Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
Waiting for the rain to stop - again; June 10
As I write this we should be about 400 k north of sarlat on the banks of the Loire east of Orleans. We are not because it rained all night and most of today. We do not, if we can avoid it, do wet starts. The awning came down late Friday because it was dry and the forecast was not. Saturday saw us enjoying a fine day in Sarlat street market and a good, if not brilliant lunch in one of the myriad restaurants tucked into the narrow lanes of the town. Foi gras figured again but I think my main course was the most unusual I have had here - this time anyway. I shall call it surf and earth since it was Noix de St Jaques braised with superb Ceps in a bullion of many ingredients including basil and rosemary and parsley. Utterly delicious.
Anyway we are, as I said, still here. It is Sunday so we shall miss out on our easy ride use of the HGV rest day. And Monday in France is a bit of pig on the roads, although by paying up for the autoroute we can still avoid the majority of poids lourds.
But maybe this is a good moment to look back on this trip - all these three and four month joints are now described as trips. Since they are not holidays and hardly journeys (too many destinations?) trip seems to encompas the process. No one in the UK will be surprised that rains features heavily this time. We had a sunny crosssing and the Picos Europas were burning but after a week it all went umbrellas. Out of Asturia and into Galicia and confident that the climate records showed some bright sunny days amidst the inevitable Galician showers. Wrong. There were days when we saw no sun, no moon; it may well have been No-vember. It rained on Foz and it settled under the van. We slewed off over trackways of ground sheet pads in four wheel drive - backwards!
Unto the Costa Compostella as it grandly calls itself. This is the west coast of Galicia and it is a superb calmed down version of Norway. Rias instead of fiords but the same amazing interplay of sea and land. Lovely - especially when you can see it. To be fair the climate was maritime so the clouds were often blown away and the sun did shine. The site was disastriously tight for pitches and manouvreing space but somehow we got off.
Now it needs to be noted at this point that we had beenn dealt a rough hand. Our decision was that chucking cushions the length of the Bailey each night of 90 days to set up our rather narrow single beds was not ideal. So we had opted for twin singles - full size basically. And a decent kitcehn. And a virtually fukll-size fridge. And a superb L-shaped dining area. And that meant 8.3 metres and twin axles. So we fitted a motor mover to solve the issue. And it broke down after the first use! I am beginning th get some idea of how to manouvre in reverse but it is a slow learning curve - in fact it is the curve that is the problem of course.
So a tight site in Ribiera meant a sleepless night before we edged off. Then in Cabrera we had loads of space on a rough site and lousy weather. Then came Haro in La Rioja and the weather was great, the site an easy open parkland affair - and I managed to clip a tree. Not serious but....
Big decision to scrap the expensive long crossing and cruise through France. Better site and better weather all the way to today.
More on this later....
Anyway we are, as I said, still here. It is Sunday so we shall miss out on our easy ride use of the HGV rest day. And Monday in France is a bit of pig on the roads, although by paying up for the autoroute we can still avoid the majority of poids lourds.
But maybe this is a good moment to look back on this trip - all these three and four month joints are now described as trips. Since they are not holidays and hardly journeys (too many destinations?) trip seems to encompas the process. No one in the UK will be surprised that rains features heavily this time. We had a sunny crosssing and the Picos Europas were burning but after a week it all went umbrellas. Out of Asturia and into Galicia and confident that the climate records showed some bright sunny days amidst the inevitable Galician showers. Wrong. There were days when we saw no sun, no moon; it may well have been No-vember. It rained on Foz and it settled under the van. We slewed off over trackways of ground sheet pads in four wheel drive - backwards!
Unto the Costa Compostella as it grandly calls itself. This is the west coast of Galicia and it is a superb calmed down version of Norway. Rias instead of fiords but the same amazing interplay of sea and land. Lovely - especially when you can see it. To be fair the climate was maritime so the clouds were often blown away and the sun did shine. The site was disastriously tight for pitches and manouvreing space but somehow we got off.
Now it needs to be noted at this point that we had beenn dealt a rough hand. Our decision was that chucking cushions the length of the Bailey each night of 90 days to set up our rather narrow single beds was not ideal. So we had opted for twin singles - full size basically. And a decent kitcehn. And a virtually fukll-size fridge. And a superb L-shaped dining area. And that meant 8.3 metres and twin axles. So we fitted a motor mover to solve the issue. And it broke down after the first use! I am beginning th get some idea of how to manouvre in reverse but it is a slow learning curve - in fact it is the curve that is the problem of course.
So a tight site in Ribiera meant a sleepless night before we edged off. Then in Cabrera we had loads of space on a rough site and lousy weather. Then came Haro in La Rioja and the weather was great, the site an easy open parkland affair - and I managed to clip a tree. Not serious but....
Big decision to scrap the expensive long crossing and cruise through France. Better site and better weather all the way to today.
More on this later....
Saturday, 9 June 2012
Here we are in Chipping Sarlat... guys are swimming... gals are sailing June 3 - 4
Yep, we are back in Chipping Sarlat - or Sarlat le Caneda as it is properly known. But it earns my sobriquet for being in Dordogneshire, the Cotswolds of France and itself being the superb equivalent of Chipping Camden. We love both places and for almost identical reasons.
Sarlat is bigger by a fair amount - very nearly a real city. It has what is called a cathedral but I am not quite convinced the French definition is similar to our own. Big church it certainly is and was home to an Abbot - Eveque in French. But for us Sarlat has some very specific beauties to proclaim.
First it is built of the local stone, an almost orange sandstone that ages to a grey-apricot. Indeed if both old and damp it gains a deep almost black brown. When I say built I mean virtually every inch of it - wherever you turn there is this apricot glow.
Second, the local architecture was and remains beautiful. It is not clever or intricate but the stonework is pure and simple, the windows deep set and crisp, the doorways of every shape and form and size, the roofs... ah the roofs. If not of amazing lauze stones they are of rich terracotta. They curve and cascade and are pierced by small mansard windows, themselves little gems.
Third, all this is crowded in. The lanes are narrow - and cool in summer. They meet at strange angles, sometimes with tiny squares, sometimes with larger ones. Many are cobbled. Most are impossible for traffic - those that are are have been largely pedestrianised.
Fourth, this is a smart town that is proud of itself. The buildings are almost entirely well-kept. The shops - too many touristy of course- are also smart and imaginative. The pavements cafes are huge in number, great in style and not too horrible in price.
Fifth, it is actually a walled town with a fair amount of wall intact. But importantly this means the central largely medieval area has its own character and, like Norwich, this is a bustling,busy and cosmopoitan affair. It also has kept out the bigger chains.
Sixth, for all that La Rue de la Republique, the 19th century main throughfare is full of top class shops both international and mostly local.
Seventh, it has a very fine covered Salle de Marche but also sports two market days each week - a medium sized affair on Wednesday and a massive, indeed one of the largest in France, on Saturdays. And if that were not enough once a month there is a Sunday Brocante Fair.
And if there is a finally it is this - it is friendly. France does not actually get my vote as friendly nation - Spain, Portugal and Italy top them in that order. But Sarlat seems to be an exception. Maybe their success in attracting vast numbers of tourists and their cash helps cheer them.
Downsides there are. Too many tourists. Too many of them Brits, too many of them in motor coach herds (no TGV yet). The traffic can be tiresome although parking if you do not mind paying is pretty easy.
We came here first 21 years ago and briefly. Last year we stayed nearby for two weeks. This year we are virtually in town for two weeks. We shall be back next year. I just wonder if we could afford the little place at the end of La Rue Brouile, the one with the tiny roof garden and the odd little corner window....
Sarlat is bigger by a fair amount - very nearly a real city. It has what is called a cathedral but I am not quite convinced the French definition is similar to our own. Big church it certainly is and was home to an Abbot - Eveque in French. But for us Sarlat has some very specific beauties to proclaim.
First it is built of the local stone, an almost orange sandstone that ages to a grey-apricot. Indeed if both old and damp it gains a deep almost black brown. When I say built I mean virtually every inch of it - wherever you turn there is this apricot glow.
Second, the local architecture was and remains beautiful. It is not clever or intricate but the stonework is pure and simple, the windows deep set and crisp, the doorways of every shape and form and size, the roofs... ah the roofs. If not of amazing lauze stones they are of rich terracotta. They curve and cascade and are pierced by small mansard windows, themselves little gems.
Third, all this is crowded in. The lanes are narrow - and cool in summer. They meet at strange angles, sometimes with tiny squares, sometimes with larger ones. Many are cobbled. Most are impossible for traffic - those that are are have been largely pedestrianised.
Fourth, this is a smart town that is proud of itself. The buildings are almost entirely well-kept. The shops - too many touristy of course- are also smart and imaginative. The pavements cafes are huge in number, great in style and not too horrible in price.
Fifth, it is actually a walled town with a fair amount of wall intact. But importantly this means the central largely medieval area has its own character and, like Norwich, this is a bustling,busy and cosmopoitan affair. It also has kept out the bigger chains.
Sixth, for all that La Rue de la Republique, the 19th century main throughfare is full of top class shops both international and mostly local.
Seventh, it has a very fine covered Salle de Marche but also sports two market days each week - a medium sized affair on Wednesday and a massive, indeed one of the largest in France, on Saturdays. And if that were not enough once a month there is a Sunday Brocante Fair.
And if there is a finally it is this - it is friendly. France does not actually get my vote as friendly nation - Spain, Portugal and Italy top them in that order. But Sarlat seems to be an exception. Maybe their success in attracting vast numbers of tourists and their cash helps cheer them.
Downsides there are. Too many tourists. Too many of them Brits, too many of them in motor coach herds (no TGV yet). The traffic can be tiresome although parking if you do not mind paying is pretty easy.
We came here first 21 years ago and briefly. Last year we stayed nearby for two weeks. This year we are virtually in town for two weeks. We shall be back next year. I just wonder if we could afford the little place at the end of La Rue Brouile, the one with the tiny roof garden and the odd little corner window....
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
We campers are a funny old lot - and that includes us - May 26 and on
Our experience of camping sur la continent is reaching moderate proportions so we may feel entitled to discuss the behavioural patterns of the average camper with mild authority if not a litle humour. In fact I was totting it up and in all we have now spent a total of a shade under 40 weeks in about 30 camp sites in France, Spain and Italy. Not exhaustive if at times ezhausting. I have not counted rented accommodation which would total well over 60 weeks as the exchange with the host environment is very different.
To begin I shall attack the home front. Brits abroad do indeed speak ENG---LISH; that is very loud and slowly. There are some like us who essay a little French (Janet's is rather good actually) but for most of us it would not even have graced our French essays! Franglais and Spanglish is the usual fare; in Itay we tend to fall back on ENG-LISH. This is in contrast to our Dutch and Germand travellers who stick to Dutch and German for the residents and English when they see our registration.. They seem all to speak quite decent, even good English. They seem also to assume this will be true of the French and Spanish but are quickly disillusioned if not dissuaded. But if you greet them as I do on a French site with Bonjour or Buenos Dias in Spain you get a very odd reaction, as if you had somehow committed a great sin and needed to be re-trained immediately. Indeed, some German visitors will not forgive me if I suggest they are positively uncouth when addressed in anything other than English, or a tentative Guten Morgen or whetever.
Arrival on site is also revealing. In general the English are close to unique in accepting the pitch to which they are directed without comment. I admit we do not but with this van? No choice - I choose! The Dutch and Germans will allow themselves to be shown round but will then choose their own spot. The French in France of course will tend to do their own thing and why not. Ditto the Spanish in Spain although we did not see so many of them - they seem to prefer their self-constructed, semi-permanent, not-even-vaguely-mobile mobile units with huge awnings or solid sun shades, terraces, and various garden storage kit. All wired, all drained.
Spanish sites can be a bit tight for space compared to French and especially English sites. Italian are somewhere between but, like Spain are full of permanents. But Spanish sites have, as I said elsewhere, the best loos, indeed entire servicios, of all.
The continentals prefer their motor homes, especially the Dutch but they rarely stay long anywhere but on the Med so they arrive late p.m., set up, gather together, talk endlessly, eat sparingly, sleep early and disappear soon after the morning dew. The Germans are similar but less inclined to group up so the chat is quieter. Sadly neither language is very pretty to listen to and, like us, they laugh too loudly and not often. The French and Spanish do not group at all but they tend to be cheery, laughing a lot especially the Spanish in Spain - don't see enough of them out of their own country to comment. The English of course do tend to congregate but converse? That English reserve seems to forbid more than a hello and a wave. Dogs of course are great ice breakers but the usual limit of exchange is - where you been; where you going; when you going; where you live. That's about it really.
Life long campsite friendships are unlikely on the sort of tour we take as for most of the time our campsites are either other people transit camps (sun-seeking southboud/ sun-drenched northbound) or too far off the beaten track anyway out of season. Usually it is the Dutch who want to exchange email addresses, aklthough I have exchanged recently weith a Brit. And there was the charming couple from Warrington on their first tour who asked and got help and advice but then suddenly left without warning. They were so worried about tripping over their (huge UK like mine) satellite dish that they ringed it with the empty 5 litre water bottles that I assume they had gathered on their trip. By the time we met up at Haro in la Rioja they had seven of the ruddy things round this dish! They must have entirely filled the inside of their motor home when they travelled!
Many of our fellow campers don't seem to go anywhere much. Obj=viously those who only stop the night have no time. But whenever I talk to them it turns out that either they have often stopped one night on this site or it is their first time in this area. How can they just pass through? The whol point of a caravan or a camper is freedom to explore. So why don't they explore? We have begun to notice that the Germans seem always to shop in Lidll - that's about as barren as seeking out a Tesco when in France! We have been in a Lidly over here and it is EXACTKY the same as in the UK. same layout, same stock, same tedious set up and same total lack of chech out staff howvere busy it is. Mind you, we coukld save a bob or two and it would make a change - it is Greman and we hardkly ever use them at home!
To begin I shall attack the home front. Brits abroad do indeed speak ENG---LISH; that is very loud and slowly. There are some like us who essay a little French (Janet's is rather good actually) but for most of us it would not even have graced our French essays! Franglais and Spanglish is the usual fare; in Itay we tend to fall back on ENG-LISH. This is in contrast to our Dutch and Germand travellers who stick to Dutch and German for the residents and English when they see our registration.. They seem all to speak quite decent, even good English. They seem also to assume this will be true of the French and Spanish but are quickly disillusioned if not dissuaded. But if you greet them as I do on a French site with Bonjour or Buenos Dias in Spain you get a very odd reaction, as if you had somehow committed a great sin and needed to be re-trained immediately. Indeed, some German visitors will not forgive me if I suggest they are positively uncouth when addressed in anything other than English, or a tentative Guten Morgen or whetever.
Arrival on site is also revealing. In general the English are close to unique in accepting the pitch to which they are directed without comment. I admit we do not but with this van? No choice - I choose! The Dutch and Germans will allow themselves to be shown round but will then choose their own spot. The French in France of course will tend to do their own thing and why not. Ditto the Spanish in Spain although we did not see so many of them - they seem to prefer their self-constructed, semi-permanent, not-even-vaguely-mobile mobile units with huge awnings or solid sun shades, terraces, and various garden storage kit. All wired, all drained.
Spanish sites can be a bit tight for space compared to French and especially English sites. Italian are somewhere between but, like Spain are full of permanents. But Spanish sites have, as I said elsewhere, the best loos, indeed entire servicios, of all.
The continentals prefer their motor homes, especially the Dutch but they rarely stay long anywhere but on the Med so they arrive late p.m., set up, gather together, talk endlessly, eat sparingly, sleep early and disappear soon after the morning dew. The Germans are similar but less inclined to group up so the chat is quieter. Sadly neither language is very pretty to listen to and, like us, they laugh too loudly and not often. The French and Spanish do not group at all but they tend to be cheery, laughing a lot especially the Spanish in Spain - don't see enough of them out of their own country to comment. The English of course do tend to congregate but converse? That English reserve seems to forbid more than a hello and a wave. Dogs of course are great ice breakers but the usual limit of exchange is - where you been; where you going; when you going; where you live. That's about it really.
Life long campsite friendships are unlikely on the sort of tour we take as for most of the time our campsites are either other people transit camps (sun-seeking southboud/ sun-drenched northbound) or too far off the beaten track anyway out of season. Usually it is the Dutch who want to exchange email addresses, aklthough I have exchanged recently weith a Brit. And there was the charming couple from Warrington on their first tour who asked and got help and advice but then suddenly left without warning. They were so worried about tripping over their (huge UK like mine) satellite dish that they ringed it with the empty 5 litre water bottles that I assume they had gathered on their trip. By the time we met up at Haro in la Rioja they had seven of the ruddy things round this dish! They must have entirely filled the inside of their motor home when they travelled!
Many of our fellow campers don't seem to go anywhere much. Obj=viously those who only stop the night have no time. But whenever I talk to them it turns out that either they have often stopped one night on this site or it is their first time in this area. How can they just pass through? The whol point of a caravan or a camper is freedom to explore. So why don't they explore? We have begun to notice that the Germans seem always to shop in Lidll - that's about as barren as seeking out a Tesco when in France! We have been in a Lidly over here and it is EXACTKY the same as in the UK. same layout, same stock, same tedious set up and same total lack of chech out staff howvere busy it is. Mind you, we coukld save a bob or two and it would make a change - it is Greman and we hardkly ever use them at home!
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Its the storm's they don't warn you about that are worst - May 21
We are sitting here this morning in the middle of a very nasty blow. Well rotten storm actually. And worse, like the Great Storm of 1989 (was it?) we were not warned about this one. It started off last evening, after a wet day but not one which caused me to consider installing the side and front sections on the awning. By midnight I was well aware this was a mistake. I had fitted the storm straps and reasonably well secured the canvas that was up. But 20 square metres of canvas exerts a pretty hefty tug. I did not get much sleep, what with actually checking every couple of hours that we were still attached and in between listening fretfully at the unhappy sounds of the canvas and frame flexing.
By 5 a.m. I gave up and in what turned out to be only a slight and temporary lull managed to fit three of the side sections and secuire them - well sort of; saturated and very poor ground we have here now. Pegs it will not hold. Two at a time and facing opposite angles is a little better.
Janet provided cheer and tea and a fine cooked brekky but I declined her offers of physical assistance on the grounds that one wet twit is worth two in the caravan.
By 10 a.m. I was off to reception to see what if anything the French Meteo could tell us. Fist item was that the storm had NOT been forecast anyway! Indeed the previous day suggested wind speeds of maybe 40-45 kph. Ho bloody merde as they might say! By this morning the up-dated forecast acknowledged overnight and morning speeds up to 65kph - a bit more like what we are getting. And I am no bad judge having spent an interesting night on Porthclais campsite, Pembs in 1981 with Janet and the girls literally holding our big old frame tent to the ground. Come the morning and we stepped out to find we were the ONLY sirvivors of about 20 the evening before. Readers may recall that this was the year of the Fastnet race tragedy when several yachts sank with significant loss of life. That was a 60-80 mph gale and I would judge this one here as actuially about 50-60 mph - NOT a mere 65 kph!
Many replacements of yanked pins meant much mud on knees and an increasing unlikelihood that the new pins would hold anyway. I have some 12 inches long and they didn't work either!. Finding some in the mud will be problematic too!
The forecast for this afternoon is 20-25kph so if that is proportionately correct things will calm down. Sunshine? Maybe Wedesday but then it could last through the weekend. The moment the canvas is dry of course it has to come down. Which is why we had, hopefully,left the four large zipped in window/door units off. Ho bloody etc.
By 5 a.m. I gave up and in what turned out to be only a slight and temporary lull managed to fit three of the side sections and secuire them - well sort of; saturated and very poor ground we have here now. Pegs it will not hold. Two at a time and facing opposite angles is a little better.
Janet provided cheer and tea and a fine cooked brekky but I declined her offers of physical assistance on the grounds that one wet twit is worth two in the caravan.
By 10 a.m. I was off to reception to see what if anything the French Meteo could tell us. Fist item was that the storm had NOT been forecast anyway! Indeed the previous day suggested wind speeds of maybe 40-45 kph. Ho bloody merde as they might say! By this morning the up-dated forecast acknowledged overnight and morning speeds up to 65kph - a bit more like what we are getting. And I am no bad judge having spent an interesting night on Porthclais campsite, Pembs in 1981 with Janet and the girls literally holding our big old frame tent to the ground. Come the morning and we stepped out to find we were the ONLY sirvivors of about 20 the evening before. Readers may recall that this was the year of the Fastnet race tragedy when several yachts sank with significant loss of life. That was a 60-80 mph gale and I would judge this one here as actuially about 50-60 mph - NOT a mere 65 kph!
Many replacements of yanked pins meant much mud on knees and an increasing unlikelihood that the new pins would hold anyway. I have some 12 inches long and they didn't work either!. Finding some in the mud will be problematic too!
The forecast for this afternoon is 20-25kph so if that is proportionately correct things will calm down. Sunshine? Maybe Wedesday but then it could last through the weekend. The moment the canvas is dry of course it has to come down. Which is why we had, hopefully,left the four large zipped in window/door units off. Ho bloody etc.
Dodgy practices among the continental trailer crews?
Another spring spent caravan touring in France and Spain has given us cause to question whether the standards set for European trailing are strict enough. That will sound strange given that France and other European coutries have decided that trailers should be seperately registered, giving them their own number and their very own bureacracy. That might make sense if these European trailers and even motor homers followed simple safety rules. But they do not.
For a start the vast majority of caravans are being trailed by entiely unsuitable vehicles - way too light Citreons are especially noticeable but there are Vauxhalls, Renaults and Fiats as well. Worse still the majority of caravans are seriously low at the front, with the rear axles of the tow car also depressed. Watching them on the road their performance suggests the appearance is not deceptiive - they are over loaded and nose heavy for their tow vehicles.
Motor homes too are often seriously down on their rear springs and those with motor scooters and motor bikes on the rear are the worst. Interestingly those towing cars behind are less likely to be so depressed at the rear. And once on site when the 'garage' so-called is opened it is not uncommon to see it crammed with vast quantities of items, many very heavy. These vans usually have motor movers (40-50kg), carry their awnings on board (40-50kg) or have gutter fitted awnings (ditto). In fact usually the van seems crammed to capacity while the tow vehicle may contain little beyond the driver and passneger - madness, given the load cap[acity readily available in the main vehicle.
And then there are the on-site practices. The most offensive is the number of motor homers who empty their toilet cassettes into the drain provided specially for them for grey water. Do they not realise that this drain will rarely be connected to the sewerage system whatever type it is. They are dumping sewage into grey water drains that may well feed back into recovery plants. And then they use the hose, which is provided to re-fill their water tanks with clean water, to flush out their toiletcassettes! This is not so much a risk of cross contamination but a virtual certainty. I suppose we are used to the continental practice of allowing grey water to drain onto the pitch rather than use a containment but this all goes one entire step further.
And then there is the power cable. Firstly they will almost always connect to the mains before they connect to the van, thus running live cables across probably (this spirng definitely) wet grass. Bui t it gets worse since many of them do not use proper connectors - they have unearthed domestic two pin plugs (I am not talking here about continental two-plus-one plugs). And often the cable itself is just a normal domestioc one, probably rated at no more than 6 amps and definitely not properly earth bonded.
The time has surely come for the UK to take a lead in establishing some serious standard for camping behaviour before we are forced to accept a bunch of inadequate rules from Brussells - or worse, a totally unreasonable and daft demand that we register our trailers. What benefit that confers I am at a total loss to understand. The so registerd van is stioll required (rightly) to carry both its own and the towing vehicle registrations. If the purpose is to ensure safety compliance with some testing procedure I am in agreement but it takes nothing more than a current certificate to be displayed in the window of the trailer or in some suitable window if a transport trailer. Franklly it is typical of Europe that it should intsall a whole new bureacracy for such a process -and as a Europhile this is where I part company with the entire project.
For a start the vast majority of caravans are being trailed by entiely unsuitable vehicles - way too light Citreons are especially noticeable but there are Vauxhalls, Renaults and Fiats as well. Worse still the majority of caravans are seriously low at the front, with the rear axles of the tow car also depressed. Watching them on the road their performance suggests the appearance is not deceptiive - they are over loaded and nose heavy for their tow vehicles.
Motor homes too are often seriously down on their rear springs and those with motor scooters and motor bikes on the rear are the worst. Interestingly those towing cars behind are less likely to be so depressed at the rear. And once on site when the 'garage' so-called is opened it is not uncommon to see it crammed with vast quantities of items, many very heavy. These vans usually have motor movers (40-50kg), carry their awnings on board (40-50kg) or have gutter fitted awnings (ditto). In fact usually the van seems crammed to capacity while the tow vehicle may contain little beyond the driver and passneger - madness, given the load cap[acity readily available in the main vehicle.
And then there are the on-site practices. The most offensive is the number of motor homers who empty their toilet cassettes into the drain provided specially for them for grey water. Do they not realise that this drain will rarely be connected to the sewerage system whatever type it is. They are dumping sewage into grey water drains that may well feed back into recovery plants. And then they use the hose, which is provided to re-fill their water tanks with clean water, to flush out their toiletcassettes! This is not so much a risk of cross contamination but a virtual certainty. I suppose we are used to the continental practice of allowing grey water to drain onto the pitch rather than use a containment but this all goes one entire step further.
And then there is the power cable. Firstly they will almost always connect to the mains before they connect to the van, thus running live cables across probably (this spirng definitely) wet grass. Bui t it gets worse since many of them do not use proper connectors - they have unearthed domestic two pin plugs (I am not talking here about continental two-plus-one plugs). And often the cable itself is just a normal domestioc one, probably rated at no more than 6 amps and definitely not properly earth bonded.
The time has surely come for the UK to take a lead in establishing some serious standard for camping behaviour before we are forced to accept a bunch of inadequate rules from Brussells - or worse, a totally unreasonable and daft demand that we register our trailers. What benefit that confers I am at a total loss to understand. The so registerd van is stioll required (rightly) to carry both its own and the towing vehicle registrations. If the purpose is to ensure safety compliance with some testing procedure I am in agreement but it takes nothing more than a current certificate to be displayed in the window of the trailer or in some suitable window if a transport trailer. Franklly it is typical of Europe that it should intsall a whole new bureacracy for such a process -and as a Europhile this is where I part company with the entire project.
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