April 2025 - Days out in the camper van

 Picnics and chilling out with mugs of tea and reading books after a walk on the Malvern Hills.

Finding new camp sites in the Forest of Dean - St Briavels. Close enough to walk to a local pub for the evening.

Bottled water for this trip as the pump has broken.

After a visit with a friend in Much Wenlock, I found a camp site rather than driving home so I could chill out for the evening and spend the following day meandering home visiting National Trust and English Heritage Sites.

Fab washing up facilities, including a dishwasher, normally the sink areas are just under a cover, this was fully indoors.

The site had had problems in the past with travellers so everywhere had CCTV cameras which meant you had to use the cubicles for all dressing etc, which made things a little uncomfortable and awkward.

A nice quiet site with plenty of space around the pitches.

Packing up time, making sure the nothing rattles on the journey.

Pulling the mat out over the edge makes for easier access in and out the back of the van.

Bag bought for me by DIL which I use to pack up everything that is to go back into the house when I get home. I then put in clean t towels, more tea bags/sugar etc for going back into the van ready for the next trip.

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Narrow country lanes in a van, not a lot of fun when meeting tractors and other vehicles.

Friends kids exploring the van after a day out.

Next up. I'm off to Northern Ireland for the Whitsun week on my own to help DIL out with the new baby and the 3 year old grandson. There will be lots of days out and I'm hoping grandson and I can have a night away.

Days out in the camper van. Winter 2024/2025

There hasn't been as many days out in the van and even less camping than I'd hoped for over the winter due to family circumstances.

We've also had a few problems with the van and needed a new leisure battery and now have a water pump to fix. 

The van decided to tow an imaginary trailer. it even showed up in the reversing camera. it was a real hazard when driving as it kept flashing on the screen interfering with the control panel and constant pinging as vehicles came near it. unfortunately there repair costs weren't imaginary.

I did manage one night away in the Forest of Dean. it gave me chance to sort a few things out inside the van.

I use the peg bag to put my watch and phone in at night to stop it falling down the side and I keep a torch in there if I need to get up during the night.

I have a couple of S hooks that allow me to store the bedding in the roof space. They create a little bit more space without reducing the head height.

These 'over the door' hangers are great for use in the shower room as it gives me extra hooks to hang all my clothes, coat and bags on to stop things getting wet.

I didn't check my supply levels before I went away, more tea needed.

A lot of vehicles park on ramps to level their vehicles, I just use more hooks to hold doors open.

The plugs only work when we're hooked up to the mains so I have a battery operated whisk so I can make coffee on a day out.

I'll be upgrading the fold up basket to a fold up trolley for washing up.

I had a day out with our granddaughter, her highlight was a picnic in the van.

Peter and I took a walk up the Malvern Hills last weekend and we decided to air the van by popping the roof and brewing up and reading our books rather than just driving home and watching the TV.

We're away this weekend camping in the Forest of Dean and hopefully back into the swing of things with weekends away and making the most of having the van.

October 2024 - Days out in the Campervan

We'd booked the half term holidays before our daughter died and I'm glad now we had. At first I just wanted to cancel everything. Our friends tentatively skirted around their upcoming visit, but we said, please come.

We ended up spending a lot of time in the van back and forth to Gloucester to sort out our daughter's affairs. It's a 50 mile round trip and we had 4 airport runs in a week with Gatwick and Birmingham. We shared the driving and it was great to be able to stretch out on the back seats.

During half term I had intended to spend 2 nights in the van in the Forest of Dean visiting family and friends, dropping off Halloween gifts and catching up with everyone. I still did the visits, but over 2 days instead of 3 and I slept at my friends house rather than 2 nights on a camp site. In needed the company rather than the solitude as I'd been off work for some time.

Our Friends visited from Germany for a couple of days and we had a few days out.

Then we headed off to Northern Ireland on the ferry, crossing from Liverpool to Belfast for 4 days to visit our Grandson.

We brought one of sons dogs back with us as our son is away and with a 3 year old and an older dog, it was getting a bit much with the dark, wet and cold mornings and to be honest it is going to big a big help to us to have have something to look after till the middle of December when our son gets home, especially as Peter is away for 3 weeks. I'm looking forward to long early morning walks. I do miss having Bob around and our son and his wife helped us out with our dog many times during covid having him for several months so I could return to Dubai before we returned to the UK full time.

I'm pleased to report the cat and dog are getting on even if it is on the cat's terms and we're both wary of the cat, as there is still a lot of hissing from her. Bailey has been told it's her own fault as she will insist on following her.

September 2024 - Days out in the Campervan

 We plan to keep camping in the van over winter.

Although we had a rather chilly night in the middle of September, but that was more to do with the fact we weren't proper;y prepared for it.

We've decided we won't be using the awning any more this year, as we'll only be camping for a night at a time and we'll just pop the roof for sleeping in.

Setting up the awning only took 20 mins this time, but we were a bit limited with space on the pitch, we need to invest in some pegs that we can plant in harder ground.

Driving away and back up is so easy and quick, takes only a few minutes.

I realised that the last time I used this camping table I was in Kruger National Park. It's good to still be getting some use out of it. 

We need to buy a splatter guard as the built in one with the table doesn't fit with our new stove.

The views at the camp site are lovely. No Baboons to worry about on this trip though.

I spent a night away on my own at a friends, she was dog sitting and there wasn't a spare room so I slept in the van. I had to reverse into the drive off a very narrow country lane. it meant I couldn't sleep in the pop up as I would have slid off the top.

It doesn't look like it on the photo but the drive was on a slope.

After a few beers and in the middle of a storm, with the roof down, there wasn't a lot of space to fold the bench seat flat into a bed. I had to push the seat up hill.

The front seats have to be pushed as far forward as possible to allow the bench seat to go flat. It's the only fault with the Ford Nugget I can find. it means you can't drive with the bed out and it's a bit of a flaff to fold it in and out.

With being parked on a slope and the effort I'd gone to and the fact I'd had a beer (or two) I also didn't bother to fit the bed sheet, so during the night my nylon sleeping bag and I slid through the hole in the bottom and half of me was in the kitchen in the morning.

I however do sleep well when I'm in the van.

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.