Girls' weekend

As Sam had already been away with his friends in the campervan, I thought it was about time I did the same.

Sam was away as I got Amelie ready and I soon realised how much he normally does when I'm busy packing!  It took a LOT longer than it should have done working out how to plug Amelie into the mains... who knew we had an adapter?!  

The next morning Amelie was ready to go, the fridge was nice and cold and I left to pick up my friend Beccy.  I had brought some extra flowers for Beccy's hair, but there was no need... she already had some :-)  

We stayed at Crowborough Campsite which was just right for what we wanted - it wasn't too far to drive, there was a pub and shops within easy walking distance and the facilities were good.  The only negative point was that there was a funfair in the field next door, but thankfully it didn't go on too late.  

The site was fairly busy on the flat pitches with electric, but there was hardly anyone in the field and we pretty much had it to ourselves.

We had a great weekend away, ate a lot of cake and watched a lot of Castle!  I'm now a lot more confident about driving the van on my own now too.  Thanks for coming with me Beccy! 

Busfest 2015

As promised by the website, we did indeed have a vantastic time at Busfest! We saw some brilliant campervans and now have lots of exciting ideas for Amelie.

Sam loves the syncro vans, but we don't quite have that budget at the moment, so he just wants to make Amelie a little bit higher off the ground and give her bigger tyres.  However, what with her rather large head (or as most would call it, high top roof), I am worried she might look a little oafish if she was much taller, and more like a monster truck than the sweet little camper I want her to be!  So we have made a compromise... if we can get a smaller high top roof for Amelie at a reasonable price, then Sam can do his monster truck thing to the wheels.  The current roof was damaged when we bought it so we needed to get that sorted anyway.  So most of Busfest was spent taking sneaky photos of other T25 roofs!

We've established that we like the Holdsworth, Carthago and Sheldon roofs.  So watch this space!

Our first year with Amelie...

Exciting news!!  Amelie has just passed her MOT with flying colours - no advisories! 

Our insurance is up for renewal on 8th August and we had put a maximum mileage of 5000 miles on last year's insurance.  Last night I decided to see how many miles we've done this year... 4930 miles - pretty close!

Amelie has taken us on some fantastic adventures this year.  From 'local' trips to Cornwall, Brighton, Broadstairs and Devon to places further afield - Switzerland, France and Ireland, we have loved (almost) every minute!   

Lough Derg and Kilkenny

After our scary night on Omey Island, we treated ourselves to a proper campsite by Lough Berg. We underestimated how choppy this 'lake' would be... paddle boarding was hard work, and we were definitely doing 'kneel up paddle boarding' rather than 'stand up paddle boarding'

The next day the weather was still bad, so rather than doing more outdoor activities we drove to Kilkenny. We had a bit of a worry on the way as the brakes seemed to suddenly disappear as I was driving, but it meant Sam got to use his new jack from Campervan Culture and they seem normal now.

Kilkenny was brilliant, we climbed the Round Tower at St. Canice's - an early Gothic cathedral with good views of the city, then went to the Smithwick's Experience. We learnt about the history of Smithwick's beer and the brewing process. We also learnt that if you order a 'glass' of beer in Ireland, it means a half pint.

We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant then headed to a pub that a man in a shop had recommended to us where a three piece band were playing traditional Irish music. The pub was called John Cleere, we thoroughly recommend it if you're ever in Kilkenny! The man in the shop also informed us that there were no parking restrictions at the Black Abbey car park over night, so we wild camped there. It never feels as wild when you're in a car park though! Still, we had a good sleep and have just enjoyed our third McDonald's (for the free WiFi, of course!)

Omey Island and the storm

We had been told about this island you could drive to at low tide at the very edge of Connemara National Park called Omey Island. After failing again to know about tide times we luckily arrived at the right time and edged across the sand. With not much on the island we found a fantastic spot to camp for the night overlooking a small beach and bay. Perfect.

 Amy went off to take some pictures and video of the bay whilst the sun was out and I was given the task of the nights dinner.
With the wind starting to pick up we got stuck into my wonderful creation of baked Camembert with chorizo and mushrooms all done on the braai.

Not a bad view for dinner. Little did we know this was the calm before the storm. At around 10pm, a storm started that lasted the entire night. The van was rocking in the wind and we ended up driving a little further inland for fear that the sand bank we were on might crumble. The lightening lit up the whole van, just through the windows in the high top. It was pretty scary! As soon as we were both up, we drove off of the island. Because of all the rain and the incoming tide, the drive across the sand was a little more damp under foot than we were hoping for, but Amelie made it! So Omey Island was both the most beautiful and most terrifying place we have camped yet!

Lessons learned in tumbledrying

Yesterday we learned a valuable lesson on campsite clothes dryers!

Next time maybe we will have it on a hotter setting.

Best wild camp yet...

We found this little gem in Castlegregory yesterday. Views of the Atlantic Ocean, sand dunes and mountains, this one will be hard to beat. After a brilliant time paddle boarding and trying (failing) to catch the waves, we had not-so-warm showers, complete with yelps of how cold it was. Surprisingly, the solar shower isn't so good when it's been cloudy all day! The sun came out in the evening though, and we enjoyed a barbecue followed by a walk as the sun set. We mis-judged the tide and nearly got stranded on a sand dune for the night, but we managed to get across even if we were a little soggier than planned.

Ireland - the first wild camp!

We spent our first night in Ireland wild camping. Having never wild camped in the van before, we were both quite apprehensive. But it was possibly the best place we have ever camped what a view! As you can see from the photos, we weren't the only ones making the most of this spot. There were about seven caravans there, everyone was really friendly. We managed to get out on our paddle boards in the morning too.

 St. Mullin's, the River Barrow.

Progress!

Sam and his dad did a LOT of work on the van today.  Here are a few photos of them putting the wardrobe together...

 Initially we were going to have cupboard doors, but having been on our Switzerland trip without doors, we realised that it would get quite annoying having to move the bedding out of the way every time we wanted to get something out.  We spoke to Sam's mum, Chris, to see if she could come up with a crafty way of using curtains rather than doors... so here is the inside of the wardrobe.  Curtain hooks from Sandy's Hardware.  

 And this is what it looks like in place!  We still need to paint the wood white, so it's a work in progress.

 The main units are coming along nicely.  Just have to do a few finishing touches and stain the worktop.

 The worktop on top of the hobs folds in two so it doesn't block out too much light when we're cooking.

 Haven't finished the sink yet and we're yet to have running water, but we're getting there!

 Photo of today's progress.  We haven't put the bed foams back in yet so it will look prettier soon!

 Chris made some amazing map/pen/bits and bobs holders to go on the back of our seats.  Chris even made us matching headrests!

 Woohoo, my Flower Fairy door knobs are in place!!

First use of the awning - Croyde, Devon

We went to Croyde to celebrate Sam's birthday, our friend Amy joined us and we went paddleboarding - so much fun!  We got to use the awning for the first time...

 It has two 'bedrooms' and a large 'living area', complete with Amy's surfboard!

I finally ate my campervan cookie!  Great present from my colleagues - a personalised cookie from Campervan Cookie Co.  Although I was sad to it, it was very yummy!

We went paddleboarding on the river.  It was made a little easier by the fact that we just went along with the tide as it went in and out.  Our paddleboards were inflatable and they were excellent.  We went with Croyde Surf Academy, it was £45 each for a two hour lesson with all equipment included. 

 A not-so-sunny day on Croyde beach - Sam and the two Amys!

Still not finished the interior, but we're getting there! 

Of course, the sun came out on the day we had to drive home! At least the driftwood we had collected was able to dry out a bit...

Switzerland

 Amelie's first ferry trip with us!  We set off after work to make the most of our time.  We stayed half an hour outside of Calais the first night at Chateau du Gandspette, as they allowed a later check-in.  This was the only campsite we had booked.  We left early the next morning and headed to Annecy where we stayed at Camping de la Plage and had a lovely view of the lake and mountains.

 Sam then found our first Swiss campsite 'near Sion'.  What the guide book actually meant was that it was up a HUGE mountain, with Sion being at the bottom of the mountain and the campsite (below) being rather near the top!  I was amazed Amelie made it up there.  

Thai green curry - one of the meals you can cook on two hobs, yum yum!

 Well it wouldn't be a proper holiday without a barbecue and a McDonalds, would it?!

 We went to Zermatt as there is a glacier where you can ski all year round.  The slopes were empty, we had an amazing time.

 Cheese fondue in the oldest restaurant in Zermatt.

 Nearly made it home... we got a flat tyre on the ferry!  Good job Sam used to be a race mechanic - we were soon back on the road.