The Beastlet: Benimar Mileo 201

When we came back from our trip to the Americas we both agreed that we would definitely tour in a camper again. Its taken 10 years but when we were back in the UK in December we went to see a few motorhomes and found one that suited our needs. Having put down a deposit, Marquis (the dealers) agreed to hold onto it until the start of April when we would be back from skiing.

So at the start of April we moved into our new home – all 6 metres of her.

We had a good idea of what we wanted in our new camper from our time living in the Beast and from the camper we hired in Andalucia a few years ago:

1. Max 6m length: short enough to manoeuvre through medieval towns without getting into too much trouble at tight corners.
2. Fixed Bed: Making up a bed every day begins to really grate after a few nights and, when travelling for long periods invariably one of you will be ill at some point.
3. Two Lounging Areas: When you are together 24/7, it helps to be able to get a bit of distance from each other (even if it is only 2 metres), especially on those rainy days
4. Decent Kitchen: we like to cook so some kitchen workspace is an absolute must
5. Bathroom: with a shower and most importantly a toilet.
6. Garage:  Storage space for all the toys!
7. Payload: Enough payload to ensure we can carry all the stuff we need
8. Under 3.5 tonnes: Faster speed limits, cheaper tolls and less restrictions on roads.

When we started looking at campers we initially thought that we would be getting a new one but after making a few enquiries we realised that the supply chain for vans has been so disrupted by Brexit, Covid and the war in Ukraine, that we were unlikely to be able to take delivery before 2024. This meant that we had to look at the used market.

The impact of Covid on the used market has been significant. The supply of used vans in the UK has reduced as lots of people were forced to holiday at home. Reduced supply has increased prices and this coupled with inflation has meant that used vans are selling for more than new ones from only a couple of years ago.

We were therefore a little bit concerned that we would struggle to find what we wanted but after some online searches we picked out a number of dealers to view a few potentials.

The model we went with is a 2019 Benimar Mileo 201. This is a Spanish built motorhome. Benimar are part of the Trigano group which is one of the biggest motorhome manufacturing companies in the world, including brands such as Auto-Trail, Adria and Chausson.

It is based on a Fiat Ducato van and has a fixed rear transverse bed over a large garage (back locker).  At 3 years old it has done just over 10,000 miles so was only lightly used and the interior was in great condition, the previous owners looked after it well.

We are delighted with our purchase and have been getting used to living in her while making some modifications to enhance our ability to travel off-grid (which I will post about at a later date) before heading off to Europe.