How we made it back to the UK from the Alps in our Campervan
Finally the little story of how we made it back to the UK.
It was Monday when we left Morzine and our Channel Tunnel crossing was booked for Tuesday evening. It was decided that we would take the sat nav’s route, avoiding any toll roads. This involved some mountain roads north of Geneva, but the snow was so far gone that we knew the roads would be steep, but passable. Straight away I was starting to get irritated by the squeaking wheels that had supposedly been cured weeks previously during one of our overnight stays at a garage.
As we headed higher into the mountains the squeaking was getting worse. When I stopped to investigate I found the rear wheel trims were warm and one of the wheels was actually hot to the touch! This can sometimes happen during mountain driving, but usually if you cover the brake constantly on the way DOWN the mountain; and we were heading up it and doing very little braking. After a half hour wait to let the wheels cool down we continued, stopping again soon to check the temperature again. They were hot again – one more than the other and we started to get worried, especially about descending the mountain with what seemed to be very hot brakes that could possibly be ineffective when I needed them.
With this in mind we stopped and asked where the nearest garage was. It was about 8km away and the road was not steep. On arrival the mechanic was convinced that the wheels needed to come off, the brakes be adjusted and reassembled – a 2 hour job, but he didn’t have time to look at it. With directions to the next garage we carried on, driving at under 10mph with hazards flashing.
At the next garage the man I spoke to was uninterested, saying that we would need Mercedes parts which would have to be obtained and that it would be faster to go to the Mercedes garage 45 minutes away. At our pace that would have taken hours, so there was no choice left but to call our breakdown service. And quietly hope that this unhelpful garage would be the one called out and they would have to walk across the road to where we were parked and help us!
Our breakdown service is part of our insurance package with Safeguard, who specialise in motorhome and caravan insurance. The operator was very clear and helpful, and spoke English. Just over an hour after the call a breakdown truck arrived (not from the garage opposite). With a series of hand gestures and very few words I was driving the van onto the truck, just as we had seen an A Class motorhome do in Morzine a few weeks before. I was worried about the underslung water tank bottoming out on the floor, but was waved to carry on and tried to ignore the scraping noise! The driver seemed to prefer for us to stay sitting in our van and we set off.
I’ve only been on a few rollercoasters in my life and, although I get a bit frightened and have a few screams, I’ve always felt relatively safe. This was like the scariest rollercoaster ever, where we felt that at any corner the truck and the van on top would lean a little too far and the whole lot would tip over. It was so hard not to grab the steering wheel to try to keep it straight. I’ll admit I closed my eyes quite a lot and there were one or two tears. It’s not an experience that either of us would like to repeat!
We did, however, arrive safely at a small garage that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, about 20 miles from where we had bee picked up. Our driver also turned out to be the mechanic and said he would look at our van when he had finished with ‘that one’ which was a motorhome up on the ramp with an exhaust waiting to be fitted.
This was our afternoon to be very lucky. Within half an hour our campervan was on the ramp and, although we were told off for not fixing it sooner, the handbrake had been released with no damage to the brakes. This was a job that we had paid the garage in Morzine to fix, along with replacing 2 tyres, about 2 months prior so it was pretty annoying to find the job had not been properly completed. But the good news was that we were on our way and it had cost us only €10 for some lubricant and about 4 hours extra on our journey. (In contrast my Mum had broke down on her trike in the UK that same day, called the RAC at 9AM and not arrived home on the recovery truck until 10pm that night!)
There was time for a quick shop in the Carrefour supermarket in Calais before checking in for our crossing. The tunnel has to be recommended as way of crossing the channel – if you can face the drive or live nice and close. It’s so easy to book and check in, travel times are flexible if you arrive early or late, and crossing, loading & unloading speeds are lightning fast compared to ferries. No waiting around to be allowed back to your vehicle 15 minutes after arriving at your destination!
And so we were back in the UK, feeling like we had hardly been away even though it had been nearly 3 months. And we needed a scheme, a plan…
