Our Next Disaster

It's Chris here now to relate the next episode………...

On Thursday morning we left the campsite somewhere near Maintenon.  By mid afternoon we were travelling North on the A28 to make our way to St Valery-sur-Somme.  Suddenly the folded paper blind that shields us from the sun coming through the large rectangular 'sun roof' in the cab started flapping around.  We couldn't think where the wind doing this was coming from so we came off at the next junction and drove to the virtually empty car park of a supermarket close by.

We knew something awful had happened but couldn't quite take in the reality that the entire sun roof had just disappeared, presumably blown off by the wind.  This meant that the van was not really drivable, at least for any distance, and it certainly wasn't habitable.  Fortunately perhaps we could only think and act one step at a time so rang the number of our breakdown insurance.  After 40 minutes or so a breakdown truck arrived, John drove on and it took us several kilometres to their premises in the village of Cambron to the west of Abbeville.

Much of what happened next is a blur but the breakdown garage was due to close  and insurance organised us a taxi to take us to a hotel for the night.  We checked with the breakdown man that we could access the van again in the morning through a gate that would open at 9 a.m. and quickly filled bags with things we thought we needed for the night.  We also took all our electronic stuff and some random food items.  Somehow we ended up with nine bags between us. 

Naively I was imagining a journey of a few miles / kilometres to a nearby town but insurance had booked us a room in Amiens, 36.3 miles to the East South East (I just checked distance on our satnav).

The hotel was basic but comfortable but only did B&B.  Once we'd settled in we walked a short distance to the railway station and fed ourselves in Subway.  It was dawning on us that our van was not going to be repaired swiftly.  We know that if any spare parts are ordered they can take weeks to arrive.  We wondered if a temporary repair was possible but the breakdown driver had been negative about this.  It had been indicated that a hire car could be available in the morning and we were making vague plans to return to the van with it and pick up as much stuff as possible to take home.  

Travelling in a motorhome is not like any other kind of holiday.  You don't have a suitcase but your personal and household possessions are stored in various places throughout the vehicle.

In the morning our call to the repair section of our insurance gave us the news that our policy did not cover us for work needed on the motorhome as the problem was deemed to be caused by 'wear and tear'.  If we'd had damage caused by an accident, or presumably a mechanical failure, we would have been OK.

The next stage of the breakdown cover process was to provide us with a hire car.  There was naivety on both sides here.  We'd thought we'd be able to drive ourselves and our stuff home, and had only worried about how much we could fit in the car and how we'd get back to collect the rest.  We were informed though that we couldn't take the hire car out of the country. On the other hand the insurers were expecting to let us have a car for the next 3 days or so as our booking home on Eurotunnel was for Tuesday 10th May.  Somehow they imagined we were going to continue our holiday without the motorhome and would still be able to use our tunnel booking without a vehicle!

When the misunderstandings were sorted out the situation we were left with was that they would provide a taxi to take us to pick up a hire car and they would book us a hotel in Calais for the night.  In the morning we were to drop off the car to Hertz in Calais, then get ourselves to the ferry terminal, with only what we could carry, (with 3 good hands between us!) and travel to Dover as foot passengers on the next available ferry.  Presumably they would then hire us a UK car to get home.  

So we waited for the taxi which took us to Hertz for the hire car.  Fortunately we had thought to bring the satnav from the van and had put the co-ordinates of the garage in Favourites.  We made it back to the garage around midday to find they were about to close for lunch.  There was no way we could prioritise and pack in just a few minutes so we said we'd come when they opened after lunch, which was apparently 2 p.m. A young lad that worked there told us there was a restaurant in the village so we drove the half kilometre there.

Above is a photo of the hire car, taken in the restaurant car park so we would recognise it when we came out.  Below is the traditional village restaurant where we spent about an hour and a half eating steak frites and ice cream with fruit juice and coffee.

Over lunch we explored many possible and not so possible scenarios for getting ourselves, our possessions, and the motorhome, mended or otherwise, back home.  Some involved asking friends or relatives to drive out and bring us, or at least some of our stuff, back.  We made two phone calls while there, one to Lowdhams, the Knaus dealer in Huddersfield, and one to Liz, our French tutor.  Lowdhams did some checking and then informed us that no Knaus dealers could be found in Northern  France.  Liz agreed to ring us back later and help with explaining to the garage that ideally we'd like a new sunroof but something temporary to enable us to get home would almost be better because presumably it would be quicker.

At 2 p.m. we returned to the garage and waited outside the locked gates for a further 40 minutes.  It could have been an extra long lunch but we think they had had another emergency to deal with.

Once back in the van we started packing bags and gathering together food to throw away.  The young garage worker, who like the others had no English, was trying to explain to us that they couldn't fix the van and it needed to be off the premises.  We tried asking our questions about where it could go and what we could do.  He said he would ring a colleague who spoke English and we then spent some time on the phone to her.  She tried but failed to find a Knaus dealer anywhere in France and then had a long conversation with the young man.  The outcome of this was that we were told that the boss was coming in to sort it out.

The boss when he arrived was full of determination and quickly decided they could effect a temporary repair that would get us home.  Once this was decided it all happened very quickly and a temporary covering of the hole in the roof was constructed from available odds and ends of plastic boarding and waterproof plastic sheeting stuck together with gaffer tape.  So unconvinced was I that I carried on packing for a good ten minutes whilst it was going on over my head.  Liz rang at this point and it wasn't until I stopped packing and told her it was being fixed that I  could really allow myself to feel relief.

The boss was confident it would hold and we began to believe we really could get home without leaving the van and most of its contents in France.  Soon we had paid €59 and were driving the van outside the garage gates.  This is where the hire car was still waiting for us so we had to deal with that before we were free to leave. Hertz were not prepared to collect the car so we had to drive it back to Amiens and insurance supplied yet another taxi to take us back to the van.  We first tested the holding power of our temporary roof by driving for about 30 mins to the nearest campsite arriving exhausted about 7 p.m.

Next day we made it to the Eurotunnel in about 2 hours.  It should have taken a lot less but we were having to drive at around 40 - 45 mph to reduce the nerve wracking noisy flapping of the plastic sheeting.  It was too reminiscent of the flapping blind that started the problem.

It was good news at the tunnel.  The young man at the kiosk told us we could go straight onto the next shuttle, but apologised for the €45 supplement we had to pay to change the booking.  We were delighted.  The tunnel is brilliantly quick anyway and we just had time to get together and eat a lunch of cheese, crackers and apples under the sea before we arrived in Folkestone.  Clocks now set back to 12 noon we headed to Rochester to take refuge with Kathy and David.  

After a meal, a bed for the night, and above all love and support from good friends we left on Sunday at 10 a.m. to travel around 260 miles back to Yorkshire, still at a noisy, flappy 40 - 45 mph, being overtaken by massive trucks all the way.

Arrived home at 6.15 p.m. exhausted, but the sunshine and beautiful spring flowers in the garden felt wonderfully welcoming.  It's never felt so good to be back.