The morning sun doesn’t penetrate the van. Afterall, a skin of solid metal is pretty opaque and once the windows are covered up with bits and pieces of material and foil (I’ve not yet sorted proper curtains) it stay dark for a long time into the day. The heat however, that, picks up fairly quickly once it lands on the van. Even as insulated as I could make it, once the sun is up, you are sleeping in an oven and have limited time before it becomes unbearable and you have to open a door. Best make sure you’re dressed when this happens…
Category: Van
Early Away
Seems like recently I’ve been running around at 1000mph. Obviously not literally, that would be pretty incredible but you know that feeling when your brain is just full and buzzing with the days events? It feels like a tin of bees left on a portch on a sunny day. I’m fine if you leave me alone to deal with it, but open me up and it will be loud, messy and someone will get hurt.
Wallpaper, Where Am I?
Due to the unique way I choose to live my life, I am now moving into my van full time. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I read Vandogs blog and I’m super excited to give it a go! This means the little bits and pieces that I’ve put up with being not quite finished need to be done, and soon!
Van Goals
I’ve got a motorbike, a big one. I’ve had it for MANY years and occasionally it breaks down. When it breaks down its a ball-ache to push to a garage. So, one of the reasons for owning the Van is to move the bike when this happens.
Hooternannys
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.
Ice Bath
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.
#VanLife
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.
The V-Dubbers
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.
Ben Nevis Knees
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.
Glen Coe Memories
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.