One more sleep to go

Or at least there is for some. As there is still fair bit of packing to do, I fear I won't be getting much sleep tonight.

I remember when travelling was easy - the night before we used to just casually throw some clothing into the case, check that we had tickets, passports and credit cards and that was it. If we forgot anything, we could always buy it or just go without, no biggie. Now I have spent past 2 weeks running around making sure that we have every bit of paper that any customs officer might want to see, getting the van serviced, booking dogs to the vets to be wormed and vaccinated and that we have enough currency for the various countries we're driving through. I have even resorted to writing lists. I used to laugh at people who wrote lists in preparation for holidays.

So, dogs' paperwork is sorted and ready in a folder, passports and various car documents have been copied, Nipsu's toys have been packed, sleeping bags are stuffed. We still need to pack clothes for everyone, some of which aren't quite dry yet as I didn't get laundry done on time, and load the van. And we're due to leave in 6 hours..

Time for a first trip - Day 2

It was so nice to wake up to a beautiful morning with mountains all around us. It had been far too long since we last had woken up to scenery like this. The little ones stayed asleep until 8am too, so everyone felt much more refreshed. We had every intention to be self sufficient and cook breakfast, but that was immediately forgotten when we found out the onsite shop sold tea and fresh croissants!

I was watching with slight envy, when people were preparing for a day out in the mountains, but right now none of us were ready to take part in that. After leisurely morning, which Nipsu (our toddler) spent cycling around the campsite and attempting to scale the bouldering wall, it was time to drive out to Keswick for a bit of shopping. From there we carried on down to Borrowdale for a lot of reminiscing - many a happy weekend has been spent there. Visit to the lakeshore was also a hit with Nipsu and his dinosaurs. We do have to add our sincere apologies to the local duck population though.

 

For evening meal it was time to go to Old Dungeon Ghyll to enjoy some nice food (opting out of cooking again :) ) and an outstanding pint of Old Peculiar, another one of those little things that just aren't available down south. The pub also had a free wi-fi, which was a big bonus. This gave us the opportunity to check weather report for the rest of the weekend, which unfortunately promised only rain and then some more rain. On the way back to the campsite we could see the clouds rolling in already.
 

After discussing various options we decided to cut the journey short and travel back the following day, as right now it would be near impossible to try to entertain over enthusiastic 3-year-old in the van. However, we were feeling far more optimistic about the big journey which is due to start soon.

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.

Countdown begins

When we were younger we just loved camping. We have stayed in various campsites from Devon to Scotland and seen pretty much every weather the UK can offer. One of the most memorable of those trips was in the Lake District where we woke up in the middle of the night as the winter storm was pushing the tent flat against our faces. We could hear car doors banging as the other campers were abandoning the site and in the morning we discovered three shredded tents against the stone walls of the site.

Fast forward a "few" years and our pack has grown to include three spaniels and a toddler. As much as we would have loved to continue our camping adventures the logistics of fitting everyone and everything into a standard car is just impossible. When we moved to Devon we started to toy with the idea of having a camper van and finally in 2013 we decided to go for it. As we had pretty clear ideas how we wanted the van to be kitted out, the only thing we could do was to have it custom built for us. It took a while to find the right van for the conversion during which time we discovered that our family was going to grow with another new member.

In January 2014, the van was finally bought and the conversion started. Now, 6 months on, it's a race to see which one will arrive first - baby or van.