It's here, it's here!!

[david lloyd]

Hi everyone Following a long and detailed search for a suitable low profile motorhome to replace our Autocruise Startraveller (that included lots of useful advice and information obtained on this forum) we placed an order for a Knaus Sun Ti 650MF last December with Lowdhams at Gunthorpe. The waiting has been agonising with a couple of disappointing delays along the way (one because of a factory shut down in Germany when excessive snows led to much publicised roof collapses in the area) but, eventually, early last Friday morning saw us heading off to Lowdhams and we could hardly contain our excitement. The handover went really well and we spent Friday night on their overnight area to check everything out. Not a single glitch. The journey home was a real treat too. The Renault Master (2.5 dci) is a brilliant base vehicle, excellent road holding and ride, quiet enough to hear the radio without it being on full and seats that supported you so much that you could still walk upright after 3 hours in the saddle! Reading between the lines you can probably guess that we are absolutely delighted with our purchase. As I said earlier, it has been a long search for us that started because we thought we had bought our 'perfect' motorhome last time but sadly, in use, it turned out to be anything but. My wife and I both feel very differently about this one though. From the outset it has felt right and everything we have done in it feels and 'works' right for us too. You may recall from my posts last year we were trying to find a low profile/fixed bed model that came in at under 2.7m high to get under the carport. The Sun Ti is 2.65m at the highest point (when unladen) which is the centre of the roof rails. I was originally going to have a freestanding satellite dish on a tripod but was concerned about a) setting up/dismantling b) getting it tuned in and c) storage of the dish/tripod. In the end we had an Oyster Caro (the square dish) fitted on the roof. It is fully automatic and sits less than one centimetre above the roof rail hieght - a slow (very, very slow) reverse under the carport showed it was still about 5 cm below the framework - phew! We have a wind out awning and normally use a windbreak in conjunction with it to give a bit of shelter. But browsing around Lowdhams accessory store we saw one of the new triangular type caravan porch awnings. Very lightweight, easy to erect using carbon fibre poles - just like a small tent. In a flash of inspiration I asked if we could try fitting one to the van by sliding the awning anchor tape into the slot on the front of the wind out awning and it works a treat. Takes about 5 minutes to put up and will be great for the times when we are not moving the van off site. Also having two 11kg Gaslow bottles fitted at Autogas 2000 (Thirsk) on Tuesday and I want to get the whole vehicle/both axles weighed with it in normal running order. We have got two weeks now to get ready for a 3 week break in France where we should get a real feel for the Knaus - and I am sure we will not be disappointed. I should like to pass on my sincere thanks to all those who gave advice and information back in November/December and maybe we will see you somewhere on our travels. Best regards, david

[Ruth]

How exciting! So pleased you are pleased with your choice, and I'd love to hear how you get on with it after your trip. The Sun Ti looked really promising and has received many accolades most for good reason by all accounts. Had we wanted a low profile we'd have been really tempted. Have a good trip!

[Mel B]

Enjoy!!!

[kevandali]

What happened David, did all go well? How was the van? Please let us know where you went in France and places you would recommend, we are going in July after we pick our first van up this weekend. cheers Kevandali

[david lloyd]

Hi kevandali Well we are back in our green and pleasant land - can't wait for the next trip away!!! Had a great time. The weather, after an awful start (heavy rain and thick fog around Calais when we arrived) was brilliant sunshine. The Renault never put a foot wrong and, other than a fault on the caravan door handle, the Knaus conversion is everything we wanted and more. Such a relief after having several vehicles that ddn't really meet our needs. From Calais we headed straight over to the aire at Le Touqet where we found all the spaces and every bit of spare space around taken up with motorhomes - Camping Car were holding a rally for the bank holiday weekend! It was late so we stayed the night and went on to the aire at Le Treport. This is a great aire with space fpr 60 vans, all hardstanding and elec hookups available all within a short walk of a lovely little fishing port so we stayed a couple of nights before moving on. The next aire was at Mailleraye on the banks of the seine but TomTom didn't tell me before we were on top of it that we were to cross the Seine on a good old fashioned 8 car ferry (free). Didn't mind the crossing (although the current was fierce) but it was a heart stopping moment as we disembarked and grounded the Knaus. Next few stops were at the municipal site at Alencon (ther is an aire adjacent but it really isn't up to much) then Camping Lac du Maine at Angers for a few days. Both sites were good. Next stop was going to be a couple of days at one of the aires in La Rochelle but I had a difficult job finding the first one (which turned out to be a layby on the main road with a service borne) and again TomTom took us through the narrowest of streets in the old town so I headed out of town and tried again. This time I found the aire at the Park and Ride near the railway station which is very handy for buses (every ten minutes) into the old port. However, we only stayed the one night as it seemed very noisy. Apart from the TGV's there is a large hospital nearby and there were quite a few helicopter ambulance flights throughout the night. At 4 a.m. the local dustcart spent over an hour emptying large commercial dustbins using a special ramp based in the Park and Ride. We crossed the bridge onto the Ile de Re and stayed at L'ocean which is a large but very good site with access to a long sandy beach (50m away) and lots of facilities (camping cheque brochure). After a week here we headed for Camping Citadelle (Camping Cheques) at Loches for another few days. Fantastic old (medieval) town well worth a visit. We were amazed at the entrance prices too. I think we paid 14 euro for the two of us to visit the well preserved Logis Royal and Donjon - excellent value for a full morning's visit. Followed the Loire to Beaugency where we found the aire right on the banks of the river for another very pleasant night before heading north to another aire, this time in the grounds of the Bougon Tumulus Museum (free with facilities and elec hookups). This museum is another good visit. It has much of the original iron age round houses and many interesting other features such as recreations of other buildings and displays of how they were built etc, plus an indoor museum full of artefacts etc from the tumulus itself. We attempted to find the aire shown as 800m from the Chateau at Verseilles but just couldn't find it. In the end we stayed at the campsite in Verseilles (Huttopia) about 5 minutes from the Chateau. A lovely, peaceful site in the midst of woodland (hard to get any sort of satellite signal here) with bike hire, pool, restaurant etc. The last aire was at Conty near Amiens before arriving at the Campsite Chateau du Gandspette near Saint Omer. A great site usefully positioned for a stop on the way out or the way back. Great for us to spen a few days as we got the dogs vetted before departure and also did our last minute shopping at a huge Auchan in Saint Omer - much better than staying at Calais. All in all a lovely relaxing visit. We didn't have a fixed plan in mind when we set off, only the general outline of heading to La Rochelle and the Ile de Re. You may find some of the places much busier and even full in July which is the peak French holiday season. But we wish you a very enjoyable holiday and happy motorhoming. Best regards, david