laimeduck

We investigated NFOP about a year or so ago but they were not taking on any new members so we didn't progress it. No idea if this has changed?

We use the Nationwide cover that comes with their current account. Also gives you vehicle breakdown cover plus a load of other stuff. £13.00 per month. Have to pay extra to extend cover over 30 days and there may be an age extra. Jeremy

I think repeating oneself should be banned from the forums. In fact...I think repeating oneself .......

Any sailors or climbers out there will know that when you coil a rope you give each length a twist (to the left) before you loop it. Otherwise the rope has a "memory" and tries to untwist itself resulting in tangles. A twisted rope is a dangerous rope and it's prone to getting knotted.The same applies to electric cables. It's very straightforward, but does take a little bit of patience and practice. The trick is to make the loop the same size every time you coil it, then the "memory" in the cable is set. I have a 30 metre and 20 metre cable and can coil them neatly in a minute or so. I hold an old towel in my right hand and each time while pulling the cable into a loop it gets wiped dry. Easier to do than to explain Jeremy

Yup ....can also can recommend Haro and the ACSI site there Camping de Haro. €23. Easy walking distance into the town past lots of Bodegas where for a very small outlay you can taste the various Riojas. Can also recommend Restaurante Terete .... a whole roasted leg of lamb on the bone is their speciality ... I'm drooling now...! Jeremy

Another vote for Burgos which is a very pleasant city. We had one of the best tapas of our trip in February in a small bar/restaurant above the Cathedral there. Morcilla de Burgos is a speciality! The campsite mentioned by Peter, camping Fuentes Blancas is good and is an ACSI campsite at €23 with their card. https://www.campingburgos.com/ Jeremy

Cheeky wotsit! Returned on 7th October after a great "Balkans" tour. The last night was in Cambrai and I only put in sufficient expensive French diesel €1.99/lit to get us home....got it spot on too! I've been treating the rust in offside front wheel arch so haven't been to filling station yet. 490.8 miles in 18 years ...sounds about right to me? Nb diesel in Bosnia was £1.28/lit! Jeremy

For what it's worth these are the lights that come on when I turn on the ignition of my 2005 2.8jtd Ducato. The photo with all lights up is when the key is first turned, then after a couple of seconds the police goes then another 2 seconds and the thermometer and engine go out. ( ignore the petrol pump light.. I am low on fuel! Jeremy

Max ... go jump in lake Como! Smile!

I second the advice from Spirou. I have them for my 2005 Benimar cat4 and my motorbike Cat 2 yellow? However like the fiasco of the breathalysers, and the Angles Morts stickers and the "no food imports from outside Schengen" nothing seems to be policed. French prescriptive laws which will only be used if you transgress? I would get them ...the official ones cost peanuts, but if you can't I wouldn't worry too much .... they only apply to urban areas anyway? Jeremy

This has been a very useful thread for me, so thanks Brian. When I eventually have to consign my ancient Saab 900 to the crusher, I will endeavour to research a replacement vehicle that does not have all these gizmos. Probably have to be a classic car over 40 years old! A chap down the road has a Model T Ford....I wonder if he'll sell? ..... But hang on a minute....my trusty 2CV is 40 in 3 years time ..... hmmmmm!

I am and have been driving in the Alps for the last few weeks and this system would have caused me all sorts of problems. My technique in my tortoise like Benimar is that when stuck behind a slow vehicle I monitor the satnag to see when a straight bit of road is coming up. I then accelerate towards the back of the slow vehicle and if the road is clear, pull our and overtake. If its not safe I reduce speed and stay behind. It's all a question of judgement and timing. (I do the same in the UK in my 2CV) If my vehicle independently applied brakes because I was "in it's opinion" too close that could be very dangerous. No thanks, I'll make my own decisions! Jeremy

Or driving 6' away from the car infront at 70mph? Would the technology deal with that? You can't invent stuff to deal with all stupid! Jeremy

By and large I do not consider this sort of technology either an advantage or safe. The nearest analogy I can suggest is the superb example of Captain Sulenberger "Sully" landing his passenger jet in the Hudson River after a catastrophic bird strike. Had he not made the human decisions he did and allowed the plane's systems to take over, it was likely that at the outcome would have been many deaths rather than none. KISS!! Keep it simple, stupid! Jeremy

We're are currently in Camping Rožac in Trogir. Camping Stobreč is now also known as Camping Split! Most buildings are now completed I think although it was raining so hard most were under water! The second beer was better! Jeremy

Brian I did relent ... we tried to get into ACSI site camping Split 300 + pitches... they had one pitch left . Small and next to rubbish bins! We left! Huge thunder storms going on which continued all afternoon and night. Awnings blown away etc? (not ours!) Now in Trogir just up the coast enjoying a Sunday beer in the Square. The whole of the Croatian coast is overrun with motorhomes ... mostly German. I would think this is an effect of Covid. Never seen a country as busy in mid late September! If we come back this way it will be May time not September? Jeremy

Oops my mistake Spirou ...sorry... I meant Rab!

Spirou thanks for the info .....we were debating whether to fork out on a ferry to Pag ... but if it is full of Brits we'll give it a miss! Jeremy

Yes the bridge is free. The locals here do not like Dubrovnik. Too many tourists! They say it is going the same way as Venice .. locals can no longer afford to live there.. too many AirBNBs and rental properties force them out. So they become tourist traps and really quite sterile in a cultural sense. I think we will give Split a miss .... colleague campers here on site who have been in the last few days say it is rammed with tourists. I think we will escape up towards Sibenik and migrate further up the Adriatic coast ...if we can get into any sites? Mid September and everywhere is full? My theory.... Lots of motorhomes in Europe bought because of Covid ... thus lots of Germans and Dutch and French flooding the sites down here in their new holiday wheels? Not many Brits in evidence though? Jeremy

Brian - we crossed at Metković and use the Jadranska Magistrala ... we are in no rush and try to avoid toll roads wherever possible. My Benimar is low profile just 2.8M tall and 7.3 M long and actually handles really very well in crosswinds. We cruise only at 55 ...60 mph which again helps stability. We had intended to stay on the Peljesac peninsula near Orebic, but all of our preferred sites were full! So we had to backtrack down the peninsular past Ston to a lovely little site in Orasac where we spent a week or so in 2015. I rather think that the new bridge across to Peljesac has made it too easy for tourists to visit the area hence it is so busy. Not only did they build a bridge but a brand new fast road which by- passes Ston to reconnect to the mainland. This in turn has increased the tourist traffic to Dubrovnik and along with the cruise liner menace has swamped the place. I understand that the Bridge was partly funded by the EU in order to solve the problem that the Neum corridor posed ref Schengen. This was a prerequisite to Croatia joining the EU? I have no doubt that someone will prove me wrong on this, but that is what I have gleaned. A great shame as this is a lovely part of the world and it will now probably be spoiled by excessive tourism. Jeremy

Yes we twigged that ..turned off mobile data and only used campsite WiFi. Same in Switzerland for us. Jeremy

Brian ... I'm not sure that's answering my query? We bought the produce in the EU after leaving the UK, then transported it into Bosnia (non EU) for a few days. Are the EU honestly expecting me to ditch produce bought in the EU and moved for a few days into a non EU country? I think I know the answer is "yes" but what a nonsense! In an extreme .... as in your example.... drive down through Croatia and buy a load of stuff just before the Neum corridor .... Drive into Bosnia, 10 mins later you have to ditch it all when you re- enter Croatia? Really? Bonkers! Jeremy

Max .... it probably got lost in your translation to Italian ...(I hope it was just that?) but I did not complain at all ... or criticise! I simply identified a conundrum. And as for stamping passports ... we had left Schengen area on entry onto Bosnia, so needed proof that we had re entered Schengen. We saved about 5 days of the generous 90 day allocation given to us after Brexit. I've said before, I don't do rude! Jeremy

I seem to have come across yet another conundrum. We have recently spent about a week in Bosnia. We entered Bosnia with food bought in Luxembourg, Germany Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. When we exited Bosnia into Croatia near Mostar, there were big signs saying you could not bring in Dairy, Meat Veg etc. How does this work then? Do the EU expect me to throw away all stuff bought in EU simply because it has transited Bosnia in my fridge? As it happens border control only asked if we had cigarettes or alcohol then waved us through. NB the Croatia Police at the border did not automatically stamp our passports ....we had to ask them to stamp them? Jeremy

I do have magnetic ones for the cab and a tethered sucker one for the rear. Just choose not to use them as I don't want to be identified as an HGV. Jeremy