France & Spain 2020

England to the Costa del Sol via Eurotunnel

Leicestershire, England to Monda, Malaga, Spain and back!

October – December 2020

We have traditionally flown to Malaga from East Midlands, but with the Covid-19 pandemic we had decided that 2020 was the year we would finally buy and use our motorhome. Having talked for years about buying one, now seemed the right time. So after a couple of practice nights in Leicestershire, we set off driving KEN down from the East Midlands, towards Kent, to take the Eurotunnel onto France. We would then continue through France to Spain to make our way to our Spanish home, Casa Goodwin in the Malaga province of Andalusia.

Total Journey details:

On the road for 9 days
A total of 3,428 miles
Toll charges were €293.78
Fuel £666.00 (24.65 mpg)
Campsite charges – €37 (for 3 nights, the other sites were free)
Eurotunnel fare – £378 return (with refundable tickets)

Housekeeping for the trip:

Electric hook up on 4 nights
Gas – used 2/3rds of a cylinder
Water and waste refills every other day

Food for the journey

On both journeys I made some home cooked meals in advance ready for microwaving (this only worked when we were on hook up)
Cooked potatoes and other vegetables prepared in advance, ready to warm up in frying pan/saucepan
Plenty of hard boiled eggs, sausages, pork pie, carrot baton, sausage rolls, crisps, chocolate bars and biscuits for snacking
Ham, Cheese, Salad, Bread Rolls (or cobs) for lunches
Fruit & yoghurts for breakfast (I did the occasional cooked breakfast!)
Milk
Lots of frozen water bottles, which acted as food chillers in the cool bag and box we used in addition to the fridge (we took a lot of food as we did not want to stop anywhere for food due to Covid and wanted to make sure we had food for when we arrived at our destinations on both journeys)
Some large bottles of water

What we would do differently next time …

Try to not drive at night and take in more of the scenery. Stop to sightsee as we pass places (but that is Covid dependent)
Be more confident in the free parking facilities
Probably need to stock up on food in France, because I will be unable to take food into the EU, so will need to allow more time to cook meals en-route
Ensure we have a way of connecting/using our Spanish gas bottles (we only had English bottles on board and would not have been able to replace these in Spain)

Outward journey: Leicestershire, England to Monda, Spain

Friday 16th October 2020 – left Leicestershire for Kent and the Channel Tunnel stayed overnight at a friend’s farm
Saturday 17th October 2020 left England, via the Channel Tunnel (08:20 crossing) heading towards Poitiers stayed at Camping Car site overnight €11
Sunday 18th October 2020 drove from Poitiers in France to south of Burgos in Spain stayed at town hall run site – free of charge
Monday 19th October 2020 drove through Spain to Monesterio, Badajoz stayed at town hall run site – free of charge
Tuesday 20th October 2020 drove past Seville, to Malaga and onto our house in Monda

Outward Journey details:

On the road for 5 days
A total of 1650 miles
Toll charges were €167,82
Fuel £320 on diesel (24.7 to the gallon).
Our total driving time was approximately 35 hours, but for us this was at a leisurely pace.

Housekeeping for the trip:

Electric hook up on 2 nights
Gas – used approximately 1/3rd of a cylinder
Water and waster refills every other day

Return journey: Monda, Spain to Leicestershire, England

Tuesday 1st December 2020 – left Monda midday for Merida
Wednesday 2nd December 2020 – left Merida for France stayed at Area Autocaravanas site overnight €15
Thursday 3rd December 2020 – drove from Labenne in the Aquitaine region to Gacé in Normandy stayed at Camping Car site overnight €11
Friday 4th December 2020 – drove from Gacé, in Normandy onto Calais, stayed at town hall run site – free of charge, boarded Eurotunnel and onto Leicestershire