And then there was Gus the Bus

I found my wheels !

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Hire a car in Saint Malo in the middle of high tourist season ? Sorry, every car is booked up. Thank goodness for the gig-industry ! In case of emergency, discover the better way of doing things: car hire companies are so yesterday. I hired an individual’s car on Ouicar, picked it up at the bus station, and off I drove to Normandy. Repeating incessantly, “on the right side of the road, on the right side of the road”. Ignoring all the pretty scenery for this one purposeful drive.

And there I found Gus le Bus.

A sweet, retired couple from a seaside village, with forty years of motorhome experience behind them, giving up their very last holiday home on wheels - a perfectly well maintained grey and blue 2006 Hymermobil b544 on a Fiat Ducato diesel 2.8l carrier. Exactly what I had concluded months ago that I wanted as my new permanent home. In its 6.4x2.2m it has a pull-down bed above the driving cabin, a long sofa-bed, a 4-seater dinette, kitchen with gas stove and oven, and a bathroom with shower. And lots of storage space inside and underneath. That’s enough for the technical description. In short, I’m in love !!

We couldn’t leave together right there and then unfortunately as I had to put together insurance papers and payment transfer, so I returned to Saint-Malo for a last soak up of the ocean, and then spent a week near Nantes at my aunt’s house, catching up with globetrotting cousins I hadn’t seen in a very, very long time. I was too anxious to do much sightseeing there, I’ll just have to come back again. Plus there was another heatwave, so it felt much cooler to just stay inside and catch up on work and admin. I packed my bags once again and caught the Thursday morning train to Rennes and then Coutances in Normandy. It felt like this was going to be my very last train ride, so I savoured every moment of it, tensely anticipating that within a few hours I would have to figure out how to drive a large bus!

My lucky stars really must have found this seller for me because the couple very graciously picked me up at the train station and drove me back to their home where we signed the final sale papers, before I hauled my big red suitcase aboard with great excitement, and the gentleman gave me an hour-long driving lesson, only sending me off when he was quite certain I would manage on my own.

And then there I was.

Driving Gus the Bus on my own for the very first time ! It really was a bit scary. I felt tiny behind this huge dashboard with three windscreen wipers and enormous rear-view mirrors. In which I glanced continuously, left, right, left, right, to make sure I had enough road on the right and I wasn’t over the white line on the left. It quickly occurred to me that I would need to fill up if I was going to make the 550km back up north to the family farm. Driving on a straight road is one thing, but was I going to manage manoeuvring in a petrol station ? I couldn’t even stop to set up the GPS to find one because I didn’t know how I was going to manage parking this monster ! So I followed the signs back to the main town, hoping there would be a road-side station that would be easy to pull in to. And of course, I found one. Empty of other customers, luckily, so I could embarrass myself with no-one to see. Because I had never in my life filled up a car with gas by myself ! Imagine, in South Africa it’s unheard of, there are professional attendants for that. I couldn’t figure out how to open the fuel tank lid. Or close it for that matter either ! Eventually it seemed stuck enough that it wasn’t going to fall out, so I left it at that and really hoped the whole way that I wouldn’t lose it… I set my GPS for an Aire de Camping Car that I had sussed out on the app Park4Night the day before, and off I went.

Soon, I discovered that motorhome owners in these parts wave at each other when they cross on the open road, much like we used to do in Land Rovers back in South Africa in the 90s. Suddenly I felt like I’d arrived ! I had achieved this thing that I had started dreaming about less than a year ago. I had dreamed a dream, and slowly put it into action, step by step by step, until it had become reality ! I was overwhelmed by emotion, right there on the road, waving back, feeling like I belonged.

Normandy opened its arms to Gus and me. As tense as I was behind the wheel, I was in awe of the beautiful scenery this time around - rolling green fields with lines of tall trees, peaceful black and white cows in the meadows, blue skies, and the occasional villages with beautiful old asymmetrical half-timbered houses.

In France the speed limit on regional roads varies between 80, 70, 50 and 30km/h all the time, so I had plenty of time to absorb it all. I realised I very much enjoy driving so slowly ! In my previous cars it would have driven me nuts, but in this big old thing, it is just perfect. I am not ready to speed around corners just yet, hahaha. I can barely make it around hairpin bends and roundabouts.

And of course, Google maps didn’t ask me how big my vehicle is before choosing a route for me. If I’d known how narrow some of those country roads were, I would never have taken them!! Talk about jumping in the deep end. I crossed a couple of tractors and had to stop with my right wheels off the road so we could make it - but I’d recently had a great teacher for that, since I’d just visited Jersey with its tiny, tiny stone-walled roads (I refused to drive but I watched and learned!) On arrival at the night spot, the GPS got the turn too early so I had no choice but to make a three-point turn: and that’s where you learn on the spot, nothing better.

It was so exciting spending my first night in my new home! I had nothing to sleep in but two borrowed sheets, and I made the mistake of opening the roof because it was so hot in the afternoon, only to realise the temperature really drops at night.. I’d also opened one of the side windows, and then just could not figure out how to close it… I had to get the manual out and look it up, hahaha. Also in my haste I had not thought to bring extra drinking water and was parched by the time I walked up to the village in the morning for a coffee and some baguette tartines. Luckily though I had remembered to buy myself a sandwich at Rennes train station for the evening in. Pity the electricity and water supply distributor had been vandalised allegedly by villagers disapproving of having intruding motorhomes, I would have loved to try them out…

Back home on the farm, all my aunts and uncles were following my progress on Google maps as I’d shared my location with them, so when I rounded the last corner the next day I was surprised by the welcoming committee! I showed off my newly acquired reverse parking skills and everyone piled in to check out my new toy :)

It’s been a couple of weeks already, and every time I unlock the door and lower the electric steps, I feel a tinge of pride and a lot of gratefulness to everyone around me who has helped me make this dream come true ! A summer of travel, board and lodgings with family all over, and a place to park Gus while I shop for all the little things I will need in my upcoming daily life, from cutlery to mustard and a nice warm blanket.

I had said I’d wait until the end of the holiday season to buy my camper van, but when I saw that classified ad so close to where I was, I just could not resist. And after all, changing my plan was the best thing to do because it’s given me three weeks to settle in, buy stuff and learn how everything works - which I would not have had time to do if I’d waited until now, and expected to be in Montpellier for an early October voice-over workshop… Plans are just guidelines, and changing your mind is not a bad thing.

As Confucious would say,

“The green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm.”

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Stay tuned because my big adventure really starts now. Very soon I will take to the roads like a tortoise with my house on my back, and I will explore all sorts of little remote corners of France, which I would love to share with you ! and after France, all of Europe, and who knows where the winds will take me… I only have my dreams to follow.