Wheel bearing / CV joint

[Sleedale]

Probably a stupid question, but he goes....... The random knocking noise on Victor is in with the van doctor, again. He thinks it's the wheel bearing, but my stupid question is, does the CV joint have to be removed/moved/taken apart to replace the wheel bearing? In other words, if he is going to replace the wheel bearing and it's not that would he also see if it was the CV joint causing the problem?
Thank you peeps, need some help and reassurance here, we are supposed to be in Wales now and hoping that once fixed we can still head off tomorrow or Saturday.

[Aidan]

if he doesn't know what the problem is should he be doing the job ?
get him to service the shaft first before pulling the brakes apart and removing the hub
wheel bearing generally are pretty obvious, but unless used to our particular bearing play could easily be identified as faulty as there will always be some play in them, when they are really worn generally you get a grinding noise as drum rubs against back plate, and or pulsy pedal at brake and lots of movement at the wheel before they break up
clonks are most often cvs

[Sleedale]

Thank Aidan, out of interest, the clonking noise happens after quite a few miles, 30 plus, then is far worse as you accelerate, and seems to stop if you take your foot off the accelerator. Once the noise starts, after everything is warmed up, then it tends to be fairly consistent, gets louder mostly after a left hand bend and sometimes sounds like someone with a lump hammer trying to get through the floor.

E D I T
He's not sure what the noise is but I'm fairly happy he would recognise the play etc, he does a lot of VW's, mostly T2's but also T25's. I found him through a member on here, so he came recommended. Hopefully that is slightly better than just any random mechanic