Time for a first trip - Day 1

If you believe in omens, you would think that someone was telling us to forget about our trip. As this is the first time we were out in the van for real, it took us until 7:50pm to pack everything. We were still determined to leave home and cut at least some of the drive time.

After few hours driving, we stopped at motorway services for the night. Note to self, you really should practise setting up the van for the night before going out. After some trial and a lot of error and few chosen words, we finally got to bed around midnight just to be woken up at 5:40am by one over excited toddler! Breakfast at Westmorland services was ok, but the services themselves were really stunning and shopping area is worth seeing.

Driving on the motorway was lot easier than I had expected and we were making good time until Staffordshire when M6 more or less just stopped. Two multi-vehicle accidents, where first one reduced the motorway to one lane and the other one closed the north bound carriageway completely, were enough for us and we decided to look for diversion. We ended up driving through Stafford,Uttoxeter, Ashbourne, Buxton, Glossop, Stockport and Manchester before joining the motorway again. Seven hours later we finally arrived to Great Langdale campsite.

Setting up camp went a lot better, thanks to the practice the night before. Dogs made friends with a cocker spaniel in next pitch and little one enjoyed the freedom of riding his bike around. The first meal cooked in the van was Chinese pasta (better known as vegetable chow main), which turned into another lessons learned - make sure van is level when you're cooking. I spent most of the cooking time just trying to keep the pan on the right ring. After food and quick shower we all were ready to settle down for the night.

They are here

Baby managed to beat the van by 2 weeks, but finally they both are here.


Van has been trialled with couple of short journeys to the beach. It definitely makes surf trips more comfortable and the fridge just adds that extra luxury when having an impromptu barbecue. Cold beer anyone?
It also makes travelling with the little one so much easier. No more nappy changes on the car bonnet or trying to inconspicuously feed in the front seat of the car.


Little by little we have started to kit the van with all the equipment needed for our grand tour - dog cages, high vis-vests (for a baby - really???), breathalyser.. oh and the more common items too - kettle, plates, cushions. It is interesting trying to decide what is essential considering the limited space available.


In few weeks we are taking the van out for a first proper trip. This will be the one and only test run before we're due to travel across Europe for real.