Our Travel Update
The eagle eyed amongst you might’ve noticed that all our recent blog posts have had a decidedly southern theme. They’re mainly based around the Chalke Valley, with a few forays a little bit further afield, but nothing major in the terms of road trips. There’s been no massive travel plans either and no recent van news or updates.
So, I guess it’s time for an explanation!
A rather unexpected and somewhat large, unforeseeable change of plan
Yes, we were due to head back to Scotland and carry on working as campsite wardens on the site we stayed at last summer. We had everything ready and up together, we sent the van in for a MOT about 2 weeks prior to leaving and unfortunately this is where our plans took an unexpected turn.
Although the van passed its MOT and now has a clean bill of health, it left us with a rather hefty garage bill. A garage bill, that was not budgeted for – certainly not when our budget had involved no work for 6 months.
We were running out of time and money!
There were very little options left.
So we have made the seriously difficult decision to sell our beloved Iveco daily, with her beautiful new tongue and groove interior, and spacey bookshelves. The van that has not only taken us to extraordinary places but has also been our home. A place we’ve made more memories then I ever thought possible from a white panel van. She’s been awesome, but it’s time for her to make some memories for different people. It’s time for her to be someone else’s adventure.
Selling wasn’t something we ever thought we would do, but after investing so much time and an awful lot of our money into that vehicle, we just needed to get some of it to make it financially viable.
It also means that with no vehicle, no money, and no time we had to let down our wonderful campsite family – no highland summer for us this year.
So, what now?
After spending a rather large expanse of time crashing with family members (thanks mum), we were able to scrape together some pennies to get ourselves a new van. This gives us somewhere to live, whilst we carry out the finishing touches to the Iveco’s interior and start the process of selling her.
The New Van
After a hard start to the year both of us were energy and cash poor – honestly the thought of starting another conversion from scratch was almost enough to send us running to the estate agents in search of a furnished property. That wasn’t going to happen – but we weren’t going to convert something either (we will again but we just need a bit of recovery time). Which, left us with the option of buying something ready-made – exactly what we did.
In rolls ‘Tiny Brian Talbot’ – a 28 year old (yes you read that right…28) Talbot Rambler Autosleeper, in a delightful beige finish with a salmon pink interior. Sounds delightful right? Well, he is (yep it’s a he). He is full of character and full of everything we need, including; a toilet, shower, sink, oven, bed, long seat and so much storage! As soon as I get my hands on some new upholstery, in a slightly more modern palette, he will be perfect.
He’s called tiny because, well because he is so small in comparison to the Iveco. That it has been a massive learning curve – but that’s a blog post in itself, so I will save the gory details for a later date. Brian because he’s beige and Talbot because that’s exactly what he is.
We’ve recently just got settled in and are in the process of getting him ready for some bigger journeys, something that he’s not quite ready to face just yet!
Where are we?
You’ve guessed it – we’re back in our home county of Wiltshire, back to where it all started for us in the Chalke Valley. There are certainly worse places to end up!
We’re still full-time van dwellers, so Tiny Brian is our home, and we have both picked up some weekday work. Meaning, that for now our travels are confined to long weekend breaks. But that’s not a problem, we can always find somewhere new to explore.
What’s next then?
Honestly? We have no clue.
Of course, we have hopes and dreams of travels much further afield. We’re still working towards some trips to Europe but right now we need to replenish the bank fund. I can say for certain that, there are no imminent plans to move into a fixed abode.
So, I guess that just means we’ll deal with things the only way we know how – one day at a time.
