Highs and lows of our motorhome trip part 1

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This got a bit long so I've split it into two parts. So what was the verdict of our week in a motorhome? Would we do it again? I have to say I’m not sure about that, as a family anyway. I enjoyed the experience. We did have a few problems, at least at the start, but that wasn’t the end of the world. Of course space was quite constrained but I didn’t mind that for a short while. After all I used to live in a boat that was only slightly bigger – although I didn’t have to share that with three other people which obviously makes all the difference! The girls enjoyed it although would have preferred different sleeping arrangements. My partner though found the whole experience incredibly stressful and that made him angry and on edge almost all the time! So much shouting and swearing at even the most minor things (like getting the little storage compartments to lock). I don’t think he realised quite how much all this anger affects everyone around him. Frankly, when someone is just radiating anger all the time it’s quite intimidating and does make it hard to enjoy whatever is going on. When I eventually mentioned that he did calm down and explained he was feeling very stressed. So what caused all the stress? The first night didn’t get off to a great start. We were an hour and a half late leaving to begin with. The hire place said we had to be there between 2 and 4 pm. Partner got very stressed thinking we wouldn’t get there at the right time (it was an hour and a half drive from home). Arrived by 3 pm but then by the time the staff actually got around to bringing the vehicle from wherever it was (the office was surrounded by motorhomes but not ours, apparently) checking us in, form filling, then giving us the tour, and then unloading all our stuff and stashing it away, it was after 5:30 pm. We didn’t want to go too far the first night so drove an hour and a half to a quiet little campsite where we planned to have dinner, and to make life easier on our first day I had pre-cooked some potatoes and brought a tub of casserole out of the freezer so we only had to heat the food up. At the check-in the staff had shown us the electronic control panel for the various systems – water heating, levels in the water and waste water tanks, water pump, battery etc. – and emphasized how important it was that we turned off the bottle of gas (for cooking) when we were driving. So we parked up and looked at the control panel to check that the electric system was working OK after we plugged in to the on-site supply. For some unknown reason the whole thing just went crazy. First it said there was some sort of boiler overheating problem (very odd as the boiler had not been used) and turned on some sort of cooling fan which we couldn’t switch off. Then after we had tried pressing various buttons the whole panel just seized up and wouldn’t respond to anything! We tried all kinds of things to no avail. Finally managed to get some help from a German couple (one of only two other ‘campers’ at the site) in their motorhome, who somehow restored it to normal. Next we attempted to heat up dinner. Having been told the importance of turning off the gas bottle, we assumed it was off and tried to turn it on, but it was impossible to turn the knob! We tried everything we had available but it wouldn’t budge. We tried turning it in both directions just in case but still no sign of movement. Didn't want to ask neighbours as by now it was about 10 pm. So dinner consisted of cold boiled potatoes with some grated cheese and pesto. Not what we had planned but it could have been worse! In the morning partner was telling us we’d have to drive the hour and a half back to the depot to get them to fix it. I told him not to be silly, we would call the help line, or stop at some garage or workshop we passed and ask for help, or buy some tools… any of those would be more convenient. So I called the helpline over breakfast and a lovely lady asked if we had tried using the cooker – we hadn’t, assuming the gas was off – so we did that and it turned out it was on all the time! Problem solved - although not the safety issue – but she explained we could turn off the isolating valves as a back-up. So problem number two was overcome. All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2025.