If there is any problem with a motor home, it is that once you have found a good pitch and established all the camping parafinalia around it, you need to be fairly close to shops, places of interest, etc, in order to be able to get to them easily.
Before we became the happy companions of our rescued Staffie (cross) there was never a problem as we had our trusty Brompton folding bikes. However, bikes, dog leads and arthritic OAPs do not make for a safe mix, so an alternative solution was called for.
We found it in the small ads in MMM magazine…. a tiny car fitted with an A-Frame to tow behind the motor home. Fortunately, it was not too far from home, and as subscribers, we had early warning of the offer of sale. By mid morning we had viewed it and provisionally reserved it.
Several phone calls later, (to our insurance company, to verify that they would insure the car itself on the road and the car as a trailer on the A-Frame on the existing ‘van insurance policy, and to Eurotunnel too, just to make sure they would accept it as a legit. trailer), we bought it.
To say that we never looked back would be a nonesense as we constantly monitored it on the screen of the reversing camera!
However, it certainly proved to be a good investment. To date this year we have towed it over 2800 miles, and driven it independantly for over 6oo miles whilst camping. Places of interest are so often at the top of a mountain or down a tiny cul-de-sac.
An added unexpected bonus was that the mpg improved substantially because we drove slightly slower when towing
We had no problems in Europe, only admiration and interest from locals and police alike.
6 Comments
Hello,
What a fantastic post about traveling with your dog. My partner and I want to go round europe for a year with our cocker spaniel called Hugo.
Do you have any advice when it comes to seeing Cities? My top priority is my dog but do not want to miss out on seeing some of the City attractions – did you ever put your dog in to a kennel for a day?
Many thanks
Stuart
Hi Stuart
As our dog is of the utmost importance to us, we found we do have to curtail some activities because of her.
We have never considered the kennel option for even a day as, being a ‘rescue dog’, she has already spent too much time locked up, and we would not wish to undo all the trust she now has in us.
Unlike the UK, Europe is very dog-friendly and we were able to take her with us when eating in restaurants and bars. We always asked first if we could take her in, but the answer was inevitably “But of course!, Why not?”…
To use supermarkets was not always so easy… but most places have shady spots in the car parks, and if it was too hot to leave her in the car, just one of us did the shopping, and the other one stayed and had an ice cream to keep cool! … and most big supermarkets allow dogs into their cafes anyway, so both the people and the animal can benefit from the air conditioning!
To visit tourist attractions, the answer might be to leave the dog in your ‘van on a camp site with a hook up if you have air con., as then the dog is at home in familiar surroundings and you know the temperature will not be a problem….. but this might not be a possibility if you are not towing a car behind your ‘van to allow you the flexibility
Good luck on your travels!
I found your blog via Google while searching for dog kennels and your post regarding Towing with an A-frame looks very interesting for me
Yes, the towed car could be considered as a rather expensive kennel!
What an excellent blog, I’ve added your feed to my RSS reader.
i am going to france spain and potugal in may , i will be towing a small car on a A. frame with my motor home .is this legal and as any one had any problems with police in countries stated