Days out in my campervan May 2026

The post this month is about the campervan rather than where I've been in it.

We belong to the caravan and motorhome club. It costs around £66 a year and the facilities are brilliant. We spent the May bank holiday at East Freshwater in Wales and decided to take the blow up awning as there was two of us and the plan was long walks and chilling at the camp site and not taking the campervan off the pitch, plus we knew the weather wasn't going to be the best.

It was one of the smallest pitches we've camped on and a very tight fit.

We were raided during the night by local wildlife. I had a package to send my son in Australia containing a football program, a bar of chocolate and a letter in the yellow bag.

The chocolate was eaten along with a bag of rice out the pantry and the letter was never found.

After that night we put all the food in a sealed box.

The last time we were raided whilst camping, I was in Kruger National Park with the 2 youngest boys and baboons broke into our tent and stole bread and cereal by opening a crate. They also tried to get in the camping fridge, but I'd sealed that with bungie cords, they'd left paw prints everywhere.

We keep meals simple in the van, but we also have a stove that we cook on in the awning. The club house on the neighbouring Parkdean holiday site had an excellent pub/restaurant so we ate there in the evenings and after a cooked breakfast in the mornings, we just had sandwiches or salads in the day.

Next up was my trip to with half the week camping on my son's drive. My eldest grandson referred to me as 'my granny lives on our drive'

Not the best views, but I only slept in it.

I kept the torch charged but being so far north it didn't get dark until nearly 10pm and was light around 5.30am.

I was running the fridge on low and used the lights when the curtains were closed so had to keep a close eye on the leisure battery.

The can was in use every day being loaded and unloaded, back and forth so I had to pack up every morning. Apart from putting the bedding back under the bench seat and folding the roof down, it wasn't too difficult as I was washing and getting dressed in the house and I was able to keep my day to day stuff in the little cubby hole under the sink. As I wasn't cooking in the van either there was little else to pack away.

I did have some parcels to pack and post and letters to write and I retreated to the van once the grandchildren were in bed for some peace and quiet

I did get the occasional visitor though.

The second half of the week I moved up to the parent in laws. I plugged into the mains and as son's house was now empty and we were now waiting for the keys to be exchanged and I'd woken early I had a chilled out morning.

I was now stealth camping as I was parked on the road. But I had the roof popped upend the van plugged into the mains. I couldn't park on the drive as it was on a slope and front to back I'd have either slid down into the small space or out the bed. I needed to park on the flat.

I really don't like the fridge in the van. I can't understand why it doesn't have a door rather than being a cool box. You have to lift everything out and you lose half the surface area once you open the lid so have no where to put stuff. I bought some cheap baskets from B&M and I've declared myself a genius.

I've done my restock and checked dates on the sauce packets and jars of jam and need to buy a new water bottle as I dropped my current one (again) and the lid leaks. I only fill the water tank on arrival at a camp site as it's extra weight. I did travel home with the waste water on this trip as I had no where other empty it.

In the Ford Nugget Facebook group there is a lot of discussion about the best way to fold the pop up roof. I can close the roof in under a minute without trapping any of the fabric or having to use empty Pringle tubes or the top of my head to rest the roof on while I roll up the fabric to stop it getting caught and ripped in the clip. I open the back door and both side doors, start to lower, pull the sides in and roll the back towards me. Our struts support the roof at this height until I'm ready to close.

However the end result is ugly, but I don't care what it looks like.

Next trip is a night or two at the end of June for my birthday, no idea where, probably somewhere in the Cotswolds and a night on my friend's drive.

Days out in my campervan in March 2026

I only had one camping trip in March, a weekend in Wales.

I stopped a night in Barry ready for a parkrun and a visit to watch Barry Town play football on the saturday before heading off to Newport in the evening ahead of visiting my nephew and his family on the Sunday before heading home via visiting a friend in Monmouth.

The campsite in Barry was approximately 3 miles outside the town so on arrival on the Friday night I drove down to the beach to check out the parking for the morning and back via Jenner Park to check out street parking for the afternoon.

The campsite was on a farm.

There were two sets of toilet and shower blocks. This one for general use and a set for disabled travellers as well as washing up facilities and good wifi. It was a very peaceful site with an amazing sunset.

There was some housekeeping as usual. Peter is left handed and I'm not and between us the electricity cable is getting awfully confused.

I really hate how this door opens where the cable is stored. To put it away properly is such a fluff, either from the outside or climbing in through the side door and manoeuvring in a narrow gap. It would be so much easier if the door was detachable.

The van is 2.07m but we have a solar panel fitted so I avoid anything with a height barrier, especially when the ground is uneven. I found a good spot for parkrun.

With great views of the beach.

And now I've mastered the art of folding the roof within a minute, it's lovely to be able to lie down with a cup of tea and read my book after a run with a spectacular view of the sea.

After the football I drove onto Tredegar in Newport where I stayed at the Caravan and Motorhome Club for a night. It's in the grounds of a National Trust Site which we've explored before.

The only downside is that check out is 12pm and the showers shut at 10.15am and it's a pain when you have to rush to pack up so you can get showered before the drive home. Some sites have two blocks and alternate cleaning times.

I pack all the fridge stuff back into the cool bag so when I get home it's ready to lift straight back into the house.

A clean tea towel sits under the bowl to stop it moving around and the dirty cloths are hung up ready just to be taken into the house. And fresh cloths are put back into the van straight away. All the other items, clothes and shoes are packed into the yellow bag ready to be carried in also.

The only other trip I had out in the van in March was to Bath when I took part in an Ultra Challenge. I could have taken the car but it was a long journey both ways around 2 hours each way with a 5 hour walk, so I took the van so I could brew up after wards and have a lie down for an hour to rest before the long drive home.

Our adventures in April took us to Tenby and May I'm off on my own to visit the grandchildren.

 

Word of the Week - Camping

I'm aiming to camp in the van every month in 2026. I managed a night on my friend's drive in January.

I'm on my son and Dil's drive for half term. it's cold, wet and windy outside but lovely and snug inside. Peter opted to stay at home for the week which worked out well in the end as Birmingham reached the 4th round of the FA Cup against Leeds which was played on Sunday the 15th so after the match I drove on up to Birkenhead for the overnight ferry.

I'm only using the campervan for sleeping in, going out to it at 9pm after a shower and getting into my pjs, with a hot water bottle and a mug of tea.

I'm waking up at 7am and it's a quick dash into the house for a wee, refill the hot water bottle, make a cup of tea say goodbye to eldest grandson as he goes to pre school and back to bed in the campervan for an hour. It was tricky opening the door one morning.

The campervan has diesel heating that runs either off the mains or the solar panels. I've plugged into the mains while I'm at my sons, if I camp for just one night I tend to use jsut the solar panels. I only need the heating on for an hour at night and an hour in the morning to get the van warmed up.

I sit in my dry robe until it warms up.

When the diesel heating is running and the roof is popped there is enough ventilation with the canvas, but when the roof is down I need to have a window cranked.

I opted to sleep on the bottom bed on the last night (Thursday) as the canvas had dried and it was due to rain on the Friday and it could be 2-3 days before I might be able to dry it properly, so I dried round the external rims and folded the top down.

The downside of sleeping on the bottom bed is not having a table, but there are plenty of surfaces to put things on especially as I'm not cooking in the van either or even having to make a cup of tea in it.

I packed my clothes onto hangers and placed everything int he wardrobe, just taking what I needed into the house each day, just leaving my washbag in the bathroom.

I'm travelling home on Friday night so I'll be making a couple of stops on the way home for a coffee and a lie down on the back seats.

Days out in my campervan in January 2026

I'm aiming to camp every month of 2026 and I just about managed to fit one night in, in January with a night on my friends drive in Monmouth to save an early morning drive for the 9am start for parkrun on the Saturday.

Despite the cold weather and the rain, the van is very warm and I only put the diesel heating on for half an hour before bed and half an hour in the morning when I was getting ready. My friend gave me a lift to parkrun so the windows had cleared by the time I had to drive off, otherwise it takes an age to clear and is a bit of pain if you have to pack up and go.

I opted to pop the roof to sleep. A decision I'm slightly regretting now as it hasn't stopped raining since and I'm a bit concerned that the canvas wasn't fully dry when I folded it away. I just need an hour or two without rain when I'm at home or in work.

I didn't sleep downstairs as it's difficult to move around with the roof down and navigate the table and the bags as they're usually stored behind the bench seat which folds flat to make the bed.

If I'm only sleeping for one night, I don't bother with the window curtains on the front, I just hang a blanket for privacy. I also used my friend's house to shower and change and spend the evening so I didn't need to rotate the front seats for extra space.

The kitchen is in the back of the Ford Transit Westfalia which makes life a lot easier than a Volkswagen. It means we can access the back area without having to leave the van and if we do want to go round the back the up and over door provides additional cover from the rain and if the bed in the back is folded down it doesn't obstruct the kitchen area and we have access to to the vehicle through 2 sliding doors.

I made myself a cup of tea and a hot water bottle before bed and we have a water heater which doesn't use a lot of the battery which runs off solar panels when we're not on the mains. It also powers the diesel heater. 

I didn't fill the water tank for this trip. I just refilled a water bottle and made sure the leisure battery was fully charged before I set off.

My next trip is February half term to sleep on my son's drive. Now they have 2 children there is no room in the house for us. Peter doesn't fancy spending the week in the van at this time of the year so he's staying at home to look after the cat and keep warm and dry.

I'll be plugging into the mains, using the house for the bathroom and showers and spending the days and evenings in the house and other than a cup of tea in the van and sleeping in it, all the cooking will be done in the house.

Our eldest grandson loves it when Granny brings the caravan and loves to help make the bed and run the little hoover round after a day out and we'll set the table up and have a picnic when we go out for the day.