La Dormobile Bleu en suisse et en france 2015

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AlexB
Posts: 466
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 8:01 am

La Dormobile Bleu en suisse et en france 2015

Post by AlexB » Sat Aug 01, 2015 5:24 pm

This is an attempt to portray, in words and pictures, some of our experiences of our recent 1800 mile trip from Holmfirth to Switzerland, then Brittany and back to Holmfirth.
Our route was; Hull, Rotterdam, then Metz (municipal), Fontenay le Chateau, Geradmer (France Passion nr Breitzhousen), Besancon (Chalezeule Municipal), Maiche (municipal), Interlaken (camping Jungfrau), Roggliswil (in a house !), Chatillon sur Seine (municipal), Beaugency (municipal), Bais (in a house), Caen, Portsmouth, Holmfirth. Average 30 mpg

We didn’t get off to the most ignominious of starts; a simple drive from Holmfirth to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary to pick Esther up after work, turned into a cloud of steam as I pulled up in the layby. Whoops, traffic queues and not checking the water level before I set off !
However, after using some of our precious Yorkshire water to fill up the relevant bits, we were underway to Hull, arriving in good time at the ferry which would take us to Holland.
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Docking at 9.00 am, we finally left Europort at 9.45 for Metz (via Luxembourg) where we arrived at 5.15. A long and hot drive, but we wanted to get a good distance on the first day. The municipal campsite at Metz is very pleasant. One day we will actually get to see the city which, we are reliably informed, is full of outstanding architecture.
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Big beers as it was very warm !
I took the opportunity to top up the gearboxes and other bodily fluids before setting off in the morning to meet up with a fellow Northwest Morris dancer chum and his partner in Fonteny le chateau in the Vosges, for a brew.
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Next stop was a France Passion (free stopover if you are self contained) site, an auberge (Inn and farm which made cheese) above Geradmer and near the Slught Pass. The temperature difference was very noticeable at altitude – had to use our 7.5 tog quilt from 3.00 am !
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Montbellier cows I reckon
About this time, my paranoia started to set in with a vengeance – was that vibration a wheel bearing or the transfer box I had wrecked by not filling up with oil before we left ! What was that new noise?, Could I smell hot water as well as hot oil and was that a whiff of smoke?
I even jacked up the wheels to check the wheel bearings (fine) which then convinced me that it was the front bearing in the transfer box (well, I could move the front flange up and down a bit !).
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With this piece of mind, we set off once more, to Besancon, for no real reason other than it looked nice, is twinned with Huddersfield and in the Jura, which is on the way to Switzerland. We looked for the Basancon Municipal in vain and ended up a couple of miles up the road, on the banks of the River Doubs, a couple of hundred yards from the tram that took us into Besancon the next (bastille) day.
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A little stop at Belfort
Besancon is a lovely city, and really quiet on Bastille Day !! (in fact it was closed apart from restaurants)
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Tasting the local (non) vintage – and very nice it was too !
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View from the campsite – the River Doubs
Upon leaving Besancon, we bumbled around the Jura, visiting some wonderful places,
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including Grandfontaine Fournettes and Fournet Blancheroche and an overnight stop in Maiche, not far from the Swiss border. We visited an old monastery (hosting a hippy well being event so we didn’t stop long)
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and an old farm house museum / farm shop where we purchased some dried up dead pig in a tube for our (non vegetarian) son.
We in fact crossed into Swiss Jura at a place called Goumois, so small, the border control wasn’t either obvious or open when we drove through, only to stop to replenish water and wait to cool down, after the first few hairpins, near a town called Saignelegier.
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Our next stop was a rendezvous with Jeremy and his Dormobile (and children!) near Interlaken. Due to the unscheduled stops on the way, we were running a few minutes late, so lunched next to the lake, before meeting up at Gunten.
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You don’t see many of these nowadays
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Plans to drive upwards to enjoy the spectacular scenery were dashed when, after the first hairpin, the temp gauge went into the red once more. Climbing hills in 36 degrees Celsius was not what the Dormobile wanted to do !
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On a technical note, it has a tdi rad / oil cooler with a td5 intercooler in front of the rad. No viscous fan, but a 10” electric in front of the intercooler. Lack of viscous fan is due to being on 6 pot engine mounts which means no room.
Onward we went, though this time straight to the campsite, at the bottom of the Jungfrau. Predictably, we had to stop to cool down a mile short of our destination, before arriving and pitching up after which we sampled a cold beer from the fridge.
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And tonight’s haut cuisine on a Dormobile cooker is omelette !
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As you can imagine, a lot of our conversation was Dormobile based, even when Jeremy’s wife Sabine, met up with us. Fortunately, this was tolerated (well).
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Too soon we had to move on. Our next stop was Roggliswill (from who’s Fire Department Jeremy’s doner vehicle came from, to meet up with Esther’s sister for a couple of days and to remove the intercooler to allow better cooling (at the expense of turbo efficiency I know)
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The drive to Langenthal was, relatively, uneventful (only one unplanned stop) but we experienced a wonderful corkscrew tunnel in the climb a few miles outside Interlaken. It was amazing to see the plan of it on the satnav.
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Modifications effected, as the temperatures had not fallen below 30, we packed up our kit and spare bath to visit our son, his wife and our grandchild in Brittany.
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First stop was at Chantilly sur Seine, a delightful small town whose claim to fame is being hte birthplace of the first man to drive a car at more than 100mph.
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Saw this on the way
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Lunch stop
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La Seine
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Encore !
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Still warm so another beer called for
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You don’t see this on a peage !
Second stop was at Beaugency, on la Loire.
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Lovely flowers
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All in toilet cisterns !
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Inbetween, we travelled for miles surrounded by wheat fields with forests behind. Literally the bread basket of France. Due to the fine weather, most had been harvested, unlike this country of course.
No question of not calling in to a vignoble (also in the France Passion scheme) to stock up on Saumur Chapigny, before arriving at Bais (near Vitre) to see our wonderful grandchild.
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Rose and her mum Angele
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And her dad Jack
It also meant that we could get rid of the bath and re-instate the intercooler so as to take advantage of the cooler weather as well as sort the leak from one of the turbo oil pipes.
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Took the night ferry from Caen and arrived back in Yorkshire 13.00 hours on the Monday after another wonderful trip.
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Saw this Riley in the queue for the ferry.
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Rain ! first since before we left home.
Our thanks to Land Rover and Martin Walter !
My list of Dormobile jobs includes; change intercooler / fan arrangement, replace transfer box, fit breather pipes to the gearbox, replace pinion seal on rear diff, remove free wheel hubs and renew gaskets, fit the expansion tank properly, sort rocker box leak. All in all, it went very well and very impressed with the disc brake conversion in the mountains.
Can’t wait until the next trip.
MrJones
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2013 5:21 pm

Re: La Dormobile Bleu en suisse et en france 2015

Post by MrJones » Mon Aug 03, 2015 11:06 am

Encore un superbe voyage pour vous deux , et la voiture est magnifique
:cheers: Michel
AlexB
Posts: 466
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 8:01 am

Re: La Dormobile Bleu en suisse et en france 2015

Post by AlexB » Mon Aug 03, 2015 7:27 pm

Merci Michel
J'espere une edition Francaise bientot !
Alex
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DrivingDutchman
Posts: 392
Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2014 11:44 am
Location: Raunds, Northants

Re: La Dormobile Bleu en suisse et en france 2015

Post by DrivingDutchman » Mon Aug 03, 2015 9:30 pm

Lovely write up. Enjoying reading it...

Looks you guys had fabulous weather.
I have also the guide of France Passion and plan to use it extensively this summer holiday. We are leaving 10 August.

Still a few things to finish on the Dormobile before we go.

Anyway. Keep 'm coming those writ ups and photo's...


Michiel
1969 109 sw dormobile Dora
1996 overland defender sw 110 Nellie
1962 109 sw safari diesel Hannie (sold)
1973 88 series 3 soft top in various bits on the drive...
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DrivingDutchman
Posts: 392
Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2014 11:44 am
Location: Raunds, Northants

Re: La Dormobile Bleu en suisse et en france 2015

Post by DrivingDutchman » Tue Aug 04, 2015 10:03 pm

This is very close to where we used to live. About 15mins away.


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Michiel
1969 109 sw dormobile Dora
1996 overland defender sw 110 Nellie
1962 109 sw safari diesel Hannie (sold)
1973 88 series 3 soft top in various bits on the drive...
jerryd
Posts: 395
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:44 pm
Info: "the pom down under"
Location: Qld Australia

Re: La Dormobile Bleu en suisse et en france 2015

Post by jerryd » Thu Aug 13, 2015 1:39 pm

Nice pics Alex :cheers: Are your overheating problems due to the TD5 Intercooler being in front of the radiator ?? I was thinking of a similar set up as you've done but I'm now wondering if the aussie heat would make it boil constantly :shrug: Any other problems ??
I really need somebody to convince me that the 200tdi conversion is worth doing.
woollen797
Posts: 238
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2014 1:21 pm
Contact:

Re: La Dormobile Bleu en suisse et en france 2015

Post by woollen797 » Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:45 pm

my 200tdi is running no intercooler and the standard series 3 rad and it stays in the normal even when towing a 1000kg caravan
AlexB
Posts: 466
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 8:01 am

Re: La Dormobile Bleu en suisse et en france 2015

Post by AlexB » Fri Aug 14, 2015 8:55 am

Jerry
I am pretty sure that the combination of;
30+ degrees
Alpine topography
No permanent fan on engine side of radiator
water pipe and intercooler pipe against the radiator

All contributed to lack of heating.

However, this has all changed since I have come back

My White Dormobile has series 3 rad, no mechanical fan, 300tdi intercooler adjacent to the rad and a separate oil cooler.

I am confident that this will be fine
Klusenhusen
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2013 8:24 am
Info: Building a Dormobile from a 1973 109
Location: Southeast Norway

Re: La Dormobile Bleu en suisse et en france 2015

Post by Klusenhusen » Fri Aug 14, 2015 9:05 am

Thanks Alex, your trip stories are higly inspirational.
I must get must get my 109 back on the road.

Regards Jan
Kind regards
Jan Kulseng-Hanssen
Norway

88 1960 SW
109 1973 to become Dormobile with a personal touch
Marque
Posts: 121
Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2014 6:35 am

Re: La Dormobile Bleu en suisse et en france 2015

Post by Marque » Fri Aug 14, 2015 11:03 am

Alex & Ester

Another superb trip. Always inspirational. Thank you very much indeed for sharing.

Kindest regards
Mark
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