Welcome to the second part of my blog on a three week camper/scooter tour. Here is the low-down on how I got on scooting around the towns and cities.

 

PORTUGAL

Portugal doesn’t have a specific set of laws for e-scooter, they are treated as bicycles and therefore have few restrictions on use. Lisbon was an early adopter in the provision of rental e-scooters and many other cities now have schemes.

Porto

Portugal’s second city has a scooter rental scheme and there were plenty of people using them, not just tourists either, as some users were clearly commuting to work.

 

My hotel was some distance from the main town action, so I used the scooter to get central by scooting along the coast road. I encountered no issues here, and Porto is highly recommended for a city break, a lovely clean place with great views, vibrant café culture and nightlife with plenty to do. Watch out when buying drinks in the waterfront cafes though, a great location but rip-off prices.

Sagres

Sagres is situated at the southwestern tip of the European mainland and was the launch point for the 15^th century Portuguese explorers who navigated to South America.

The Western Algarve is  stunning and not as developed as the central-southern coast. Scooting is a great way to get around Sagres, as the town and sights are spread over a wide area.

 

 

Evora

Evora is a beautiful city which reminded me very much of my home town (Chester), with intact medieval walls, roman remains, historical buildings and tourist shops. I didn’t see anyone scooting despite overnighting close to a university building. I scooted around the outer walls of the city on mine, there was a lot of traffic, so not for the faint hearted.

 

 

SPAIN

E-scooters are legal in Spain but should not be used on pavements, and riders are supposed to wear a reflective vest.

Vigo

Vigo is a vibrant working city on the west coast, with a large fishing fleet and a maritime history.  The city has a scooter rental scheme, but I saw very few in use.  Undeterred, I used mine to wander around the old city area and the marina. I didn’t encounter any issues other than the usual cobbled areas. I tried using the Go-Pro on the cobbles, the results looked like a city in the midst of an earthquake…

 

San Sebastian

On the return from the Algarve my Santander ferry home was cancelled due to the storm ripping up the Bay of Biscay, I rang the ferry company to find out when they could get me onto another ship – and was told December 22^nd!  Which was two weeks away, and dangerously close to Christmas. So I hatched a plan B, drive to St Malo, with a stopover in San Sebastian, a place I’d always fancied visiting.

I decided to sleep in a decent hotel because I had 16-20 hours driving to do with just this one stopover. The hotel I chose was 2km above the old town, so it was up at first light and then a scoot down to see the sights. The scooter really came into its own, allowing me to see the whole area, which wouldn’t have been possible on foot as I only had two hours. I used the bicycle lanes where possible, and some of the locals had scooters for getting to work, so clearly they’re accepted in this area of Spain.

FRANCE

E-Scooters are legal in France on urban roads where the speed limit is 50kph or less, and on country cycle paths, but not urban pavements.

St Malo

St Malo town is an iconic place, entirely enclosed by huge fortified walls, which were largely built in the 17^th century and proved a very tough obstacle for the allies in 1944. I left the van in a carpark by the ferry terminal and scooted a kilometre or so to the town gates, and left the scooter locked up outside. This proved to be a wise decision, the town streets were busy with tourists, and I didn’t see anybody on an e-scooter.

Scooters are legal in France but there is a clear rule about keeping to low speeds and not disrupting pedestrians, plus there is no rental scheme in the town (other than for mobility scooters) so it appears that there may be some local resistance. The town is easy to traverse on foot, full of cobbled streets and steps, so my advice is leave the scooter outside!

Overall, taking the e-scooter around southern Europe in the campervan proved a winner, it took up minimal space and was easily recharged, and I got zero hassle when using it in all three countries. Being able to leave the van in main car parks on arrival saved a lot of driving around, it’ll be packed on the next trip for sure!