laimeduck
-
Posts
2,253 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
13
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Articles
Downloads
Gallery
Posts posted by 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
-
1 hour ago, Globebuster1 said:
Well said John - I sincerely hope you remember that.......even though you were unable to avoid making a political comment in your last post!
Well said John, and I sincerely hope you remember that - although ironically, you seemed unable to do that in your last post!
I think repeating oneself should be banned from the forums.
In fact...I think repeating oneself .......
-
1
-
-
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
-
58 minutes ago, s10 said:
Thanks very much for the prompt replies and certainly some food for thought, with Burgos sounding good.
We've had Haro mentioned to us, as the 'capital of the Rioja' wine region - has anyone been there, as that also sound like a decent spot?
At one point we considered Pamplona, but couldn't find a decent site. I don't know if anyone has been there?
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
-
1
-
-
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
-
22 minutes ago, Brian Kirby said:
Low on fuel he says!! I assume you're now back home because if not, you've quite a walk to undertake. 🙂
I always refuel at 50%, mainly just in case, but also in case I pick up some sub-standard fuel somewhere, so the impact will (hopefully) be reduced.
Besides, last I heard, with winter coming, full tank reduces likelihood of water (condensation) in fuel as humidities and temperatures fluctuate. Come on, chop- chop! 😄
BTW, your van appears to be showing a remarkably low mileage for its age! You been "clocking" it?
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
-
1
-
-
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
-
5 minutes ago, mtravel said:
Usual Brit arrogance.
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
-
1 hour ago, John52 said:
Depends on the driver I suppose
If the driver can be relied upon to brake when necessary I would agree
But as long as there are drivers looking are their mobile phones or whatever instead of the road.....
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
-
1
-
-
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
-
1 hour ago, Brian Kirby said:
Camping Roznac? For Split we stopped at Stobreč (Camping Stobreč, about 5 miles down the coast) and caught the bus in.
But, everywhere was busy, with a high proportion of "D" registered vans - so not that much has changed!
What we noted was a very high proportion of part completed buildings everywhere, many part occupied. It gave an unfortunate impression of what is, in reality, a starkly beautiful coast. Have they finished them yet? 😄
Hope the beer was good! 🙂
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
-
48 minutes ago, Brian Kirby said:
Shame! 🙂 Here's a picture of the interior of Split Cathedral.
It is actually the repurposed mausoleum of the Roman Emperor Diocletian (yes he who threw the Christians to the lions!), as Split was originally his "retirement" palace.
So as you can see, natural justice does exist. 😄
This is what endeared Split to me. It's full of similar.
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
-
10 hours ago, spirou said:
Don't need a ferry to Pag, there's a bridge. Also, not all of it is a club. Mostly limited near Zrće beach.
That said, Pag is just easy to get to, plenty of other more interesting islands around.
Oops my mistake Spirou ...sorry... I meant Rab!
-
47 minutes ago, spirou said:
Dubrovnik hasn't been worth a visit since late 90s. Covid was a brief window into old times. Kotor was a nice(r) alternative for a while but that's also ruined by cruisers. Split...was always just a ferry transit point for me and walking around old town during the wait is something I've been skipping for at least 20 years now.
Anyway, my parents just came back from Hvar, Makarska, Split etc. a few days ago and didn't mention any unusual crowds. September and October are mostly nautical high season though.
If you're looking for Brits in Croatia you just need to go to Zadar airport and up to Zrće on Pag. Just doubt you'll enjoy the company of drunk party goers.
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
-
On 20/09/2023 at 19:09, Brian Kirby said:
Given you'd been to Mostar, where did you cross back? Metkovic, on the Neretva? Are you taking the A1 motorway, or the Magistrala?
Whichever, if the Bora blows be prepared to hunker down rather than simply press on. It affects the lion's share of the Croatian Adriatic coast, and is a proper hoolie! Forget the Mistral!
It hit us almost as we left Krk for Dubrovnik, and buffeted us all the way to Dubrovnik, plus the first part of our return.
It is often described as blowing down the Adriatic, which it does, but it originates behind the coastal mountain range and funnels down the many lateral valleys, smacking passing traffic side on as it goes, before it hooks south down the Adriatic. Between the valleys it can be comparatively calm, though still windy, but when you come to cross the valleys it's a bit like being downstream of a "Jumbo" jet on full thrust! Even the A1 and its bridges get closed, and high sided vehicles really suffer.
Our van at the time was a 2007 6M Transit based Hobby Van, and when crossing these lateral valleys I needed both sides of the Magistrala because of its strength!
That was at this time of year - 20 September to 6 October. Your van is both longer and taller than the Hobby, so would be a real handful, assuming driving were possible/permitted. So, if it blows, treat with respect.
The clue that it's brewing is a continuous cloud cap to the coastal range, but the locals will be able to warn you if it is forecast. Quite a ride, that! 😐
Oh, and don't forget Split if you haven't yet
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
-
3 minutes ago, spirou said:
The only "danger" of crossing Bosnia through Neum are the roaming charges. I got a 5€ extra on my work phone as I forgot to turn it off and received a photo on viber or something during those 10min...had to pay it back as it wasn't a work trip 😉
Absolutely nobody cares about your insurance or food. But they do somewhat care about alcohol, tobacco etc. brought into EU from Bosnia, Albania or Montenegro. Enough to ask at least.
Yes we twigged that ..turned off mobile data and only used campsite WiFi. Same in Switzerland for us.
Jeremy
-
5 hours ago, Brian Kirby said:
Short answer to your first question, Jeremy, is that they expect you to so organise your affairs that you don't need to take dairy or animal products sourced outside the Schengen area into Schengen. 😄 Same applies to entering Schengen from UK.
Travel, see. Full of unexpected surprises. 😄
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
-
5 hours ago, mtravel said:
Complaints, always complaints.
Once the milk without which you can't have breakfast once you land in France.
Another is dog vaccinations.
A third is the Crit'Air or the over 35 stickers.
Now food bought in Luxembourg. But how large is your refrigerator? Please...
Nobody forces you to have your passport stamped. Just like no one forces a Croatian policeman to do it.
You know the rules, we are preparing temporary places to lock up illegal immigrants. Only for eighteen months... Smile.
Have you ever wondered why no european complains about your ridicolous 60Mph highway speed limit ?
Or your "variable speed limits" which were never indicated ?
But they are rules we follow. Full stop.
You have an alternative. Stay on your rainy island.
It will certainly not be your absence (just four, I repeat four, English motorhomes seen in 4,500km traveled in Greece) that will cause the Greek economy or any other European country to collapse.
Max
p.s. At the Slovenia-Crozia customs in Bregana we were weighed. Fixed and non-temporary weighing system.
If they had caught you overweight, what would did you have complained about ?
That in the UK it is not normal practice to weigh RV's ?
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
Toll roads in spain
in Motorhome Matters
Posted
It was when we used it in January - I downloaded this map then