Me and My Winnie.

When my mother died, I was keen to get away from the small town where I had been stuck looking after her. I knew I had inherited half of her bungalow and that my sister wanted to buy my share and we came to an agreement that she would advance me some of the money so that I could fund my escape provided I was prepared to wait for the rest until she had the cash from the sale of her present home. The first thing I wanted to buy was a large camper van, something I could live in while I checked out what I was going to do with the rest of my life. It had to be big enough for me and my dog Eddy and all the worldly possessions I wanted to take with me.
Now I knew that I would be in Europe, that there was only a small chance that I would decide to settle in England. Scotland, or more precisely, Edinburgh, was a higher likelihood but an expensive place to live even if I did have a son living there. Because I thought I needed to end up living near one of my sons, in case health problems became a big issue and I was no longer able to look after myself: and I knew I could trust my sons to step up to the mark if such a situation arose. But I would have to be fairly nearby in view of their family commitments.
I knew that decent camper vans tended to be expensive, even second or third hand. I had been looking at the market for some time and visited several dealers. So when I saw an add for a Winnebago Brave with a fairly low mileage, I had to go and see it. It was in an excellent state inside and out and had everything, as American camper vans do, all-round music speakers, fridge/freezer, full cooker, microwave, toilet, shower, loads of storage and even an on-board generator that ran on LPG. And, being left-hand drive, ideal for driving on the continent. So, after thinking about it for a few days, I bought it and went up to North Devon to collect it. And then spent the next 8 months living in it.

I drove it to Dover, took the ferry to Calais and then drove it down through France to Najac in the south-west of the Massif Central, where my other son lives.
Initially I parked up in the camper van space down below the village for some time and later moved from there to a space on a farm down by the river where I could have electricity without it costing 2 euros an hour as it did in the official site. But I had to drive the Winnie everywhere I wanted to go and one thing I had learnt about her was that her 6.5 litre Chevrolet engine consumed diesel at an enormous rate. So, visiting my son and his family, going shopping, all cost money.
In late February I decided it was time to explore further afield, and with my friends Pol and Fina as a destination, I set off for Biarritz and then on into Spain, Navarre province, where they lived. In Biarritz I began to see a problem with camper vans these days. Firstly, there are loads of them and secondly, most of them were very expensive, 50 thousand euros at least and often much more. This meant that most tourist towns had strict rules about where they could be parked and had no compunction about charging a lot in their camper van parks....10 euros a night in Biarritz which held twenty or so vehicles and was rammed when I arrived late afternoon. And, of course, a big camper van is difficult to hide unless you are right out in the wilds. So wild camping was going to have to be it for me but I would have to stay in proper sites from time to time to charge up my three batteries.

After a very pleasant week parked up on a Basque squash court in my friends village, we then explored the Spanish Pyrenees, pretty empty at that time of year except for the high ski stations. We slowly moved eastwards towards the coast going up and down the mountains, visiting hidden valleys and driving on some fairly freaky roads with lots of blind corners, narrow, with huge drops, meeting fast driven delivery trucks who obviously knew these routes very well.
We got to the coast and I found a campsite that was fairly cheap in Rosas which was pretty deserted at this time of year and spent a pleasant time resting up before taking the road back up into France, getting buffeted by strong winds as we headed up the coast towards Perpignan.
Back in Najac and with no sign of the rest of the money from my sister, I hung around for a bit and then planned another trip, this time to the Alps. I decided to stop off in Grenoble to visit an old friend who had a comedy club there and had a great week with him, watching his show which was really very funny. And he took me up into the mountains around the city which saved me driving the Winnie up there. But then I headed right up into the Alps which was fun, with beautiful vistas but, by now, I had got used to the fact that I needed to stop mainly in proper sites to charge my batteries, fill up with water and empty my grey and black water tanks. So my budget was getting hit two-ways, with fuel and with campsite fees.

I was away a month and headed home via stops at the in-laws farm in the Drome and some friends in the Rhone Valley. You see I said home, without thinking. I knew I loved the area around Najac which I had been visiting regularly since my youngest son moved there in '96. I had even lived there with my then wife after my heart attack in '98. I had quite a lot of friends there too, people who I had known for years. My son had a small building as part of his house in the centre of the village and we had talked of the possibilities of making it into a home for me when my money came through... The farmer where I had been parked had to ask me to move as he had a young people's camp coming there so I moved up onto the plateau on some land owned by a friend. But there was no electricity or water so I had to go back to the town camper van site quite regularly which was getting busier and busier. I was going to have to find a place for the summer and eventually moved into the town's official campsite and was lent a car so that I didn't have to keep driving the Winnie around.

Then, I learnt that my daughter-in-law and her sister owned, had inherited, some properties in the nearby town of Villefranche and asked to see an empty apartment and by the end of August had moved in and found I loved living in that small historic town. Villefranche, I knew that was where I wanted to live, surrounded by history, in a very multicultural environment, surrounded by beautiful countryside and with a son just twenty minutes drive away.
Finally, my money came through, I was able to buy all the furniture I would need and a new car to last me and to go on a long planned holiday to Asia. And by the time I returned to

Eddy loved sitting right on the front.

And the Winnie. She's about to start her second season in a camping site just outside Najac, owned by friends, where she is let out to holiday makers. We keep talk about selling her and maybe at the end of this season we will. But I won't be using her again. I can't afford it. Camper vans these days is a rich man's game. Unless you go back to having a VW camper, like we had back in the day: that is still a possibility. Or having an estate car like I have now and sleeping in the back.