European Travel
Having bought our van just before Covid our original European travel plans were scuppered till now. We are planning to break the ice by visiting Brittany in late summer for a couple of weeks and, whilst we have driven in Europe by car before, my wife is getting twitchy about a few things so any advice would be appreciated. The issue of reverse polarity is high on her agenda so how prevalent is this and how do you get around it? We have a canister of Propane (6Kg Calor) and one of Butane which we use for the Cadac. Now, in an emergency, we could switch to Butane but how difficult is it to get Calor gas in France?
Thanks in anticipation
Jim Boyd
Comments
-
We have been across the water many times but even now my wife is getting twitchy about it since the Brexit rule changes so I can understand your wifes anxiety.The answer is to do as you are doing and arm yourself with as much information about the countries as you can.
You cannot get UK calor bottles in France or have them refilled but as you are only going for 2 weeks if you have a full bottle it should not be a problem because with just cooking you are unlikely to use it all. In an emergency, what you can buy in France is Camping Gas. I used to carry a Camping Gas regulator with me just in case but I now have refillable bottles which can be refilled at most garage LPG pumps.
Reversed polarity is not so prevalent as it used to be but to safeguard yourself buy or make up a reversing lead.
peedee
0 -
We have also stopped bothering re reversed polarity, since we changed to a continental van, after all none of the non UK residents do. Although I still have the reverser lead if I wanted to. It was in Brittany a few years ago with our caravan, where I was checking the polarity of the supply at the site post and the owner came across to see what I was up to. I explained and he just shrugged, saying it is an English thing we don’t mind. However, at this small site it was worth having another connector, as it had the old style French socket. They are now uncommon, but particularly small family owned sites still have them, so well worth the £8 or so they cost.
You don’t say what sort of sites you are going to use, but if you are going to give Aires a try it would be worth investigating the camping car park network. Although many more are available and often free, these are of a consistently high standard and usually have 6 amp electric and WiFi, for around 12€ a night.0 -
Even though reverse polarity is becoming rarer I would not be without my plug in tester and reversing lead. The reason Continentals might shrug is because over there they use dual pole switching, including in their vans. This means if an applicance is completely switched off, it is very unlikely to be live even if a fault develops. Not so with our UK single pole live wire switching. If the wiring is reversed you are no longer completely switching the live wire and appliance off and in case of a fault the appliance can be live. Touching it, effectively making a connection to the negative side or earth will at the very least give you a shock and at worst could be fatal. Get a tester and a reversing lead and be safe not sorry.
peedee
1 -
Jim, Try to stop the lady worrying. Brittany is lovely. Here’s a photo. Go and explore.
2 -
We always carry a tester and a reverse polarity lead just incase we come across a site where we feel happier to use it. We also carry a 2 pin adapter as some sites still have these.
You say you aim to travel late summer, be aware until mid August it is classed as high season so sites could be busier at that time. Once into the 3rd week of August it does tend to go back to being less busy and sites that are in the Acsi system will go back onto their discounted prices.
SteveL, has also mentioned the CCP camping car parks for Aires. I would second this for any Motorhome. Very useful and at that time of year some of the aires (that were formerly Municipal sites) will have their facility blocks open.
The question of Calor has already been answered, we rarely get through much gas and a 6kg bottle can last us 2 years, we go overseas for 2 trips of 8 and 10 weeks at a time. Gas only used for cooking as hot water and heating (rarely needed) are on electric.
Please be aware that on many sites in France you might only have 6amps electric hook up. This is manageable as long as you don't use a domestic type kettle, either use gas or buy a camping kettle, we find a 1000w kettle to work fine.
0 -
Please do not get het up about reverse polarity,as it has been mentioned before the french (and others) switch both live and neutral,here we only switch the live,but how many caravans have switches on the sockets anyway.Neither of my previous vans had switches on the sockets so the only way to isolate the appliance is to pull the plug.
The strange thing is when RP is mentioned it gets people talking,but a missing earth is dangerous and potentially fatal as the body work can become live,but this never gets a mention.
My only concern would be using a domestic toaster though as these have open elements.
1 -
When we go to France in the summer we find it is too hot to cook in the van , and cook outdoors on a Camping Gaz stove, so our caravan gas useage is very very low Camping Gaz is of course available everywhere in France.As for the polarity issue, its never bothered us in 30 years of France travels.
1 -
Show them the V5 document
0 -
I see you have posted the same question in General Chat!
My response was, does your V5 not state the category of engine you have and the emissions? This is what is usually required by the Austrian authorities.
For further info, if you are buying your GoBox on entry to Austria, you present your V5 at a GoBox point of sale but you will still have to send proof of emission ( a copy of the V5) within 21 days to their head office either by post or as an attachment to an email. You get the information about this when you get the GoBox. I cannnot help you with the advance purchase of a Box prior to leaving the UK but I assume just a copy of the V5 with the application would be sufficient.
If your V5 does not state your engine category and the emissions then I suspect the GoBox authorities treat it as the worst case and charge you accordingly. My V5 has all the information required on it and the engine is a category 5. My tolls worked out at 50cents a mile and gobbled up all of the the 100 euro pre payment I made for the 200miles of toll roads I used.
peedee
0 -
Hi, It is possible to transit Austria without using toll roads so depending on your proposed route you may not need to go the Go Box route.
We did this with our friends who have a 4.2 tonne MH, and were not prepared to use Go Box after hearing negative comments regarding the costs and the 'faffing about', travelling via the Fern and Reischa passes to travel from Southern Germany to Italy.
A bonus was that an overnight stop in Prutz turned into a very enjoyable 4 night stay.
Last summer we used the Brenner to travel from Italy into Austria and think the non toll route is far better/nicer/cheaper.
0 -
Last summer we used the Brenner to travel from Italy into Austria and think the non toll route is far better/nicer/cheaper.
The old Brenner pass road, the B182 can also be used by motorhomes but not caravans. What is becoming more difficult in Austria and many other countries is avoiding the LEZs. If you are planning on touring Austria it might be worthwhile getting their LEZ sticker.
peedee
0 -
Love Austria so getting an LEZ sticker to go along with my Umwelt (Germany) and Crit Air (France) and NT sticker (and Swiss Vignette) I will soon have little space left on my screen to see through
. Hope it's a nice colour to match the Green and Yellow of the current stickers!0
