August 2024 - Days out in the Campervan

We were in Turkey for 12 days in August, then I travelled to Northern Ireland for a week to visit our grandson, so that only left us 12 days in August to get out and about.

I visited Glastonbury for the day with a friend. There was a day at a spa with colleagues from work, a hospital appointment and dog sitting for a friend over the bank holiday weekend.

We bought a drive away awning last month to give us some extra room when the weather isn't as nice and to enable us to cook more food, but we discovered our goal cooker wasn't compatible with UK gas bottles so we needed to purchase a new one. A new regulator wouldn't solve the problem, it was something to do with the pressure/bar and by the time we sourced buying an actual gas bottle and new hose and regular it was cheaper to buy a new one, which runs off gas bottles and saves space without lugging another gas canister around with us.

We managed one night away last weekend to the Forest of Dean. We visited our granddaughter on Friday and rather than drive home late we camped up for the night, we took the contents of the fridge with us for dinner and breakfast and just used the van, no need for the awning for just one night.

We've been struggling with all the bedding. It's such an inconvenience to keep putting the table up and down in the van to get the bedding in and out from the bench seat. As when the bed is raised during the day we can't clip it in place with the bedding up there. I had two S hooks in the garden and decided to give it a try. It's been a game changer. They're strong enough to hold the bed in place.

All the bedding is stored under the back seat, there's room in there for two sleeping bags, the covers for the front windows, 2 blankets, the sheets and towels.

Another tip we've found really useful is to move the back carpet over the plastic cover and to save stepping over it onto the step stool and it's made it much easier to get in and out of the van at the back.

I'm away on my friends drive this weekend, in Monmouth and I'll be using her facilities and the leisure battery and the following weekend back to Lydney for our Granddaughters birthday weekend.