[00:00:00] Keith Gooden: In today’s Motorhome Matt podcast.
[00:00:02] Matt Sims: I chat with travel writer and publisher Robbie Roams and discover a frustrating fact about Madeira.
[00:00:09] Keith Gooden: And in the news. There’s still time to enter to win a trackside pitch for two adults at Vanlove.
[00:00:16] Matt Sims: And we answer your questions on weighing axles with levelling systems, using an EV charging point as a hook up and U-shaped motorhome lounges.
[00:00:33] Keith Gooden: Welcome to the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
[00:00:36] Matt Sims: And I’m Motorhome Matt.
[00:00:37] 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.
[00:00:48] Matt Sims: Please remember to follow on your favourite podcast app or if you’re watching on YouTube, click subscribe and the little bell.
[00:00:55] Keith Gooden: Still, time to enter and win. Vanlove 2026 tickets. You can win a trackside pitch, which also includes two adults. Thursday 18th of June to Sunday 21st of June 2026 at the Thruxton Race Circuit in Hampshire. And the winner, by the way, will be announced in next week’s episode. How do people register to win then?
[00:01:19] Matt Sims: Dead easy, it’s completely free. Just head to mhmp.info/win. It’s going to be a brilliant weekend. Or you can buy tickets now and get 10% off with the code Motorhome Matt. One word at mhmp.info/vanlove. It’s showtime and we are here at the Harrogate Show and I’m with Michael from the Warners team. Michael, we’re talking about the Newbury show. Yeah, which was a massive success last year. The weather was great. Yeah it was it was really hot. We’ve booked that for you again this year. But what’s interesting is how it nearly sold out completely, didn’t it? The trade area did sell out and also the camping. So tell us a bit about the numbers.
[00:02:04] Michael Douglass: Over the last few years. Newbury seems to be the one that’s growing the fastest. Yeah, there seems to be a real love for the 60s theme that we have at it. And yeah, the whole camping field nearly sold out. It was 300 or 400 campers up.
[00:02:17] Matt Sims: And this year you’ve got 450 motorhomes campervans coming along, which is way more than than last year. A bigger trade area, more exhibitors, more traders, more accessory sellers. So even more to see. Do you think the camping area is going to sell out this year?
[00:02:34] Michael Douglass: I really do. I think 100% the way it’s going, it’s up year on year. So yeah, it will sell out. So people do need to book now.
[00:02:40] Matt Sims: I predicted last year that the Warners shows, as we love to call them, run by Out&AboutLive are getting bigger and bigger and just more and more people are coming. Every show I come to, there’s a high percentage of people coming to them that are there for the very first time. Yeah. And I think that’s going to continue as a trend this year. So the advice is book early. If you’re coming to any show this season because there is a risk of sell-out, isn’t there?
[00:03:04] Michael Douglass: Yeah, I’ve got an interesting stat you might have.
[00:03:06] Matt Sims: To go on.
[00:03:07] Michael Douglass: So with our day visitors, what percentage do you think have been to the show before or.
[00:03:12] Matt Sims: What percentage have been before? Probably 80%.
[00:03:16] Michael Douglass: I’ve been before. Yeah. No, 85% new.
[00:03:20] Matt Sims: Oh wow.
[00:03:21] Michael Douglass: It’s a trend across all our shows.
[00:03:23] Matt Sims: So is that the case? You think that people are coming to a show as a day visitor, then buying a van and coming to it as a camper?
[00:03:29] Michael Douglass: Yeah, that’s what we see a lot.
[00:03:30] Matt Sims: Which makes total sense. So only 15% have been before. 85 are new. That’s incredible. So if you’re part of that 85%, then make sure you get your tickets early. So when is the Newbury show?
[00:03:41] Michael Douglass: It’s 15th to the 17th of May. Okay, but campers can come on the day before.
[00:03:44] Matt Sims: They can come on a Thursday. There’s entertainment. Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night. Yeah. And is there a charge for Saturday night’s entertainment? So, Michael, tell us who are the headline acts.
[00:03:53] Michael Douglass: So it’s the Dr Hook Experience. Okay. The Foundations and Union Gap.
[00:03:56] Matt Sims: Union Gap are going to be one. I’m going to go and see for sure. So how much are tickets? Everything’s gone up in price. We know that. We accept that it’s not that bad is it? For a Warners show.
[00:04:06] Michael Douglass: For camping it’s £94.50. That’s including the booking fee.
[00:04:10] Matt Sims: So they’ve gone up by a fiver.
[00:04:11] Michael Douglass: £5? Yeah.
[00:04:12] Matt Sims: Bargain. So there’s no advice centre at this show because there’s nowhere to host it is there. That’s the challenge with this venue. But there is something else going on that people can come and join in with.
[00:04:20] Michael Douglass: Yeah, Mark from Vanlife Eats is there. He’ll be doing cooking demos on his stand, but also in the food court market.
[00:04:26] Matt Sims: Brilliant. That’ll be one to come and look at too. You can also come for the day. Tell us about day tickets.
[00:04:30] Michael Douglass: So that’s day tickets are £10 per adult if you pre-book or 15 on the gate. Children under 16 are free.
[00:04:37] Matt Sims: Okay. And dogs are welcome.
[00:04:38] Michael Douglass: To this one.
[00:04:39] Matt Sims: Yeah, there is a Motorhome Matt discount code for day tickets. Just use Motorhome Matt at the checkout and you’ll get some money off your day ticket. So to find out more about the Newbury show and all of Warners shows, head to mhmp.info/warners.
[00:04:55] Keith Gooden: Right into the main bit of this week’s podcast. Who is Robbie Roams, Matt?
[00:05:00] Matt Sims: Robbie Roams is a hero of the kind of travel publishing world and owns No Fuss Travel Guides the publishing company and has some amazing books that we sell at That Leisure Shop in-store and online. And he is a long overdue guest, quite frankly, on the podcast. And I was very privileged at the National Motorhome Campervan and Camping exhibition in Stoneleigh, where the podcast was appearing live, that Robbie Roams was one of our guests. We’re live at the Stoneleigh Motorhome Campervan Camping exhibition. We have a little audience with us as well. And welcome to you all to Robbie. Tell us you pitch yourself as a travel writer, content creator and publisher. Yeah, but what kind of travelling do you do? Tell us a bit about yourself.
[00:05:46] Robbie Roams: I’ve been kind of doing this combination of travel, writing and photography for the last 5 or 6 years. It was born out of a passion project for photography for the travel bug, which I’m sure many of you here today probably have if you’ve got a campervan or motorhome. And through Covid we were all restricted. We were all locked down and I ended up buying a campervan, a really beat up one. You know, you would drive over a pothole and the lights would come on in the back and you would hit another pothole and the lights would go off. And from that, we fell in love with this style of travel, this road tripping. And from that, the kind of the guidebooks followed. That’s sort of my main bread and butter. I absolutely love the process of helping people who maybe wouldn’t have found places along the way, wouldn’t have had the ease of use to take their campervan, or the confidence to take their campervan or motorhome to some of the beautiful locations we have in the UK and now Europe. And for me personally, it’s just that that get up and go. I absolutely love going from place to place. Admittedly, I probably travel a little bit faster than most of the traditional motorhome style, so I’ll be up in the morning at sort of eight, 830 and I’ll be on the road to my first POI. First place that I’m exploring, whether it’s a castle, a beach, a waterfall, and I’m on the road all day adventuring, taking photos and just fully immersing myself in the experience.
[00:07:17] Matt Sims: So is that a real pleasure for you then? A big part of it, because I’d find that a real pressure having to think, oh gosh, I must take some photos, I must do some video. And I don’t do that because frankly, I wouldn’t enjoy it. Is that pressure though?
[00:07:29] Robbie Roams: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think as it’s turned from a passion of love into more of a business you know, something that actually puts bread and butter on the table, so to speak. I’ve had to adjust and I’ve had to learn and getting a little bit older, getting a bit more mature. You understand what is leisure, what is work, when you need to have that kind of get up and go to record? I mean, there’s sometimes you’ll be on a road trip and you’ll be feeling under the weather, for example, but you’ve still got to go out and get that content. You’ve still got to out and take them photos. And let’s be honest, this is a first world problem we’re talking about. I’m in some of the most beautiful places in the UK. So let’s get it right. You know, there is an added pressure and it’s something that I’ve had to adapt to. But I’m I’m loving it. I feel like I’m thriving in it. I’ve, you know, I’ve had a bit of a mindset change over the last few years and yeah, I feel like I’m one of the luckiest guys on the planet.
[00:08:24] Matt Sims: I want to talk about some of your books in a minute, but have you always been a prolific writer?
[00:08:28] Robbie Roams: Where it’s come from is more of a passion of storytelling. I think storytelling, sharing photos, sharing stories was kind of where it was born from the writing I’ve always been okay at. But, you know, I wasn’t probably the, the top of the class in terms of literature and language and writing skills, but that’s something that you can always improve, you can always work on. Unfortunately, now I’m in a fortunate position where we’ve got an editor. So okay, a lot of the bloopers you might have found in some of my earlier books have been kind of. Yeah.
[00:09:01] Matt Sims: Tippex.
[00:09:02] Robbie Roams: Tippex. Yeah, that’s one way of putting it.
[00:09:04] Matt Sims: Now you travel with your partner and you’ve got some big news. You’re about to become three, correct? Yeah. Baby’s on the way.
[00:09:11] Robbie Roams: Yeah. So I think we’ve just got about eight weeks left. So that’s our first child.
[00:09:16] Matt Sims: That’s one way of putting it. Eight weeks till the big day.
[00:09:20] Robbie Roams: But yeah, we’ve got we’ve got eight weeks to the big day. And that’s going to bring quite a lot of changes. And it’s going to definitely change the way we’re travelling. Yeah. Specifically our six metre Peugeot boxer campervan we’ve got, we’re trying to figure out how a baby would fit and where. And once we’d got to the point of, okay, we need extra sleeping space, we need space for this. We soon realised that there’s prams, there’s all the baby related equipment. Yes. And where’s all that going to go? So I think we’re leaning towards getting some kind of new van or motorhome that kind of meets our needs.
[00:09:57] Matt Sims: So my experience is, I don’t know if any of you have had children or grandchildren, but the first one, you go out and buy absolutely everything brand new. You say, no, I couldn’t possibly buy it on Marketplace. And then the second one less so. By the time I got to my fourth a car seat, we need a car seat to bring him home from hospital. We just were so relaxed and we got him home and we, we tipped a toy box out of all the toys and filled that with water and bathed him in there. The first one she had this lovely brand new bath, plastic bath from Mothercare, all new sponges. So my advice is don’t panic about taking all that stuff. Yeah. Because you don’t you don’t need it.
[00:10:36] Robbie Roams: I would love my wife to be here right now because you would have a fight on your hands. The it was funny. We got back from our recent trip from Spain on what was it? Tuesday evening we got the ferry back to Plymouth. We arrived at about 3 p.m..
[00:10:49] Matt Sims: Yeah, you’ve only just been back two days before today, literally.
[00:10:53] Robbie Roams: And on the drive back to home. We live in the Midlands. You can’t tell by the accent. Probably about 3 or 4 hours drive. We got maybe an hour from home and the wife said, do you want to go and look at a pram? I said, yeah, I know we’ve got to go and look at one. Should we do it in a few days? She went no, we’ll go now. And we’ve been on a 20 hour ferry, a four hour drive, and there we were going to look at prams.
[00:11:14] Matt Sims: So she’s nesting. That’s the thing. She’s, she’s building the empire for the for the family that’s coming. And do you know what you’re having?
[00:11:21] Robbie Roams: It’s a girl.
[00:11:21] Matt Sims: Yeah. Okay. Congratulations. Have you got a name?
[00:11:24] Robbie Roams: We do. We like the name Ruby.
[00:11:26] Matt Sims: Okay. Lovely.
[00:11:27] Robbie Roams: Yeah.
[00:11:28] Matt Sims: Oh, you’re very brave sharing it. I found that we stopped because people. Oh, I went to school with someone called that, and they were horrible.
[00:11:34] Robbie Roams: We’ve had the odd conversation like that. And unfortunately, in this world of social media and scandals, there have been a few names floated that just don’t quite fit the bill because of yeah.
[00:11:46] Matt Sims: Donald’s probably a bad choice at this.
[00:11:48] Robbie Roams: Point in time. Yeah, yeah, I’d say so.
[00:11:50] Matt Sims: Because she’s a girl. Anyway. So let’s talk about your books. Life’s going to be changing for you in two months. And I would also add, when they’re brand new, they are dead easy to go travelling with. They don’t go anywhere. They don’t do anything. They just lie there. So as long as you’ve got a seat belt for the car seat and a Moses basket, you’ll be fine. Job done. Yeah. Best time to go is when they’re a few weeks old, as we did. So you’ve got a couple of your books here. They are beautiful, Robbie. They’re just stunning. So what have you got here?
[00:12:20] Robbie Roams: Yeah, we’ve got Peak District and Yorkshire. Okay. Just a couple of the increasing collection that we that we’re publishing.
[00:12:28] Matt Sims: I mean the photography. This is all your photography.
[00:12:30] Robbie Roams: As well, correct?
[00:12:30] Matt Sims: Yeah. And there’s so much useful information in them. I mean, if you’re not inspired to go anywhere that’s written on the front, I would be shocked. They’re an absolute work of art, Robbie. They’re brilliant. I congratulate you on them. What areas of travel destination have you covered so far?
[00:12:46] Robbie Roams: So we originally began in the UK, and the sole purpose of that is kind of shining the light on places that are really achievable to drive to from within the UK if you live here. Places such as Wales, South West, we’ve covered Northumberland, the Peak District, Yorkshire, parts of Scotland, the Outer Hebrides. As the collection has grown, we’ve. We’ve honed our craft and improved every book as. We’ve kind of gone along. Yeah. But not only that, the learnings that we’ve. We’ve made and improved. We’ve gone back and reflected them in updates of the old books. So the main point of the books is to be able to travel without the stress, without the hours planning on Google, on YouTube. If you wanted to leave today, you could pick this book up and it’s all there. And we just want you to enjoy these destinations rather than having to worry about where are we going to park, where are the campsites, what is there to see and do? And to kind of back that up further, we’ve we’ve gone an extra step in terms of QR codes for each of our POIs. So if you scan that, it will open straight up on Google Maps.
[00:13:55] Matt Sims: Let’s just clarify a point of interest.
[00:13:57] Robbie Roams: A point of interest. Yeah. So all of the the must see places in a certain area.
[00:14:01] Matt Sims: So where does the QR code take you. There’s loads of them on every.
[00:14:04] Robbie Roams: Yeah.
[00:14:04] Matt Sims: So straight to their website?
[00:14:06] Robbie Roams: If you were to scan that it actually opens in Google Maps.
[00:14:08] Matt Sims: Oh, I see it’s a location point.
[00:14:10] Robbie Roams: You can literally put it straight in and it will take you there if you don’t like Google Maps. No problem. We’ve got what3words as well. And that will link to whatever navigation system you’re using.
[00:14:19] Matt Sims: So that’s genius. What a great idea. So basically all the planning, I speak to so many people who say, oh, we’re thinking of going to whatever area. But where do we stay. Yeah. Is there campsites in here?
[00:14:30] Robbie Roams: Yeah. Pub stops. We’ve covered all angles. We know people love campsites. We know people increasingly love pub stops. So we’ve we’ve kind of tried to tackle all bases with it. There’s pre-made itineraries. If you’re really lazy, you can literally follow an itinerary from the start to the end with each day mapped out. And so many of our customers actually do that.
[00:14:50] Matt Sims: And I don’t know if it’s about being lazy. I think it’s actually about being inspired. And I think some of us panic about, well, are they going to be roads I can’t get down? Yeah, there’s going to be really narrow and I’m going to come unstuck in my tag axle or Carthago or whatever I’m in, you know, I haven’t got a tag axle or Carthago. I’d love one. But is that a consideration in the book?
[00:15:12] Robbie Roams: For sure. Yeah, yeah. So we, we note on each of the parking locations, for example, is this suitable for a larger motorhome? As many of our customers do have seven eight metre beasts and beyond. So all of that information is is included for sure.
[00:15:28] Matt Sims: I love it. Now you say you just got back to the UK two days ago. You’ve been down in Spain. Just talk us through where you went on that trip.
[00:15:34] Robbie Roams: It’s been a bit of a whirlwind over the last few months. Me and Matt were speaking before a location that Matt fondly loves, Madeira.
[00:15:42] Matt Sims: We went there in December on a cruise. I cheated, don’t tell anyone we didn’t go in the motorhome. Yeah we did love. Has anyone been to Madeira? No. It’s amazing what a place, isn’t it?
[00:15:54] Robbie Roams: It’s spectacular. And if you’ve never been. It’s similar to aspects of, for example, Tenerife, the mountainous areas of Tenerife. There’s some really impressive scenery, some really tight winding roads that are very challenging in a motorhome. And I think this trip we’ve been on was kind of delayed honeymoon for me and the wife. So there was an aspect of it of just going out and enjoying ourselves. And then as we return back to Spain, the work element kicked in. I was photographing getting video writing for our new Road Trip Spain book, which is due out very soon.
[00:16:29] Matt Sims: So there we are. You’ve heard it here. First road trip. Spain is coming.
[00:16:33] Robbie Roams: It’s coming very, very soon. Yeah.
[00:16:35] Matt Sims: Where else did you go other than Madeira and Spain?
[00:16:36] Robbie Roams: So we did the Canary Islands as well. Also in a campervan. Both interesting destinations to get to and navigate. In terms of Spain, we basically did a loop of the entire country. We came in via the north when we first started our European adventure, the ferry back from the Canary Islands took us to Cádiz in the south of Spain, and we followed the coast east and all the way around. So covering Andalucía, all of the famous East coast places the Mediterranean coast. We went up to the Pyrenees, which was a completely unexpected place for me. It’s one of those places that gets talked about a lot. But when you actually visit and start going into these beautiful valleys, it’s at that point that you realise, okay, this is why people are talking about this place. Yeah, I’ll be I’ll be honest, Matt, I was a little bit naive to some of the places in northern Spain before I go on a trip. I do research, but there’s only so much desktop research that can be done. And I kind of overlooked the north of Spain. And for me, it was, yeah, very, very unexpected. Let’s let’s put it that way.
[00:17:42] Matt Sims: Okay. So all these places are going to be in this new book. Yeah. Including Madeira.
[00:17:47] Robbie Roams: Madeira won’t be in this book. We’re toying with some ideas, and unfortunately, the ferry providers to get you to Madeira are no longer in operation at the moment, so it would be difficult to get a motorhome or campervan there. You can.
[00:18:02] Matt Sims: You can no longer drive on to Madeira, correct?
[00:18:05] Robbie Roams: Yeah.
[00:18:06] Matt Sims: Mrs Motorhome Matt is going to be very disappointed by this if she’s listening because that is a destination we really want to go to.
[00:18:13] Robbie Roams: Yeah. Mrs Motorhome Matt may enjoy the cruise part two. I’m just, you know, throwing suggestions the other way you could probably look at it is flying in and hiring a camper there. That’s an option. And there are a number of companies there that do that. So.
[00:18:28] Matt Sims: Interesting. Now tell us though, about the roads on Madeira. You were telling me about how your brake fluid got so hot it was bubbling.
[00:18:35] Robbie Roams: It happened. It happened a couple of occasions in the Canary Islands as well. If you’ve ever been to parts of Gran Canaria or Tenerife, you might know how steep some of these roads are. And I don’t have an automatic gearbox on my van and this probably paints me in a bad light as a driver, but using the clutch to try and control the speed going down a hill. It was a fight between okay, do I completely knacker the clutch or do I bubble the brakes up? And literally that’s what happened. Wow. There were a couple of times we got to the bottom of a hill, and the steam coming off the brakes was just from.
[00:19:09] Matt Sims: From the front.
[00:19:10] Robbie Roams: Discs. I could have literally ironed my my shirt here today. The steam off the discs was ridiculous. Yeah. Quite scary. And I’m getting the the brakes overhauled and checked because I know.
[00:19:22] Matt Sims: That’s a good.
[00:19:22] Robbie Roams: Idea. Kind of not safe for them to be at that sort of temperatures, but.
[00:19:26] Matt Sims: So maybe Madeira is a good place not to go to. Maybe we’ll do it in a hire van. Someone else’s problem.
[00:19:31] Robbie Roams: Literally. Yeah. I think that’s the best way to look.
[00:19:32] Matt Sims: At Canary Islands, you can still get on there.
[00:19:35] Robbie Roams: Yeah. It involves a 36 hour ferry from the mainland of Spain. If you’ve got the time, if you can allow maybe, you know, 4 or 5, six weeks to do a bit of island hopping in your own van, I would highly recommend it. And the reason so is that there is quite a lot of vast and sort of open space. So in terms of if you’re set up for off grid camping, it’s such a wonderful place. You can be in Teide National Park in Tenerife at 2000m or whatever. The altitude is above the pine forest with a cloud inversion opening your sliding door or whatever door you’ve got on your van and seeing this beautiful vista when you wake up, it’s yeah, it’s stunning.
[00:20:18] Matt Sims: Yeah, yeah. I think we are going to go down and do it. So when is this book out?
[00:20:23] Robbie Roams: So we’re hoping to take pre-orders probably at the start of May, early May, and we’ll have the production finished end of May.
[00:20:31] Matt Sims: So count me in. I’ll be pre-ordering my copy. So Robbie, what is the future for the brand? Robbie Roams where are you going next?
[00:20:38] Robbie Roams: So we’ve got quite a lot of projects coming up, and I’m a person that tries to say yes to any opportunities that come knocking. And I think a big focus on what I’d like to do. I have a YouTube channel, which I love publishing videos. I’ve got this insanely weird creative mind that that just feeds off video photo and that kind of thing. And so we’ll carry on the adventures on there, but I guess an aspect of UK motorhome and Vanlife that probably needs more discussion and we were chatting before, is the fact that we have so many customers come and chat to us or buy our books and we speak to them and we say, okay, where are you going this year? Oh, I’m going to do a week in Cornwall. I’m going to do two weeks in Scotland. Okay. And where else? Oh no. That’s it. So campervans and motorhomes are being left in storage or being left on drive for potentially 40 something weeks a year.
[00:21:39] Matt Sims: Yeah, it’s really common.
[00:21:40] Robbie Roams: So what we want to really do is encourage people to go out more often now. Obviously, there’s a time constraint that people aren’t potentially able to get annual leave, or they might not be in a position to take so much time off. So what we want to do is get people going out on weekends and long weekends in their campervans and motorhomes. And with that, there’s there is a new project coming. There’s there’s bits and bobs, I can say, but we talked before. There’s not too much I can say, but.
[00:22:08] Matt Sims: So let me spill the beans carefully. Yeah. You are writing this piece. This book? Yeah. To enthuse and inspire people to go travelling more correct in their motorhome. Short term trips. And you’ve got a major, let’s say, global publishing house publishing it for you. This is a big deal, isn’t it? Yeah. Robbie Roams is going to become a household name. This is amazing. And we’re not allowed to say anything about it at the minute. Yeah. This is. You’re playing this right down, Robbie. Yeah, I can see that. You’re a little bit excited in there. Yeah I am.
[00:22:39] Robbie Roams: It’s an exciting prospect. And I think for me it’s just the joy and the passion of getting people inspired to use their campervans and motorhomes a lot because it’s great. I don’t know if you know Matt, but some of these cost quite a few quid. They do, and that’s an expensive purchase to be. Having sat in storage or sat on a front drive for 48 weeks of the year. This is what I love. I love helping and inspiring people to get out there and use the vehicle they’ve got. I mean, that’s why we’re all here. We we all love this industry. We all love these vehicles and we all love these road trips. And if I can help people do that more often, then that’s great. And that’s the plan.
[00:23:17] Matt Sims: So when will this guide be coming out? Do you know yet?
[00:23:20] Robbie Roams: It’s going to be quite a long project. We’re hoping for release in probably autumn of next year.
[00:23:26] Matt Sims: Oh wow. Wow.
[00:23:27] Robbie Roams: It’s going to be worth the wait.
[00:23:28] Matt Sims: So autumn ’27.
[00:23:30] Robbie Roams: Correct?
[00:23:31] Matt Sims: Yeah. Gosh. So you’ve got a lot of work to do, but you’ve got some time to do it.
[00:23:35] Robbie Roams: Just throw a baby in there and.
[00:23:37] Matt Sims: Well that’s true. Yeah I forgot. Don’t forget Ruby. Brilliant. So, Robbie, where can people get your books?
[00:23:44] Robbie Roams: Yeah. That Leisure Shop is actually one of our recent stockists.
[00:23:47] Matt Sims: All of them.
[00:23:48] Robbie Roams: Yeah. Which which has been great. The partnership works. So if you are in the area or online. Online. Yeah. We also have our own website robbieroams.com or nofusstravelguides.com. And we’re here at most of the Warners shows this year. So we’d love to come and chat. And it’s great to listen to, to the stories that people and the adventures that people get up to when they’re either following the book or just out in the motorhome or campervan.
[00:24:13] Matt Sims: Glad to hear yours as well. So you’re a great welcome addition to the Warners shows. You’re doing most of them this year, aren’t you? Yeah. In person as.
[00:24:20] Robbie Roams: Well. Yeah.
[00:24:20] Matt Sims: That’s it. So yeah. Do come and speak to Robbie after. And if you’re coming to a show in the future, then come and say hello as well. Robbie’s been an absolute joy to have you on. Thank you so much for sharing and for the little insight as to what’s coming. I’m really excited for you. Yeah. And I look forward to buying our Spain book and giving it a good read and planning our trip.
[00:24:40] Robbie Roams: It’s going to be a good one, Matt, and I’m sure Mrs Motorhome Matt may get over the Madeira thing. I hope so. Try and keep it quiet.
[00:24:47] Matt Sims: We’ll console.
[00:24:48] Robbie Roams: Her.
[00:24:49] Keith Gooden: That’s. Robbie Roams, the travel writer and publisher, and that interview recorded at Stoneleigh just a few weeks ago.
[00:24:56] Matt Sims: Yeah, and if you are interested in buying some of his books, head to thatleisureshop.com and you’ll find them all there. We’ve just had a massive delivery, so you can get some or all of his books just there. They are definitely worth the read.
[00:25:08] Keith Gooden: If you’re after a campsite where you can relax but still have plenty to do, then Matt is here with a fantastic campsite recommendation. Riverside Caravan Park in High Bentham.
[00:25:19] Matt Sims: Now. I’ve stayed at Riverside a few times now and it’s one of my top campsites. In fact, I’m heading back there again early this summer. It’s family run, beautifully kept, and the welcome is always spot on.
[00:25:32] Keith Gooden: And it’s not one of those places where you arrive, sit down and then wonder what on earth you can do with yourself by 10 a.m..
[00:25:39] Matt Sims: No, not at all. Riverside’s a great base for getting out and exploring. You’ve got walks all around you, from easy local strolls to bigger days out around the Three Peaks, Malham Cove and the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail. If fishing is your thing, there’s river fishing and an on site lake and golfers. You’re not far from Bentham Golf Course, which has views that are almost distracting.
[00:26:02] Keith Gooden: Plus, the train station is just a short walk away, so you can nip off to Skipton, Lancaster or even Morecambe without having to move the motorhome.
[00:26:11] Matt Sims: And that’s the beauty of it. You can pitch up for a few days, leave everything set up, head out exploring and then come back to a spacious pitch. Good facilities and properly switch off.
[00:26:22] Keith Gooden: Riverside Caravan Park one to add to the list. Find out more at mhmp.info/riverside. It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast with me, Keith Gooden.
[00:26:33] Matt Sims: And me Motorhome Matt.
[00:26:34] Keith Gooden: It’s brought to you by www.thatleisureshop.com and sponsored by Ripe.
[00:26:38] Matt Sims: Remember, get 15% off your premium with Ripe. The discount applies automatically if you click the link in the episode description.
[00:26:45] Keith Gooden: It’s the Q and A, the questions and answers, the Q and A where you ask the questions and Motorhome Matt he is the expert. He gives the answers. If he doesn’t know, he’ll jolly well ask somebody who does. So Darryl Carter is in Chichester.
[00:26:59] Darryl Carter: Hi, Matt. The first of two questions. Just watched your really good episode on levelling systems? And they talk about weighing function. Does the weighing function give you individual axle or is it overall weight? Because if it doesn’t give you individual axle, then really the weighing function is defunct really and, and doesn’t give you the information you need. So if you could just clarify that for me, that would be amazing. And I’m sure your viewers would like to hear that. That’s Darryl from Chichester. Thank you.
[00:27:26] Keith Gooden: Cheers, Darryl. What’s the answer?
[00:27:29] Matt Sims: So the answer is yes. I’ve I’ve got the Amplo system currently on my motorhome which has been fitted by Bristol Caravans. And the Amplo system will weigh the front axle and the rear axle separately and tell you the combined weight as well. And I’m having this function fitted to my motorhome in a few weeks time. It’s a fairly new feature. That’s the Amplo system. So yes, it will do what you’re looking to achieve. And you’re right, without it, it’s kind of a bit daft.
[00:27:57] Keith Gooden: And why do you want to do it in the first place?
[00:27:58] Matt Sims: So you know you’re not overweight and you can tell exactly whether each axle is compliant with their maximum weight. And the whole van is not overweight, which is could be quite dangerous. So yeah, go and check out our levelling episode, which was recorded a few weeks ago. And if you head to mhmp.info/levelling, you can download our comparison chart produced with Bristol Caravans, which compares and contrasts every levelling system on the market in the EU and all their features and benefits.
[00:28:28] Keith Gooden: The next question is from Elaine Brown in Weston-super-Mare. Hi Matt, I’m looking for a new or second-hand campervan. It’s about 6.36m long with a U-shaped lounge and a boot at the rear. Have you any advice on what I should get and what makes and models are out there for me. I quite like the Consort Oslo, but too far to go for servicing, etc.. What does she. What does she mean by that?
[00:28:54] Matt Sims: So a 6.4m van or just under with a rear lounge and a garage. That’s a bit of a kind of mix of features that you don’t see very often at all. And you’re right, the consort model is lovely. Jude and I were sat in one at the Manchester show thinking, oh, this is really nice. If we wanted this layout, we would go for that really well built. But you’re right, Consort are a long way from Weston-super-Mare. I would suggest having a look at MEGA MOBIL.
[00:29:22] Keith Gooden: Where are they?
[00:29:22] Matt Sims: Oh, somewhere in the north. Are they?
[00:29:24] Keith Gooden: Yeah, a long way from Weston-super-Mare.
[00:29:26] Matt Sims: A long way too far for a regular service and so on. Unless you’re travelling that way on holiday. MEGA MOBIL have a dealer network in the UK. And I know that Chelston Motorhomes just south of you, 45 minutes south, not even that, of Weston-super-Mare, are a main dealer for MEGA MOBIL, and we have featured them on the podcast in the past. Now they are not cheap. They are 90 K plus brand new and still quite new to the UK. So whether you would find a second-hand one yet remains to be seen. But they do exactly this layout. They’re really innovative. In fact, you and I were both saying one, weren’t we, Keith, at the NEC show and we did a little bit of content in one.
[00:30:03] Keith Gooden: Oh yes, I remember that.
[00:30:04] Matt Sims: And we were sat in a rear lounge.
[00:30:06] Keith Gooden: It was lovely. It is has a drop down bed. Really unusual.
[00:30:09] Keith Gooden: Really well finished. Nothing rattles.
[00:30:12] Matt Sims: Very true. Yeah. In fact, Dominic, the sales agent for MEGA MOBIL in the UK said Matt try and break it. And I was slamming doors and shutting cupboards really firmly really solid. So they are a great, really well-built campervan. And they have this layout that you’re looking for. So go and check them out.
[00:30:31] Keith Gooden: That’s mega mobile MOBIL. And by the way, Elaine says something else. She says she loves the podcast.
[00:30:37] Matt Sims: Oh thank you Elaine.
[00:30:38] Keith Gooden: Cheers, Elaine. Much appreciated. Thanks for the question as well. How do people get in touch? Matt.
[00:30:43] Matt Sims: Please do. Yeah. Head to mhmp.info/askmatt where you can record your question and we’ll play it in. Or you can fill out the form and we’ll read it for you.
[00:30:52] Keith Gooden: Or you could join our new Facebook group. It’s called Chat with Motorhome Matt. It’s at mhmp.info/chat.
[00:31:01] Matt Sims: And remember to make sure you follow the guidelines for entering the group. We keep telling people, no, you can’t come in because you haven’t ticked the box, so please do tick the box to agree to the terms of the group, which is all about being well behaved. And if you’re looking for trusted brands and services, then make sure you visit the Motorhome Matt Approved directory at mhmp.info/approved.
[00:31:23] Keith Gooden: And remember to follow on your favourite podcast app and subscribe on YouTube.
[00:31:28] Matt Sims: I’ll be honest, NordVPN started as something I only used while travelling, and now it’s on all my devices all of the time.
[00:31:36] Keith Gooden: All of them even at home.
[00:31:37] Matt Sims: Yeah, absolutely. Public wifi is the obvious risk, but even at home I like knowing my data is protected. It blocks malware, dodgy sites, ads, the lot, and the Threat Protection Pro acts like a personal bouncer for your browser.
[00:31:51] Keith Gooden: If your name’s not on the list, you ain’t coming in. So it’s not just for internet gurus and digital nomads.
[00:31:57] Matt Sims: No, no it’s not. Absolutely not. It’s for anyone using the internet. So whether you’re booking a site, streaming TV, or checking your bank, NordVPN just quietly keeps it safe in the background. Just head to nordvpn.com/motorhomematt. You can get four months free thrown in, and you’ve got 30 days to change your mind if it’s not for you.
[00:32:19] Keith Gooden: Simple as that.
[00:32:20] Matt Sims: Sorted in minutes. It’s worth every penny.
[00:32:25] 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.
