Peter, Myran and dog Luka have changed their life’s course. They have been living in their motorhome since the beginning of 2022 and are 'Endless on Wheels'. In three blogs, they provide answers to questions such as: how does such a dream become reality? What makes you decide to leave your house behind and live in your motorhome? How are you experiencing your first adventures as full-time motorhomers? And they talk about their plans for the future.
In this second part: fun and less fun first adventures.
January 2, 2022: new year, new opportunities. time to make our dream come true! So there we went, towards Belgium where we arrived in the early evening at a quiet parking lot next to Camping du Lac and Camping Spineuse (sitecode 41309). Both campsites were closed but a parking space was a fine choice for the first evening living on wheels. A real champagne-worthy moment too, so we toasted in style. Another good moment of reflection; we actually just did this! We are now really, properly Endless on Wheels.
Whether we already had a travel plan at that time? No, not at all actually. We didn't even know if we were going to go to the Iberian Peninsula or the Balkans. So we took the route down through France and once we got to the coast we would pick a side: left or right.
That immediately says something about our way of camping. That is to say, although Greece was often on our holiday menu (our most visited country in all those years. An absolute favorite!), we never had a very clear plan during our recreational holidays. We are up for any adventure!
We are motorhomers who allow all kinds of influences and factors to play a role in our decisions. Let's start with the weather; an omnipresent and unchangeable factor. Furthermore, we like to talk to other motorhomers along the way, who often come up with beautiful places or highlights that let us drive in a different direction. But don't forget the camper apps, such as Campercontact. Sometimes you might find a spot that seems ideal to you, but you read in a recent review, for example, that the location is closed or that they are renovating it. We actually always advise people, when they ask us “can you just stay wherever for free?” check the Campercontact app and read the reviews, or look at the reviews on Google maps. You can also sometimes find useful information about your chosen destination there.
From our first stop in Belgium we toured past the motorhome sites of France, such as Aire de Camping-park l'étange de la Poche (sitecode 2025) and Le Roche-le-Glun (sitecode 60552) and we arrived at the motorhome site in the beautiful Die (website code 9014). This is a place in the area called the Drôme which we have visited before. Never before, though, have we been there in winter. This is a bit different, of course, but despite the cold we had a very French moment with our cup of coffee on a terrace, overlooking the market, with a live accordion tune from a nice hippie-like lady. There we realized: life is smiling at us. Of course we also found a nice bottle of Clairette de Die and some cheese before we returned to the motorhome for a pleasant evening in the warmth.
The next morning we wanted to continue to Castellane. But motorhome life also has some surprises in store itself, and this day had a few! It already started with our departure. Our overnight stay had already been paid for, but we still needed a ticket to open the barrier. However, it had been freezing so the device that was supposed to help us to open the barrier was not working. Even the display was not working. No interaction whatsoever was possible and the barrier worked perfectly; no pay, no exit. Fair enough. But what now? Suddenly I, Myran, saw two men in bright yellow vests doing some drilling: municipal workers! I walked up to them and when I got to them I saw that I was still wearing my unflattering but warm slippers! I guess I’ll just need to put on a nice smile, I thought to myself. With a ‘bonjour’ I tried to explain in my best French what the problem was.
The smile and friendly greeting did the job (or was it the slippers?😉). The men made a phone call and had a look at our motorhome and the three huge boulders the size of dolmen, which were lying next to the barrier. These were, of course, to prevent motorhomes from sidetracking without paying. After much deliberation, the men, armed with shovel and broom, walked over to our motorhome. I had no idea what exactly they were going to do, because I hadn't understood anything they had said, but I quickly followed them. Peter, meanwhile, had the best time sat in the driver’s seat: with a broad grin, he pointed to my slippers.
Anyway, my French friends rolled aside the very heavy boulders like real warriors and Mr. Endless was able to back up and then lance sideways. After the much-needed 'merci' and 'bon journee' we could finally make our way to Castellane. It probably wouldn't be that busy in January…
We entered the address to Aire Municipale (website code 2342) into our navigation, also known as 'Miss Navi' among insiders, and we were ready to go. The route would take us over some hills but no spectacular cols. So, off we went, laughing together at the beautiful adventure we had just experienced. What else could happen to us now? The road took us past beautiful French scenes. The shutters of houses became more and more lilac and I quickly bought a tasty baguette and some goat's cheese for lunch. We took a turn and a Renault Captur met us on the road. There are plenty of these types of cars driving around here, but this one stood out because of the enormous amount of snow on the roof and hood. We said to each other: “they must have gone skiing”. But that turned out to be a different story than we were expecting.
After a hairpin bend we suddenly saw white roadsides. After two hairpin bends there was snow on the road and at the fourth bend there was a motorhome on the roadside and the owners clearly hadn't gone there for fun. Myram panicked as Mr. Endless became silent. Those who know Peter, know that this is a rarity, so I was immediately in alarm level 1. “Can we still turn around?”, I asked cautiously. Peter replied that this was impossible due to the length of the motorhome (7.28 meters). And we also have a trailer on top of that. I decided to keep quiet and trust Peter's experience. Once at the top we stopped to take a rest and settle down. How exciting that was! We ate the goat’s cheese and bread in silence and didn't really know what to do; drive on or stay overnight. We checked the weather app and saw that there was a lot more snow on the way. Peter went out for an inspection and walked a bit ahead down the descent and soon came back smiling: “it's the sunny side dear, there is no snow on the descent". Good news and after a kiss and sigh of relief we drove down, happy that this adventure had ended safely.
Once we arrived in Castellane we soon found the camper place. Beautifully situated and what a nice village! I jumped out of the motorhome happy and soon saw that there was no one to be seen at the motorhome site. We were able to take the nicest spot and take beautiful pictures. I walked up to the pay machine and after 13 attempts I gave up. I walked up to a lady who was strolling by and asked where we could pay, because the machine did not work. "ah nooon, c'est fermé!" (ie. closed). "Sorry what? Did we drive all the way over the hills to your beautiful village, risking our safety, only to not be allowed to stay?!" Okay, I just thought this to myself, and thanked her of course. We then decided to drive to the Carrefour first. Arriving there, we saw how a yellow snow shovel provided the sign along the road with a smaller sign that again read "fermé". Of course. Apparently the snow shower that erupted up there was heavier than we thought.
We decided to go down to Nice. There we find a ‘P’ next to a cemetery, just before dark. Mr. Endlessly asked if I dared to stay "Yeah," I said, "nice and quiet." It was one of those days that you don't plan for, which you may not enjoy at the moment, but in the evening you can laugh about it with a nice glass of wine and a good bowl of pasta. In this parking lot, we would be discussing our next move with a cup of coffee the next morning after breakfast. Do we turn right towards Spain and Portugal and hopefully also Morocco? Or do we turn left and visit Italy, Greece and Turkey?
You can read it in the 3rd and final part of 'Peter, Myran and Luka: the sequel, the present and the future'. This blog will be published next month. So keep a close eye on our blog and social media channels.
For more impressions, updates and videos from Peter, Myran and Luka, we refer you to their social media channels on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. They can be found under the name 'Endless on Wheels'.
Fun fact about the creation of this name: 'Loos is our last name, our motorhome is called 'The Endless' and hence our social media channels: Endless on Wheels.