davidmcclean

[davidmcclean]

Newtownabbey to Stroove via Ardboe.

On Monday, on the way to Ardboe, we called in at a small private museum just north of Belfast in Ballyclare. Ann had been looking for somewhere to donate her father’s WW2 uniform from when he was in the Fleet Air Arm based in Scapa Flow. Frank was an Leading Air Mechanic on aircraft carriers in the North Atlantic.

Unfortunately the big museums were not interested as they already had plenty of uniforms, but Facebook turned up War Years Remembered, which hadn’t long been open and was definitely interested, especially with the back story. The museum is owned and run by David McCallion, and he gave us a three hour tour!

The museum naturally concentrates on the Irish contributions (or otherwise) to the major wars of the last hundred years or so, but from a totally non partisan viewpoint. Being ex British Army has has had his fair share of abuse and threats from the Republicans, but still carried on with the belief that Irish history has been totally distorted by both sides. He is now in demand by schools, film companies, and even gives talks to ex paramilitary organisations who now want to know the truth rather than the propaganda.He is a fascinating character, and can talk the hind legs off a donkey. I should also point out that he is very keen to illustrate the work done by women in war years.

Some of his exhibits are priceless, but uninsurable, and every single one is original and researched in great detail. If you are ever this way you must go and see it.

Our stop for the night was on the West shore of Lough Neagh at a pub called The Battery Bar. There was a small marina and a lifeboat station, and a chinese takeaway. On the road down from Coagh, the lamp posts were decorated with red and white flags that had the red hand in the middle. I initially took this to mean a Unionist/Loyalist area, but the road signs were in Gaelic and Engish. It turns out that this was a great Gaelic Football area, and the flags were out to support the Ulster team playing Dublin in a final (Ulster lost!). 

However, we were warmly welcomed at the pub, the Guinness was awesome, and the Chinese very tasty. 

[davidmcclean]

Ireland trip - the first few days.

It didn’t start a well as hoped. We were due to catch the Irish Ferries Swift service at 1100 on Saturday from Holyhead to Dublin, but had an email on Friday night to say that adverse conditions in the Irish Sea meant the cancellation of this service. We were however offered automatic inclusion on the  1410, which we accepted.

Unfortunately the 1410 service turned out to be a normal plodding ferry, so the journey was three and a half hours instead of two!. Still, I have to say that the ferry was smooth, clean, and very well run. We ate on board because the food looked reasonably price and good to look at - which it was, about the level of a country pub in UK. 

The delay meant that we had to go directly to our first (unbooked) stop at Carlingford Marina, rather than meander north and looking at the site of the Battle of the Boyne (just to see what all the fuss was about). Carlingford is a small town just south of Newry (ask Keith!) just on the Eire side of the border, and I found out later is the Stag and Hen party capital of Ireland!. By the time we got there the Marina was almost full, but luckily we found a space right up by the Marina office, with easy access to the shower block. However it was secure, and cheap at E10 for the night. The views over the Lough we really nice, but the misty rain took all the detail out.

Next morning we headed to Belfast to see the Titanic experience. This is really impressive, albeit expensive - and guess what? I turned 65 that day and forgot to buy pensioner tickets! I won’t make that mistake again. There is no point in me describing the experience as it is so well documented elsewhere, but it is definitely a must see if you are over this way. As Bunty (our motorhome) couldn’t get into the underground carpark we park only a few yard away by the Cast and Crew Diner, and had an excellent lunch there of Irish stew (for Ann) and a chilli dog for me, all well priced and tasty.

The stop for Sunday night was on the north shore of Belfast Lough at the Loughshore Park Caravan site. This is Council run, and exactly what Councils in  the rest of the UK should be doing to encourage tourism. The whole site is autonomous - you prebook and are emailed an access code for entry to the secure site which is relevant only to yourselves - at 1200 the next day it is invalid. Hence no reception (but there is a manned telephone service).The views over the lough, with the H&W giant cranes in the distance and ferries steaming by, were excellent but again diminished by the soft rain. Also, the site is just off the main Larne to Belfast road, so by five o’clock in the morning the lorries were thundering by in convoy. Good job I’m used to rising early. 

Monday morning, and the rain has stopped for a while, so an al fresco breakfast on our BBQ of bacon and fried eggs on brioche buns - delicious!

[davidmcclean]

The Titanic Experience building

[davidmcclean]

Bunty Burstner

I thought I’d give you an update on what we have done with Bunty, our motorhome, since we bought her in June 2017, and where we intend to travel with her in the near future.

As you may know, we didn’t actually intend to buy a motor home until 2018 (we had already booked our RV trip around British Columbia), but it was too good an opportunity to miss. Although it was a 2005 model Burstner A530 it had only done 20,000 miles, and had elderly owners who had looked after it.

Actually, that wasn’t strictly true - on their last trip out (about a year before) they had smacked the passenger side mirror on something which shattered the glass and put a small dent in the passenger door. The glass was easily replaced, however, and the small grazes down the near side were not glaringly obvious, and the biggest of them has been successfully covered by a sticker. Other faults we noticed before purchase were that the timing belt had never been changed (it should be every 70,000 miles or seven years), and the leisure battery appeared to be very dead - not unexpected with the little use it had had, so negotiations brought the price down accordingly.

However, it had a brand new MOT with no advisories (and records showed it had never had an advisory). The previous owners had also removed the oven, but that wasn’t a problem as we didn’t expect to need an oven, and a lot of kitchen work space had been freed up without it.

Other faults we found that we didn’t pick up before purchase were a gas hob burner that was blocked (the other two were OK) and that the tyres were the originals and should be changed every ten years or so. I fixed the burner myself, but it was one hell of a job and somebody had had a go before me and stripped the screw heads.

Since then we have:

Had Bunty serviced and the timing belt changed

Fitted a new leisure battery when the original eventually gave up. It was working fine when Bunty was connected to the mains, but had no ability to cope with off grid camping.

Installed air assist rear suspension (which not only improved the ride but upped our MGW (the maximum weight that Bunty could be) from 3.2 tonnes to 3.45 tonnes - an increase of 250 Kgs. Our V5 and weight plate now reflect this. Believe me, an extra 250 Kgs payload in a motor home is a very big deal.

Installed a remotely refillable LPG gas bottle, which means we are now free from very expensive Calor Gas bottles and can fill up at any garage selling LPG at a pump for about a quarter of the price.

Used the now spare oven outlet on the gas manifold to install an outside BBQ point - this works really well.

Fitted a Mifi. This basically acts as a hub or router for all our phone and computer internet connections and puts them through a 4G data sim. It has so far (after a few teething problems) worked well, and it also has a signal booster that we haven’t needed yet.

Fitted a 1000 watt inverter. This takes power from the leisure battery and converts it to 240v, and is OK for a small microwave oven or Ann’s travel hair dryer. However the computers don’t like it, so we have had to find alternative means of charging the laptops when off grid.

Installed an electric extending/retracting step to help Ann get up into the cab, as she was finding the step up a bit too high.

Finally I designed and built my own solar power system. This is a 100w flexible solar panel that I have mounted on a framework made from 40mm household waste piping, put two strong marine suction pads on velcro straps to stick the top of the frame to Bunty’s side, and two moveable legs with marine suction pads on the bottom of the frame to stick the panel to Bunty at whatever angle to the sun I want. The panel is easily moved to whichever side of Bunty the sun is pointing at, and the whole thing is incredibly light. The power from the panel connects to the van through a waterproof car cigarette lighter on the sidewall, and hence up to the controller and on to the battery. 

So, where are we going to go with Bunty? Obviously we have already been out several times in her, but the first really big trip is in September for three weeks. We originally had planned a trip to the south of France and follow the Pyrenees from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, but our research showed that the length of time just getting there and back wouldn’t leave sufficient time to do all we wanted in the Pyrenees. Of course, we could just drive through the night to get down there, but that’s not the way we want to do it. It’s certainly still on our to do list.

Now we are going to spend that three weeks going around Ireland instead. We’ll take the high speed ferry from Holyhead to Dublin, head up the east coast to Northern Ireland and on to Donegal and all points southwards. Naturally, I’ll do a blog on the journey.

[davidmcclean]

RVing in BC - tips and hints.

If you are contemplating a similar type of journey, here are a few thoughts and tips I have picked up on the way;

THE RV

The one we chose was big. Our thinking was that it had to cope with four for the first week, and Ann and I wanted an island bed so we didn’t have to crawl over each other for a loo visit during the night. That left two single overcab beds for Andrew and Rhys. Rhys was fine, but I don’t think Andrew was too comfortable. The overcab beds are best left for kids.

The RV had a slideout which moved the dinette seats and table out by 2 feet or so and created a load more space inside. This was most welcome when four were aboard. However, for two the van was a bit bigger than necessary.

These beasts have huge V10 petrol engines, which makes them superb long distance chuggers. The consequence is having a $150 fuel bill every refill. Canadians pay the same in dollars as we pay in Pounds which means at current exchange rates fuel is about one third cheaper. As you would imagine, all RV’s have an automatic gearbox, but no handbrake – so keep your foot on the brake at traffic lights or you will creep forward. There is a foot brake instead of a hand brake but it is awkward to use.

Our RV had both cab and habitation air conditioning, and both were necessary and welcome. All windows and doors had insect screens and night curtains. There were adequate mains sockets, 12v and USB outlets, but not always logically placed. Most rental companies will disable the awning (too many return damaged, apparently) and the on board generator (although CanaDream say you can use theirs, but have to pay $75 as soon as you fire it up). There is no need for either in any case.

You see rental RV’s everywhere. The big players are Cruise Canada, CanaDream and Fraserway, who all have depots in Vancouver. It is also possible to do a one way trip, say from Calgary to Vancouver, but it costs a bit more. It is worth remembering that no rental firm will allow you to drive off on arrival – you must spend at least one night in a hotel to get over jetlag. If you choose one of their recommended hotels near the airport CanaDream will collect you in the morning (you can book the hotel through CanaDream, but it will be cheaper to do it yourself either direct or through Booking.Com). We used the Sandman Signature as Andrew had a free voucher for it, but there are cheaper ones available. Note that breakfast will not usually be included in the price.

 THE SITES

All the sites I chose had 50amp mains and water supply. There were some pitches that only had 30amp supply, but avoid these as it is not powerful enough to run the air conditioner. Most sites also had sewage disposal in situ, but if not usually had a disposal point by the exit. Servicing the RV with water input, and grey (sink, shower) water and black (toilet) water outlet is simple.

We paid anywhere between $36 and $50 per night on a full hookup site.

WiFi can be problematical. All sites (apart from the Parks Canada sites in Banff) offer WiFi, but few are powerful enough to be picked up from the RV. You will have to walk up to the office but even then we often found the service oversubscribed and painfully slow. Andrew got us a local data SIM which we loaded into my phone for emergency use, but overall communications in Canada is expensive – the SIM only gave 3GB of data for the same price that would get 10GB or more in UK.

Al l the sites had basic but clean shower and toilet facilities. Some had coin operated showers, and some also had laundry machines.  Just bring enough clothes for a week and you’ll be OK.

There was a bench table at each pitch on all the sites we used, but these are not particularly comfortable for lounging. Andrew brought some folding canvas “director style” chairs, but you can buy them quite cheaply in any Canadian Tire chain store (think B&Q but bigger and better). Some sites also provided fire pits and supplied wood for it, but with the campfire ban in place at time of writing these couldn’t be used.

Because of the ban (which even includes charcoal BBQ’s – in fact anything that could give off embers) we bought a small unit powered by a small disposable screw on gas cylinder and found it more than adequate. It is possible to connect to the RV’s own gas tank, but the cost of the extension hose and special plug in connector is more than the cylinder. Work on the cylinder lasting a week.

There are mozzies and midges in Canada, but they are not as aggressive as in Thailand, or as persistent as Scotland. Buy some insect repellent spray on arrival, and use daily. The local wasps are inquisitive but harmless.

EATING OUT, FOOD AND ALCOHOL

Bloody expensive! Alcohol isn’t as freely available as in UK, and you have to go to licensed alcohol shops. There are one or two in each town, but the cheapest (and best) is BC Liquor, a Government owned and run chain. Expect to pay around $15 (£10) for an ordinary bottle of wine. Beer is a little more reasonable, but despite all the craft beers available, don’t expect too much of interest to the bitter drinking man. Pale ale seems to be an adequate substitute, but if lagers are your thing then you are in heaven (but in poverty).

Everywhere you go you will find Tim Horton food outlets. Avoid them like the plague, they are awful. There are loads of chain fast food outlets such as A&W and Dennys, which we haven’t tried, but we do like White Spot. This is a BC chain that is a step above the others both for breakfast or lunch. Again, though, don’t expect to find it cheap, but if you want decent pancakes or Eggs Benedict for breakfast then this is the place. Little diners attached to petrol stations can be a pleasant surprise.

This bit really riles me. It is the norm here to tip at about 15%. Credit card machines will add it on automatically, and not only that, the price you read on the menu is before tax! At the end of your meal you are paying about 30% more than the advertised price!

 CANADIANS

Absolutely no complaints here. They are super friendly and helpful, laid back and non aggressive. However, you can get very tired of Country music on the radio very quickly. They really do want to be living the outback life here, and every house you see outside of the big towns has an RV on the drive, complete with canoes, fishing gear and mountain bikes, all ready to go at a moment’s notice.

 DRIVING

Surprisingly easy, even in a big RV. The lanes are wide and you soon get over the tendency to position yourself too close to the right edge of the road. On the main highways the speed limit is usually 100 k/hr, and people stick to it in the main. Uphill sections usually are dual carriageway, and the left lane is only used for overtaking. Be very careful through road works as points and fines are doubled (and police patrolled), but you are given plenty of notice in advance of them. You will have cruise control on the RV, and it is easy to set and unset.

Junctions can be a bit confusing, and in town suburbs you can get a Canadian standoff where nobody has priority. You work it out between yourselves, but usually the first one there will take the lead. Sometimes you need a left turn off a dual carriageway, so if there is no filter lane give plenty of notice of you intentions – they will know what you are trying to do.

This is a big, big country and taking 3 or 4 hours to get anywhere is common. Just relax, enjoy the sights, and the miles will fly by.

PAPERWORK

Don’t forget you need to apply for an electronic visa well before you arrive, and these are valid for 5 years and multiple entries. Do not arrive without one or you will be in trouble. Immigration is done by electronic cubicles that connect your passport to the visa, and compare your face to the passport photo.

There is no need to get an International Driver’s Licence, but I would suggest bringing a spare pair of driving glasses.

MONEY

All petrol stations are prepay. Just insert your card, tell it how much in dollars you want and fill up. If you overestimate your needs the balance is refunded to your card later (but it may take a few days).

We made great use of a new system called WeSwap. You join up in the UK and get a WeSwap card in the post, load it online with Sterling and then do a swap with whatever currency you want. You have the choice of an instant swap at 2% commission, 3 day swap at 1.5%, or 7 day swap at 1%. The exchange rate used is way better than you get using your normal debit or credit cards. The whole setup is backed by Mastercard, so you can use it anywhere. Just go online to check your remaining balance or reload and swap. Simple and very clever. Look it up.

We did bring cash with us, but have used remarkably little (for Canada) so far.

Any questions? Email me on jadmcc@gmail.com.

David

[davidmcclean]

RVing in BC - Bridal Falls.

The last long journey took us from Penticton to Bridal Falls along the Crowsnest Highway via Princeton and Hope. A lot of the way we followed the Similkameen River as it tumbled through steep sided and tree covered valleys. It was very beautiful, but as is the case nowadays, the full impact was diminished by smoke particles in the air. I’d love to come back again when clearer to really appreciate the full grandeur.

Camperland Bridal Falls RV Park was chosen because it is only an hour away from CanaDream HQ, and we have to return the RV before 10am. It is very much a large family orientated park with a Water Park attached(slides and spumes etc), but as the holiday season ended last weekend it is relatively empty – and hence quiet. Each pitch is separated from its neighbours by hedges, which gives a privacy you don’t normally get on campsites. As always the reception was very welcoming.

I took a walk up to the falls, full name Bridal Veil Falls, and it was quite impressive. The last part of the climb was quite steep, and I wouldn’t have done it in sandals. A few of the trees by the path were completely covered in moss, and looked really strange.

Our last full day in the RV is mainly going to be a tidy up and repacking session, and eating what’s left in the fridge. Yummy. It also has rained today (more of a drizzle) for the first time and hopefully this will help to clear the smoke.

On Saturday Andrew is going to collect us from CanaDream and take us to an AirBnB Apartment we have rented for a week. This is off Commercial Drive in Vancouver, in a vibrant and busy part of the city – think Notting Hill Gate. We stayed in the area ten years ago on our very first trip to Vancouver and really liked it, so it was our first choice for this visit. I’ll let you know what it’s like.

So, the big question: did we enjoy the RV trip, and could we recommend it to others? Unequivocally yes. Towards the end the smoke haze was a nuisance, but then again it could have rained every day. We have seen soaring mountains (some with glaciers on them) and deep steep sided valleys, beautiful emerald lakes, incredibly peaceful lake side campsites, had intense heat and cool evenings, visited fascinating real frontier towns, and met really friendly hosts, fellow RVers and local Canadians.

For anyone thinking of doing the trip, I’ll post a few tips on the blog over the next few days. You’ll thoroughly enjoy it – but bring lots of money!

[davidmcclean]

RVing in BC - Penticton

Westwards from Castlegar the scenes are still mountainous, but not as jagged or as high. The hillsides have fewer trees on them and everything is a bit more agricultural, and there is still that smoky overlay. 

We saw our first live wild animal – a bear cub ran across the road in front of us, but too quickly to photograph, and disappeared into the trees. We didn’t stop because mummy bear might have been around. 

Technically we are entering a desert because of the paucity of annual rainfall, but, of course, there is plenty of water from the lakes and rivers fed by the Rockies behind us. The hillsides are very brown and arid, yet this is great wine producing country. It also produces a lot of fruit – apples, pears, peaches etc of enormous size, and vegetables galore. 

As you enter the towns there are long stretches of fruit stalls selling local produce, and they are nearly all Indian. Not Native Indian but Sikh Indian, and there seems to be a large enough population for them to build large temples and clubs. Funnily enough, there are very few Indian restaurants (but as most Indian restaurants in the UK are run by Bangladeshis perhaps this is not so surprising).

Banbury Green Campsite is a corker. It is right on the side of Lake Skaha, and we have our own little beach! Lake Skaha itself isn’t particularly big (compared to the monstrous Okanagan Lake just a few kilometres north of here) and crammed in between the two lakes is Penticton.

On the first night we could see the sky getting darker with incoming smoke, but it stayed up high and allowed us a pleasant lakeside evening. All around us are vineyards (one surrounds the campsite), and there are more on the opposite shore. Even a small one or two acre vineyard seems to be called an estate, and they have some original names – Dirty Laundry Winery, Little Engine Wines, Ruby Blues Winery and so on. It is possible to visit most of them for a tasting session, but to be honest I didn’t want to be navigating a very large RV up some of the Estate roads, and the wines are not cheap.

 The next morning dawned, we think. The smoke layer had descended during the night and the sun was an orange ball struggling to shine through. The day stayed overcast, so we went for a drive alongside the Okanagan Lake through Penticton, Summerland, Peachland and Kelowna. It was all very pretty, but basically just a bigger version of what we already had at Lake Skaha. Perhaps a clearer sky might have helped, and I’d love to come back if it did clear.

 We did stop at one of the fruit stalls and were pleasantly surprised at the range on offer. They turned their fruit into juices, ciders, vinaigrettes, candy bars, jams, cakes and biscuits, chilli sauces, chutneys, ice cream syrups etc. Like all the other stalls it was on the side of the road and had quite a large pull in area.

When we got back to the site the distant skies looked very ominous, and there was a red glow on the horizon. It might just have been sunlight reflecting, because it disappeared an hour or so later.

Wednesday morning was very smoky, and we could only just make out the opposite shore. There was no point is going sightseeing, so we used it as a chill out and relax day. All the other RVers are doing the same, and I suppose this is the equivalent of a rainy day (something we haven’t had yet). Apparently the cause of the smoke was a wildfire near to Summerland, about 20 miles away.

Today’s surprise was a otter swimming just offshore from us, and diving for his dinner. I couldn’t get a picture though.

Tomorrow were are off to Bridal Falls, near Hope, for our last two nights before returning the RV. 

[davidmcclean]

RVing in BC - Castlegar.

The road from Banff to Castlegar starts by heading north towards Lake Louise, then southwest to Radium Springs, south to Cranbrook and finally west to Castlegar. All in it took us about nine and a half hours (including a break for lunch), about the same time as the flight from Manchester to Vancouver!

 We were heading out of the really high peak country into something more alpine, and unfortunately the wildfires had returned. This made the scenery obscured, and we got that ashy taste in our mouths again. However there was still plenty to see and keep out interest, and the RV just kept rolling along for hours on end under cruise control. I know the highways here are nowhere near as busy as back home, but because everyone uses cruise control set to the highway limit (100K/hr or 60mph) you don’t get bunching or tailbacks, and you genuinely maintain a higher overall travel speed.

 There were some eerie scenes on the way through the Kootenay National Park.  There is a problem called Pine Beetles. Normally the winters are long and hard enough to kill off the larvae inside the bark of pine trees, but lately they have been surviving and killing off the pines. There were whole hillsides of dead pines (still standing but leafless), and with the added smoke haze it looked like something from a horror movie. Apparently they are working on a solution, and it involves removing all the trees up to 3 km from the infestation – the limit of the beetle’s flight capability. Drastic, but apparently working.

 Half way between Cranbrook and Creston we came across our first visible wildfire, on the opposite shore of Lake Moyie, and it was quite something. Because it was close to habitation they were actively fighting it, and we saw 3 float planes collecting lake water in under slung bags and a big four  engined  prop plane that was probably dropping red fire retardant.  The Police wouldn’t let anyone stop, so all our pictures are taken from the cab (please excuse the flies on the windows!). I reckon some people were about to lose their lakeside properties.

 After Creston we hit the Crowsnest Highway. Whilst the pass is not particularly high, it goes up and up for about twenty miles. It was pointless slogging the engine, and we had a big engine, so I let the gear box drop a few cogs and crawled along at about 3500 rpm, doing 40 to 50 mph. It behaved perfectly with no sign of overheating.

 On the other side we had a twenty mile descent! Again I let the gearbox cope with it, because using the brakes would have overheated them badly. I manually put the box into fourth and hit the haul button on the gearbox stalk. This dropped another cog and wouldn’t allow upshifts, so we descended at slow speed and high revs using only minimal braking. An interesting experience.

 Once in Castlegar the satnav directed us to the bottom of a really steep hill out of town and proudly told us we were there. Er, no! We had no choice but to carry on up the hill for several miles to try and find a turning point, but there at the top was the site! It’s a really nice here, with friendly neighbours and very amenable hosts.

 We had always planned the stop here to be a recovery station, and catch up with a week’s worth of laundry and admin. This has taken most of the day (three washing and drying loads), all done in roasting temperatures – I reckon we are in the high 30’s, and are told that it may be even hotter when we get to Penticton tomorrow.

[davidmcclean]

RVing in BC - Banff.

The drive up to Banff is dramatic, or so they say. We couldn’t see much because forest fires had the effect of putting a nylon stocking over everything. When we could see the mountains they were just fuzzy, and its worst the smell of ash was strong, and coated the inside of your mouth. We went through quite a few bottles of water.

However, when we got over the continental divide, and moved our time zone on an hour, things started to clear a bit. Everything still looked like it was in an early morning mist, but at least we could see the mountains, and boy were they dramatic.

The whole area around here, including the town of Banff itself, is run by the National Parks setup. Hence there are no private campsites and you have to use official ones. These are fantastic – huge but with plenty of space for each RV or caravan. The ones here are surrounded by high peaks in every direction, and as I write this Mount Rundle looms high above me, and behind are the majestic Cascades. This is exactly what we came for, and a breeze has sprung up and might clear the air for tomorrow.

This was the same view on the morning we left!

The next morning had cleared some, but there was still a faint haze. This does not affect the views, but cameras are having a hard time dealing with it and are not producing the quality of picture I would like. Every photo just looks washed out.

We started the day with a drive up to some local lakes and viewpoints – Johnson Lake, Two Jacks Lake and Lake Minniwanka (pronounced Mini Wonka – stop sniggering in the back!). All were incredibly picturesque but the photos taken don’t do them justice. At one stop a cute little chipmunk said hello to Rhys.

It seems funny to now say that we went and looked at a few more tourist attractions, because everywhere you look is visual drama, and all enjoyable.

Friday morning started a bit clearer again, and it was time to do the big one – Lake Louise. We left early to try and escape the crowds, but even then there were signs up saying the Lake car park was full. So, we pulled of the highway into the overflow car park (about the size of Shropshire!) and took the free transfer bus into Lake Louise village, and on to the lake itself. The buses were actual yellow school buses being used out of season – a great idea, especially as they left every 10 minutes.

And yes, I can confirm that Lake Louise is absolutely stunning! Closely hemmed in on three sides by towering mountains (one of which has a glacier) and water of deep turquoise. Behind is the magnificent Chateau – yours for just £1000 per night. Naturally there were loads of tourists, but it is big enough to cope with that and you can easily find your own private viewpoint.

We called in at the village on the way back, but it exists and was built for only one purpose – tourists. However, it wasn’t tacky, just expensive.

On the way back we took a side route of the main highway to try and find some animals – elk or bears, but to no avail. Maybe that was a good thing!

A good word here for the Parks Canada people. Everything is well presented, clean and friendly. They are everywhere offering advice, picking up litter (of which there was remarkably little), cleaning out toilets, handing out leaflets etc. Truly a worthy organisation.

Tonight, however, is the first night of the long Labor Day weekend and alcohol is banned in the campsites. Locals tell us that it’s not a problem as they are after the rowdy element, and if we drink our wine from tea mugs we should be ok. We’ll see!

This is one of many identical wildlife crossing points, all with trees and shrubbery on the top.Neat!

Early tomorrow we drop Andrew and Rhys off nearby to catch the shuttle bus to Calgary Airport, and Ann and I have a long, long drive south to the USA border to a site near Castlegar. The long drive is necessary purely because of the distances involved. If the sites were closer together we wouldn’t be able to stay longer than one night at each.

[davidmcclean]

RVing in BC - Revelstoke.

On the road to Revelstoke the scenery now starts to get more dramatic. I tried taking some pictures from inside the cab, but there is no sense of scale in them. Now we are starting to see snow on some of the higher peaks.

Nearly all campsites have fire pits on each pitch, but because of the spate of forest wildfires that BC is experiencing, al l open fires are banned – even charcoal BBQ’s. Gas BBQ’s are allowed though, so we stopped off at the mall in Salmon Arm to buy one. There is the facility to hook up a BBQ to the RV’s gas tank, but it was much cheaper to buy a camping type with a screw on gas canister. We also stocked up on essentials like steak and kebabs!

Revelstoke RV Camp is totally different to Hitch N Ride. It is family orientated, with a pool and small shop, and much larger. There are warnings all around about not leaving anything food related out at night (including BBQ grills), and sure enough we heard that there were bears seen during the night.

One aspect of moving further into the Rockies is, paradoxically, in increase in noise. As the valleys become higher and steeper more and more has to fit into the space available – people, roads, railways and rivers etc. You soon get used to it, even though the trains run all day and night.

Two other noticeable factors are an increase in temperature – we are up in the low 30’s, and a reduction in visibility. This is caused by particles of smoke from all the forest fires, which is a pity. Still, the campsite does ice cream specials every night – a single scoop cone for $3. That sounds expensive until you see the size of the scoop – about half a litre!

The next morning, Tuesday, Andrew, Rhys and I went off to check out something called the Pipe. It is up in the mountain resort and basically is a sledge on a monorail. It goes downhill (naturally) for about 1.5 kms and looked good fun. You are strapped in, and have a simple yoke control – forward to go and back to slow. Rhys was basically strapped to Andrew and off they went. I followed on 40 metres behind. It starts off innocently enough and enters a tunnel, and then OH MY GOOOOOOOD BRAKE BRAKE BRAKE!! You fly around 20g bends, drop off cliff faces, and scream a lot. Apparently you can get up to 45 km/hr – I think they underestimated that. You finish with a rictus grin on your face and a body full of adrenaline. As Rhys says, awesome! Look up The Pipe at Revelstoke Mountain Resort on You Tube for some GoPro videos.

After that we all piled into the RV and went to the Train museum. It was much as it sounds, except the steam train on exhibit was way larger than anything I have seen back home. We then went to look at the impressive dam nearby that Andrew helps to maintain, but by now the temperature was really building and we went back to the site to cool off a bit.

Tomorrow we head deeper again into the Rockies for three nights at Banff, which is in Alberta and a different time zone.

[davidmcclean]

RVing in BC - Hitch N Rail, Heffley Lake.

The CanaDream bus collected Ann and me just after 0930, and took us to their base where Andrew and Rhys were already waiting. Check In was fairly straightforward but, as always, took longer than we had hoped but we were off by 1230, with a long drive to our first site just north of Kamloops.

This part of the journey is still in the foothills of the Rockies, so the views were more impressive than dramatic – it reminded us of the Pyrenees.  We stopped at Chilliwack for some sandwiches, and at Merritt to do some shopping and fuel up.

My, this is a big country. We didn’t get to the site (Hitch N Rail on Lake Heffley) until 1830, and found the office closed. We couldn’t ring anyone because there was no signal, but shortly the owner turned up and showed us to our pitch right on the lake front. It was really picturesque. We had hoped that the onsite restaurant would be open, but we had enough food to see us through.

The RV is much better equipped than expected – with an onboard generator, a slide out section where the dining table is, and air conditioning in both the cab and living areas. During the night something kept switching on very loudly, and I assumed it was the air conditioning. We tried to ignore it but eventually had to switch on the lights and investigate.  It seemed the temperature had dropped enough during the night to fire up the heating system, but we had left a roof extractor running. All the heat being produced was being sucked straight out of the roof, which caused the heating to fire up again and again! Doh!

The next morning was clear and refreshing but had built up quite a heat by the afternoon. Andrew and Rhys went out on a pedalo while Ann and I just lazed around unpacking, or gazing at the excellent lake views and chillin’ out.

We did get to the site restaurant in the evening, with meals of salmon and short back ribs – really nice. The owner moved here 4 years ago, but still has his Aberdeen accent – “now don ‘t you worry Davie, I put this all on a wee tabbie and we’ll sort it out in the morning”. Everything and everybody is just so damn friendly!

Tomorrow morning we are off to Revelstoke which is only two hours away, so there won’t be quite the first day rush. 

[davidmcclean]

RVing in BC - Day 1. Arrival

It was a great flight over for Ann and me. Sure, it was over an hour late taking off but I’ve never had a smoother flight - no turbulence whatsoever. The plane (Air Transat Airbus A330) must have been quite new because the individual entertainment screens were excellent, and even had a USB outlet.

Immigration procedures at Vancouver Airport are very modern - loads of individual machines that scanned your passport, took a photo of you and compare the two. After that just a couple of perfunctory checks and suddenly there is this little whirlwind running full pelt towards you shouting “Grandad!”. It's really heartwarming.

We had booked our first night through Booking.Com at the Sandman Airport Hotel, and Andrew had said that he had a voucher for a free night we could use. Great, except that Andrew then booked us in as well! We cancelled the Booking.Com booking, and Andrew then met us at the Airport and drove us to the Sandman. However, they had no record of Andrew’s booking!. After some confusion it was discovered we were booked into the Sandman Signature just around the corner, which is a few stars up on the Sandman Airport. Rather swish, with a queen sized bed each.

So, at five o’clock on Friday evening, with our body clocks telling us it was one o’clock on Saturday morning, we thought we’d eat at the hotel restaurant and be asleep by eight. The swishness of the hotel was reflected in the meal prices, but was really excellent - lobster linguine for me and the house burger for Ann.

Yes, we were both asleep by eight, but both wide awake again at midnight. A quick cup of tea, back to sleep again and wide awake again at 4 o’clock. As I write this blog the sun is just starting to rise.

We are being collected by CanaDream at 9.30 am to be shown around the RV and complete the paperwork. Andrew and Rhys will meet us there, and off we go! Off for some breakfast first, though.

. 

[davidmcclean]

RVing in BC, part 3

Apart from booking the RV sites, which will have to wait until the new year, everything is now sorted. I’ve been doing a spreadsheet on the costs involved and it makes for some buttock clenching reading!

Canada has this awful system of not including taxes in prices, even in supermarkets. There are two taxes - a general sales tax and a local tax. These local taxes vary from province to province, but generally you are looking to pay an extra 15% at the till

I’ve also had to use today’s exchange rate of C$1.65 to £1. The Lord alone knows what it will be by the time we go.

Here’s a breakdown (including taxes):

Flights - We are using Air Transat booked through Canadian Affair (whom we have used three times before) as they fly from Manchester. To keep costs down the return flight has a short stop in Toronto, but that saving has been taken up by paying extra to pick our own seats. £1483

Hotel - The RV rental firms will not let you pick up the RV on the day you arrive, for obvious reasons), and in order to free airport pickup, and free pickup to CanaDream, the hotel is a bit more expensive than we would normally use. £107

RV hire - We are using Canadream, and have booked a large motorhome to ensure comfort. By booking early we got 3400 km mileage (or should that be kilometerage?) at half price, three named drivers for free, and free convenience kits (pots, pans, bedding etc). £2587

Sites - As mentioned we cannot actually book the sites yet, but we are expecting an average of C$50 per night. This includes electric and utility hookup. £424

Fuel - These RVs have 6.8 ltr, petrol burning engines, and we can expect to use 20 litres per 100 km travelled. The actual road distance is 2250 km, but I would expect to use 3000km with tips and tours. Current fuel prices in Vancouver are 75p per litre, which would give a total of £450. However prices are likely to be higher outside Vancouver, so I’m working on £500.

Accommodation - We are staying on for an extra week after the return of the RV, and have used Airbnb to find a nice place near Commercial Drive (we know this area and the excellent transport links). There were cheaper alternatives, but involved sharing kitchens or bathrooms - not for us! £496.

Total: £5597, or C$9235.

This does not include car parking at Manchester, living expenses and entertainment.

I don’t think we’ll be doing this too often! However we think it worth it.

[davidmcclean]

RVing in BC, part 2.

I have now found out how to do hyperlinks in Tumblr, so just click on the RV site name if you want to visit their website.

I think I am now happy with my choices of RV sites, and the route - Google maps link here. We start off by picking the RV up on Saturday 26 Aug and driving 140 km to Whistler RV Park just outside Whistler (where else?). We are only staying one night here because of the overall distance we will have to drive on the route, and will want to find out how the RV works.

We will need an early start the next day, Sunday 27 August, because there will be a 360 km drive to Kamloops, to the Hitch N Rail Resort for two nights. 

On Tuesday 29 August we then drive 250 km to Revelstoke and the Revelstoke Campground, again for two nights.

From here the mountains start to get really big as we drive 290 km into the National Parklands in Alberta for Lake Louise and Banff and the Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court. After two nights here we’ll say goodbye to Andrew and Rhys who’ll fly back to Vancouver from Calgary Airport.

Ann and I then drive 176 km to Fairmont Hot Springs and the Fairmont Hot Springs RV Resort. We will spend two nights here, and will have a bathe in the hot spring (natch!)

The next stop is a long 334 km to Nelson, and the Cool Waters RV Park for two nights. For reasons unknown all inland ferries in BC are free to use, and the one across Kootenay Lake to Nelson is the longest free ferry in the world - I presume the are talking about the journey, and not the length of the ferry itself.

The next two nights will be 316 km away in Penticton, at the Banbury Green RV Park. This should be a great base to explore the Okanagan Valley, famous as a wine growing  and fruit growing area.

Our last night in the RV will be at Bridal Falls, 310 km away, at the Bridal Falls RV Campground.

The next morning we will have a 111 km drive back into Vancouver to return the RV.

All these sites haven’t been booked yet as many of them close down over the winter, so that is a job for the New Year. However we still need to find accommodation for a week in Vancouver before we fly back. AirBnB should help.

In the next post I’ll give a breakdown on what this is all costing, should you ever wish to do something similar.

[davidmcclean]

RVing in BC

Time, they say, waits for no man (or woman!). 

Ann and I have started to realise that our travelling days might one day come to an end, or at least be much more curtailed. So, before retirement and the onset of all sorts of potential nasties, we wanted to have one good holiday that we would always remember. But what?

It was obvious to us that the holiday had to be in either Australia or Canada. As we had seen plenty of Paul, Sarah and Ollie this year in Thailand, UK and Belgium, the choice had to be Canada. The doesn’t mean ruling out any further visit to Australia, but any future holiday there would be a bit “softer” on us.

OK. Canada it is then. We haven’t ever done a cruise, so a trip up to Alaska in supreme comfort had some appeal, but so did having a look at the Rockies. We could travel as we did to Vancouver Island and Nova Scotia, and hire a car and stay in B&B’s, or we could actually get to do something we had long dreamed of - hiring an RV and driving round in style, comfort and panache.

Time to start doing some investigating and planning, then.

The Route:

There is surprisingly little literature on the subject, but a few websites helped with ideas. Basically the best route seemed to be a loop starting in Vancouver, heading east along the USA border and covering the wine growing region of Oakanagen, The Kootenays, and up to Banff and Lake Louise. The northern part of the loop would take us to Jasper (where the really big views are) and back via Kamloops and Whistler to Vancouver.

When Andrew heard of this he suggested he and Rhys fly out to Calgary and join us for the return journey, as he hadn’t seen that part of Canada either. This had to be amended when we found out the dates didn’t fit with Rhys starting kindergarten, so now the plan is to fly to Vancouver on Friday 25th August, spend a night in an hotel near the airport, pick up the RV the next morning, pick up Andrew and Rhys, and start with the northern end of the loop. We can then drop them off at Calgary airport a week later, and continue with the southern part ourselves for a week. Ann and I would then hire a property for a week to look around Vancouver, before returning on 16th September.

This is the planned route at the minute:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/CanaDream+RV+Rentals+%26+Sales+Vancouver,+7119+River+Road,+Delta,+BC+V4G+1A9,+Canada/Whistler,+BC,+Canada/Jasper,+AB,+Canada/Banff,+AB,+Canada/Airport+Road+Northeast,+Calgary,+AB,+Canada/Cranbrook,+BC,+Canada/Creston,+BC,+Canada/Kelowna,+BC,+Canada/Hope,+BC,+Canada/CanaDream+RV+Rentals+%26+Sales+Vancouver,+River+Road,+Delta,+BC,+Canada/@50.7339193,-120.2218725,6.74z/data=!4m62!4m61!1m5!1m1!1s0x5485dfac2ce0bbc3:0xe4d36c1f1f2ded06!2m2!1d-123.0281902!2d49.13681!1m5!1m1!1s0x54873cb203957b87:0x4ab741e875f5cff6!2m2!1d-122.9573563!2d50.1163196!1m5!1m1!1s0x53832b0868553e29:0x1f2002bd0b192882!2m2!1d-118.0813581!2d52.8736786!1m5!1m1!1s0x5370ca45910c4afd:0xcaafaebedaac9463!2m2!1d-115.5707694!2d51.1783629!1m5!1m1!1s0x5371640fbf7e38d9:0x12601d47345b8f79!2m2!1d-114.004907!2d51.13258!1m5!1m1!1s0x5364df3306a54043:0x92d71ca3daef4a80!2m2!1d-115.7694002!2d49.5129678!1m5!1m1!1s0x536362e1a612a08d:0x7507ab6f561787c6!2m2!1d-116.5135079!2d49.0955401!1m5!1m1!1s0x537d8cb6e3c730b3:0x4ef8e53ddab4c4f7!2m2!1d-119.4960106!2d49.8879519!1m5!1m1!1s0x5483f5ca1983c7d7:0x7797106dac92bc3!2m2!1d-121.4424751!2d49.3829931!1m5!1m1!1s0x5485dfac2ce0bbc3:0xe4d36c1f1f2ded06!2m2!1d-123.0281902!2d49.13681!3e0?hl=en

Should we find, when we get down to details, that it is too much to fit into 2 weeks, then we could shorten it by either:

1. Going directly from Kamloops to Banff, cutting out the very northern bit to Jasper, or

2. Going directly from Banff to Kelowna via Golden, Revelstoke and Vernon, cutting out the very southern loop.

I’ll update when more is known - A lot of the campsites close down for the winter and don’t start taking reservations until April.

The RV:

There are two main RV hire companies in Vancouver, Fraserway and CanaDream. I initially thought we would use Fraserway, but the addition of Andrew and Rhys changed our requirements radically. Also, Ann and I are past the stage where clambering over each other to get to the toilet in the middle of the night is entertaining!

Hence we wanted either two singles or an island bed for ourselves, and also to have comfortable beds for Andrew and Rhys without the ritual of making up beds from the settees. The one that seemed to suit the best was from CanaDream.

And this is the beast we chose. If you want a look inside click here:

http://www.canadream.com/rv-rentals/maxi-motorhome-mh-a/

[davidmcclean]

Two sixty somethings travel to Ardennes Champagne, France.

Or, how to survive on less than twenty words a day.

Ann and I like France, but have up to now always played it relatively safe - either in Gites owned by Brits or a touristy area. This time we wanted a new area, but also had to bear in mind that Ann is due for a knee replacement and climbing stairs or walking long distances is not an option. We also wanted somewhere we could drive to in our little Agila - and yes, there was the added benefit of bringing wine back.

I found this interesting looking place

http://www.homeaway.co.uk/p676687a?utm_source=DB&utm_medium=email&utm_term=20150104&utm_content=property-id&utm_campaign=traveller-inquiryconfirmation

which had a downstairs en suite bedroom, and apparently everything else we could wish for. Booking for two weeks was straightforward, and email correspondence with Jacques was easy and in English. As it turned out I was actually corresponding with his wife Jonelle as Jacques speaks no English.

Incidentally, we got Jacques to accept payment by TransferWise. This is a very efficient and cheap way of sending money abroad, and really worth looking at. It means the recipient doesn't get hammered by bank charges, and you get a much better exchange rate.

The village of Vaux Les Mouron is really deep in the country, so we knew we would have to drive to anywhere significant. We also knew it would be a real test of my very limited French, but with a well thumbed phrasebook, and if really stuck Google Translate on the smartphone, I thought we would survive.

We own a really good French road atlas, but it is now 12 years out of date, so invested in a TomTom Start 25 with European maps - what an excellent buy that turned out to be! Jacques gave the map coordinates on his website and that took us right to the door - once you have worked out that he put them the wrong way round and you are not going to the middle of the Indian Ocean! Oh, and if Bruce (we used an Aussie voice on the TomTom) suddenly sends you up a small alley, have faith, as he does know what he is doing, and is avoiding roadworks.

The journey to Vaux Les Mouron via the Tunnel was uneventful, and as the next day was a Sunday I had programmed Bruce to take us to the Carrefours supermarket in Vouziers, the nearest big town, for supplies. As Bruce is fond of saying - too easy, mate. We bought our usual emergency rations to get us through to Monday - bread, butter, sliced ham,some crudites (potato salad, grated carrots etc) and of course cheese and rose wine.

We were warmly received by Jacques and Jonelle, who were actually in the middle of an open day at The Miellerie, the honey farm that the gite is part of. As advertised, the gite appeared to lack for nothing and looked nicely spacious, even if the colour schemes were....French. So, let's get the pros and cons of the gite out of the way first, and for the sake of correctness I'll mention everything, even if not significant to us:

Pros - Plenty of room downstairs with a quite well equipped kitchen, a large oak dining table to seat 8, adequate lighting, cool tiled flooring, a large 4 seater settee and sufficient (but awkwardly placed) sockets. There is also a large bedroom with a double bed and en suite toilet and shower facilities, and a separate shower bathroom, and another toilet after that. Upstairs were a double bedroom and two twin bedrooms, and an open area with a fold out double bed and a cot. This area has limited headroom but would be great for youngsters. Outside was a patio area with a large table, and a garden area with swings, slide etc.

Cons - There is no upstairs toilet, so night time visits meant descending a quite steep staircase, and we wouldn't recommend hurrying down them in flip flops. You must also remember that you are deep in the country, and that means insects. We have been to worse places for flies and mozzies, but bring bite cream and insect repellent just in case. A couple of mornings we had a crow tap tapping on the window, but positioned the outside chairs to stop this happening again. The is an old tv with vhs (Jacques can provide hundreds of tapes), but it has lost the red gun meaning everybody looked green! The audio unit has an usb input but it wouldn't recognise my iPod, and it has also lost a speaker channel.

That's about it for the gite - it's comfortable and works, and if you were to come here you would enjoy it.

The next day, Sunday, we went for a drive to see if we could find anywhere for lunch and ended up at a bar/restaurant at Le Chesne, about 20 minutes drive due north (Bruce was a great help again). It was a nice little town set on a canal, with a good sized lake nearby. We then just meandered back at our own pace.

A word of warning here about lunch times in the country. It starts at 12.00 and finishes at 2.00 without fail. If you turn up much after 1.00 you stand the chance of only having a limited menu, and leaving it to 1.30 can mean being refused. You will have to work your day around this. Also expect some tourist attractions, shops, supermarkets and even petrol stations to close for lunch.

The French take lunch very seriously. We saw lorry drivers set out a table for one beside their trucks, complete with a red checkered tablecloth and a small carafe of wine. We would always recommend going for the plat du jour as the restaurant really only wants to do a la carte in the evenings. Usually you will be offered a choice of 2 entrees, 2 mains and 2 desserts, and some will offer an entree/main or main/dessert only if you wish. The choices will usually be written on a blackboard, but unless your French is better than mine just indulge in the delicious anticipation of pot luck. We have yet to be disappointed with our lunches, whether with a 12 Euro menu or a 20 Euro one, and we have often been delightfully surprised. In the big towns, of course, the restaurants will stay open longer and offer a bigger menu, but not always.

There are no restaurants, or shops of any description, in Vaux les Mouron. The nearest boulangerie (baker) is a couple of miles down the road in Challerange, and there is a decent restaurant, Le Relais de Bagot, on the road to Vouziers. For everything else you will have to go to Vouziers, where there are bars, restaurants, a Carrefour, a Lidl, an Aldi and petrol stations. Incidentally, we had no problems filling the car up. Most stations require you to use a card at the pump, and some recognise the the card is from the UK and give instructions in English. Even if it is in French it is easy to work out what is happening. There is little difference to the UK price, but beware that like the UK motorway prices are significantly higher than in a town.

So, what is there to do and see in the area? There are three main areas - the First World War sites around Verdun, the more mountainous areas up around the Belgian Border, and of course the champagne region beyond Reims (actually pronounced Rance!). A good guide to these areas is the Michelin Green Guide to Alsace, Lorraine and Champagne.

The First World War sites are very sobering, and seeing them really brings home the scale and devastation of the conflict. The French are inordinately proud that Verdun wasn't captured, but the price in human life was almost incomprehensible. The countryside around the defensive forts to the East of Verdun still bears the scars of the pounding it took. These forts (such as Vaux and Douaumont) are well worth visiting as well as the ossuaire at Douaumont. In Verdun itself try the Citadelle Souterraine (underground citadel) where little electric trains take you on a journey recreating life there. When out driving you will come across many cemeteries for the French, American and German dead (the British were much further north at the Somme).

The Champagne region to the west and south west of Reims is beautiful, and we particularly enjoyed the drive out through the villages such as Cramant and Vertus. Chalons En Champagne is a lovely old town, and of course Reims must be visited. The Cathedral is magnificent, and all it’s treasures are on show next door at the impressive Palais du Tau.

I’m afraid we never made it north to Charleville Mezieres and the Ardennes, so that will have to wait for the next visit.

Can two sixty somethings survive on less than twenty words deep in the  French countryside? Most certainly. The roads are almost empty and in very good condition, the people friendly and helpful, the countryside is tidy and well looked after, and the food as good as you would expect.

[davidmcclean]

We have a new shower!

The old bath and tiles were removed and replaced with a walk in minimalist shower and some good tiles. We are really pleased with it.