New additions for 2018

No, not another baby!

This year we've invested in two new things to make life easier...

New awning

After our old awning absolutely stacked it in gale force winds and awful rain, we decided to move to a "proper" family tent. After much research we opted for an Olpro blow up jobby with a two berth insert. 

On the first weekend of use our friend put it up single handedly so we took it to be a simple job! It's got ample space and a handy porch which is good to keep out the rain if you have the side vents open. 

We also took it on our recent trip to Dorset. The week started with huge winds and torrential rain, a long time coming in the current heatwave. Unfortunately our tent didn't fare brilliantly, one of the lateral poles for inside had malfunctioned with the one way valve breaking, so it was weaker than it should be anyway. The back pole over the bedroom collapsed from time to time but whereas a traditional pole tent would have broken, this simple popped back up. The next day when we came back from a day out it was looking a bit sad, but we had managed to get the pole fixed so once we got this in and reinflated the other poles with a few puffs we were back on and the tent was looking grand again.

We've been sleeping in the tent this time too as baby is now three and a half and too big for the baby bunk, so a parent and child has been in there this week most nights. There's been ample space for two campbeds plus the required amount of rubbish you take with kids; Lego, books, colouring, bike hats, towels, cars,   Etc. There's a handy storage section between the bedrooms too which is great for goggles, kitchen roll and some books.

Overall this is a great tent, perfect for is and up in a jiffy which is always a bonus.

Less interesting stuff

On the domestic front I've invested in a portable rotary dryer! I know, living the dream!

It's proving useful already with all the towels from swimming and the inevitable washing that comes from a family holiday.  

Not the best start....

10pm on a dark, chilly night in East Northamptonshire.  Kneeling at the side of the road, a woman cradles her baby wrapped tightly in a blanket and hugs her small son into her chest.  There are no streetlights here, the smell of fuel is abhorrent and she's in pain.

Sound like a nice start to a story?

Nope, it wasn't!!

This was us a few weeks ago on our first big trip of 2016 in Trevor the van...it didn't start well. We set off after dinner on a Friday night but only got 16miles down the road before running into trouble. We pulled into the entrance to a country park and the husband got to work trying to figure out why fuel wasn't getting to the engine.  A new fuel pump, hastily fitted, didn't do the job and he quickly realised something more was afoot; our fuel tank pipe had split.

With a bit of a fuel leak on the go, I was ordered out of the van with the kids (only 2 as our daughter had gone ahead with her Grandma) and sent 100 yards up the road.  It was cold and dark, the poor baby was in his PJs and my son was super super tired. I had a splitting headache from chronic sinus pain. I was not amused, shall we say, and even muttered the words "shall we just get a bloody caravan"...which my husband politely decided not to respond to!

Our wonderful neighbour came and got me and the kids and we traipsed into bed. That was 1030pm and it was another couple of hours before the camper van and husband were retrieved by the rescue truck. 

With the morning came a warm day, a trip to the out of hours doctor sorted out the sinus pain, and with an hour's work replacing the fuel tank pipe, we were ready to give it another shot...

We rolled up in Norfolk a good time later into the afternoon and immediately sought out the beach, getting the sand between our toes and sploshing in the shallows; little knowing that this was the last time in our week's holiday we'd be in tshirts let alone on the beach!

What followed was a daily grind of gale force winds, horizontal rain, gloomy sea mist and chilly weather. Not the best May half term break you might say!!  We were camped right by the sea but for three days basically didn't see it because of the fog.  Our awning took an absolute battering and I was peeking through the curtains whenever I woke at night to see if it was still there! 

Not the best looking tent structure I've seen

We were lucky to get away with one shattered pole and two broken guy ropes I reckon. If it wasn't for the army-issue industrial tent pegs that husband hammered in, we'd have lost the whole awning!  Some other camper vanners weren't so lucky and packed up early after their awning was wrecked.

As you do, we gritted our teeth and with the mantra "fun doesn't have to be fun" we got on with our week away.  With the ground sodden we couldn't turn the kids out to run around so made our own fun with bingo and books in the camper van at night.  We had a great day at Weybourne Station for the Dad's Army event and I even got a pic with Captain Mainwaring! What a highlight!

legend!

 We explored local museums (Sheringham particularly good), visited the Muckleburgh collection, ate fish and chips and flew kites when the skies were clear.

We survived although we'll be checking the awning out once we can face putting it up in the garden.  Next trip is August so a bit of time to get it sorted, thank goodness!  Another eventful trip in our beloved Trevor!!

A most Awesome Awning

Now that we are a family of four, the already tight living arrangements in the camper van were going to be even more squeezed so we decided it was high time we got ourselves an awning.  We were convinced this was a top idea after our last summer holiday in the van, when our friend's camper van awning proved mightily handy for lobbing pushchairs and toys in.

We did some research on various forums as not many drive-away awnings are suitable for our camper as it has rear doors rather than a side sliding door.  The Movelite XLF seemed to come up trumps, with long straps going over the top of the van to seal the awning to the van.  It also had ample space for all of our stuff.

We purchased a second hand one via eBay and took it on our latest trip to Wales without checking it first, crossing fingers it was all ok. On unpacking, it was happy days as everything was there...apart from, we soon realised...tent pegs...  Unfortunately the campsite we were on wasn't well inhabited and the few other campers there didn't have any spares to lend us. Fortunately we travel with a mega tool box which includes a variety of useful screwdrivers, files and crowbars - we found a new use for these as temporary pegs for the awning...see below!!

Thank goodness for a well stocked tool box!

See below for a better view of the awning - you can see here that the big yellow straps secure it to the campervan. When you want to drive away you simply unpeg these and zip up the awning to secure it.

And here's the other side - this has the extra pod which has an inner tent creating two bedrooms - or the 'playroom' and the 'store room' if you're us!

The only downside was the unbelievable driving wind (and rain) that we had over the weekend at the campsite - the front strap which secures the awning across the top of the van vibrated loudly, and one of the sides wasn't tight into the van which meant there was some audible flapping one night. [Husband found solutions to both of these: twist the straps so they don't resonate in the wind; and take the straps to opposing sides of the van to pull it in tight]

Apart from that we consider it a great success and so useful - we are really pleased with it! Now to dry it out....

Bunking up in Devon

Just back from our first proper outing in Trevor this year - I know it's late but better late than never, eh! Besides, who'd want to have been beside the seaside with the wet weather we've been having?

There is basically no news for this blog post - in that, Trevor got there and back without incident, minor mishaps or roadside assistance - amazing, is this a first?! Having said that, as you know, all of our trips whether big or small, come with a few stories of their own....

1. Baby in the bunk
Our nearly two-year-old son made the move from the coffin sleeping arrangement to the bunk bed on this trip, without too much of a grumble. This felt like a major achievement as I was paranoid he would either roll out, climb out or sleep badly up there. None of these fears really materialised - although he did make a bid for freedom one night when he was adamant it wasn't bedtime yet:

Dangling!

We managed to persuade him otherwise (i.e. Husband refused to catch him when he was dangling over the edge and told him to get back up) and soon enough he went back up to his bunk, peered through the window and dropped off to sleep once he got bored enough. Amazingly we also managed to cook a meal and socialise "downstairs" round the table one night with him asleep above! That felt like a real achievement.  Weirdly though, rather than be tucked up in a nice sleeping bag or with covers over him, he seemed to much prefer sleeping straight on the 39-year-old nylon bunk itself with no covers on, and found it hilarious that he could just about see through the fabric to say 'peep-oh' to us in the morning. Cute!

These covers didn't stay on very long. But look - aaaaaw

2. The natural foot coolant
Driving down to Ilfracombe, we went straight into an amazing lightning storm which although majorly spectacular to view, brought with it a bit of an issue at a local level.  The near-horizontal rain seemed to sneak itself into a gap in the van's outer shell and create a spray/drip effect on the accelerator area. I was wearing flip flops so basically spent a half hour or so getting a very wet right foot - not nice at the best of times to be honest!  But that was the only little leak we had and it didn't re-occur despite heavy rain later in the week - it was obviously something to do with the angle of the rain, our speed and the ferocity of the downpour!

3. What a view
We stayed at Napps campsite at Berrynarbour near Ilfracombe for the week and it was a good site with swimming pool, cafe, kids play area, clubhouse and the most fantastic views (when the weather played ball):

beeeeeautiful!

Our pals came along with their camper van and an awning which, although it collapsed once in very high winds, convinced us we could do with the same extra bit of space - it proved really useful for putting chairs, tables, pushchairs in overnight. So now we're on the look out for a decent awning which might suit the van - any suggestions from CF owners out there?