Hi everyone! A little update video on our drive back home! La Bamba saved her breakdown until we'd crossed the channel! Let's just say I didn't keep my cool in this situation! Anyone else get panicky like this?! Got a fun episode coming next Tuesday - I'm going camping on my own and taking you with me! Hope you're all well and have great week! Iz xx

The rac should of towed you to a garage that’s bad leaving you stranded unless you haven’t got recoverey

Sad fact here was when you phoned breakdown service they would have fixed battery for you, no problem. Your mistake was to give way to much info. All you should have said "you have a problem with the car you think its the battery" and leave it at that...

Well done Tom for your calm level headed approach to life and for mending the van to get you the last few miles home. An extremely sensible decision to let the acid cool completely and just sleep up before changing the battery. Izzy I do relate to your anxiety in these situations, please try to take some calm deep breaths and weigh up your options, it sometimes helps.

Tom played it down but that was impressive!! Very resourceful can’t wait to see what you do if you buy land

I too would have reacted with sheer panic at those noxious fumes & the possibility of it going up! Im sorry that you had to feel like that, but I really appreciate that you filmed the reality of it and showed how you grounded yourself. A refreshing contrast to vloggers who seem ever confident & not phased by anything. It's encouraging for those a bit nervous of travel to see that you can feel panicky & unsafe and get through it. 👏❤ Hope the van is ok.

Great video as always. It would be worth having it looked at. By a auto electrician just to make sure the B to B charger isn't over charging or something silly like that. All the best stay safe Steve

glad to see you got back OK - you were literally parked outside my office if I had seen you there you could have come in for a coffee!

Iz, no apologies necessary. Love the new specs. Well done Tom. xx

Well done guys really enjoying your videos look forward to seeing more.👍👍

Glad you got home in the end. I thought that old van was getting near its end. Put battery isolator switches in a camper as a safety measure in future. I have enjoyed your travels, and if it were me, I would be looking at settling down back in Cornwall for a while to recover. I got stranded in Finland once with a puncture and two damaged tyres, it is then difficult and we were rescued by a very nice family, who put us up for a few days in their forest house.

Fantastic video, exciting drama filled little adventure & France. What a beautiful country, pleased you like it. As for Izzy & the glasses? She looks lovely as always. Great couple❤️

Hi Guys You both coped well in the circumstances. Glad that you are back home safe, like the new specs. Kind Regards Crawford

Tom, next time that happens or anything like that, get the negative lead off the batteries and let it cool down. Don't leave it connected. You did the right thing and did well there to keep cool under pressure and solve it. (The only thing I would have done different is express my feelings about the 4 hour time limit 😠) You need to check out the wiring, to and from that battery, make sure nothing is shorting. I don't like how close the batteries are to the metal frame of the seat, is there a battery cover?, if not get one or make one. Check the underside of the seat for any evidence of sparking / burning, and check all the auxiliary connections that come from that battery. Maybe it was just a faulty or overloaded battery, but it would be a good idea to give the van a good once over with a multi meter. Glad it all worked out, not sure about Iz's glasses though😊

So glad all is good again with the van 🎉🎉

Amazing story to share with raw honesty 👏 😊😊❤You guys a great and give so much to so many. Best of wishes for everything.Thankyou for sharing authentically. ❤

Wishing you both the very best now & take care from Ireland 🇮🇪👍👍👍

I absolutely love your videos, they're so comforting to watch and I love seeing everything you get up to! Since finding your channel, my dream holiday is to hire a van and drive the Wild Atlantic Way!

Amazing coincidence! I was watching your video about the battery failure when I received a What's App message from my daughter and son in law in Holland. The battery in their 4 years old campervan caught fir! They have managed to get it replaced, but it could have been quite serious as the battery was stored under the passenger seat wher my daughter was. I felt for you guys with the problem you had getting the new battery installed. Fortunately the Dutch garage had no qualms about immediately replacing the battery. Glad you got home safely and now looking forward to your next video.🥰

I would get the charging rate checked to make sure the vehicle is not over charging the new battery because you don’t want to boil the new battery as before

You were very lucky, the hydrogen gas is extremely explosive, any sort of spark could have set it off. Even more worrying as it was in your camper with a gas cooker in the back. I would check the alternator is not overcharging. Check the battery with a multimeter or the same thing might happen again. The new battery should show about 12.7volts with the engine not running, start up the van and check the battery voltage and it should be around 14.5v. If its higher than 14.8v there's a problem with the alternator or regulator on the alternator causing the battery to over charge. It probably was just the old battery but you have to check the charging voltage to be safe. Worth doing this as soon as possible because if it is over charging it does not take long to destroy the new battery. Keep safe 😀

Good to see that both of you go home safely, especially with the van drama.

I felt for you guys.Glad you have it sorted. Well done.

Oh heart break wonder in 1 episode! thanks for taking us and soooo glad you are ok! Carry on Izzy we are with ya. Nice specks.

Really glad everything worked out. 👍😊

Great trip lovely to watch, glad you got the battery sorted at least it was fairly close to home

You were so lucky to get out of that safely. I know you said we shouldn't get on your case, but stuff like this *keeps happening* with you two and luck eventually runs out.

Glad you made it home safely guys cheers from Greg in Australia 🇦🇺

Sleeping in your own bed must be fabulous after your time away. Thank you for the Merry-sur-Yonne recommendation. It’s looks beautiful

Omggg I would've been panicking aswell especially because you's don't know if any damage was done in the hours you'd both been driving unawares to the leaking and smoking? 😲 I'm so, so glad you's got home safe and sound ❤oh and that's absolutely disgusting how the RAC just left you both basically stranded and on your own....yep, well worth all that insurance money 😒😏

As several other people have said, it sounds like the battery is over-charging. It depends how “intelligent” your charging systems is, if its a simple split charge relay type they can overcharge when the alternator is running for a long time with no load on the aux battery

I would panic too 😅 Iz glad it all worked out well done Tom 👏😊

So glad to hear you guys made it home safely! Seriously, I would have had a panic attack too. Iz, the new glasses are so cute, and look adorable on your face, I say just own it! 🧡

Welcome home both of you

I hope you will continue to be well. Love from Scotland❤

Thank you...that was great...

Glad to know you're safely home. Actually Tom, my long experience is that so many times I've thought "most people would do that themselves", only to discover that most people wouldn't touch it! Look after one another :-)

That gave me chills of Philly and Keely's car fire issues in Romania, which you guys know only too well.

phew !! Glad all ok> I would have been panicky too...scary stuff! Well done Tom. Loved this series- looking forward to the next one now!!

So sorry for you both here! Had we known you could have had a fresh coffee ready as my wife live only a few minutes from that Halfords 😞 You definitely didn’t see Taunton at its best where you were! Thanks for your inspiration though to get going

As a breakdown patrol from another company, that's was an awful response from the RAC! At least send a patrol to do a dynamic risk assessment! Yes, its dangerous, but once the battery has cooled, it won't actively gas, both doors open and vent the area. My own patrol van has had this, its an easy issue to overcome with a bit knowlwdge!

Great job on the repair Tom! Thanks for sharing. Cheers!

Wow... You guys were very lucky with the battery stay safe Tom & izzy, all great vlogs from Europe 👍👍

I’ve got a rustic cottage near Noyer, it’s a real medieval gem 😊

That was scary glad you’re safe

💜welcome home guys.

Sad ending to a very enjoyable adventure. At least you both got home safely. I also think it was very poor service on behalf of the RAC. You would think a breakdown in the UK would be easy to sort out. Looking forward to your solo camping trip and future adventures.

Good to see you in my home town, shame it was in less than perfect circumstances! Glad you didn't fall foul of the parking restrictions there, it's become quite the talking point in the town.

Once, after a struggle, I opened the bonnet of my car, assessed the situation with all my knowledge of car mechanics, and closed the bonnet again. Tom sir you are a genius.

One of the primary symptoms of Sulphuric Acid poisoning is the constant need to travel but you have this vacuous feeling that you are lost in transit . . .

Hi guys. Seems odd to me your battery would get so hot due to a battery fault. I would suspect its being over charged by the van, which would explain why it was so hot after a long drive. Check the voltage going into it as if there is a charging problem your nice new battery will get ruined.

I love ur videos! 😊

good luck with the camping

Izzy and Tom alps great but this scary looks like you landed home take care 😘🌿🌸

Best of luck from Torpoint

Good to see you got back home safely in the end! A bit worrying about the battery. Now you know you should have changed it when it first failed. But we all make mistakes and we just have to learn from them. I think the gas is more likely to be hydrogen, which isn’t normally harmful to breathe, but was obviously a major explosion risk which you fortunately avoided. Just be glad it wasn’t a modern electric vehicle lithium ion battery. When they fail you should run away fast! You both deserve some relaxation for a while!

At least you bought a decent battery😊

Time to do a bit of auto electrical work! Earth's or grounds issue or the alternator is over charging. I forget my school boy chemistry, but I thought hydrogen gas was produced by an over excited lead acid battery(explosive 💥) Anyway, glad you made it home and look forward to the Clio camping 🚙⛺

Hi T&L I would just get your altenator checked there may be a problem wirh regulator which caused the battery to overheat you dont want runing your new battery

Yuasa batteries are very good, smart choice very long lasting.

Rubbish service from the RAC. I would not renew with them, and would definitely complain.

It won't explode, it's clearly venting so pressure can't build up to cause overpressure 🤷‍♂️

Brilliant

Get a main breaker for the aux battery, it should be disconnected imediatly when its smoking.

The starter battery in my 8 year old car was nearing the end of its life, symptoms were the start/stop feature stopped working. Before my local garage changed the battery they ran tests on the alternator to make sure that was working properly. Never had a good experience with Halford mechanics and I would ditch the RAC and use Grenn Flag at next renewal

Welcome home to the UK......home sweet home....La bamba waited to be back to seize up , maybe it's time for La bamba to retire? No it was just in need of a new battery, great..😂❤

A smoking battery would be really scary.

Phew🎉🎉🎉🎉glad you made it🎉🎉🎉🎉

Well done Tom.. Calm

The RAC are obliged to tow you to the nearest garage, if they can’t sort the problem at the road side.

Please get your alternator charge rate checked. There's a very good chance the issue could be related to overcharging.

Do a Battery safety upgrade and the opportunity to use two different battery for starting the van if you need it

Definitely loose the specs ,they remind me of 80' s yuppies (total a holes). I would have a breaker so you can separate the aux battery from the main one. At least you could get home, no dramas.

your not stupid, its only a battery. Same thing happened to me. Cant believe they wouldn't change it for you, although tom should know how to change it anyway its not hard. just another learning experience :)

Those glasses 🤣🤣😎😎 you are super cute 🥰🥰 love ya both loads, can't wait to hang next month

You can disconnect batteries alternator will keep you moving

I am subscribed but not been notified of any of your videos for months.

"French have their siesta time". Perfect. In Burgundy and other quiet places it's siesta 24/7 to be fair.

I would always give vague info to the breakdown people about the problem. They're the experts, not you. If they'd come out and then find they can't fix it, they would have to tow you to your home destination and you wouldn't have had the worry of sleeping in a van that could potentially have been gassing you. Anyway off to check out your other videos as this was a random find :)

The correct solution was to disconnect the auxiliary battery, problem solved. The issue will be something to do with the split charging system or possibly the alternator.

Love your glasses where did you buy them I would love a pair like that 😊

Wow, glad you got that fixed... Incidentally, did you check to see if the alternator was also hot, or regulator control ? Looking forward to Isy's solo adventure...

Nice😊

Izzy…frogs and batteries!😂

By the way guys you can lock your van when the batt is flat by just using the key manually on all doors👍

Like the new specs. Don't be shy to wear them. A pretty girl with glasses is still a pretty girl. You look great with specs.

All's well that ends well, right? Travel is really stressful -- we all have had our hair-raising experiences. BTW/I was a bit amused by the report that three hours' drive took you to "the middle of France." Being from the U.S., a three-hour drive might not take you to the middle of a particular state even. To get to the middle of the U.S., it would be more like two days of steady driving, 12 hours or more each day. I live in one of the smallest states in the U.S., and I can drive three hours and never leave it. Shoot, my daily work commute is three hours if you add up both directions.

Please get the van checked as it may be overcharging? Love you Guys 😮😮

Eeek! Not fun. I understand why Mr Halfords didn't remove the battery but disappointed that your recovery company didn't tow you to a garage. Do you have that on your policy? Loving the specs! I love bold spectacles too!

Charge regulation is poor. Auxiliary battery has broken down and boiling and gassing. Happened in my van . Vented the van and let it cool down removed the battery changed it and all was ok

😊👍

Get the alternator tested it could be over charging the batteries.

Battery isolation switch! Amazon £10……seems silly not to guys.

When I was hitchhiking in France, a chap pick me up got both his windows open and he said his battery is gassing. He didn’t know why but he got his windows open so the fumes didn’t get him. I said oh it’ll be your alternator overcharging I said pull in somewhere, I’ll disconnect the alternator. The battery was hot. I disconnected the alternator solve the problem but I told him the battery would run down eventually so he would need to get to a garage so probably nothing wrong with the battery regulator in the alternator overcharging

You’re a very interesting couple

minute 14.51 you are so clear and natural, what the camera you are using? thx

Please dont just leave it at swapping the battery refer to the comment by boastyy as you need too check some things out with a multimeter .if the new battery is being overcharged there is a real possibility of it exploding 😮 or being seriously damaged

When working in France in 1992, I nearly bought a farm in Normandy for 8000 euros plus taxes. One had to get permission from the local Mayor first to be accepted to the commune.

I'm pretty sure as time goes on they'll drop the 90 day rule . You are nomadic and it's inconvenient but how long will you be nomadic? Have to settle down somewhere one day. 😊

As far as breakdowns go, this was a very mild case ;)