Ok, then we heard about yet another amazing place, the  Gouffre of Padirac. A giant hole in the ground that leads to a huge expanse of caves. Ok, you know we had to go there. The tour starts by descending down these steps.

And getting on these boats through underground rivers

Here is a 44 second video from their website, much better than my pictures.

So we wandered aimlessly through France, into Andorra and back into Spain making our way back to Madrid.

The camping spots were all different, some we established campgrounds that charged about $25 per night. We stayed at a few of those because they usually had showers and laundry facilities. At one particular campground in Andorra we came back from a walk to find a flat tire on the van. Huh?

I had air when we parked and now it looked like we ran over an old tent stake while maneuvering into our camp spot. I guess that is a reasonable campground hazard.

We sat in our camp chairs and looked at the wheel trying to decide what to do. I suppose I could have called someone, contacted the camper van company, walked into town and looked for a tire store. Nope…. time to get out the motorcycle flat repair kit.

It took awhile to find the jack hidden under the passenger seat and concoct a way to loosen the lug nuts without breaking them using the flimsy lug wrench but with the help of some blocks of wood and a big rock we broke the lugs loose. (I wish I had a picture of that)

It didn’t take too long to get a suitable plug into the tire and fill it with air using my handy mini air compressor. It seemed to work quite well.

I know you are not supposed to plug sidewalls and this repair was perilously close to that so I decided to use the spare and keep the plugged tire as a backup.

All in a day’s work….

Andorra was a really cool place. Andorra is the sixth-smallest state in Europe, with an area of 181 square miles and a population of approximately 79,034 people. The main industry is tourism, it’s mostly a big ski resort in the Pyrenees mountains. We went to this tourist attraction, the Tibetan bridge at Canillo. We arrived early enough that we were one of the first to cross.

That was pretty easy, but on the way back the bus loads of tourists had started to arrive and the bridge was getting full of people. With all the weight it started swaying which was fun although slightly unsettling. We had to hold onto the railing to keep our footing. We saw some people getting visibly ill. I guess it’s not for everyone. We loved it.

We did more camping and hiking and generally being our nomadic selves.

Stayed off the beaten path and away from the tourist busses for sure. These shots were of a hike near Olvena, Spain.

Our final night in the van we returned to the camp spot above the cemetery for the Good the Bad and the Ugly because it was only a short freeway drive back to Madrid to return the van. As expected there was absolutely nobody around and we parked in the same spot.

In all, we were in Spain and France for almost exactly one month. The weather was nearly perfect most days and we loved exploring the backroads and small villages on the motorcycles and van. I’m pretty sure we’ll be back!

We’ve been getting ready for another big trip and I plan on doing regular blog updates along the way. As part of that I’ve been organizing this blog better and doing some summary posts to catch up from over the summer.

I’m super excited to put together the next post about our 600 mile trip in Canada on our Honda Trail 125s.

We verified the famous quote: “It’s more fun to go fast on a slow bike than it is to go slow on a fast bike”

Thanks for following, more to come.

Donn and Deby