Days out in the campervan in December

Yes, I managed a nights camping in the van in December. I was cold and actually snowing when I pulled up in the Cotswolds and set up after work on a Friday night.

A little bit of benga takes place while I set up the van, much easier when there is only one of you.

My work stuff gets packed into this bag and placed onto the front seat out the way.

When I camp on my own I just pack my clothes straight into the wardrobe.

Whilst I waited for my friend Chrissie to join me, I cooked some soup for my dinner.

Directions given were 'turn right at the toilet block and drive straight on till you see the Christmas tree, I'm the pitch just after that'

Thankfully the shower block was heated and as always spotless.

The dry robe and yellow welly crocs are shared by all van users for bathroom runs, you don't mind going outside when you're properly wrapped up.

Filling the van with water and plugging the electricity in seems a big effort for just one night, but is so worth it as it saves going out in the cold and wet to wash up and it means we could run the heating all night.

There were a few house chores to be done after the trip, cleaning the fridge and replacing all the towels.

Removing everything that is likely to go out of date and restocking tea, coffee and sugar for day trips.

And making sure the water tanks both fresh and waste have been emptied correctly to ensure nothing freezes over the coldest months and valves have been properly closed.

I'm not sure there will be any camping in January as we have a weekend away booked in a hotel, but I may try and sneak in a trip the last weekend for a parkrun.

Week One 2026 - One Daily Positive and Project 365

I want to start with a big thank you to you all for dragging me through 2025 with your comments, messages and love.

The positive                                                                        The not so positive

I've been able to rest and recover.                                        I've had the flu and time off work.

I was able to get an appointment with my GP on                Desperately missing Stephanie.
the same day.

The Christmas decorations came down with ease.

Birmingham beat Coventry 3-2. Chatting to my son
on WhatsApp throughout the game.

We've had snow.

I caught up with 3 weeks worth of blog comments.

Thursday 1st January Up and a 30 minute walk to Southsea for a parkrun. I was cold on arrival, it was a straight 1.5 run, turn round and run back. I wasn't feeling it, I couldn't judge the distance. The wind was in my face all the way back and I gave up and walked. I was chivvied along by a guy in a wheel chair and we finished together. A cold and miserable 30 minute walk back. I had breakfast, got changed and we walked into Portsmouth. Had a coffee, back to the Quays, to the sea front, I had an ice cream, we played on the 2p slots, back to the hotel, watched Birmingham lose 3-0, then I went to watch a firework and drumming event back in Southsea while Peter stayed in the hotel, which cheered me up, despite a bitterly cold 50 minute return walk, we had dinner in the hotel, a couple of drinks and an early night.

Friday 2nd January Woke with a migraine and a heavy chesty cough and cold, Peter has been under the weather for a couple off days and hasn't moved far from the hotel. We shared the driving home after a light breakfast, unpacked, made some soup and just bedded down for the afternoon and evening.

Saturday 3rd January I was so ill I didn't get dressed yet alone leave the house. We woke to a thin layer of snow and it was so cold. Peter went to Worcester to do a food shop. I spent the whole day taking down the Christmas decorations, which are now sitting in boxes behind the sofa. I managed to drink loads of fluids and after a nap late afternoon I had something to eat. Evening spent on the sofa watching Big Fat Quiz of the year. Had a bath and was in bed by 8pm and asleep quickly.

Sunday 4th January Dosed up on meds and wrapped up warm I caught the train to Birmingham to the football. I met 3 guys from Portugal who were going to the game and asked for information, I offered to show them the bus stop, the club shop and to their gate, they said yes as they wanted to make the most of the day. They were great company and as they were seated near me anyway and I wanted to go to the shop it was no hassle for me and it saved them a long walk to the ground. We won 3-2. I got the train home, had dinner, a bath and re watched the game. Several friends had spotted me on ITV and Sky. I was in bed by 8pm.

Monday 5th January Back to work for an inset day, roads were clear of snow and ice once I got off the drive until I got to work. It was cold and I didn't take my coat off. I really wasn't well and made it till lunch time before going home. I managed to get an appointment at the Doctors at 3pm and picked up some medication, home, bath and watched the new Knives out movie, before going to bed at 9pm. I managed to get some proper sleep.

Tuesday 6th January Had a lie in after calling work to say I wouldn't be in, my voice has almost gone. Spent the morning under the duvet in the back room reading, then back to bed for a sleep and pretty much spent the day like this. Watched some more of Stranger Things then caught up with Eastenders and Corriedale, bath and in bed by 9pm.

Wednesday 7th January Another day in bed, unwell. TV watched, book read. Cat has claimed the grandchildren’s bean bag as her own.

Thursday 8th January Still not well but back to work now the coughing has eased. Day spent mentoring. Peter and I walked down for my B12 jab then went for a coffee and walked back in the snow. Evening spent in the warm in front of the TV.

Friday 9th January There was still snow on the ground when I woke up, but not enough to consider it dangerous to drive on. however, the school where I work is rural so school was closed. There was some online training which I completed but I was unable to access my remote files as there was a power cut in school for most of the day, so I'll catch up over the weekend. We went out for coffee and did a food shop. Work started on making one of the loft rooms into a bedroom for the oldest grandchild in each family when they come to stay. 

On the blog this week:

Word of the Week - Running away from 2025 and into 2026 and into a Marathon 

Post Comment Love - A friendly link with Bosworthlife & I where you can link up with any post written in the week

What I read in 2025

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Post Comment Love 9th - 11th January 2026

Welcome back to #PoCoLo and 2026 with Stephanie from Bosworth.Life and I.

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week. If you're new or a regular visitor we're sure you'll find something of interest.

Please leave a comment with the host you link up with and we'd also appreciate your help spreading the #PoCoLo word on Twitter/X tag us and we'll RT. You can find us here: Stephanie - @BosworthLife and Suzanne - @ChickenRuby Please also add our badge to your post.

I'll be catching up with reading your posts, sharing and commenting over the next few days. 

We had a pre Christmas visit from the family in Northern Ireland.

We took our granddaughter to the panto and then her dad, mum and baby brother joined us for a christingle service on Christmas Eve, the day itself, then hubby entertained on Boxing Day and I went to the football.

We went to Portsmouth for the New Year and I did a parkrun on New Years Day at Southsea.

All the decorations are down, there's been snow and I'm back in work. It feels like Christmas and the New Year was a long time ago now.

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and here's to a prosperous 2026.

Want to find out more about Post Comment Love #PoCoLo? 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Running away from 2025 and into 2026 and a Marathon. Bowel Research UK

On October 7th 2024 our 36 year old daughter Stephanie died, the end of 2024 passed in a blur. We went through most of 2025 in shock, in a daze, grieving, going through all the firsts, nothing getting easier, just a little more prepared to handle the bumps in the road, with a network of friends helping us navigate our way.

Marking the first anniversary of Stephanie's death was a turning point. I wanted to do something in Stephanie's memory and the one thing Stephanie could do for herself with total independence was to walk. So I signed up for an Ultra Challenge as close to the anniversary as I could and walked 15 miles across the Chilterns.

I trained whilst we were out in Australia visiting one of Stephanie's brothers who had flew home briefly for her funeral and we'd not seen for almost a year, I delayed starting my new job by 2 months.

Whilst in Australia we visited the MONA Museum in Tasmania to see the Poo Machine and I've used every opportunity I've had to promote Bowel Research UK who I'm raising awareness and fundraising for  as Stephanie died from Bowel Ischaemia. It causes around 3000 deaths a year in the UK and is almost impossible to diagnose.

On World Mental Health Day October 10th 2025, I signed up to the Brighton Marathon and started the Couch to 5k. 4 weeks later on November 8th 2025 I took part in my first parkrun at Chippenham Playing Fields in Monmouth. The following week the town was devastated by flooding but I was back at the parkrun on December 20th and on New Years Day I took part in one at Southsea.

I've joined a gym for endurance training and I run 2-3 times a week. I haven't run more than 5k, but I have been able to run/walk 9k and I've been mostly walking/running the Malvern Hills. On Wednesday I'm going along to my first running club evening.

I'm taking part in another Ultra Challenge in London walking a marathon on January 24th. My aim is to complete the route in under 8 hours, as the Brighton Marathon has a cut off of 8 hours to get a medal and along with raising funds and awareness that is my goal.

Please share my fundraising page

Please share this post

Please share our story to help raise awareness of Bowel Research UK

I'd love it if you'd come running with me, if you have any training tips to share.

If you have any ideas to help me raise funds please let me know.

All help and support is welcome. I'm going to need it.

I’m linking up with Anne from Raisie Bay for Word of the Week.

What I read in 2025

I started challenging myself to reading a book a week in 2023 and continued into 2024.

Our daughter died suddenly in October 2024 and my love for reading among so many other things just stopped.

And like so many other things, it's taken a long time to get going ago, to do the things I loved to do when I had 5 minutes to them.

I wasted so much time after Stephanie's death, so much time with 'We could be with Stephanie now, but we can't' and I spent hours in the first few months, doing nothing, staring into space, lying in bed, doing absolutely nothing.

I returned to work, part time initially, then slowly a routine, with elements of our old life starting filling our time again, days out, going places where we took Stephanie became visiting places that we couldn't take Stephanie due to her disability. We didn't find things to do to replace her, we found that we just started living again without her.

I was tutoring English in a secondary school from year 7 up to GCSE, I supported a student with English Literature at A Level from 2022-2023.

I read a few books from October 2024 till March 2025, but in April I started again with a book a week and here we are, the middle of July on book no 30 and raring to go for the rest of the year.

Updated again in October and I had just started reading book no 41 in week 41 of the year, so finally back on track. 

I didn't hit my challenge of 53 books for the year, but I wasn't far off with 47 and I'm happy with what I did read. I'll carry on in 2026. I've joined a book club now in work, that should help.

January

February

There has been lots of reading with the grandchildren.

And new books bought

I've taken to buying my books from National Trust properties and after I've circulated them around family and friends they'll be donated back there.

One of the things I enjoy doing is looking for unusual titles in the National Trust properties.

Books read for work - re reads:

Treasure Island - Tutor Read in School
Macbeth
The Tempest
Romeo and Juliet
Lord of the Flies
A Christmas Carol

New Reads:
Julius Caesar - William Shakespeare 

March

April

May

June 

I tweeted the author after finishing this book in the DI Claire Mackay series, I was pleased when she responded.

I started this book the beginning of June. I however left the book on a plane and had to order a replacement which I finished later in the month.

July 

Richard Osman - We Solve Murders.

My current read, turns out, I'd only read half of it last year.

August and September

We travelled to Australia for 3 weeks then spent 4 nights in Dubai. I had space in my case for 7 books and Peter took 3. I met a woman in a local cafe who I gave my books to when I'd finished reading them, she gave me one of hers, I did a book swop in a hotel in Tasmania and I read 1 of Peter's also. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of all the books I read, so I can only claim these as holiday reads.

I loved these little libraries in Tasmania at the end of people's driveways.

My book swop

Left behind in Tasmania.

My favourite place in the world to drink coffee and read.

I started this on the plane on the way home.

October

If I've really enjoyed a book, which is most of them, I hand them over to my friend. Other books that I know she won't enjoy or I've found hard going I've been dropping into National Trust properties where I've been picking books up from when we've visited. I also pick books up from charity shops and swop books regularly with my mum and have a system in place to ensure we don't keep swopping the same books back and forth.

November

December

I lined these books up for reading in December and it put me off for the first two weeks then I thought, NO, I've already read 43 books this year. I'm not going to read 53, but who cares? It's a self imposed challenge and once I took the pressure off myself I got through another 4 and finished the year on 47 books.

What did you read in 2025?