by Joe Jeffrey
Karen and David ride off into the sunset courtesy of 2016 Elddis Accordo 254
You may recall that, back in November, CaravanTimes reported on a particular gap year with a twist, which would see one 50-plus couple embark on an epic motorhome tour thanks to Elddis. And now, the wheels are spinning and the couple from County Durham have set off on what can only be described as a journey of a lifetime on board a brand new Elddis Encore 254.
Following a number of years planning for their journey, Karen and John have begun their adventure after just one month’s motorhome refresher training having not taken to a motorhome for over ten years.
Planning to spend a full 12 months travelling around Spain, the Grey Gappers – as Karen and David have come to be known – seem to have taken the first leg of their journey in their stride, thanks in part to the trusty Encore 254 provided by Elddis.
Of the adventure that awaits, Karen wrote on her blog: “We studied the various ‘How To’ books on the subject – the best one we found being ‘Go Motorhoming and Campervanning’ from Vicarious Books. It has loads of information on all topics set out in logical order. We also read many blog’s – www.ourtour.co.uk being particularly useful – and Jason and Julie have been extremely kind and helpful to us!”
“We are lucky enough to be in a new Elddis Encore 254, which has a fixed bed which has proved marvellous. The motorhome is very well finished and drives like a dream. That said, going away in it for a year with no overnight test runs has meant it has taken us a lot of time to get used to doing anything in it.
To be even more comfortable during their Spanish adventure, both Karen and David have also embarked upon another mission – to learn Spanish in an attempt to fit in with the locals. Karen said: “As we are in Spain for a year we decided to go back to School in Vejer to learn a bit of Spanish to enable us to be part of Spain while we are here.
“It is much harder that we thought, the idea is to live, see and taste Spain for a year, to do this we will need to get better at Spanish. So to be near the school we are staying at Camp Vejer, it is about 3km outside Vejer and has electric hook up, fresh water, clean toilet and shower block with hot water 24/7. It is empty at this time so the bar and café are not open, but the family that run it Miguel and Eva, their daughter Sala and Willy have made us welcome and we feel that staying here is like being part of a family! We have been to birthday party and had the most wonderful homemade paella. The weather turned bad on Wednesday and Miguel took us with his daughter to school. This is now the routine and we are not allowed speak English at camp as Eva says we will never learn otherwise. All great fun!”
To follow Karen and David as they continue their journey, make sure you check out their informative website here.
