I have a friend (shocker I know) and we both seem to have been following the same instagram and pinterest lists without knowing about the other. When we finally did air the topic a new mutual interest was born!
Campervanning has had a resurgence in the last 2-3 years. While the 60’s campers are still as popular as always, they have been joined by the Van DIY-ers. This new group of people vaguely have the following traits:
I love my Van. She hasn’t missed a beat all week and has been very comfortable, even for two lads that are… well built… The bed in Bex is single mattress sized so to accommodate another occupant I have added a sliding section and a piece of foam. This doubles as the backrest of the sofa during the day and then a mini-mattress for the night. Because the piece of foam was bought from a different source, its not quite the same density. This wasnt really a problem but certainly meant that occasionally I was sharing a single bed as it encourages you to roll over. The last night of the trip Angus spent on Edds floor so I had the whole van to starfish, it was great! Continue reading Dogs And Drams
In the morning Angus and I recounted the night’s events over breakfast at Morrisons cafe. We couldn’t be bothered to cook and wash up and faff around when we had loads of miles to cover today. Continue reading Long Way Home
We had chosen to stop at a caravan park last night because we thought it prudent to shower before meeting our friend for a night out. After 4 nights wild camping with only a brief dip in the ocean to quell the growing stench, we could not have chosen a better place. The campsite facilities were amazing with actually hot, powerful showers and decent washing up facilities.
We rose later than usual thanks to Angus’s expert dark arts of blocking up the windows. The van is quite cosy with two big lads in it, we certainly haven’t been cold on this trip, but you’ve got to be good friends. I’m sure this morning in particular we got some raised eyebrows from a whole bus tour as we both tumbled out into the center of a town rather than a discrete layby in the wilderness. Continue reading End Of The Road
There is a joke in England that throughout the ages, after all the clan wars were done, the political arguments settled and the bar brawls ended, the border to Scotland is actually demarcated by the sudden absence of the midge. A vampiric little blighter that serves no other purpose than to make the inhabitants of Scotland want to peel off their skin for the itching. Luckily, up to this point we have avoided them. However I think this morning they had a meeting and realised they had let us slip past so converged on us in mass at sunrise. Buzzing around the van, there was a midge cloud so thick you could have described it as midge soup. Instead we chose to drive away and fix breakfast somewhere less dangerous for our skins. They must have been so annoyed not to even get a taste of our exotic southern blood.
Grey misty weather greeted us, like a fluffy throw that’s been left in the summer house after a rain shower. It was dank but still comforting as the warmth of the sunshine attempted to start the day. In the words of a young boy from skye, “What makes a great view – distance”. The clouds smothered any hope of a view from the top of Old Man of Stowr and as beautiful the coastline is, there was no distance to be had this morning.
Today was a mixture of complaining about our various aching body parts, and groaning in pleasure at the views we were treated to as we trundled past. After a leisurely breakfast of bacon butties we packed up the van.
It had been a very successful first couple nights in the van. Some of my fears had been dispelled; there was no leaking from the roof, it didn’t rock in the night with the wind to wake me or make me feel sea sick, and it was definitely warm enough. Also, most of the day was spent with the windows and doors open which means, so far, we haven’t had any condensation or damp issues. This was something I had taken great care to avoid so I am very happy its worked.
OMG my knees, my terrible knees!
When we got back to base camp, they both ached fairly evenly. It was quite surprising seeing as one of them had been through 2 major surgeries in the last 3 years and the other was completely unmolested.
Our route up Ben Nevis could never have been the “normal” one, we are proud graduates of the SUMC! We had brought all our climbing gear along and scoped out a good looking climb. Well within our climbing ability technically, but stamina-ly, far beyond us it turned out. Not because we attempted and failed it, we did not even attempt. The weather looked soggy in the morning and from our experience on welsh rock, we could reasonably expect the climb to be “seepy”. Not an enduring quality on a 450m long climb and by the end of the day, knew we had made the right choice.
Actually reached Scotland today. Set off from our lake-district friends house at the ridiculously early time of 11am. He was kind enough to provide a proper fried breakfast. It even included “Bacon flavour enhancing true canadian maple syrup” oooooOOOOOooooohhhhhhh. It was really tasty.
