Blog 1.1: How long? Blimey...

The boss (Mandi Kimberley) and I have shared a total of nearly 80 years of camping in various forms - and I started some years prior to us meeting, so you could say that we're not exactly new to this game, collectively.

I had kicked off by partaking in a little genuinely 'wild' camping, under a tarpaulin (or more accurately a sheet of plastic) on the side of Welsh mountains, in bus shelters (yes, really), abandoned barns, and on one memorable occasion when I woke up and realised I was actually in someone's back garden. Honest officer, it was very dark when I got me 'ead down.

I later bought a cheap but effective, and importantly, waterproof, two-berth nylon tent from Millets, and commenced a career of more conventional stays in various campsites, mostly touring on a motorcycle, and mostly loving it.

I met Mandi in late 1981, and quickly hoodwinked her into joining me, by now travelling in a Ford Capri hatchback and with a somewhat bigger tent, on a tour of Cornwall and Devon. Suffice to say that the weather was not at all kind, and at one point I recall being on a site near the sea just outside Woolacombe, and the fog that drifted in was reminiscent of a particular horror film, and the nearby foghorn kept us awake most of the night. Not much soundproofing in a tent.

One of the things I love about Mandi is that she's a very forgiving person, and didn't immediately tell me to shove camping in a place where the sun shines even less than it did at Morte Point. Amazingly.

In fact, she seemed quite keen to expand on our record of finding places to get cold and wet, in a large variety of tents, from small and poky, to massive and exceptionally roomy. We 'did' most areas of the UK, even on one memorable occasion taking our four-week old younger daughter Emma, and our other, nearly two years old, daughter Lucie on a sojourn to a campsite in a sidecar strapped to a BMW motorcycle. Fun? Well, partly.

Prior to this we'd attended many solo motorcycle camping weekends and rallies, and in general, had thoroughly enjoyed them (she said...).

As the girls grew, we did much more, travelling in cars mainly, including trips to Belgium and Germany - although never in our own tent; Eurocamp has its place, and worked well for us.

It seems that the camping bug had bitten the girls too, and both now spend time under 'canvas' with their partners, and children, and Lucie is braving the liquid sunshine in mid-Wales as I write this.

Ultimately, as the girls grew and moved on, we carried on with occasional camping trips, and eventually - as so often happens when we 'grow up' - we purchased a cheap caravan, which gave us a couple of years of decent holidays, although I found I didn't particularly enjoy towing. So, with Covid helping to knock things on the head in that respect, we decided to sell, and made a profit after about three years of ownership. That was a first. We never end up being ahead, financially.

Anyway, we were never going to stop camping in one form or another, and carried on with tents, alongside our beautiful old dog Bryn - rest in peace fella - while we formulated plans in our minds for the next stage.

When Bryn finally passed we decided it was time to spread our wings properly. The idea of exploring Europe, bit by bit, was taking root, and the thought of doing it in a campervan appealed greatly.

So, enquiries were made, and many, many hours of You Tube travel vlogs were consumed, and, eschewing the originally planned Transit or VW campervan, we ordered a Fiat Ducato-based panel van conversion from one of the larger UK builders. However, doubts as to the suitability of even this somewhat larger bolide were forming even as the order was placed, and when changes to the spec were arbitrarily made by the manufacturer, we took the decision to cancel, retrieve the deposit and look for a slightly larger motorhome.

Fortuitously, I think, I happened to spot an advert by a company not too far away from home that had in stock a motorhome that ticked most of the boxes we'd metaphorically drawn, and so we put down a deposit on our, draws breath, Weinsberg CaraCompact 600 MEG Edition Pepper. Phew. What a mouthful. Great van though.

It's based on the Mk8 Fiat Ducato chassis, and therefore has the newly-incorporated Peugeot 2.2 litre diesel mill which had just supplanted the 2.3 Iveco (I think) one.

I have to say that after the initial1400ish miles it seems to be pretty good. Smooth (for an oiler) and relatively economical (all relative - it's pulling a largish lump of steel, plastic and aluminium around, so it's never going to match our little Yaris town car in that respect). However, in the Yaris we'd struggle to sleep, cook meals, shower, and, er, other stuff.

Anyway, those 2000 miles have taught us one or two other things about it:

It's cramped. Well, relatively. Compared to the caravan you're a bit limited in the 'lounging' options. There are the two swivel seats in the front, and a pair behind facing the table, but that's it unless you wish to crash on one of the two single beds. The caravan gave you a couple of sofa-type seats, but the compromise there was that they had to be made up into a double bed every night, with the additional downside of meaning one of the occupants had to clamber over the other if nature called during the night. The advantages of the single beds in the moho should be obvious then.

And they can be made up into a very big double with extra provided mattress pieces should one so wish. Win, and indeed, win.

The caravan also won out on bathroom space by a very considerable margin, and to a lesser degree in the kitchen.

If all this sounds like the van is a major downgrade, you'd be wrong as far as I'm concerned. Why? Because I don't have to tow anything!

There are other reasons too, including having a very big 'garage' built in, with a total payload of over half a tonne overall, and the major advantage of literally being able to park and put our feet up. The caravan always seemed to take hours to pitch properly, especially if we were using an awning.

No, it's been the right choice for us.

Now I just need to get The Boss to drive the ruddy thing, and the plan will have finally come together...