Roger & Sally's Travel Blog & More

The next 15 months

We definitely needed a plan!

We had c. 15 months until the end of our tenancy at the London flat and 5 1/2 months until “R” day. Sounds like a long time doesn’t it!?

The only thing we were sure about at this stage was that we would jump in the van and hit the road at the end of Jan 2020 to explore the UK coastline for as long as it took and then head to Europe.

The list was endless… me to find a replacement and handover role, Sal to gain agreement for a year’s sabbatical, clear out various offices, finish ‘doing’ London, get personal affairs in order, get the van ready, plan initial route / destinations and survive two Christmas’s and more. Not least, we needed to sort out the flat which had become a bit of a dumping ground. We needed a ‘take’, ‘store’, ‘chuck/charity/give’ plan before we could move out.

Each of these headings had another long list. We definitely needed a project manager but for now lets get on with doing London.

Towards the end of October we went to see Ash play at the Brixton O2 Academy.

What a brilliant gig; all part of promoting their 2018 Islands album.

Have a listen:

So what’s in a name?

Back at home in Paddington we sorted an on-street parking permit and with the exception of maybe twice in the next 15 months we always managed to get a slot on the road outside the flat. The Smart car was also there and they made a lovely couple.

Big Blue’s document / info pack and key rings from the garage are all emblazoned with “BIG BLUE”,

To be fair it is an accurate description, but in the spirit of making the camper van our own a new name was required

It’s Blue and fairly Big- what can I say!

After a bit of head scratching, seeing the two vehicles together on the street made us think.

The Smart car has a number plate ending in DAV and therefore its obvious name has been “Dave”… simples!

As a pair the natural name for the camper therefore is Charlie or Chaz – Dave and Chaz, right?

Anyway, CHARLIE (or Charlie Van, or Chaz) stuck as the adoptive name for Big Blue.

Could have called them Little & Large I suppose :-))

And so big blue CHARLIE was born

not sure I really want to google that either?….It’s a bloomin’ minefield!

Some nerdy Camper Van porn

The camper is a 90 T350 long wheel-base, 5 gear, manual, 2.4 ltr turbo diesel (love it when we talk dirty). It has a mid height roof, is a converted Transit minibus and bright Blue. It has three seat-belted seats in the front (driver’s plus a double) but none in the rear. The cab is fairly basic but has air-con and an analogue radio / CD player and decent speakers. The main and leisure batteries are located under and behind the driver’s seat, as is all the mains 240v and 12v DC wiring. There is a curtain separating the cab from the habitation area (handy when parked on the roadside and for keeping the heat in).

Internally it has a toilet cubicle (woohoo!) with a clothes hanging rail and a Portapoti chemical toilet. It has a sink with cold water tap via 12v DC pump and double burner unit over cupboards that house the gas, the clean and grey water tanks, a 240v fridge and a surprising amount of storage. Above the drivers cab there is a large open storage area which is very handy for clothes and bags. There is one small roof light / vent and a number of sliding side windows. The all-round curtains are blue (watch this space), as is the upholstery; all are in good condition. It has two bench seats with oodles of storage under them, including one that houses a small 240v micro-wave! There are a number of 12v lights and the whole van is wired with 240v mains sockets. The flooring is essentially white, but it looks like someone has dribbled black paint over it!

Externally it has an Omnistor wind out awning – oooooph! (but no sides – yet), a step that comes out, a tow bar, a 240v mains hook up point (oooh errrr) and a rack for two bikes on one of the rear opening doors. Oh, and it’s bright Blue?

Given its ’54’ plate vintage, the bodywork is in amazing condition bar a couple of very small areas of rust that will need some attention. The undercarriage including sub frames, suspension, transmission and exhaust belie its age, most being coated with a thick under seal. You just get the sense that it’s really been looked after.

Not sure if I mentioned it but “Big Blue” is bright Blue; perfectly camouflaged for wild camping 🙂

Winchester – 6th to 9th October ’18

Sunday was another crisp sunny day so after brunch we set off on a lovely country walk down into Winchester.

With its beautiful buildings, various historic city wall gates and amazing Cathedral, Winchester is a stunning and compact city in Hampshire; a great place to spend a few Autumnal days. In the late afternoon sun, I think we saw it at its best.

After a toasty evening and night’s sleep, we decided to stay another night and work from the van on the Monday – we had the laptops and phones and could tether to our mobile data so all good. The bed is made out of the table so putting the table back in place gave us both ample space to work. This is the life…

Very early on Tuesday we purred back to Paddington with smiles on our faces and dreaming of the fun and travels we would have in this little beauty. GOOD DECISION!!

Big Blue’s first outing

The following Saturday we set off by train again, laden with the same big bags of bedding etc, confident that all would be well and ready to have that maiden weekend trip. “Big Blue” (got to change that name – I daren’t google it!) was all ready to go so we had another good look around. Nothing new jumped out at us and it started first time (phew!). With paperwork sorted and big happy smiles we drove the van away and towards central Winchester.

We’d booked into Morn Hill campsite for Saturday and Sunday nights…..It was early October. The site was quiet and the weather pretty good with an Autumnal feel in the air.

We parked and set up the van, worked out where everything was, how most things worked and what we needed. It was late afternoon by now, so we set off into Winchester in a taxi to do some shopping. A few drinks in the (very nice) pub(s) to celebrate and then back to the van in a taxi to cook and bed down for the night.

By the time we got back to the van the temperature had dropped (a lot) and the 300W ceramic heater wasn’t really cutting it. Having ate (the gas burners worked a treat) we decided to make up the bed and get under the duvets – toasty! In the night however the temp dropped to c. -2 Deg C and it was ‘kin cold going to the toilet – note to self – must get a decent heater tomorrow! Also, we hadn’t really worked out the sleeping arrangements yet and whilst I had a nice long sleeping area the section of bed to my right was a tad short for Sal. One for the growing list of jobs.

Sunday was another lovely crisp sunny day so after brunch we set off walking into Winchester. A nice country walk down into the city. We had a look around the city; the Cathedral is beautiful and the surrounding streets very historic with all the different gates through the old city walls. Anyway we found a decent 2kW heater and did some more essential shopping, had a few drinks and by this time it was early evening and dark so with quite a lot of shopping we jumped a taxi and headed back to the van to cook – the heater was amazing – what a difference.

Dejected, not deterred

On the Saturday morning train back to London we were unanimous that we had to cut our losses on the deal. I contacted the proprietor to let him know and despite his protestations that’s what we did. It meant losing the deposit but that was a price we were willing to pay for the lesson we’d learnt. We’d been so keen to get a van that we didn’t spend nearly enough time looking it over and weighing up the negatives. Note to selves – no rose coloured glasses next time!

Back at Waterloo station we had a drink at the Fire Station Pub (recommend this). Not deterred we started looking again at the camper van market and kept circling back to our previous 2nd option. It was another Transit, this time a T350 long wheel base in blue, it looked very well appointed and tidy but the colour (all blue paint, curtains and cushions) had been the previous reservation. Starting to see through this cosmetic stuff and now more focussed on the bodywork, wear and tear, undercarriage and mechanical soundness, we took another look. It was still on the market with a family owned motorhome sales company and since we’d last looked they’d dropped the price by nearly £2K (billy bonus) to sell it before the winter. With eyes very wide open (this time) we arranged to go the following day (Sunday) to view and test drive.

We set off early (in the car this time) and arrived just as they opened. “Big Blue” as they referred to it, was sat, gleaming on the forecourt. It was immaculate outside, underneath and within. We test drove it; it started from cold and drove like a dream.

A ‘54’ plate, it had only done c. 42,000 miles and has a well documented service history. It started life as a private school minibus and was converted c 7 years ago. The previous owner had upgraded his van and traded in “Big Blue”. We spent a lot of time pouring over the vehicle on our own and apart from the colour scheme (which Sal already had ideas for new flooring and curtains to soften) we couldn’t come up with any reason not to buy it. At the price they wanted it was a good deal and just what we wanted (have I convinced myself?). We paid the deposit and agreed to come back the following weekend to collect it after a full service and with renewed MOT and habitation certificates. We had a good feeling about “Big Blue”. No pressure, let’s hope ‘he’ can live up to expectation.

The hunt for a Camper Van was on

We knew roughly what we wanted and how much we wanted to spend on a first time buy. Early October was end of season so a good time to be looking. We poured over the various sales channels and eventually found the machine that dreams are made of. It was a white, recently converted Ford Transit with go faster stripes on the sides. It had a few minor blemishes but we could see through all that so had a test drive and decided to pay the deposit. There were a few things the garage needed to do to make the van ready (MOT, connect the gas system and get a habitation certificate) so we agreed to return the following weekend to collect it.

Next Friday afternoon we set off on the train to the garage in Ringwood, Hampshire. We were laden with two massive bags with duvets, pillows, cooking stuff etc; we’d ordered a supermarket ‘click and collect’ for provisions and had planned our first weekend van adventure in the New Forest. The weather was set fare – it was going to be amazing.

At the garage, full of anticipation and excitement, we were handed the keys and… disaster, it wouldn’t start!!…. Dreams shattered.

Naturally the garage said they could fix it but at this point we’d lost trust in our “dream machine”. Dejected and slightly annoyed, we cancelled the ‘click and collect’ (obvs) and booked into a pub B&B (priorities) for the night to drown our sorrows, and eventually, sleep on it.

In the event we had a cracking night at The Lamb pub in Ringwood; great locals vibe and very welcoming. After a couple of other decent bars we were hungry and had a very tasty meal at The Koh Thai. During the course of the evening we both revealed that on seeing the van for the second time, sans rose coloured glasses, the “minor blemishes” were actually more significant than we’d first thought. The “go fast stripes” were masking some pretty bad bodywork, the cab looked like the builders had just got out, and the undercarriage needed attention. Stupidly, neither of us actually said anything at the time! Anyway we slept on it.

Then September arrived

On the 4^th September 2018, I received a letter from the CEO to congratulate me on my 40 years in the company… s**t… really? Any way it got me thinking. I reflected on my Dad who retired and closed his business on his 70^th birthday and then (in the nicest way) largely vegetated and had a well-earned rest but didn’t really enjoy his new found freedom having worked bloody hard for around 55 years.

We started to think about all the things we wanted to do; travel, the camper thing, parents not getting any younger and to generally live a bit whilst young, fit and healthy enough to do it. Retirement was a possibility, albeit not lavish, but doable.

Over the next couple of weeks our thoughts turned from ‘can we’ to ‘bu**er it why not’. Cutting a long story short I spoke to my boss and agreed a retirement date of 31^st March 2019 and Sal agreed a leave of absence for 12 months with her company from roughly the same time.

This was moving quickly. We had 6 months to get our act together before ‘R’ Day then a further 10 months in the London flat post retirement to finish doing London and get ready for the next phase of our adventure.

Lots of big-ticket things to do, decide and prepare so the first step was to identify and buy a camper van – obvious right!?

Some historical context

With the house in Woodbridge rented out, we moved to London to “take the sting out of work” and properly “do” London. We chose Paddington by the canal and Little Venice as it just felt like the perfect spot; close to the station for my regular commute out of London, central enough to be walkable to anywhere within reason and a perfect balance of being in a huge city whilst feeling as if we were in a village.

We moved into a cracking flat 2B on 2nd July 2018; a date that will remain etched. Westbourne Terrace Road in Westminster borough is wedged between Little Venice and the Westway and is a road of slightly neglected, from the outside at least, Georgian style buildings. Our one bed first floor flat was modest but with high ceilings, open plan layout and big windows that opened fully up, it felt very spacious, light and airy. We even had a small “balcony” outside the galley kitchen… actually it was the roof of the porch but who’s counting?

Things worked out swimmingly. We found a lovely local pub – The Warwick Castle – with a great mix of locals from all walks of life, perched in the middle of Little Venice. Formosa Street offered a great little village with small independent shops, restaurants and bars. Five minutes walk from the flat was Warwick Avenue tube statin and ten minutes was Paddington tube and mainline. We had permit parking on the street outside which was just amazing and London with all its beautiful parks and things to see and do offered the perfect summer playground.

So why “story1544”?

15:44 was literally a moment in time one Saturday in late summer 2018. It was raining, we’d hunkered down in a Hackney bar after having browsed Broadway Market, had a couple of drinks and got amusingly (in our opinion) “creative”. We had a giggle, lots of ideas flowed but none stuck… except the 1544 bit! Other things started to happen around this time and that’s how the “story” bit came about.

In the blog we’ll tell you more….