This activity has been on our to-do list for a long time: rent a van for the weekend and organize a great road trip. And thanks to Blacksheep Van, it's totally possible.
General Information
Blacksheep Van has 2 locations in Belgium. One in Namur and one in Zaventem. In both offices you can make a reservation and rent a van/camper. You just have to choose when (the date and how many days) you want to rent a van. You can even choose the model. The price obviously depends on the duration of the rental and the model chosen. For our roadtrip, we were tempted by the Volkswagen California Ocean at Blacksheep Van.
#Vanlife
Before leaving, we received a detailed briefing from Romain, one of the members of Blacksheep Van. The briefing is really necessary because such a van has many functions and possibilities. For example, how to open the bed, how to use the cooker, how to turn the chairs or how to turn on the shower.
Roadtrip
We have designed an itinerary with the theme of the Trappist beers of Wallonia and some other stops. More information about this road trip will be published on our website. Please note that Blacksheep Van can also recommend other routes and places.
Food x Vanlife
As mentioned above, the California Ocean has a small cooker, a sink and a small fridge. Cooking is therefore quite possible. When the weather is bad, eating in the van is easy, the two front seats can be turned and you also have the back seat. The table is set up in seconds. If you are more lucky with the weather, you will find 2 folding chairs in the boot and a table in the sliding door.
Sleep x Vanlife
It sounds too good to be true: sleep wherever you want. Unfortunately, camping in the wild is forbidden in many countries, and the same is true in Belgium. Fortunately, Romain from Blacksheep Van advised us to download the Park4night app, which gives an easy overview of campsites and car parks, and also the Campspace website, where you can find private individuals who offer to spend the night on their property in exchange for a small fee.
Our night went very well. We found a nice quiet spot near a wood, a river and 15 minutes from our next route point: Orval Abbey.
In our van, we could even choose between 2 beds because this van is suitable for up to 4 people;
- The bench seat can be transformed into a 1.10m bed
- The roof tent offers a 1.15m bed.
We chose the roof tent, not for the few extra centimetres but because we can open it in the morning and enjoy the landscape and the birds singing (there were a lot of them at our location)!
Our Experience
To be honest, camping has never been our thing. But trying a weekend in a converted van was definitely on our to-do list. We're really glad we were able to do it and we can't recommend Blacksheep Van Travel Vans enough, there are several models and most of their vans are new or nearly new and offer the necessary comfort.
Go to the website of Blacksheep Van