Murphy’s Cove
We’ve spent our first two proper nights in the Beast in a gorgeous little campsite in a place called Murphy’s Cove which is on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia.
This has given us the opportunity to completely unpack all our bags and put everything in the camper in order. We learnt how to fill the water, assembled our new BBQ and worked out how to use it and spent some time winding down after the last couple of really hectic weeks.
Murphy’s Cove is named after the Murphy family who have been settled here since 1750. The owners of the campsite are direct descendants of the original Murphy’s and are very friendly. Each night there is a communal campfire and Brian, the owner, cooks up a big pot of local mussels for the guests. Last night round the campfire Ryan, Brian’s son, busted out a guitar are treated us to some great cover versions of songs. I think we may have been spoilt here and we now expect all campsites to be like this !
Brian also brought out some local moonshine for us to taste. Two different varieties – two different ways to burn your throat out. I thought moonshine was only from the boonies in the USA, brewed up by scary Deliverance types – so this is the first of a whole lot of stereotypes blown out.
Tomorrow we are setting out early and aiming North to leave Nova Scotia and go to New Brunswick which is the next province along.
The Beast is Here
Wow – today has been hectic but we’ve been reunited with the beast and we’re ready to actually start our trip tomorrow as fully fledged overlanders.
We started off this morning bright and early by driving down to the auto port on Eastern Passage in Halifax in order to make sure we knew where we were going. We got to the right place and there was The Beast behind a chain link fence. So near and yet so far.
Next stop was to go into central Halifax to visit Canada Customs. We had to clear The Beast into Canada before we could collect it from the shippers. However here we hit our first snag in that the agricultural inspection hadn’t been completed. Apparently the UK is a hot bed of foot and mouth and any dirt on the camper could lead to an epidemic over here. I did mention that the last foot and mouth outbreak in the UK was almost ten years ago. Not important – we come from a disease ridden country !
Ok so we phone our customs agent, Boyd from Colley Motorshippers, and he told us this wasn’t a problem and that he would call us when the inspection had been finished. A bit of patience is called for – not necessarily our strong suit.
Next thing we did was go to Ideal Bikes in the downtown Halifax and pick up 2nd hand bicycles. These will come in useful during the trip I’m sure. They were a relative bargain at CAN$150 each. Although we are just about getting used to everything in Nova Scotia having 15% tax added to the sticker price. Why don’t they just price things up with tax included so you know what you’re paying ?
We drove back to our hostel with the bikes crammed in the back of our tiny hire car and no sooner did we arrive back than Boyd phoned to give us the good news that The Beast was ready for collection. So back in the car and drove back to downtown to revisit customs.
5 minutes later and we had the clearances – so back to the port. The documentation here took a while – but probably only 30 minutes or so and we put on fluorescent vests to go into the lot to pick up The Beast.
We then drove back to the motel – me driving and Sarah following in the rental. No problem although we did stop along the way to put in CAN$250 of diesel.
Once back at the motel we got stuck into cleaning the inside of the Beast. I don’t know where those customs guys have been but they had tramped in a whole lot of dirt.
Final stop today was to go to Walmart and load up on stuff we need – a BBQ, charcoal, a table, chairs and a whole lot more. Around CAN$750 worth in all. But we are pretty much set now and are heading to a campground tomorrow to settle in for a couple of days before starting some serious mileage. I am really looking forward to my first BBQ and sitting out in the sun eating some meat and drinking a beer !
Exploring Halifax
Ok – I’ll admit it – before getting to Halifax I knew almost nothing about it and had very little idea about what to expect.
The two most interesting things that I have learnt are that:
- It is the site of the biggest natural harbour in the Americas which is ideally formed for defence. As a result there has been a naval base here since Halifax’s establishment in 1749. The defences have been so strong that they have never even been tested. The fact I really liked was that the British used this as a base to conquer Canada from the French !
- Despite never having been attacked the harbour suffered the largest pre-atomic era explosion in history when two ships collided in 1917. One was stuffed to the gills with explosives and ammunition and caught on fire. A big crowd gathered on the waterfront to watch the burning ship and then it exploded. This killed over 2000 people and flattened 300 acres of land breaking windows over 90km away.
We started our first morning in Halifax, knowing the Beast hadn’t arrived, by visiting the downtown area and walking around the very touristy part of the town. The waterfront itself has a lot of restaurants and a few boats offering tours of the harbour. All in all not really our scene but we were there early so there were not many people about.
Compared with a lot of the castles etc in the UK its not that impressive. However what is impressive is that Parks Canada have made a real effort to make it interesting. There are re-enactors dressed in historic uniforms acting as the soldiers would have done back in 1870 and they fire off one of the old guns every day at 12.
From Heathrow to Halifax
After over a year of planning and months of preparation we’d finally got to the departure date. We knew this was going to be a long day and so it turned out.
We got up early and finished up clearing out our flat. We were leaving at 9.30 and our tenants were moving in at 10.00. My dad had kindly offered to drive us to the airport and he arrived early and we duly set out.
Arriving at heathrow we took stock of our modest amount of luggage and went to the Icelandair check-in. The guy checking us in was obviously new and immediately raised the fact that we had 4 bags for the hold as a problem. I quickly explained to him that transatlantic flights got 2 bags per person – he checked with his supervisor and our hold luggage was clear. Next problem he asked to weigh our hand luggage. A small problem because they allow 5kg per bag and mine weighed 14kg and Sarah’s 12kg. On top of this I had a computer bag which was another 10kg and Sarah had a camera bag which was 6kg.
After a fairly drawn out negotiation and the transfer of quite a lot of the hand luggage into my photographer’s vest we managed to convince the checki-in guy’s supervisor that we were good to go – so we were off.
The plane journey itself was quite enjoyable with the first leg being 2.5 hours to Keflavik airport in Iceland. This flight was rammed full but was fine. Icelandair have upgraded there planes since we went to Iceland last year and now have touch screen seat back TV’s with a decent selection of films and TV.
Arriving in Keflavik we had a three hour stopover in a modern bright and breezy airport. We then boarded our second flight of the day the 4.5 hour leg to Halifax. This flight was pretty empty and we both had a sleep, lying down with 3 seats each, which made the flight fly by !
On arrival in Canada we passed through immigration pretty quickly – with a quick discussion of our plans but no real questions asked. This is in contrast to a two week holiday we’d previously in Banff where the immigration guy at Calgary quizzed us in detail as to our plans and wanted to see proof of where we were staying.
After immigration we had to visit customs to declare the Beast but they decided that they didn’t really need to do anything. It was all really laid back. And then we were finally in Canada.
We picked up our rental car. We had booked an economy car and got upgraded to a Ford Fiesta – which barely fit our luggage in. If that’s an upgrade I’d hate to think what the bottom end is.
The journey to our motel was hard work. It was hammering with rain, so road visibility was terrible and we managed to get lost. The most interesting bit of the drive was when we hit a toll bridge which took coins only. I had some canadian coins but in a bag in the back so had to leap out, get soaked, and dig them out – all while holding up the traffic.
We finally got to our motel – got wet unloading the car – but we were finally in Canada. Next step getting the Beast and we will have become overlanders !
Insurance
Most of the places that we are going insurance is easy. You buy it at the border – its a form filling exercise with no real expectation that it provides any value.
However Canada and the USA are a serious exception to this (and Mexico). You need insurance otherwise you are illegal. I am expecting to be stopped by the cops at some stage and they will ask to see our insurance papers. So there is no choice here, but getting insurance is not that easy.
I started off by trying to find a US insurance company that would be happy to take us on. They pretty much universally said that they couldn’t insure a UK registered vehicle. OK so I’m thinking that this might be a problem.
Then I went to UK insurers. I got back a number of responses but the gist of them was encapsulated neatly by the reply from one of them “We wouldn’t know where to start”.
This was now presenting a serious problem, but I knew that what we were doing wasn’t unique. I did some serious web searching and managed to find two insurance companies that work with overlanders and therefore would be potentially helpful.
These are:
Both of these were helpful initially but Alessie ended up not responding to my queries although they had indicated they would make an offer.
However fortunately Andrea Nelson at Thum (andrea@thuminsurance.com) was absolutely great. Once we had gone through a few hoops in providing pictures of the Beast and a bit of information then Andrea offered to insure us. They only problem is that it is pretty expensive at USD 1700 for 6 months insurance in both Canada and USA (although this is fully comprehensive).
In the end we didn’t have much choice and time was running out but at least we are now insured. Thanks very much for all your help Andrea.
There is another potential insurer in Germany that I have heard about but I didn’t approach them (www. tourinsure.de)
The insurers that my internet research suggested might be helpful but that weren’t were:
- Explorer RV – explorer@explorerrv.com
- Campbell Irvine – info@campbellirvine.com
- Stuart Collins -mail@stuartcollins.com
Leaving Parties
Leaving behind all your friends and family and even your job is a big move and fairly emotional. However the plus side of this is you get an excuse to eat, drink and be merry. In my case this has meant around two weeks of constant nights out and on many of the days lunches too.
We had a really fun leaving party for all our friends at the Merchant in Clapham Junction. It was a really good night where we got to see a lot of our really good friends. One side effect of leaving seems to be that everyone wants to buy you a drink. So despite running a tab our bill was pretty low and every time I had drunk around half a pint a new pint was thrust into my hand – so all in all I ended up pretty plastered.
All in all it was a great way to say goodbye to all our friends and I hope a good time was had by all.
Where’s The Beast
I’d normally think that tracking cargo ships at sea was pretty geeky. But when your home for the next 18 months is on board it seems to become much more interesting. I discovered that there are websites that track ship movements in real time.
The website – Marine Traffic provides a pretty much real time traffic of all Marine Vessels around the world.
The Beast left Southampton yesterday and here are some screenshots showing that it has just cleared Penzance and it is on its way across the Atlantic with an arrival in Halifax in a total sailing time of 9 days.
IIt goes to show how much boat traffic there is around the UK !
The Delivery
It feels like we are finally on the way. The Beast has been delivered to Southampton for loading on the ship bound for the Americas.
The delivery process was not without its a touch of drama though. We set out from London on a train from Liverpool Street and reached Braintree around an hour later to be picked up by Ed from Overland Vehicles.
The plan was to pick up the truck and get going around 6.30pm to make sure that we made our staging post before dark. We discussed some of the completed snagging work with Ed and then got in the truck ready to go, turned the key and then nothing. The Beast just wouldn’t start.
After a bit of diagnostic work we worked out that there was either a leakage problem somewhere in the camper electrical system or that the batteries were just dead. We replaced the batteries and then she started no problems. We ran the batteries down and checked the battery monitor – they seemed to be charging correctly. So then we had to make a decision – delay shipping and get a specialist to look at the systems with no guarantee of success or assume it was old batteries and just push on. The batteries were not new going in and I am hoping that they were just knackered after a few years on an ex-army truck of not being used.
Well I think to complete this trip we are going to have to get used to crossing our fingers and going for it – so we decided to push on. We didn’t leave Belchamp Walter in Suffolk until almost 8pm so were already well behind.
Compared to our first outing in the Beast driving felt a lot easier and I really felt as though I was getting used to driving it.
Our first stop was at a local petrol station where we pulled in and had our first taste of how thirsty the Beast can be. We put in 55 litres of diesel at a cost of over £75. This got the fuel gauge just over the red ! I reckon a full tank in the UK would cost us around £460. That should put filling up your car in perspective !
£1.40 a litre that's USD 8.48 per Gallon
At the petrol station we got our first real taste of the impact that the Beast has on people. A heavily tattooed boy racer came up to me and asked what we were driving. I told him and a quick conversation ensued which ended up with him shaking my hand and wishing us luck. I hope everyone we meet is so positive.
The driving got much easier when we hit the motorway and we discovered the Beast’s top speed – 54 miles an hour. Although this does take a bit of a run up. Down hill we can get a little bit faster. This speed isn’t especially popular with the big lorries on the motorway who are limited to 56. They take their time to overtake and if we hit an uphill they generally have to pull back.
We reached our staging point of Cobham in Surrey – that’ a drive of 115 miles – at around 11.30. Sounds like a long journey but we did stop off for half an hour at a services to meet up with my Dad as he wanted to see the truck before we left.
Anyway we get a night’s sleep at my Mum’s house in surrey before setting off first thing in the morning to head down to the docks in Southampton.
The trip down to the docks goes really smoothly. Its only another 70 miles and we are soon driving into the docks looking for berth No.38. We see the ship – can’t miss it really as its bigger than a skyscraper on its side. But can we find Berth 38 – there’ s 36, 37 and now 39. Spin around and then we see it a portakabin with an A4 sheet in the window with Berth 38 printed on it. Its always the way – the one that you are looking for is the one not properly signposted.
The logging process is fine and the good news is that the docker we deal with is ex-army and used to drive a DAF in the army so he loves us. We do some paperwork and then park the Beast in a massive car park at dockside filled with Tractors. Its good to see that Britain can export something.
We walk the 40 minutes to the train station and then we’re back up to London and I make it to work just before 12. Just in time to go out for a business lunch !
No all we need to do is cross our fingers and hope that we are reunited with the beast in Halifax on the 20th June.
Grimsvotn
As of today the volcano has stopped emitting any ash so we are back on track. Just the million and 1 tasks to do in order to put our lives on hold and go away for a couple of years.
The Mysterious World of International Shipping
Everything you read about trying to ship any type of vehicle anywhere in the world warns you that it is nightmare. There are apocryphal stories everywhere of theft, loss and delays (and more delays). It is with these warnings hanging over our heads that we began to research shipping for the Beast.
our trip will involve three separate shippings:
1) UK - Canada 2) Panama - Colombia 3) Argentina - UK
For the moment the only one that we are worrying about is the first. We reckon we can figure the other two as we go and they are a fair way in the future yet.
For the shipping between the UK and Canada we set about getting some quotes first of all. We contacted a number of shippers but two actually responded properly and seemed interested in doing business with us. Lots of shippers just aren’t interested in 1 vehicle as they deal in fleets of 100 cars at a time.
The two shippers that we got quotes from were:
Both were pretty helpful but Phoenix undercut Auto Shippers by £1k and were exceptionally helpful. Not only that but Stephen Stewart had used them to ship his camper to mexico and praised them which was as good a recommendation as any. We haven’t regretted this decision – yet ! Terry Pittaway from Phoenix has been exceptionally helpful throughout the process.
The Beast is currently booked on a RORO ship travelling from Southampton in England to Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada. The ship is called Falstaff and is 199m Swedish owned cargo ship.
It is leaving Southampton on 11th June and arrives in Halifax on 20th June (fingers seriously crossed) and we can deliver the Beast for loading anytime between the 6th and 9th June.
In the meantime we are also shipping what is called Static Cargo. Somewhere in the customs regulations between the UK and North America it says you can’t ship your camper with anything in it and that you have to give them all the keys. So even if you did put things in it there is a good chance that they’d get stolen.
So instead of putting stuff in the camper we are also shipping a 1m cube of stuff – mostly parts for the camper and also things like bed linen and towels. We delivered this to Phoenix’s warehouse near Heathrow this morning to be packed onto a pallet which will then go down to Southampton to be loaded onto Falstaff along with the camper.
We have also contacted a customs agent in Canada to help with process when we get there – we are using the one that Phoenix suggested.
FromAtoB 