Van Upgrade: Graphics.

Posted on June 18, 2023 by Ian

The van was called FreeTime when we bought it and I removed these graphics in July 2022 whilst in 40C heat in France. It’s taken a while as we have been debating what we wanted to call the van and Wendy has been learning how to use her Cricut machine.

We decided on Fiat Di Campo. So Wendy cut the graphics and we put these on the van. Whilst we were there we added a graphic on the bonnet and a small graphic to one of the backdoors.

We are still debating if we want to add a mcnaughtsontour graphic on the van, so this might happen in the future.

Let us know what you think – good or bad, all views are welcome.

Campervan Upgrade: Glovebox Drinks Holder

Posted on November 13, 2022 by Ian

We needed some drinks holders, especially on long trips, so we converted the central glovebox to a double drinks holder, installing the Fiat OEM parts.

This is a straightforward upgrade. There are quite a few parts and you’ll see in the video if you have the Blue & Me option installed on your van then you will need to cut out the plastic blanking plate. I found the DeWalt multitool was good for this.

The parts are available on Amazon at this affiliate link. We will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

This upgrade has worked really well and we are really pleased with it.

Overnight park up in Wales

Posted on October 30, 2022 by Ian

We were attending a family event in Wales and were granted permission to park up overnight on the site. What a beautiful setting.

Fabulous Findhorn aire in Moray, Scotland

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Ian

We were attending a family wedding so we decided to take our campervan and stay at the Findhorn aire. We were also joined by our son and daughter in our son’s recently converted Caddy Maxi. You’ll have ready previous posts about the conversion if you’ve been following our journey.

The aire at Findhorn is brilliant. It’s clean and modern, with an electronic booking and access system. Everything worked perfectly from arrival to departure.

We arrived late the previous evening and loved the lack of light pollution. This is the view from our van at 10:30 pm. With the correct conditions you can see the Northern Lights. Unfortunately we did not on this occasion.

It’s a few minutes walk from the aire to the beach.

There is a maximum two day stay so the aire was emptying the day we left and provided a good opportunity to capture the Caddy Maxi in the foreground and our Ducato in the background.

France Tour

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Ian

That’s the end of our posts for our 2,200 mile tour of France. You can view video content of the whole trip here.

Tardinghen aire

Posted on October 19, 2022 by Ian

We were looking for a stop over near the Eurotunnel which we had not stayed at before when Wendy found Tardinghen aire. This is a working farm with a small number of tiered pitches over looking the sea and other pitches in a field area behind the barn.

Facilities are basic with fresh water, waste water disposal and chemical toilet disposal. This suits us as we try and be self sufficient. There is also electric hook up available at some pitches.

The farmer is very friendly and collects the fee in cash in the evening.

St Valery sur Somme aire

Posted on October 16, 2022 by Ian

On our way back north we have been revisiting several places we stayed at in 2014. The next is the aire at St Valery sur Somme. It’s a very tidy aire with automated barriers. I did not take a photo of the aire, only the weather as it has changed significantly from the glorious 40°C.

It’s rain and 20°C now.

The town of St Valery sur Somme is about a 15 minute walk from the aire. It’s lovely and well worth the walk.

It is a little steep as you approach the town. The historical memorabilia shows this street has changed very little over its history.

Jumieges on the Seinne

Posted on October 12, 2022 by Ian

We continued to travel North and stopped at Jumieges. We are returning from our previous visit on 2014. There is a short ferry crossing across the Seine, with the campsite being only 5-10 minutes drive from the slipway.

The weather has been fabulous this whole trip and it peaked at 40C. This was really too hot for Max, so Wendy wrapped him in a cold water blanket and put a fan in from of him. He was cool and comfortable whilst we were roasting hot.

With very high temperatures we tried to keep a shaded area for Max.

I tool advantage of the hot temperature and peeled off the “Free Time” graphics on our van. We have been planning to create our own logo, so I’ll need to do this now.

The pitches here are large and are enclosed with hedges so they are quite private. This is a quiet site.

Returned to Honfleur for an overnight stop

Posted on October 9, 2022 by Ian

We returned to Honfleur for an overnight stop as we travelled North. This time we had some pals.

I walked to the edge of the restricted zone and got some aerial views from my drone.

Stop over at Granville aire

Posted on October 5, 2022 by Ian

We had a stop over at Granville aire as we started travelling North. The aire is really a car park on the outskirts of the town beyond the harbour. There is not much of a view as most vans park against the wall.