Monday
After a night of very heavy rain, Monday arrived with more of the same. It was teeming down. Not a great day to go and look at a motorhome.
When we arrived at Twigworth, Andy had the van under cover in a barn for us and had it running and heating up. Not that you’d know, the engine was very quiet. Things were looking a little dim as the leisure batteries were on their last legs – Andy said that new ones were being procured at that very moment.
It is a nice looking vehicle, very smart indeed. Not in your face as Hank is; far more discreet in fact. It’s a van-type, with rear opening doors. It has Driver and Front Passenger doors and a Rear Passenger door too. That’s… five doors. Hope they don’t turn out to be draughty.
Good stuff:
- One previous owner from new, good maintenance record.
- Lovely worktop area, with sliding cover for the gas burners that extends for use when cooking.
- Additional worktop space under the counter top
- Lots of warm materials used, with loads of squishy insulation
- Comfortable leather front seats
- TWO grab handles on the passenger side!
- Being a van, there’s a proper rear view for the driver
- Lighter, shorter in height and length and also narrower than Hank – we can go more places with greater ease
- More than twice as many mpg
- Two fresh water tanks, one internal for safe use in the winter.
- Internal water tank fitted with filter for drinking use.
Less good stuff:
- Two wardrobes fewer than the current complement
- Far less external storage
- Far less internal storage
- Smaller ‘fridge, with tiny ice box
- Rather tight showering arrangements
- Smaller tanks for fresh, grey and black water, smaller domestic LPG tank – all add up to shorter periods in the wild.
- Sofa bed made from rear bench seat is more of a jigsaw than we might wish
- No gas oven
- Combi oven is very small
It was with very few misgivings that we agreed the deal and I find myself more excited than anything else. I like the van’s womb-like qualities and am looking forward to being cosy. I can imagine myself curled up on the bed area on an evening with a good book and a glass of wine. It is also exciting to think of being able to go out “wild” at whim. I am even sanguine at the knowledge that we shall need to shop more frequently – at least we can take the vehicle out to the shops if needed!
We shall need a new mindset but I am confident that we shall take the changes in our stride.
Andy has six vans to prep so was unable to say when we can pick up the new vehicle. We have booked further nights at Briarfields though may have to go elsewhere on Friday due to a weekend caravan rally moving in and filling up the site.
Tuesday
Mr Snail caught a bus to town and brought home some vacuum storage bags. I meanwhile did the laundry. Later we braved the continuing rain, grabbed some of the retirement vouchers and went to TGI Friday’s… a new experience for us.
Wednesday
We saw the sun today – hurrah! Spent all morning emptying lockers, evaluating Stuff and sorting it into keep to use, post to home, throwaway, giveaway and charity shop piles. Discovered condensation issues in the wardrobes and took clothes across for tumble drying, congratulated selves on having made the proper choice regarding Hank.
A visit this afternoon from a friend who lives relatively locally and who very kindly took away the charity shop pile for us.
After that we went up the road to visit B&Q with further retirement vouchers in hand, coming home with ratchet straps, bungees and string!
I think we have probably gone as far as we can without having the new van at hand to evaluate the actual space available. More Stuff must go, I believe… sadly, I fear that my camera gear must be in that pile. There is a London Camera Exchange just down the road but I do not have my receipts with me, so they may not wish to take my gear. I could Courier my gear home but then I would not have a camera with me. Exchanging the DSLR and lenses for a compact mirrorless job would be the preferred option I think. I love my 6D. I will miss it if it goes.