[00:00:00] Keith Gooden: In today’s episode of the Motorhome Matt podcast.
[00:00:02] Matt Sims: We find out the best apps to use on your motorhome trips.
[00:00:06] Keith Gooden: In the news. We have a new partnership at That Leisure Shop.
[00:00:11] Matt Sims: And we answer your questions on warranty cover for windows charging, starter batteries, external barbecue points and will be revealing your embarrassing campervan confessions.
[00:00:29] Keith Gooden: Welcome to the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
[00:00:32] Matt Sims: And I’m Motorhome Matt.
[00:00:33] Keith Gooden: Industry insights and expert advice for the world of motorhomes, caravans and campervans. And it’s brought to you by thatleisureshop.com and sponsored by Ripe.
[00:00:42] Matt Sims: Now we always ask you to do this, but please do. If you’re listening, please follow on your favourite podcast app or watching on YouTube. Make sure you click subscribe and that little bell.
[00:00:52] Keith Gooden: And today we’re talking about apps, applications, those little pictures on your phone when you look at your smartphone. But first we’re going back to old school print. That Leisure Shop has partnered with Vicarious Books. You’re the new distributor, aren’t you?
[00:01:08] Matt Sims: Indeed, yes we are. In fact, I’ve got some samples of the books here. They are famous for this book. Go Motorhoming in Europe. Vicarious as a publisher, have been around for years, and the guys wanted to just go off and travel more. So all the fulfilment was a problem because that meant they had to stay in the UK. So they’ve given it to us. So we at That Leisure Shop have all the stock and we are the fulfilment house for these wonderful books. This one’s great. France Passion. This has been around a long time. When you buy one of these, you get a membership card and you can go touring France and touring vineyards and staying in them. This is a brilliant guidebook to finding destinations with a difference in France.
[00:01:46] Keith Gooden: Zut alors.
[00:01:46] Matt Sims: Zut alors indeed, and these two are sold as a pair Road Trip Europe: Go Dutch and Road Trip: Best of Belgium. These are brilliant guides if you’re heading there. All the Aires France. This is the guidebook for all the aires, literally in France. So an aire is like a campsite, but there’s very low cost. You can’t get all your kit and caboodle out. It’s an overnight stopover and it comes with a map as well. So a really, really good book. They’re all now available to buy on thatleisureshop.com. So go and head there and you’ll find an amazing array of books, including everything from Vicarious. Dead proud to be partnering with them. Thank you to Vicarious. [unclear: “incredibly airy” in original transcript]
[00:02:26] Keith Gooden: No Motorhome and Caravan Cuties.
[00:02:30] Matt Sims: That’s a different shop.
[00:02:31] Keith Gooden: Or Motorhome Mummies.
[00:02:36] Matt Sims: It’s time for our regular show feature here on the Motorhome Matt podcast, and I’m joined by the lovely Peter Vaughan. Welcome back. Thank you. This week we are heading to Norfolk for the Norfolk Motorhome and Campervan show.
[00:02:49] Peter Vaughan: Which is also Out & About Live Summer Party.
[00:02:52] Matt Sims: There is loads going on, isn’t there? Even we’ve got the usual things like the trade area, hundreds of motorhomes and campervans for sale, lots of accessories. Yeah, but we’ve also got the big top.
[00:03:04] Peter Vaughan: Yeah. Lots going on in there.
[00:03:06] Matt Sims: Live music in there. We’ve got axe throwing, archery, paintball, yoga. Yeah. Are you going to do the yoga?
[00:03:13] Peter Vaughan: No, I don’t think so.
[00:03:14] Matt Sims: Why not?
[00:03:14] Peter Vaughan: I don’t know.
[00:03:16] Matt Sims: BFrank are with us as well, back at this show doing their exercise classes in the big top every morning. So come and check out Tom and Amy. They’ll get you limbered up every day. You’re going to be in the exercise class.
[00:03:27] Peter Vaughan: I think I’m more likely to be at Vanlife Eats, okay with Mark.
[00:03:30] Matt Sims: Yeah. So Mark’s there as well, doing cooking demonstrations all weekend. There is so much going on.
[00:03:36] Peter Vaughan: And for subscribers, we have an out and about live camping area.
[00:03:39] Matt Sims: You’ve got your own camping area?
[00:03:41] Peter Vaughan: Well, not me personally.
[00:03:42] Matt Sims: It’s the Peter Vaughan campout. Come and camp with Peter. He’s cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner for thousands of you.
[00:03:49] Peter Vaughan: Even my kids won’t. Won’t eat what I cook.
[00:03:52] Matt Sims: You’ll be in a hotel somewhere, won’t you?
[00:03:54] Peter Vaughan: Don’t tell everybody.
[00:03:56] Matt Sims: So yeah, there is a subscriber to Out & About Live camping area as well.
[00:04:01] Peter Vaughan: And of course we’ve got the advice centre.
[00:04:03] Matt Sims: My favourite highlight of the show where I’ll be based all weekend. And tonight Matthew I will be Eamonn Andrews because we are going to do a This Is Your Life Peter Vaughan.
[00:04:13] Peter Vaughan: My 40 odd years of testing motorhomes.
[00:04:16] Matt Sims: So your career and how the motorhome industry has changed because you’ve seen so many changes, haven’t you, through the 40 years and decades that you’ve.
[00:04:24] Peter Vaughan: I remember 70 horsepower petrol engines and no power steering.
[00:04:29] Matt Sims: You’ve still got one. And that’s planned for the Saturday. So stay tuned for exactly when that is. That’s going to be something not to miss. And then of course, throughout the weekend, there’s live music. We’ve got disco anthems going on. There’s music every day. Queens of the 90s.
[00:04:46] Peter Vaughan: Exactly.
[00:04:46] Matt Sims: It’s a real party atmosphere and a silent disco with Caravan Radio.
[00:04:51] Peter Vaughan: And you’ll be able to take a trip on the Norfolk Broads.
[00:04:53] Matt Sims: Yeah, that’s right, there’s limited spaces. It’s fantastic. I must do so. Limited spaces for that trip. So book early. Now, this event is the 17th to the 19th of July at the Norfolk Showground, and it is just £94.50 for four nights of camping, live music, the trade show and everything else going on throughout the weekend. Great value, isn’t it? It absolutely is. Day tickets are also available £10 if you pre-book or £15 on the day. And don’t forget there is a discount code Motorhome Matt when you book on your day tickets. So we very much look forward to seeing you there. You can find out about all of Warners shows. Just head to mhmp.info/warners. So Peter, thanks for joining me. I will see you in Norfolk.
[00:05:41] Peter Vaughan: See you in.
[00:05:42] Matt Sims: Norfolk. This is your life.
[00:05:46] Keith Gooden: It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast with me, Keith Gooden.
[00:05:48] Matt Sims: And me Motorhome Matt.
[00:05:49] Keith Gooden: Today we’re talking applications apps as they are known. The young people call them these days. You know, when you got your smartphone and you’ve got those little pictures and you press it and it takes you straight to a computer program, they’re very handy. And a lot of people, you know, they don’t like this mobile stuff, you know what I mean?
[00:06:06] Matt Sims: All right, dad.
[00:06:07] Keith Gooden: Well, they don’t they don’t. And you’ve got a whole generation of people who were brought up without it and maybe didn’t use it at work and aren’t computer literate. And, you know, we’ve got to take account of some of them.
[00:06:17] Matt Sims: Well that’s true. And increasingly guidebooks are becoming apps. Yeah. Yeah. It’s true. Yeah.
[00:06:23] Keith Gooden: You’ve got to know how to use them and use them well. And they are fantastic things. Incidentally, I use them all the time. Okay, first of all, we’ve got quite a list here actually, so bear with us. But we’re going to zoom and weave our way through them to give you the best options. Are these ones you’ve handpicked?
[00:06:41] Matt Sims: Yes, indeed. And at the end, we will give you a link, details of a link where you can go and download this list for yourself completely free of charge. And you can get a list of all the apps we’re talking about here and a few others as well. So let’s start with navigation and route planning. This is always a big one, and the biggest challenge with sat nav is you can’t put the dimensions of your motorhome in it. However, there is an app for your phone called CoPilot, and it’s great for motorhome specific touring because you can put your dimensions in including your weight, and it will then try to avoid those narrow roads with grass up the middle.
[00:07:16] Keith Gooden: Yep, grass up. Don’t grass up the middle. Well.
[00:07:19] Matt Sims: They’re getting narrower.
[00:07:20] Keith Gooden: But there’s a book about that. And when you measure your motorhome, do you measure it? Wing mirror to wing mirror.
[00:07:27] Matt Sims: I would yeah, I mean if you do that you’re going to restrict even more roads. I tend to go somewhere around the middle of the mirror because I’m relying on it’s probably going to be hedgerows. So if the mirrors rub on the hedges it’s not a problem. CoPilot is brilliant. There’s a free trial, but it’s a paid for subscription. It does like many of these apps though, you’re using it while you’re travelling. It’s draining your battery fast. That’s my big criticism of CoPilot, but it is very good.
[00:07:53] Keith Gooden: Yeah. Make sure it’s fully charged or you can charge it when you’re actually.
[00:07:57] Matt Sims: Plugged in while you’re.
[00:07:58] Keith Gooden: Toddling along. Yeah. Google Maps this is usually free on most phones, isn’t it? And is pretty brilliant, isn’t it?
[00:08:04] Matt Sims: It is. So it’s great for live traffic reports. So the roads go red when there’s a slow slow up ahead. We use it a lot for zooming in on campsites or zooming in to find a campsite. So we just look for a destination that we’re planning to visit. And then we start looking around and we’re looking at car parks. So it’s a great way of checking out laybys and car parks and how spacious are they? If we’re towing our trailer, we need to know that the pub, if we’re going to use a pub stop, has got a suitably sized car park so we can get in it and turn around and more the point get out. So Google Maps is great for that. And as you say, it’s free.
[00:08:38] Keith Gooden: Absolutely free. It’s usually just loaded as standard on your phone. Yeah. Waze Waze. What’s that one all about? I haven’t no.
[00:08:46] Matt Sims: It’s brilliant for. So you can’t put your vehicle dimensions in this. And the same with Google. Hopefully one day you will be able to. Waze again drains your battery, but I use it all the time as my sat nav. It’s really good at detecting blockages on the road. So you know, if there’s traffic ahead, roadworks and so on. It tells you if there’s police coming up or speed cameras. If there’s a vehicle on the hard shoulder, it warns you that’s coming. It asks you to confirm that it’s still there and you spot other Wazers and you can click on them and send them. Yeah, we’re all Wazers and you can get points. There’s no prizes. But after a journey it will say thank you. Your journey today helped 128 other Wazers. It’s brilliant. So I use it all the time as a sat nav.
[00:09:30] Keith Gooden: Okay. That’s some of the apps of navigation and route planning. Let’s now concentrate on campsites and stop overs. And one of your favourites heads the list. Matt.
[00:09:40] Matt Sims: Yes. Brit Stops. These guys are Motorhome Matt Approved. We use this all the time. It gives you a list of over 1300 destinations where you can camp up for free. And the expectation is, for example, a pub that you will go in and spend some money behind the bar, have a drink or maybe a meal. We do this a lot. The problem is you turn a free stopover into a £155 night out, because we love going to really nice foodie restaurants and pubs, but we have stayed in loads of them. We were recently at the Saracen’s Head in Stafford, big grassy car park at the rear. There was a tarmacked area as well. Really lovely pub, great food and it was possible on the Wednesday night. Two burgers and a bottle of red wine for £36. That’s cheaper than a campsite. And we stayed the night so staying over was free. There was Little Llama farm next door. Loads of space.
[00:10:31] Keith Gooden: On the farm.
[00:10:32] Matt Sims: Yeah, it was great. That was our neighbours.
[00:10:34] Keith Gooden: What were the burgers made out of?
[00:10:36] Matt Sims: Well, I assumed they were beef, but I didn’t opt for the burger. You did? I had a steak and it was lovely. And even then, the two of us eating with a bottle of red was, I think, £70. So really good value. And we stayed the night. No rush to leave in the morning. We left about 10:30 a.m.. Brilliant. But Brit Stops are great for this. And yeah, you can find a pub yourself, ring them up and ask if they’ve got a car park. But if they’re on Brit Stops, you know they’re going to be good. And there’s loads of reviews.
[00:11:05] Keith Gooden: They’ve done all the heavy lifting for you.
[00:11:07] Matt Sims: Yeah. And when we go to a Brit Stop, we leave photos of the car park, the access and details. It was flat. You know, if you’ve not got levelling ramps, then that’s useful to know.
[00:11:15] Keith Gooden: Is this free or do you have to pay for it?
[00:11:17] Matt Sims: Brit Stops is a charge for app, but if you head to mhmp.info/britstops one word. There is currently a 30% discount on offer from them, so it’s really low value. You’ll save your money in one night stopover.
[00:11:31] Keith Gooden: That’s mhmp.info/britstops, MHMP, Motorhome Matt Podcast, you see 30% off. That’s worth having Park4Night is another application. Tell us about that.
[00:11:41] Matt Sims: So this is great for a lesser known stopovers. So maybe small car parks, laybys and it’s driven by a community. So we all contribute the stopover. So it’s community led. It’s a French app, French background, but they have loads of places in the UK. In fact, down the road from our house, there is a little car park with a bench with a lovely view of the valley we live in, and it’s someone put it on Park4Night and now we’ve got 4 or 5 campervans in there regularly. Now I have to say it’s very rare that people leave mess, which is great, but it’s a brilliant place to go and find a stopover that it probably won’t have any facilities. It is just going to be a car park, but it’s all community driven, really, really good. It’s free with an optional premium. There is an option on there now where you can actually pre-book. So if there’s a limit of five people can stay, you can pre-book one of those spots.
[00:12:35] Keith Gooden: And that’s one of the premium things.
[00:12:37] Matt Sims: Yeah, it’s a really good feature.
[00:12:38] Keith Gooden: Yeah. Searchforsites.
[00:12:40] Matt Sims: Again, this has been around a while. Owned now by the same people that own Brit Stops harvest hosts in the US. But this is a great way of finding CLs and CSs, certified locations and certified sites. These are camp sites which have a maximum five pitches. They probably have running water and a means of dumping toilet waste. And they’re owned and run by the two big clubs. CLs are Caravan and Motorhome Club, CSs are Camping and Caravanning Club, and they’re often in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Big pitches, usually very, very quiet. So if you just want basic facilities and a lovely location, these are great. But Searchforsites has loads of sites all over it and we use it all the time. So it’s brilliant for finding campsites. And again it’s free with an optional premium.
[00:13:27] Keith Gooden: And when you say about dumping waste you mean dumping waste responsibly. Of course. Of course.
[00:13:32] Matt Sims: Yes. And when I say waste, I mean toilet waste. So stuff that needs to go into a septic tank or into a sewer.
[00:13:38] Keith Gooden: Campercontact, what’s that all about?
[00:13:40] Matt Sims: So this is a great app for finding aires in Europe and motorhome stopovers. It’s a place where all the aires are listed. So you can buy a book like the one from Vicarious, which is a brilliant resource to have, especially if you don’t have any internet. And that’s the challenge with these apps, isn’t it? You have to have good internet to be able to use them. Campercontact is a place to find all the aires across France, and again, it’s free with an optional pay for access.
[00:14:04] Keith Gooden: CampingCard ACSI.
[00:14:06] Matt Sims: Yeah, this is a Dutch app. Best for discounted campsites across Europe. So off peak the campsites are often half price. If you’re an ACSI member, you’ll save the cost. It’s like £20, £25, something like that for a year, for a year, and you’ll save that in two nights camping easily. I’ve stayed on a Spanish campsite. I had three swimming pools, a selection of restaurants. It was beautiful, massive pitches, and I think we were paying €11 a night because we’re out of season. But we had an ACSI book. But there’s now a card and an app. So do check out ACSI, a brilliant resource. If you’re going into Spain, ACSI.
[00:14:46] Keith Gooden: Okay, another subject finding services and especially, you know, if you’ve got a little bit of an emergency, you’re a bit worried about something. You want to do a check petrol prices. First of all.
[00:14:56] Matt Sims: Yeah, this is a great app for finding the cheapest diesel nearby. Especially important these days. We’re paying £1 million a litre. It’s free if you want to know where the cheapest fuel is in your local area. PetrolPrices is the app to go for.
[00:15:09] Keith Gooden: And myLPG.eu. People still using LPG.
[00:15:13] Matt Sims: They are. Yeah, refillable gas tanks. There’s a thing for the domestic gas. Lots of sites that used to sell gas. They’ve gone, you know, the sites still there. But yeah, they’re changing that resource on the forecourt to EV charge points because that real estate is more valuable for people, electric cars because so few of us run gas powered cars. But in our community, we want to top up our gas bottles or gas tanks so that we can cook and use the heating. myLPG.eu is a great app. It’s free and it tells you the location closest to you of the gas and the price. And it’s pretty up to date in my experience. So it’s a must have app. If you’re looking for gas refill sites.
[00:15:52] Keith Gooden: A lot of people will say, well, how do I know? Where do I get these apps on an Apple phone? It’s in the App Store, and it’s a long time since I’ve had.
[00:15:59] Matt Sims: Android is Google Play.
[00:16:01] Keith Gooden: It’s still Google Play. Yeah. Is it. Yeah. Right. Okay. Motorway Services GB now they they can be a bit patchy. You can have fabulous ones and you can have not so fabulous ones.
[00:16:11] Matt Sims: Oh it’s so true. And we went in with one the other day, I think it was Corby. We drove in and we were in the motorhome towing the trailer, going to a show. Absolutely nowhere to park. Now I’m too big for the car park. Yeah, I drove into there was a caravan park that was full of coaches and all sorts of things and went into the HGV park. It was rammed, it was so busy and we drove out, didn’t stop, went on to the next one. So this is not reported in the app. It would be great if it was. It compares UK motorway services for their facilities, their fuel prices and what parking options are there. Again it’s free.
[00:16:49] Keith Gooden: Do many have parking for motorhomes?
[00:16:52] Matt Sims: It’s normally labelled caravans.
[00:16:53] Keith Gooden: Oh is it. So you can’t go in the lorry park for instance.
[00:16:55] Matt Sims: You can. Yeah. I must admit, when I get out, especially at night, I do don a hi-vis as most of the truck drivers do. Just for my own safety.
[00:17:02] Keith Gooden: Yeah, okay. But nobody’s going to chuck you out if you use it.
[00:17:05] Matt Sims: No, I did once get really told off by a parking attendant for parking in the coach Bay in a motorhome. Yes. He said, you’re not a coach. I said, well, it was completely empty. I said, no, but I have got six seats nearly. And he said, you’ll get fined if you park there. I said, well, by the services. Yeah.
[00:17:26] Keith Gooden: By him. Yeah.
[00:17:27] Matt Sims: And he was a right little jobsworth, I’m not going to lie. And I said, but it’s completely empty. Are you expecting 30 coaches in the next half an hour, which is all I’m going to be here for. And he said, well, you never know, but you’re not a coach. Please go and park somewhere. He didn’t even say, please. He just told me to go and park there, mate. Told me to go somewhere else so I told him where to go as well.
[00:17:47] Keith Gooden: Came back with a big scratch down the side of your mouth. Chargemap. What’s that all about? Yeah.
[00:17:51] Matt Sims: If you’re in an EV car, it’s great for finding EV charging locations with user reviews, but I’ve seen lots and lots of motorhomes starting to use EV charge points for recharging their own electrics. So hooking up.
[00:18:04] Keith Gooden: Oh, I bet that annoys the the car.
[00:18:07] Matt Sims: Well it depends.
[00:18:08] Keith Gooden: They need the electricity to actually move don’t they?
[00:18:11] Matt Sims: Yeah they do. Well I would presume if that was the case, you’d stop and unplug and let them take over. I think that would be reasonable. So yeah, there needs to be some nice protocol here. But increasingly I am seeing motorhomers using an EV charge up cable. We sell one at That Leisure Shop and it enables you to plug in and charge your motorhome.
[00:18:33] Keith Gooden: Guess what that’s for. This is a.
[00:18:35] Matt Sims: Useful little app for finding public toilets anywhere, so if you are desperate to go and you don’t want to use the toilet in your van, or you haven’t got one on board, then flush is free and a great little app.
[00:18:47] Keith Gooden: Brilliant. Now let’s get on to travels and borders. Okay, what are we talking about? What do you mean? Travel and borders.
[00:18:53] Matt Sims: So going abroad. So Google Translate. So this is ideal for instant camera translation of signs and menus. And it’s really clever.
[00:19:02] Keith Gooden: Yeah. I was in Spain just a few days ago. And there’s loads of Brits and not just for menus, they’re speaking into it and then showing showing their. Yeah. In restaurants it’s quite tiresome, I think. Really rather rude, to be honest with you. Yeah. Get yourself a smattering of a foreign language if you go in somewhere.
[00:19:21] Matt Sims: Well it depends, you know. It depends what you want to ask. Yeah. I mean, you know, two beers please is.
[00:19:25] Keith Gooden: Well, you know, most of us just use menu English.
[00:19:29] Matt Sims: And just shout.
[00:19:30] Keith Gooden: Por favor.
[00:19:32] Matt Sims: I was in China and we lived by Google Translate. And you’d either type what you wanted to ask in and it would translate it immediately. And we just sat there showing each other our phones as we spoke to each other. And I didn’t think it was rude at all. It was amazing. Our whole evenings with a group of Chinese people over the course of my time there, and we just relied on Google Translate. It was brilliant and I have no chance of speaking Chinese, let alone writing.
[00:19:56] Keith Gooden: It, and you can trust it. So when you say two beers, please, it doesn’t say my grandmother wears purple knickers, does she? Yeah.
[00:20:04] Matt Sims: But you wear them, though. No, it’s. I think it was pretty reliable. I mean, the questions they were asking us, some of it came back in what we might call pidgin English. Yeah. Or Chinglish, but we got the gist of it. Yeah, it was really good. But the camera bit the ability to point it at a sign, and that translates. It was invaluable.
[00:20:22] Keith Gooden: That is handy, isn’t it?
[00:20:23] Matt Sims: Yeah.
[00:20:23] Keith Gooden: Really good. LeShuttle.
[00:20:25] Matt Sims: Yeah. So this is the train’s app for going under the water here, across the channel to France, and it’s an easy app to use. You can manage your booking in it and you get live travel updates and your ticket comes to you as a QR code. So it’s dead easy when you’re going on the train.
[00:20:39] Keith Gooden: Yeah. Good tip though, if you’ve got all your tickets and you haven’t printed them out, make sure your phone is fully charged. I’d always print.
[00:20:45] Matt Sims: I was going to say, when you get an e-ticket for a show or something, we got tickets for theatre recently. My son was in a stage show and we got the tickets emailed through. Are you Like me? Do you print them off?
[00:20:57] Keith Gooden: I do.
[00:20:58] Matt Sims: So do I. And we arrived and I had them. This QR code was the size of my palm on this print off, and the young lady that was seeing us in. She. She laughed and said, why have you printed it? I said, well, because.
[00:21:10] Keith Gooden: My phone goes.
[00:21:10] Matt Sims: Dead cos I’m old. Well, that’s the point. If your battery died, your phone’s off. You’re not going in, are you? No, my kids laugh at me because I print them off. But that’s our age, I think.
[00:21:19] Keith Gooden: Well, I find all this fiddle-faddling with the payment.
[00:21:22] Matt Sims: Fiddling and fiddling.
[00:21:23] Keith Gooden: The payments at supermarkets.
[00:21:24] Matt Sims: You in the.
[00:21:25] Keith Gooden: Theatre and tickets takes longer than actually having a piece of paper and handing it over. People come in and they’re never ready. Beep beep beep beep. Oh, that hasn’t worked. Or can you make it larger? Can you make it smaller? You know, hurry up.
[00:21:38] Matt Sims: It’s an age.
[00:21:38] Keith Gooden: Thing. Yeah, I think it probably is. Yeah. Direct Ferries. Yeah.
[00:21:42] Matt Sims: This is great for comparing ferry prices in one place. So if you’re going across the channel or even further afield, then Direct Ferries is free as well. So yeah, dead handy.
[00:21:51] Keith Gooden: And TollGuru. So that’s by the way, I’ll spell that TollGuru.
[00:21:57] Matt Sims: Yeah. So if you’re travelling down through France and you want to work out, I’m going from here to here. What am I going to pay in tolls? TollGuru is a great little app for telling you. Or it estimates the cost of the toll based on the vehicle you’re driving. And again, it’s free with a premium update option. But yeah, I’ve used this quite a few times. Really handy.
[00:22:14] Keith Gooden: What do the Brits like to talk about more than anything else in the world? It’s the weather. Yes. There’s an app called windy.
[00:22:21] Matt Sims: Yeah. Love that. This is a great little app for interactive wind and weather forecasting. We’ve got loads of flags here at the shop. There are three metres tall and a metre wide. And when it gets over 25 mile an hour, they rip. It’s really annoying and we have to replace them. So windy is a great way of forecasting the weather, and it gives a little alert so we can take the flags down.
[00:22:42] Keith Gooden: the Met Office I must admit I like the Met Office rain radar a lot. Obviously it’s got forecasts in it, but it shows you the path of the rain as it’s heading towards you.
[00:22:54] Matt Sims: And how often is it correct?
[00:22:55] Keith Gooden: It’s correct most of the time because I bother to look in advance. So I think, you know so so I look at the map and then why.
[00:23:02] Matt Sims: Would you look at yesterday’s weather, not.
[00:23:04] Keith Gooden: Yesterday’s an hour ago or two hours ago. And if you backtrack on it, the clouds move away so you can see what direction the rain is coming in and whether it’s going to come to you. You see.
[00:23:13] Matt Sims: Clouds do.
[00:23:14] Keith Gooden: That if they do. Yeah, he’s taking the Mickey out of me. But I’m right.
[00:23:18] Matt Sims: It’s I just I find that all these weather apps are different. So I just go with the one that’s the most appropriate weather that I’m looking for. Example.
[00:23:26] Keith Gooden: The most optimistic one for RainToday.
[00:23:29] Matt Sims: This is a great app. So I used to use an app called Rain Alarm that had showed the radar of the rain passing over, and I was told about it by a speed camera officer, a former police officer that was now holding speed cameras at us. He said, oh, we go where it’s dry. So he said, we use this for telling us whether it’s going to be rainy, but it stopped working. So RainToday is one I’ve been using more and more and it’s brilliant. It only tells you the next hour, but it’s live radar of the imminent weather. And when you’re somewhere like Scotland, it is imperative that you are checking the weather regularly, especially at season, because it changes. You have four seasons in one day, easily in Scotland because the weather is so changeable and for your own safety, really important, especially if you’ve got high winds and rain and hail.
[00:24:14] Keith Gooden: We’re recording this close to the longest day, by the way. And did you know that in the far north of Scotland, it never actually gets dark around the longest day and in the South of England we get 4 or 5 hours of darkness, but in the north of Scotland. Yes, because they’re so close to the Arctic Circle. Been there? Yeah. Midsummer. It never actually gets dark.
[00:24:33] Matt Sims: And we went to Norway a few years ago, and we stood on deck to watch the sunset. Stood on deck and we stood on deck.
[00:24:41] Keith Gooden: And the sun went down and came back up again.
[00:24:43] Matt Sims: Didn’t go anywhere. Literally sat in the sea. And for about an hour and a half we eventually went. It’s not going down, is it? And it didn’t go dark at all. So we gave up and went to bed.
[00:24:53] Keith Gooden: Now RainToday is free, but they do have paid for upgrades on that one. Yeah. You know, a lot of apps will tell you if that’s the case or they’ll put adverts in front of you right at the crucial moment that you want the information they’re going to give you always. Yeah. XCWeather.
[00:25:08] Matt Sims: This was recommended to me by a friend of mine who pilots a little ship. I think this is common with mariners. There are lots about sea, wave heights and coastal weather particularly, but if you’re going to a coast, it’s great for telling you the weather, the wind speeds, and so on around the coasts.
[00:25:26] Keith Gooden: Let’s talk about activities and applications for activities. OS Maps.
[00:25:31] Matt Sims: So you know the Ordnance Survey maps.
[00:25:33] Keith Gooden: I do.
[00:25:33] Matt Sims: They’re great for planning walking trips. And again this is free with an optional premium AllTrails. Yeah. This is also good for public footpaths and community reviews of them. So they tell you kind of how hard the walk is. And again free with an optional premium.
[00:25:51] Keith Gooden: Again Google Maps, it’s a really good one and it’s always free on your phone.
[00:25:54] Matt Sims: Yes, absolutely. Great for finding local attractions. Just put in cafe near me or whatever it is you’re looking for near me. Bike repair shop near me. We get loads of people coming into That Leisure Shop in north and South Somerset who’ve never been here before, and they just searched camping shop near me and they turn up. Yeah. It’s brilliant.
[00:26:13] Keith Gooden: Tides Near Me. That’s a useful one, isn’t it?
[00:26:16] Matt Sims: It is. Yeah. This is great for working out tide times and for on the beach and coastal walks as well. And again, it’s free with an optional charge option too.
[00:26:26] Keith Gooden: Particularly useful if you’re anywhere near Weston-super-Mare, because it’s the second highest and lowest tidal flow in the world, isn’t it?
[00:26:33] Matt Sims: It is. Yeah. I don’t know how far the tide travels, but.
[00:26:36] Keith Gooden: Miles.
[00:26:37] Matt Sims: You can stand on that beach and not see the sea at all. Yeah, just the mud. Just the Weston-super-mud.
[00:26:43] Keith Gooden: You got it. And don’t stand too still because you’ll sink. Safer Seas & Rivers Service. That’s Surfers Against Sewage. We all agree with that.
[00:26:53] Matt Sims: Absolutely. This is brilliant for live water quality and sewage discharge alerts. This is a real thing. Did you see that recent programme on Channel 4? Shocking.
[00:27:03] Keith Gooden: How do we ever get into this?
[00:27:04] Matt Sims: And if you’re going swimming or paddle boarding, this is important. I’m amazed that my kids have never been really ill because every summer we go to Cornwall and some of the places were in that programme where they are discharging raw sewage straight onto the beach and into the sea. So we’ve had a lucky escape, really, but a really good app. And it’s free. Go and get.
[00:27:24] Keith Gooden: It. Entertainment applications. Audible.
[00:27:27] Matt Sims: Yeah. Love this. If you’re a fan of an audiobook, then this is a must have. I pay for the subscription for this. I think it’s £8 a month and I listen to loads of books. I find it hard to read them.
[00:27:39] Keith Gooden: Are we available the podcast on audible?
[00:27:43] Matt Sims: That’s a good question, I don’t know.
[00:27:45] Keith Gooden: No, no, I don’t think we are because they do a lot of paid for. They’re a big company.
[00:27:48] Matt Sims: We’re on Spotify.
[00:27:50] Keith Gooden: Yeah yeah. And Apple podcasts. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:27:53] Matt Sims: But audible is great for books. And you can, you can get free books, but you can pay for it as well and download them. And one book is normally cheaper as an audible file than it is in paperback or hardback, obviously.
[00:28:03] Keith Gooden: Yeah. Spotify. I’m a big fan of Spotify.
[00:28:06] Matt Sims: We’re on Spotify.
[00:28:07] Keith Gooden: Yeah, we are on Spotify. Motorhome Matt podcast. Spotify. Got knocked by people who call themselves audiophiles for years because it was putting out its audio at 320kbps. It’s recently upgraded. It’s now what’s known as lossless. But most people don’t have ears that can tell the difference. But I’m a big fan of Spotify. I’ve got the premium for the family, and I think we get 4 or 5 accounts. I can’t remember which one. Double check for £21 a month. Well, that’s the cost of a CD, one CD and you’ve got all the music you could ever possibly want.
[00:28:41] Matt Sims: Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. I don’t have the paid for version. My kids do, but yeah, I’ve got too many kids that I would use up all the all the subscriptions. Jude has it, but so I get the ads, which are a bit annoying. Yes. But.
[00:28:54] Keith Gooden: You can get it for free, but you get ads in it if you have the premium in the premium as well. You get you get podcasts and some books as well.
[00:29:01] Matt Sims: Well, I tend to listen to books more than I do music these days. Again, I think that’s me age. Here’s a good one. Merlin Bird ID what’s that? Do you know what? We discovered this very recently and we’ve become obsessed. We’re on a walk, and you can hold your phone out, open the app, hold your phone out, and it just listens to the bird song. And when I wake up now, I’ve never considered it. Do you know what the first bird to sing in the morning is?
[00:29:27] Keith Gooden: Madonna.
[00:29:28] Matt Sims: Who? Madonna? Yeah. You got Spotify on again? Feathered variety.
[00:29:36] Keith Gooden: First bird in the morning. Well, it’s the the dawn chorus.
[00:29:41] Matt Sims: Is it. Well by us and normally about half four 4:45 in the morning. It’s the robin is it. And he’s an aggressive repetitive little bugger. Yeah. Honestly it goes on and on and on. And now when I’m often woken up by the morning chorus and you hear the robin, and then you get the blackbirds and all these other strangely named birds that I’ve never heard of. But you see them everywhere. It’s fascinating and it’s become a really interesting project. You can also put where you heard it, and it will then plot where you heard that bird song. And so we’re getting birds visiting us at home that are not normally hanging around there, but for some reason they’re migrating through where we are. It’s fascinating. Really good little app. It’s free.
[00:30:20] Keith Gooden: That’s Merlin Bird ID. Sky Guide is good at this time of year. At the moment, 2026 Jupiter and Saturn are very much in the the night sky. If you’re in the south of England, not in the north of Scotland, where it doesn’t get dark. It’s brilliant though.
[00:30:36] Matt Sims: Do you know what I love with this? You see a bright star in the sky. You hold your phone up, don’t you? And look at it through your phone. And then you’ve discovered that you’re staring at a planet. Yes. I think that’s really. It’s kind of strangely rewarding. Oh, there’s Mars and I tell everyone that’s Mars.
[00:30:55] Keith Gooden: But my little boy years ago, he’s 21 now. But years ago he came back from school and he said, dad, there’s no Father Christmas. Henry, his mate says says there’s no Father Christmas. And Oh dear, not really, I said. Yeah. I said, well, who brings all the presents? He said, there is no Father Christmas. The parents bring the presents. Well, that’s just complete nonsense. And so I used Sky Guide and saw that the International Space Station was going over. And on Christmas Eve I took him out and over it went. And I said, well, how do you explain that then? It’s true. That’s a great one. Sky Guide.
[00:31:29] Matt Sims: Poor kid.
[00:31:30] Keith Gooden: Yeah. Your favourite TV and film? He was only 17. Your favourite TV and film streaming services as well. Make sure you can download offline and save your. Sorry.
[00:31:41] Matt Sims: download.
[00:31:41] Keith Gooden: download them. So to save your internet. Yeah. Social and trip logging. Trip logging.
[00:31:50] Matt Sims: Trip logging.
[00:31:51] Keith Gooden: Shouldn’t that be in a different.
[00:31:52] Matt Sims: Trip for.
[00:31:53] Keith Gooden: A number of Polarsteps?
[00:31:56] Matt Sims: That’s really popular. This. This is brilliant. I’ve got loads of customers from my storage business sending me their Polarsteps video, and they’ve suddenly become David Attenboroughs on travel, because you can take loads of photos and video footage of where you are, and it does a little plan of your motorhome, like driving along the road on a map. It’s really clever. So you can plot the actual route you’ve been and then at certain points have a little video entertainment of the things you saw. And it’s a great way for sharing with family and friends the trip you’ve been on and journaling that journey with photos and route tracking. And again, it’s free with a charging option VanVibe. This is a new app. Now, I recently discovered this and I’ve been talking to Alex, the owner of it. I best describe it as Instagram for motorhome and campervans, and it’s a great way of connecting with other like minded people, discovering events, and sharing your trips. And what you can do is you can share photos of your trip, and you can choose if it’s private to you or who you want to share it with. You can make it public so everyone can see it, and you can comment on each other’s trips and you can search for destinations. We did this recently and you can see wherever other people have been and the photos they’ve taken, it’s actually really, really good VanVibe. It’s brand new. Check it out. We hopefully have got Alex coming in the studio in the future to share more with us about it, because I think it’s really, really good.
[00:33:17] Keith Gooden: And it says here it’s free.
[00:33:18] Matt Sims: It is free. Yeah. Currently there may be a charging option if you want it to edit your video and there’ll be other features that it offers, but they will be completely optional. And at the moment it is completely free.
[00:33:30] Keith Gooden: Okay, then that’s just some of the apps, the applications we hope will benefit you. Remember as I said before on Apple, it’s the App Store and on Android, as Matt said, it’s Google Play is where you find them. They’re clearly marked, whether they’re free, whether they take adverts or whether there’s premium content you need to pay for, have a play, have a look, and if you’ve got any questions, you know the place to come.
[00:33:54] Matt Sims: We have created a free downloadable checklist of all these apps that we’ve been talking about and more, and you can get that for free. Just head to mhmp.info/apps with two P’s. That’s mhmp.info/apps.
[00:34:11] Keith Gooden: It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast with me, Keith Gooden.
[00:34:13] Matt Sims: And me Motorhome Matt.
[00:34:14] Keith Gooden: It’s brought to you with thatleisureshop.com and sponsored by Ripe. Okay, motorhome and campervan Confessions. Before we get to your questions, today we have a new segment, Your Confessions. It’s brought to you with Ripe and we’re revealing your embarrassing moments. First up, an anonymous entry. They clearly are too embarrassed. Matt, over to you.
[00:34:38] Matt Sims: I thought I was basically a pro at reversing my motorhome after one go on the driveway, but I clipped the campsite water tap within five minutes of arriving, and I sprayed the pitch next to us. Two the husband hasn’t trusted me to reverse it since. Not quite the shower they were expecting.
[00:34:56] Keith Gooden: You can submit your campervan confession to us here at mhmp.info/askmatt. That’s mhmp.info/askmatt. And remember, you can get 15% off your insurance with Ripe by clicking the link in the description. It’s the Q and A, the questions and answers where you ask the questions and Motorhome Matt he will answer you. If he doesn’t know. As I say every week, I’ll ask somebody who jolly well does.
[00:35:23] Jim: I’m Matt. It’s Jim. I took out a policy with warranty Group solutions after watching your podcast wasn’t an inconsiderable sum either. It was quite a lot of money. I have now made a claim due to the bathroom window leaking, only to be told they don’t cover windows or motorhomes. Motorhomes are windows. They’re everywhere, all over them. And how can they not cover such an important part of a motorhome? I’ve got to say I feel misled. Not by yourself, but by the company after watching the podcast. And I’m pretty upset that for almost £1,000, they can’t cover such an integral part of my motorhome and are coming up with excuses. And I just thought I’d let you know because you’re putting your name to that company. I feel they’re letting you down as well as me down.
[00:36:09] Keith Gooden: Okay, James, thanks very much for that. We’re always on your side. We’re always on the side of the motorhome and caravan. But I must say, read your policy. But, Matt, you’ve got some news.
[00:36:23] Matt Sims: I have. Yeah. Jim actually emailed me and said he was quite strong actually. He said he was disgusted that the window leak wasn’t going to get paid out for. It’s not uncommon, James, for warranty company not to cover this Warranty Solutions Group though do cover water ingress and consequential damage, which is amazing. I mean, that’s not common at all. So I did speak to them on your behalf, Jim, and I’m delighted to say they’ve had a turnaround. They’ve listened and they’ve changed their policy. So they have now agreed that they will cover windows for cracking and glazing. So the fracturing of them. Yeah.
[00:37:02] Keith Gooden: They’ve called it stress cracks and fractures.
[00:37:04] Matt Sims: That’s it. And they. And thus leaks. So, Jim, your claim is going to get paid out. I know it wasn’t a huge claim, but there’s a principle here. So I’m delighted to say that because you’ve brought it to my attention, we were able to bring it to their attention and we’ve affected. Change and Warranty Solutions Group have confirmed they are now covering windows, and they are reissuing the warranty guidance book immediately to include that for motorhomes and for caravans. They are now also partners with the Caravan and Motorhome Club as their preferred warranty supplier, and I am their brand ambassador for the motor industry, something I’m very proud of and I wouldn’t have done that and agreed to that if they were not a company that I knew would listen and take on board feedback, and where we think it’s reasonable that something should be covered, they will agree to do it. They are a fantastic company, and we have an episode coming up with Steph, the group director, and we’re going to be talking real turkey about wet belts and so on. So big topics that people have a big fear about not being covered under warranty.
[00:38:08] Keith Gooden: There you go. So I hope that’s been of help to you, James. And like I said before, read your policy. David Deere is in Sudbury. Hi, Matt. We didn’t use Ripe as it didn’t have the choice to select Outsmart the Thief. That’s one word. That’s why I paused. Outsmart the Thief security system. Also, why don’t new Pilote Ford motorhomes have a system of charging the engine battery. The vehicle has to be driven or run for over 30 minutes to get any charge into it. I had to purchase a Battery Master unit to feed the engine battery from the surplus leisure battery. Love the podcast. That’s from Dave and Lynn.
[00:38:45] Matt Sims: Yeah, so Outsmart the Thief is a brilliant security system, but it’s not to my understanding anyway, is not Thatcham approved. Now. Thatcham is the organisation that recognises security systems and the levels of protection they give you, and it’s the one that the insurance industry uses. So if there’s potentially a better offering than something, that’s Thatcham. If it’s not Thatcham, it’s going to get ignored. And that’s what’s happened here. I don’t know why Outsmart the Thief are not Thatcham approved. Perhaps you do. Perhaps they would come on and tell me why. So if you’re listening, then do get in touch. That is the reason why. And in terms of the Battery Master, you’re right. This is a common frustration for owners. And I don’t have the answer. I don’t know why the French manufacturers at Pilote do not fit the ability to have a battery-to-battery charge system. The number of part exchanges we get here, or vehicles offered to us to sell that have aftermarket fitted after they bought it, I had to go and get an aftermarket system. It’s really annoying. And if you’ve got a Pilote and you’re finding your starter batteries going flat, then or your leisure batteries going flat, it will be because you haven’t got Battery Master and you’ll need to get one.
[00:39:55] Keith Gooden: And as you said before, people do underestimate that starter motor sucks a lot of energy out of a battery, doesn’t it? And as you always say, 30 to 40 minutes driving around to recharge it. Yeah. You can’t just leave it on the drive for ten minutes, can you? Thanks very much, David. Much appreciated. Brent Westbrook is in Torquay. That sounds like a secret agent to me.
[00:40:13] Matt Sims: Brent Westbrook.
[00:40:14] Keith Gooden: Hi. Brent Westbrook here from Torquay.
[00:40:19] Matt Sims: Less secret agent.
[00:40:21] Keith Gooden: I have a Gas-It and a gas tank system of 40kg. It has an external barbecue point at the back of the van. I bought a barbecue that normally uses screw top propane canisters, so I bought an adaptor to permit the outlet union mate with the screw in feed. However, however, it won’t light, right? The pressure is way too low, but it’s fine with the propane canister. Is there a particular type of barbecue that works with an external gas point?
[00:40:50] Matt Sims: There is. Yeah, I mean, most should. It’s probably it’s a drop of pressure for some reason. It could be because you’ve got an adaptor. I’d be really careful doing this. I’ll be honest.
[00:40:57] Keith Gooden: It doesn’t say whether it’s a full gas canister either, does he?
[00:41:01] Matt Sims: That may be the issue that the gas bottle on the van is is getting empty and the pressure drops. That could be the issue. It could be that the gas feed, the length of pipe from the gas bottle to the barbecue point is just too long. Too long? Yeah. And that would mean there’s a pressure drop. I would make sure the barbecue point on the van has been properly installed. There’s no kinks in the pipe that could be an issue. So on the back of them, sometimes the pipe goes 90 degrees and that can pinch it and bend it, and that can lower the pressure as well. My advice go to an approved workshop and get this looked at by someone trusted regulated by the NCC. The approved workshop scheme or the MCEA, Motor Caravan Engineers Association and get one of their guys to have a look at it. If you’re coming up to Bristol Way, maybe Tourer Services are my go-to or Bristol Caravans in North Bristol. If you’re passing up the A38 or the M5, but get someone to look at it who knows what they’re doing.
[00:41:55] Keith Gooden: Yeah, and I must say as well, you’re dealing with gas here, so don’t fiddle with it yourself. As Matt says, you need an expert.
[00:42:01] Matt Sims: There’s a number of types of gas barbecue, point, Truma, Bullfinch, and make sure it’s one of those approved ones and buy the correct connector that goes straight to it and fit that to your barbecue. Don’t be using adaptors.
[00:42:13] Keith Gooden: So how do people get in touch with this man?
[00:42:14] Matt Sims: We’d love it if you did. Yeah. Please head to mhmp.info/askmatt. You can record your question on the orange button. Please tell us where in the world you are, because we’d love to know. Or fill in the form and we’ll read it for you. Mention Maddie. You’re probably getting included.
[00:42:29] Keith Gooden: Yeah. Maddie. Maddie.
[00:42:30] Matt Sims: Caddy Maddie is known now, and she’s loving it.
[00:42:33] Keith Gooden: You can join our new Facebook group. It’s called chat with Motorhome Matt. It’s at mhmp.info/chat, that’s mhmp.info/chat. Do you actually go on there?
[00:42:43] Matt Sims: I’m on there pretty much every day. Yeah, right. I don’t always comment because it can be an absolute time drain and you can get drawn into some rabbit holes, but it’s a great way of getting a message to me. And Maddie’s on there as well. keeping an eye on posts. There’s one golden rule that people, people keep breaking. People. Keople. People.
[00:43:01] Keith Gooden: Keople. People.
[00:43:02] Matt Sims: People. Oh Keople. He’s terrible. There’s no self promotion. So if you’re a business owner, you’re very, very welcome. We would love to have you in the group, but please, no advertising for what you’re doing. If you’re going to a show or selling something, it will just mean that people leave. So your post will get removed. And we are starting to introduce a three strike rule and then we kick you out. So behave. But yeah, we’d love it if you joined us there. mhmp.info/chat. And as we always ask you if you’re listening, please follow us on your favourite podcast app. Or if you’re watching on YouTube, click subscribe and the little bell.
[00:43:37] Keith Gooden: Thanks for listening to the Motorhome Matt podcast. Remember to check back here for more episodes full of hints and tips and helpful advice. We’ll see you soon for another Motorhome Matt podcast brought to you with thatleisureshop.com.
