Norway

Oh dear!

Ken James went on holiday to Norway.

"On July 20th I arrived in Kristiansand Norway, ready for four weeks of touring. On the 22nd I was about 20Km North of Voss when I went off the road, going around a left hand bend I was distracted for a split second, time enough for my offside wheel to go over the edge of the narrow road, on the other side was a drop of about 1.5 metres-there was no way I could pull my Bongo back, it careered along an embankment, cleared a farm track and embedded itself into some trees. Luckily no one was hurt-just shock, my elderly parents were taken to hospital, and I have to say things might have been worse if not for the strength of the Bongo.

Now if I may pass on some words of wisdom--
Breakdown Insurance-I had cover for being abroad, £1000 worth of cover for hire car in case of an accident---NOT ENOUGH for my trip, to be towed out the trees cost me £450, hire of an old VW camper for one week approx £400, plus there was approx three weeks of hire after that!!
A mobile phone was essential,-but beware of the costs, my bill for that period was over £280, you get charged for receiving calls as well as making them, in hindsight I could have bought a mobile phone in Norway for about £40 plus a charge card for another £30, saving a lot of money.
Make sure you are adequately covered, find out the cost of hiring a camper abroad plus towage should the worst happen to you.

Remember, all that camping, fishing equipment, suitcases, in fact all the bits and pieces we all stuff into every nook and cranny still has to be brought back home--minus a bongo to get it home in!! I had to buy extra suitcases to put all my bits and pieces into, when you turn up at the Ferry terminal to get home, your hire vehicle has to stay put, leaving you with all that gear to bring back home.

My thanks to the staff at Europ Assistance, after contacting them they took charge of everything, arranging for a hotel accommodation 11 o'clock at night, hire vehicle, believe me, they are worth their weight in gold, you need someone to take charge of the situation and they do just that and they continued to do that right up until departure, also to the staff at DFDS Seaways who helped me store my equipment and to carry it through the terminal at Newcastle.

Oh yes--if you need spare parts when touring in Norway--contact Viking recovery in Voss where they have a nice silver model.

Safe motoring!"

Well, thanks for that Ken.

Latest news just in. The Norwegian police have arrested two suspects....