Hi Captain_C,
it’s good to meet another adventurous motor caravaner.
Me and my husband travelled out to Spain (Granada region) in a motor caravan (an old American RV) in August 2006. We had already bought a house which we were employing a ‘project manager-builder’ to renovate and the idea was that we would live in our RV for a short time, while the renovations were being carried out. As we had two large hounds (we have since ‘adopted’ a stray as well), bringing them out with us in the RV seemed the ideal solution (less stress for them and a moveable ‘home’ for us). Remembering our experiences of motor caravaning prompted me to answer your post.
Firstly, choose your area/region with care. I would recommend sticking to coastal areas for a couple of reasons. First, that is where you are most likely to find an expat community, but secondly, and more important, living in a motorcaravan for a number of months in Autumn has its disadvantages. September in Spain can be hot, and in inland areas it can be blistering hot! Our RV was made of aluminium - it conducts heat. In the day temperatures outside rose to the mid 30s, but in the van they often topped 40c. It was like living in an oven!
However, with October, nights become increasingly cold - particularly in inland and higher regions (Granada, although in the South of Spain, is pretty high and gets very, very cold on winter nights!). At that time a motor caravan can literally turn into a fridge! We had to go out and buy a new oil-filled radiator and a fan heater, and sit huddled around it. But that had its problems, as the camp site we stayed at had an electricity supply of 230 volts - 16 amps - not enough to run a heater and boil a kettle at the same time - you learn to adapt quickly in those situations. And the campsite we stayed at had a higher electricity supply than most. Some you would have difficulty boiling a kettle without the supply tripping out.
It’s a long, painful story, (which relates to errant builders and many mistakes ...) but we lived in that RV all through the winter. It was a very cold winter too - Spain was covered in snow for weeks almost from one end to the other. We finally moved into our (unfinished) house in April 2007. I look back now at that time and wonder how we made it through!
But enough of our experiences. Don’t let me put you off!
What I would suggest is that you and your wife look at some books for starters. We found Alan Roger’s ‘Camping and Caravanning 2006 Europe’ and ‘Camping and Caravanning 2006 Spain and Portugal’ (hopefully there will now be a 2008 one) quite useful, also the AA’s ‘Caravan and Camping Europe’ was perhaps more useful. We also bought a book on Campsites in Europe produced by the Caravan Club, which was the most detailed and helpful of all. All these books give details of caravanning and camping sites all over Europe and list facilities at each site - showers, wc, snack bar, electricity supply, RV waste disposal points, etc, plus, most important for yourselves, whether dogs are welcome. They also give details of pricing, opening times (many campsites close down in October until the following summer and of those that remain open, many close down their ‘tourist facilities’ - swimming pools, snack bars, shops etc, by early to late September). The books also give contact details (many of these sites have web addresses you can look up). I would also recommend ‘Googling’ ‘caravan sites in Spain’ or something similar, on the net, as that is how we eventually found the site we stayed at.
But be prepared for ‘enhanced’ descriptions of sites and facilities. The one we stayed at was friendly and welcoming (especially for dogs) and we were to discover later, was better than most in the area, but the ‘launderette’ was a set of stone sinks with cold water based outside, and the ‘full shower facilities’ were old, draughty, and unheated and most days you got a cold shower as well. Not quite as the website described it! And this does appear to be the case for many caravan/camping sites in Europe - after all, they seem to expect ‘caravanners’ to be a hardy lot!
As to preparations for your trip, if you have a petpassport for your dog, please check the validity of the rabies shot before you leave, as without up-to-date confirmation that your dog is completely safe, you will be able to take it out of the UK, but you won’t be able to bring it back in again, so, if you haven’t done that already, I would suggest doing that well before you embark.
When returning to the UK, your collie must see a European vet within 24 hours of your scheduled departure time for tic and worm treatment and the vet’s stamp to show this has been done. There are vets available to do this in the vicinity of all French ports.
You must have High Visibility Vests available in your motor caravan for all on board and if you are pulled over for a check by gendarmes/trafficos (as can often happen to vans with UK plates), please put your vests on before leaving the vehicle - it’s an instant fine if you don’t. But you can read up on all this in the books I recommended.
When travelling through France, there are many ‘aires’ you can stay at for the night if you don’t make the campsite on time, they have a variable range of facilities (some excellent, some a w/c ‘hole in the ground’ ). But if you do choose this, please make sure your vehicle is securely locked before going to bed and it is recommended that you park next to another motor caravan or two (there seems to be ‘safety in numbers’ - although I must say we didn’t find this a particular problem).
Make sure your vehicle’s documents are in order for the duration of your trip.
And get good breakdown insurance. It could prove invaluable.
I’ve run out of space so that’s all I can say for now! But good luck. You’ll love Spain, just make sure your are well prepared for your trip!
