The Goodbye

End of The Road

Well on the 1st of September I said goodbye to Robyn... a lovely young couple from the Wirral came to see her the week before, and decided she was perfect for them and would give her a lovely home.

She was on eBay and Gumtree, got a lot of interest and a couple others came to see her, but I know this couple were the right choice and have already started giving her the love she needed.

So that is that... 

x

The Sale

End of the line

Going to keep this short and just say the van is now going up for sale.

It's last outing was just a couple weeks ago for a friends birthday camping weekend.

I will be very sad to see it go, especially after looking back over this blog all evening, reminding me of all the hard work I put into it, but life moves on, as I have done...

And she has been replaced by a younger model!

Hope you enjoyed this blog as much as I have loved creating the van and the blog....


Till next time.............

x

The Awning

Building an Extension

So just before I headed off to Bearded Theory Festival again in the van for 2 weeks, I decided to splash out and get an awning.

Found a really cheap one on eBay for around £100 and its even came with spare poles and a spare cover!

So it got its first outing as I set up the van for the festival...

As you can see, it adds a fair bit of room to the van, attaches tightly to the side by 2 guy ropes that go over the roof.

Also got a proper breathable groundsheet carpet for it, another bargain at £11

Add a bit of decor inside and out, and we have a pretty cool extra space.

The Winter

Out of Hibernation

Well, it's been 5 months since updating the blog last, and although it's been a long winter break, summer is fast approaching and soon it will be time to get out in the van!

A lot has been happening personally in those 5 months too, I've moved down to Nottingham, got a full time job with Nottingham Trent University and currently in a 2 bed flat near the city centre, flat sharing with a Romanian guy.

So as I have full time work, I won't be working as many festivals or for as long periods as usual, but will still try fit as many in as possible, as I am off every 2nd weekend!

I've been using the van since moving down here to get about for work, as I transfered office down here with Showsec and taking shifts where I could to pay the bills, so the mileage recently has just went over 20,000.... still hardly broken in mind you!

Firstly, I got the van MOT'd again last month, taking it up to a place called Redhill Garage, not far away that specializes in motorhomes. Glad to say it passed without any issues, just 2 advisorys - 1 for the number plate again and 1 for the rear passenger tyre which was cracked.

And just last week, that tyre was flat, so got it replaced by a local garage called Kam Servicing, who managed to source the exact same tyre I got from National around this time last year, but for £45 and not £77 like I paid last year!

During the winter, my friends were kind enough to store all the cushions/curtains from the van, to stop them getting rotten and damp with the condensation over the winter. I got these back last week, and got them all washed and put back in again.

I've also upgraded the gas bottle inside from a 4.5kg to 7kg bottle, and fitted a new regulator too as it's a different type for that size of bottle. As you can see by the photos, it fits snuggly into the space.

I think the last time I washed the van was before last summer, so you can imagine the state it was in whilst sat about under trees at the flat! 

With no access to a pressure washer or ladders to clean/scrub the van, I took it down to a local car wash and left it with them for a couple of hours, and am very impressed of the job they did for £20!

So now the outside is looking a bit better, it's time to get the inside all sorted out. I've checked all the services and everything is working correctly, though I did think I had a leak from the boiler till I realised it was me that didn't connect something properly! 

Going to clean all the inside tomorrow, cleaning the shower/toilet and making it all smell nice. I've also taken all the cooking utensils, plates, cups etc in and cleaned all them ready for use.

There will also be all new bedding and covers in the van this summer, went for a slightly thicker duvet but I have also invested in a small heater/air cooler that has a built in thermostat, looking forward to testing that out and it has funky red/blue lights on it too!

Going away to a little campsite on the edge of the Peak District called Mill Farm next weekend for a couple nights, good test to make sure everything is working properly too!

And that's about it for now, not planning on doing anything major to the van, I would still like to get all the rusty spots sorted outside and get it painted... maybe later in the year!

Link to Photo Album

The Year

The Year of the Van

So on the 2nd October 2014, I started this blog to keep everyone updated of the progress of the van conversion.

I had actually started the actual physical work a week or so earlier, but didnt start the blog till a bit later, but I wanted to give an update today on the first year since I began the blog.

Since the last update in June, when I was blogging about the 2 weeks away I had in June at Bearded Theory Festival, I have been away a lot in the van over the summer months.

After Bearded, I had 10 days at home and then drove down to Download Festival for a week. Straight from there it was up to T in the Park for 6 weeks whilst I stayed onsite the majority of that in the van, I did go home a few times for a night to do washing etc.

After T finished, I had a day at home then went up to Inverness for Belladrum Festival and was up there for 2 weeks.

After that, I left the van up there at the airport, flew down to go to Boomtown Festival to party for a long weekend, then caught a flight back to Inverness and headed to Groove Festival for 5 days.

So that was about 11 weeks away with only around 9 or 10 days at home, the van done me proud!

I did have an issue where sometimes the van wouldn't start, normally bump starting it from the leisure batteries normally did the trick. I posted a thread on eFestivals HERE about it, have a read as it was a very strange issue.

Since then, I've had it up at Blair Castle for a week working, and then took it down to Alchemy Festival in Lincolnshire for 5 days and had no issues with it starting again.

All in all, quite a sucessful first year in the van, here is to many more

Cheers

x

The Journey

The Big One

So no updates over the last few weeks due to nothing actually being done on the van, plus as I mentioned in the last blog, I was away for 17 days in it!

I was down in Derbyshire for most of it, at a festival called Bearded Theory, which is a fantastic event and one I recommend for you if you like your festivals.

Due to work, I was there for 2 weeks and being on nightshift, I was using the van as a base for during the night. Didn't have any issues with power for the lights/TV etc, couple of times I even used the hook up.

The shower/boiler worked great over that period, with plenty hot water and luckily I had plentiful supply of water taps around the site.

Only thing was that the van was a bit cold at night, middle of May isn't best time to have no heating, so might look into that over winter.. but plenty coffees and even putting the hob on briefly took the chill out of it.

So overall, another successful trip and every night I spend in the van, it makes it feel more worthwhile... it's better than a tent!

The Festival

Testing Times

So after the lovely drive I had as described in the previous blog, I arrived at Inverness and had time for some lunch then go get some food/drink shopping.

Then it was off to Bogbain Farm, just outside Inverness for this years Brew At The Bog. A few of us went last year, and had a brilliant time so thought we would try it again and brought more friends along too.

Got there just before gates opened, and a short wait then into the campervan field. Wasn't long before I was set up and enjoying a cold cider out the fridge.

More friends arrived and we even had a van warming party with wristbands for entry. Thankfully we didn't have any unwelcome visitors!!

As the sun went down, and a few more drinks too, we headed off into the arena for a bit and then the after party was back at the van. 

Think we had about 8 or 9 of us in the van at one point, bit of a squeeze but it was certainly warmer than outside or in a tent.

There was no problems with the power/lights/tunes all night, and it did go on till about 7.30am the first night, so am glad the solar panels/batteries were doing their job.

Had a shower when I eventually got up, that was great to have at a festival and so glad I put a wetroom in the van.

Also cooked several times over the weekend, and the fridge seemed to keep everything chilled but there was a problem with the freezer as ice was melting at one point so need to look at that.

The rest of the weekend was similar.. food, drink, party, sleep, repeat... good fun though!

And as for the verdict on the van, very pleased with it and noticed a couple niggly things I need to sort, but the big test will be next Thursday when am away for 17 days!