Our 'things to do' list

Anyone who owns a camper van which needs...*ahem*...attention from time to time, will know about those constant "to do" lists.  We have a full programme for Trevor's winter period when he's off the road.  It seems to be constantly expanding but here's an outline of what we'd love to get done this year...


 - Re-cover front driver and passenger seats.  Here's the "before" photo:

Luxury travel!

The holes in the seats are from extensive welding (as noted in our MOT sheet, ahem...) and they've matured from pin pricks to the full-on seam-to-seam rips you see today.  Pretty, it ain't, and Trevor deserves better.  We're hoping to have them re-done to be back to their full glory, we're not planning on any crazy colours or fabrics, just plain new seats with no holes in! Luxury!


 - Baby bunk - we are aiming to manufacture our own baby bunk to go over the front cab. Sounds ambitious but the Husband found a CF being sold with a baby bunk - it seems they manufactured some to fit in the cab - we have got some pics of the bunk and fixings from the guy who was selling the van (unfortunately he wasn't able to just sell us the bunk without the van in tow). So, Husband assures me its a straightforward job so my job (or rather, my Mother's) is to make the hammock bit.  We'll see how it goes but it's gotta be better than the baby's "Coffin" arrangement!


 - The key barrel on our van is temperamental, to say the least. In fact it nearly caused us to break down just a few miles from home on our last journey of the summer! It also played up in Ireland this year - we ended up with the key stuck in there and having to start/stop the van using the connect/disconnect electrics method - what a total pain.  It would be great to get this sorted once and for all.

Add to this the usual list of 'tweaks' which are needed on a regular basis and you have the recipe for a busy winter! Trouble is, this year, Husband is working in Japan a lot and I really can't see myself manufacturing bunk brackets or doing a spot of welding...

You never know when a camper's around the corner

Wandering round village backstreets in Wiltshire on a pub crawl, we came across this beauty which we think is a rarely seen Ford Starcraft six-wheel van.

Very excited husband!

 I love the little ladder on the back, cute! But I don't think I'd like sleeping above the cab, not much headroom there...

And on our most recent trip to Norfolk, we came across a Bedford CF campervan which was even older than Trevor! We spotted this in a camp site we were driving past, and quickly zoomed in to take a pic! Unfortunately the owners weren't about - we would have loved to have a chat about this van, it looks like it has ace sliding front doors - very snazzy - and was in great nick.

Trevor's cousin!

Norfolk n' chance of a smooth journey...

Our last trip of 2011 was to Norfolk last weekend for the Annual Irish Family Camp.  Having secured Trevor's MOT first time around, it was smooth sailing all the way to Fakenham (bar traffic around Kings Lynn) and we were at the site late afternoon just as the rain set in for the evening.  It's at these moments though that being a campervanner really can make you smug - as everyone was grappling with their canvas shelters, we simply popped the top, got a brew on and started entertaining our baby.

looks like brolly weather again, Mum!

We had a few sleep related issues throughout the weekend mainly that our baby is now getting too big for 'The Coffin' sleeping arrangement and on Sunday night managed to flip over and get himself into a tizz as he couldn't get back over to get comfy. He ended up in with us, and somehow dominated the lion's share of the space in the double bed ("three in the bed, and the little one said...roll over..."). Hmph. 

Anyway Husband has decided to resolve this for next year  - apparently we can simply manufacture our own 'baby bunk' which will sit over the front driver/passenger seats, and we can curtain off the cab to give baby his very own bedroom. Some CFs were manufactured with this option and it sounds like it could work for us - more of that no doubt in a future post!


Coming back was a smooth journey until we got nearly home - we decided to pick up a curry from a local restaurant but no sooner had we collected our goodies, Trevor played up. The darned key barrel was being a pain again (it's sometimes tricky to turn the key, weirdly) and Husband couldn't get the camper started as the key just wouldn't fully rotate round. This was a problem - not just because we were nearly home, but because our curry was getting cold!

I suggested we pop the top, and sit down at the table with our dinner (bit random on a busy high street type place, with people milling around but when you gotta eat...) but Husband pressed on, whipping out a screwdriver (we have many to hand in the van), and taking off the steering column cover. He fiddled about and after another few gos, the key decided to turn. This seems completely random to me and he was scratching his head too. Who knows - something else to add to the list of "Things to sort out over Winter" I guess!

Just to round off this post, here's some great places we visited whilst around Fakenham:

Wiveton Hall Farm Cafe - a brilliant brunch, baby friendly and a load of fruit to pick if you're inclined. Cakes were fabulous too.

The Fish Shed - in Brancaster, a really lovely fresh fish shop which also has veg, herbs, bread and other lovely things. We got a whole grey mullet from here for our BBQ and it was awesome! (great cooking advice given for free)

Splash swimming pool in Sheringham - great fun, well set up for babies - although the wave machine was a bit scary for our boy...

STOP PRESS - Trevor passes MOT first time!

Unbelieveable.  It is so rare for any of our cars to pass their MOT straight through, first go, let alone our darling camper van.   You know how it is, you book in a fair while ahead of any looming trip/the MOT running out, to allow good time to work on any tweaks and get it back to the garage for another go...

Driving the van to the MOT centre, I wasn't hopeful, he was running a bit rough and even backfired on the way, yikes!  I handed him over and as the mechanics whistled the Scooby Doo theme, I sat anticipating the inevitable red sheet of failure.

So imagine my surprise when I was handed the green sheet of success - amazing!  After saying "you are kidding me" and getting it confirmed by the receptionist, I was nearly bursting into laughter and couldn't contain my smile as I wafted out with the keys. Trevor, you beauty!!

Green means go!

 
It was comedy looking at the advisory sheet though, one of the notes was "chassis has been welded plenty of times..."

No sh*t Sherlock ;-)

Trevor goes global...hello to our international readers!

It's really exciting and interesting to see where in the world our blog about Trevor reaches.  Over the past month we've had visitors from these countries:

• Australia
• United States
• France
• Ireland
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Germany
• Malaysia
• Portugal
• Bangladesh

Wow!

It is great to know so many people out there are stumbling upon our adventures. Hope you are enjoying the read....who knows, with a bit of luck and a few ferries, Trevor himself may well venture even further abroad in the coming years! (err, but first we're off to Norfolk...)

Possibly the best icecream van ever?

Proving that Bedford CFs really do make the best ice cream vans, here's Betty the van of Vintage Scoops:

image from Vintage Scoops

Gorgeous, and I love the bunting too! Betty isn't far from us, so who knows maybe at some point we and Trevor will run into her (errm, not literally, of course!!)

Never pass up a CF spotting opportunity!

This is my husband having a peer into a decrepid old CF van we spotted half way up a small lane in Chipping Norton one afternoon. 

It was looking very sad indeed although Hub was impressed by its shiny chrome windscreen wipers; someone obviously loved that van at some point!

Aww, poor old van!