The meet-up
Having followed their route closely as they ventured east across the Pyrenees, the time finally arrived to meet a long term reader of Advanture. Billy and his family (UK), onboard a beautifully designed MAN TGE 4x4 by Norantz, were waiting for us in the car park of a 17th century fort in a forgotten corner of the Languedoc-Roussillon.
Despite having had a week of temperatures in the mid 20’s, there was now light snow in the air. In my opinion, there isn’t more suitable weather for a pair of adventure vans to meet and head into the mountains for a campout.





Day 1 - BBQ food and 100km/h winds
Dinner on the first night was a mouth watering plate of slow cooked BBQ ribs, Catalan butifarra and steamed broccolini. The hot food went down very well, in-between periods of mixed rain and light snow. We later moved on to find a place to sleep, at higher altitude which would be to our detriment.
Wind speeds that night were something around 100km/h, with gusts of much more. Half of Billy’s van were sleeping in the pop-up roof which had to be closed up, and we all relocated around 12am to a more sheltered spot behind a ski resort building.
Day 2 - Paella cooked on an open fire
Having survived the night we were all happy to enjoy a slow morning and soak up some of the warm sun. Views in this region are great on any day, but with a a light dusting of fresh snow, I think the Pyrenees were putting on a show for our visitors. Lenticular clouds stacked up above the mountain peaks. We hiked up the ski resort, the children spotted wild marmots, and we were sure to check the weather forecast to pick a more suitable place to camp later this evening.
Believe it or not, I’ve never cooked paella even though I’ve been living in Spain for over six years. Billy set the bar very high, and served us all a plate of smokey, colourful paella which he had cooked over the open fire.
The kids kept busy. Our 18 month-old daughter playing with English children for the first time, and Billy’s were fully occupied with collecting treasures from the forest floor.








Onwards from here, the man_adventure_van are making their way back to the Atlantic coast, and then sailing back to the UK. We look forward to welcoming you all back for campervan ski season in the near future.
Alex.
Editor of Advanture Magazine
Order a copy of Advanture Magazine issue 09 today. The new issue is shipping now. 100-pages of adventure stories from those who call the road, home.
Gear I used on this adventure. An EDC and an all-purpose camping knife from The James Brand. Get 10% off their products using the code “advanturemagazine” at checkout.