Further Bongo Adventures
In 2013 we spent the May half term near Paris and used the annual Disneyland passes we’d bought on the sabbatical. We took a tent as well, but discovered we could plug an electric heater into the van and keep warm inside in the evenings as it was rather chilly. That summer we drove to the Dordogne, again taking a tent as well, and camped for 2 weeks. We had amazing weather till the last day when there was a tremendous thunderstorm as we left. We’d bought a bike carrier for the tow bar so took 4 bikes, although arranging them on the carrier was a nightmare and involved turning all the handlebars . We also took our first blow up canoe, the Tahiti Plus Pro, an enormous thing which Danny ordered in a sale. It had no fin and was impossible to steer but the boys enjoyed jumping from it and turning it upside down in the river.
In 2014 we took the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander, unfortunately during the tailend of hurricane Bertha so Danny’s promised mini cruise never materialised and he spent the voyage in the cabin feeling terribly seasick. We had a lovely few days in San Sebastian and saw the fireworks festival twice, the highlight of which was the fire bull, a man dressed as a bull running wild with fireworks shooting from him in all directions. We camped in the Pyrenees where the cloud didn’t lift for a week. We went to Lourdes but that didn’t help. One of the boys ended up in a French hospital with suspected appendicitis, which turned out to be a gut infection. We’re still not sure if it was caught from unpasteurised goat’s cheese or the camp toilets. That trip put us off long camping trips and the next year we drove to the Dordogne but stayed in a gite.
We kept the Bongo for about 5 years, taking it on short camping trips. It was about half the time to pitch or pack up camp compared to a large tent. Our friends were envious. When it rained we sat inside and kept dry. Then I convinced Danny we should sell it as we were hardly using it. He reluctantly agreed although he’d always enjoyed driving it to work because he’d felt as if he was going on holiday, even though it took ages to defrost and warm up in the winter. He found a nice new owner for it. We missed it and I wondered if it had been a mistake to sell it.
How it Started
In 2012 Danny had a sabbatical and we wanted to do something adventurous. Our boys were 13 and 10. I wasn’t keen on flying or visiting exotic countries so suggested a camper van trip round Europe. We’d always liked the idea of a camper van but never seriously considered it. One of Danny’s friends had a VW California, but the price seemed outrageous. We started researching and discovered the Mazda Bongo, a Japanese minivan with fold down seats to make a double bed and a roof which elevated to make more sleeping space upstairs. They were right hand drive. People imported them and converted them to full camper vans. The main attraction was the much lower cost.
We took the train to Southampton to view some at a dealer. We liked them but there were so many decisions. A side or rear kitchen? Keep the seats or change for a rock and roll bed? What kitchen surfaces, what flooring? We left confused. Then Danny saw one advertised in Auto Trader and went to look. He liked it, it was a good price and we bought it. It was a Montague, converted by Eva Montague at 321 near Reading. There was a crisis when for some reason it didn’t register as congestion zone exempt, so we had to store it outside London for a few weeks, but we managed to sort that and Danny drove it home.
Our Bongo felt quite large to drive at first, even though it was hardly wider or longer than our Zafira. They are over 2m tall, so we had to take notice of height restriction signs in car parks. We realised it was too small for all 4 of us to sleep comfortably. We bought an awning, which attached by a plastic strip above the van side door, and took it camping. The boys slept in the van, one in the roof, one on the unfolded seats. We slept in the tent section of the awning. It was very windy and we woke to see the sky as the awning had detached from the van.
In the summer we spent a month and drove all the way to Croatia (the northern island of Crs), via Disneyland Paris, Chamonix, Lake Garda and Venice. We returned via Slovenia, Innsbruck, Lake Constance (where it rained non-stop and the awning leaked so we went to an Ibis hotel) and Luxembourg. It was easy to drive, being automatic, and comfortable. It was much quicker to set up camp and get away than when we’d had a tent alone.
We enjoyed ourselves despite the fact we slept in the awning most of the time on airbeds which always lost air. You couldn’t get in the fridge or make coffee or breakfast til one of the boys woke up, but that didn’t matter. It was great to have a fridge. All the stuff had to be put in the front seats or awning to sleep, which was fine if it wasn’t raining. We mostly lived outside.
We looked forward to more camper van adventures.