UK - VW Westfalia shops and camping?

[BerkeleyBusMama]

Hey folks,

We have a plan to travel around Germany, Belgium, Holland and the UK in July/August. Our contacts in Germany and Holland for places to stay and such are pretty good, but we've never camped or driven our Westy in the UK.

Advice on acclimating to other-side driving?

Recommendations for VW-friendly spots along the way? (We will start with a ferry or chunnel crossing in the south and make our way up north, hoping to get a little farther north than Edinburgh.) Always good to know where the nearest friendly VW parts and service might be.

Camping tips for the UK? Oh, and we have a 5 and 7 year old along, so kid-friendly stops are great too. Anybody done this kind of trip there?
_________________
If you keep playing, you never get old.

“Weird Microfest Lady”
’85 Westfalia camper w/ Subaru 2.5l EJ25 and syncro conversion
(& Casita “Westy In-law Unit”),
’89 tintop 7 seater, and
’89 syncro Doka
plus teen’s ‘81 diesel Rabbit

[AussieBay]

driving in the uk is easy enough, most buses over here are LHD anyway!
take a ferry from belgium or france to dover, the tunnel is expensive by comparison and you get a nice break from driving on the ferry.

for places to stay you need to decide if you want a basic field with no facilities or a full blown complex with bars / pools / shower blocks etc. try looking at this site http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/ukcampsites/ to give you an idea. for first hand accounts from vw owners look at http://thelatebay.com/index.php?forums/holidays-trips-campsites/
dont expect a lot of wild camping as its not really done here.

parts are readily available and there are lots of specialist suppliers in the uk.
most will post overnight to your campsite. have a search for veewee, heritage vw, cool air, euro car parts and gsf

if you intend on visiting london then look for a site with nearby train stations to take you into the city, you will regret driving in london lol.
really nice places to see are along the south coast, devon, cornwall, north wales, the lake district and most of scotland.

be warned that fuel is very expensive here and in europe, currently about £1.20 per litre. i reckon that will work out to be 80-90$ per fill up. july/august is peak season here as the schools are off, you may need to plan a route and prebook some sites.

enjoy and i hope our famous weather is kind to you!

[BerkeleyBusMama]

thanks so much, Aussie, for the excellent advice and links. We're probably going to head straight north after arriving on the southeast coast (spouse had been advocating for chunnel while I favored ferry, so you've bolstered my case!).

Best wishes to you for an excellent summer.
_________________
If you keep playing, you never get old.

“Weird Microfest Lady”
’85 Westfalia camper w/ Subaru 2.5l EJ25 and syncro conversion
(& Casita “Westy In-law Unit”),
’89 tintop 7 seater, and
’89 syncro Doka
plus teen’s ‘81 diesel Rabbit

[alain riaud]

[neill in the uk]

When you get over here log onto vzi the English version of the samba if you need help.
There are plenty of parts shops and most do mail order. Machine7 or gsf car parts are ok.
Fuel is getting cheaper so that's a bonus.
If your touring I would go west coast .Devon, Wales,the lake district then onto jock land.
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/ is a good place to look for camping
Good look
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so tell me why you will not sell to the UK

[ib-bus]

Depending on what year of bus you are driving join a UK forum , I have found any of this forums below to be very helpful and friendly.

For split bus join ssvc.org.uk
For earlybay bus '68 to '72 join earlybay.com
For latebay '73 to '79 join www.thelatebay.com

[BerkeleyBusMama]

had a great trip!

Thanks for the advice and tips. We relied on the UK AA Camping guidebook I bought online to find campsites, and then called ahead to see about reservations. Favorite site of all was Chapelhouse Farm in the Lake District, Borrowdale near Keswick. "Hobo camped" for a night up in Nairn at a parking lot right next to the beach (since the big restaurants-and-arcades-and-playgrounds campsite was full), and felt like we won the lottery there too.

Ended up taking the Chunnel on the way over, and the ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland on the way back. Left side driving wasn't hard to get used to except the first day, every time we approached a roundabout we all had to yel "left left left aaaaaaaahhhhh!"

Stopped off at VW Heritage, what great folks, they gave us a tour and made us feel really welcome.

The whole trip would have been perfect if it weren't for the cracked head that turned into total overheat and engine failure fifteen minutes after the kids and I dropped mechanic husband off at the airport. But without the adventure of eating dinner at the gas station, riding in the flatbed tow truck, and camping out in the parking lot of the German auto repair shop, it wouldn't be as much of a story now!

_________________
If you keep playing, you never get old.

“Weird Microfest Lady”
’85 Westfalia camper w/ Subaru 2.5l EJ25 and syncro conversion
(& Casita “Westy In-law Unit”),
’89 tintop 7 seater, and
’89 syncro Doka
plus teen’s ‘81 diesel Rabbit

[NASkeet]