Week 9: Back to base...

Home is where Bear lays his head...

So after 8 great weeks travelling around Devon and Cornwall it was time to make a pit stop back home. It felt a bit odd being back in the house, so much space and quite a few of our van habits stuck with us, like having really quick showers to save on water.

We chose to spend the whole week back home to avoid the busier roads and campsites during the school half term but we had a lot of stuff to get done, so it was a really busy week…

It started with arguably the most important event of the week… Bear’s haircut! Bear greeted Sam (the hairdresser) with the usual level of enthusiasm and gusto before disappearing into the trailer for two and a half hours… I’m not quite sure what goes on in there but he always comes out looking happy, cleaner and definitely less smelly… according to Sam he is always well behaved but I think she must have low expectations, or is just too polite to tell us the truth!

The bear-dresser...

Gordon (our van) also had a busy week… he had two services, one mechanical service at the local Ford garage in Witney and a motorhome service (all the living stuff – electrics, gas etc) at the motorhome dealer in Birmingham. He also had an MOT which we’re pleased to report he passed with flying colours.

As we had to completely unpack the van for the servicing, we took the opportunity to do a deep clean… Yvette steam cleaned the cushions and washed the curtains (a first in four years) and I gave the outside a thorough clean, including balancing on the top rung of the step-ladders to give the roof a good wash.

Yvette nearly had a haircut… she booked the appointment back in August but unfortunately the hairdresser didn’t turn up and the salon appeared to be closed (maybe forever)... we could be back to home DIY haircuts again but apparently I need to watch a few more videos on Youtube to understand layering!!!

Aside from all of this we tidied up the garden (picked up a million leaves), cleaned the house, cleared the gutters, did countless lots of laundry, had flu jabs, had lunch with a neighbour to catch up on the village gossip, my parents came over to visit with their two little dogs and their new motorhome (more on this next week)…

Bear didn’t get as many long walks this week but in between the rain showers we managed to do some of his favourite local walks… including a visit to Blenheim Palace for a walk around the lake.

We haven’t taken many photos this week, so thought we'd answer some questions on the van… we’ve had quite a few questions from different people so thought we’d try and round them all up (hope this isn’t too boring)…

Q. Do you have a toilet and shower?

A. Yes to both… the toilet cassette needs emptying every couple of days (campsites have a special place for this) and the shower is almost full size.

The bathroom

The shower

Q. Do you have hot water?

A. Yes we have hot water, the boiler runs on gas or electricity so we can have a hot shower and wash up with hot water even if we don’t have any where to plug into for power.

Q. Do you have much storage space?

A. It depends on what you're used to… but we certainly have enough space if we pack carefully. We have room for our clothes, shoes, food, books, bedding, pots, pans, Bear's stuff, plus… two bikes, two paddle boards, a bike trailer, an outside table, two chairs, a washing line, a set of dumbells, a power kite, an (essential) snorkel and mask and half a ton of dog treats!

Q. How long can you stay off-grid?

A. Our fresh water tank holds 100 litres and this lasts about 3 days, that’s for everything like showering, drinking and cooking (we can eek this out to 4 days if we’re really careful). I think that’s pretty good for two people (and a dog who needs muddy paws washing quite frequently).

We have two (155 watt) solar panels on the roof and this tops up the battery, even on a cloudy day we still get some charge, usually enough to get the battery back to fully charged over the course of the day… so we easily manage 4-5 days without plugging in or going for a drive. When we drive somewhere this also charges the battery for the motorhome (which is separate to the engine/starter battery).

Our gas bottle lasts for 4-6 weeks, even longer when we have access to mains electricity, we mainly use gas for cooking but it also powers the fridge and hot water when we don’t have mains electricity. When it’s time to top up the gas, we just need to find a petrol station that sells LPG (Auto-Gas) and fill up the tank, it works just like filling up with petrol or diesel but it’s much much cheaper.

The limiting factor for time off grid is the toilet… so really we’re limited to 1 or 2 nights before we need to find a campsite.

Q. What do you miss about a house?

A. Not much really, not having a washing machine means we need to find a laundrette every week or so but this isn’t really a problem… when you start looking for them it’s surprising how many are around, we’ve even found a few outdoor laundrettes (usually by supermarkets and petrol stations). We have a 4G aerial which gives us pretty good wifi but sometimes it can be a bit patchy.

Q. How big is the bed?

A. Our bed is about the size of a standard double bed… during the day it stows away in the roof and then at bedtime it drops down so we can easily get in and out. This means we have loads of space in the daytime as the bed doesn’t get in the way, or take up any space where we sit.

The drop down bed

Q. Is the van fuel efficient?

A. No not really, when it’s fully packed the van weighs a little under 3.5 tons and is slightly less aerodynamic than a brick, so we only get about 28 miles per gallon. I’ve had cars that do worse but that was when I didn’t have to pay for fuel!

Q. Where does Bear travel and sleep?

A. You’ve probably seen campervans driving around with dogs hanging out the window with their ears flapping in the wind, whilst this looks very cool (and I’m sure the dogs love it)… it really isn’t safe (or legal), so Bear always travels in his crate… he’s pretty good at getting in the crate and never complains about travelling, although he’d much prefer a day on the beach to a long drive.

Bear sleeps on the floor in the cab (in between the front seats)… he has plenty of room to stretch out and has a couple of blankets to keep him warm. He is free to roam around the van but he rarely gets up in the night, in fact he doesn’t really like getting up in the morning at all… I often have to encourage him with a treat to get out of bed for a morning walk.

We're heading east next, with a quick stop in the Chilterns before we travel across to Suffolk and Norfolk. After a fairly wet and cold week at home, the forecast looks promising for the next week so we hope to make the most of it.