There’s more snow scheduled for my area over the next few day’s, and I’m sick of it! I reckon the only thing to do is to hunker down for a couple of weeks and plan the summer holidays to keep my mind off winter.

I got an email from my friend yesterday asking if I wanted to go motorhoming with her this summer.  The plan is still quite fluid, but we were thinking we’d road trip to  the Optimus Alive festival (http://www.optimusalive.com ) in Portugal, and then maybe catch some surfing on the coast before we drive back through a couple of countries.

There’ll be about 6 of us going, so we can all get insured on the same vehicle and split the driving. We were thinking we’d cross the channel by ferry from Dover, then from Calais spend a few days exploring France. I haven’t been around the French countryside since I was a kid, but I remember it as being amazing. One of the gang was particularly insistent that we do some wine tasting while we’re in the region! This website (http://www.france-passion.co.uk/about.htm) has a guidebook for sale which lists vineyards that will let you park your caravan or motorhome right on the property! Bordeaux is pretty much on the way to Portugal from the UK. We’d need to be careful to not have too much wine, and remember to leave on time to get to the festival though…

From Bordeaux we’d need to get through Spain to reach Lisbon. I’d love to go to Barcelona to see the art and architecture, but it’s on the wrong side really – maybe on the return leg! But we should be able to manage a few days in Madrid.

The festival we’ll go to, Optimus Alive is only around €100 including three days of camping/pitching, so we think it’ll be pretty affordable. So far the only band that have been announced to headline are Pearl Jam – but that was enough for one friend  to want to go! I’ve only ever been to the Leeds Carling festivals when I was younger, and that was camping, but I have friends who caravan and motorhome to festivals all the time. They tell me that it’s a great idea, taking a lot of the inconvenience of camping out of the festival experience – so nice to have a secure, weather resistant base with some protection to sound, when the entire rest of the site has turned to a mud sea!

So I’m really excited about my summer adventure! Let me know what you’re all planning as big summer trips in the comments sections. Any advice about motorhoming through Europe or at festivals would also be gratefully appreciated!