By William Coleman
The Bristanbul tour was as fun as it was ambitious, 21 countries in 21 days. I was fortunate enough to get an invite on the tour, spaces are not very easy to come by. I was originally going to do all 21 days but due to obligations back in the UK I could only complete 18 days. Over 18 days I was able to complete legs 1, 2 and 3 of the tour as well as visit 10 countries I had never been to before.
Over the next few weeks I will be posting articles about each part of the trip. I was going to post it as one article but it would be far too long for anyone to enjoyably get through.
Country 1 The United Kingdom
Day 1 had to be the UK, we had to start somewhere and where better than Bailey Of Bristol HQ. It was here I got to fully meet the ‘Leg 1’ team for the Bristanbul tour.
Upon arrival I was greeted with a goody bag full of touring essentials, who doesn’t love a big bag of free gifts. The Bailey bag of riches contained the a Hydratem8 water flask and thermos, Mountain Warehouse towel and backpack, 2 bailey jackets and a branded polo.
Once all the unpacking was done we did a quick Facebook Live with Simon Howard and Lee Davey. After that it was time to set off on our way to Portsmouth to hop on our ferry to France. There was quite a delay getting onto the ferry which was not all bad as I got to have good chat with Lee Davey.
Lee Davey is a good guy and was aware that I was not super comfortable with towing on the wrong side of the road on the right side of the car. He coached me throughout the tour and made sure I knew what I was doing. So thank you very much for that Mr. Davey.
Country 2 France
The ferry crossing was a piece of cake and I actually managed to get 3 hours sleep ahead of the 375 mile drive down through France to our site. The 5:30am wake up call was not the best thing in the world.
For the first 2 hours of driving Wes Terry from Bailey took the wheel in the Advance motorhome. It was decided that the two team members who had the least abroad towing experience would be eased in using the motorhome.
Once the first 2 hours were over it was time for a tea break and a driver change over. We all bundled into the Pegasus to have tea and coffee before we set off for another few hours. Now it was my time to jump behind the wheel of the Advance. It really did not take too long for me to get comfortable driving a motorhome on the other side of the road.
Due to the speed limits you face when towing we were in a convoy, so we mirrored the caravans so we stayed together. As long as you take your time and stick to speeds you are comfortable driving at then you will have no issues whatsoever. The Advance was an absolute pleasure to drive and made things a lot more comfortable for someone who was slightly nervous to begin with.
Once we got to the site we managed to get the vans set up in about 15 minutes. With the vans ready to live in we grabbed another quick cup of tea before taking a quick walk around the site ahead of dinner.
The site is set in the French countryside of Bourgogne and our pitches were located in front of a large pond. Of an evening it sounded like all the frogs and toads were having a garden. Our first site set the bar for picturesque locations.
The dinner we had at this site was amazing, fresh produce cooked fresh to order. Everyone at the table tried something new and we had locally brewed beer and win. This is a wine region so it would be rude to not try some local specialities.
After a 3 course meal and some amazing wine it was decided that an early night was needed as we had a big day ahead of us. The next day we had a huge amount of miles to cover as we ventured from France to Switzerland and then finally set up camp in Italy at Lake Garda.
