I love having a van, and knowing that it is there, ready to go off somewhere with only minimal packing.  I love the fact that, as a teacher I have a decent summer holiday, you can get pretty far in 6 weeks.  I always feel that the weeks I spend at home are just housework and hanging about, waiting until we can all go somewhere … Continue reading Am I brave enough at 51 for a solo van trip?

We’d been mulling over a trip to Mull for some time. Hebridean adventures have been a mixed bag; the Outer being outstanding, the Inner, not so much. After a sudden spurt of holiday booking for the summer, prices were checked for a crossing for Spring Bank week to Mull and Caledonian MacBrayne were found to be asking a reasonable 60ish earth pounds each way from … Continue reading Mull in May

Two weeks of Easter holidays after a short but intense term at school.  The plan was a nice, cruisy quiet time at home in the garden, nothing major. Blue Light card has deals on ferries to the Isle of Wight though, and you can add in accommodation and get extra discount, and the accommodation can be camping! Clearly with no intention at all, I browsed … Continue reading Cheeky Easter Hop to the Isle of Wight

It started with a social media post from DFDS ferries with an offer on the Newhaven- Dieppe route. And I thought nah, it’ll be too expensive with the van. I looked anyway and it came in at £177. I booked it almost immediately. I did a small amount of research – driving to Newhaven is about the same distance and time as driving to Dover … Continue reading Octobre en Normandie 🇨🇵

November 2024 kicked off our 12 months of travel to celebrate both of our 50th birthdays, so here are our highlights: Marrakesh for the long weekend in November: Half Century Adventures – with no van! (Part 1) Lisbon in February Half Century Adventures Part 2 – Lisboa Nederlands at Easter Nederlands at Easter Part 1 Nederlands at Easter II Brielle and Gouda Nederlands at Easter … Continue reading Half Century Travels – 12 months on

Mrs Wildax’s advice was to get to Galway early, as you literally have to queue to get a pitch.  I had followed her recommendation as frankly by this time I was fed up with trying to find decent and reasonably priced places to stay.  Ireland was hard work in the planning department. We got up at the crack of dawn to be off Achill by … Continue reading Galway and Dublin 🇮🇪

Having enjoyed the A2 route around the coast on the way to Bushmills, we decided to continue along the same route taking the coast as far as Londonderry, and in fact most of the route was signposted as the Causeway Coastal Route. We needed supplies so braved the roadworks in the centre of Londonderry to head to the supermarket and whilst we were there we … Continue reading Going West 🇮🇪

There’s only so much fun you can have in the forest before you feel the need to move on, especially when there’s whiskey to be tasted! I had booked us in with Neil at Craig House C&CC site a  mere spit from the Giant’s Causeway on the north coast and just outside of Bushmills village – home of the world famous distillery, but we couldn’t … Continue reading The North of the North

A jaunt to Ireland for us this summer, rather than mainland Europe in a bid to save some wedge, ha! I booked us on with Stena Line, after our very pleasant crossing to Nederlands at Easter.  We were due to head out from Holyhead to Dublin, on a 9am crossing arriving 12.15, no cabins or extras this time, except for a brekkie pre-paid in the … Continue reading Away to Ireland 🇮🇪

Rectory Farm Brit Stop: first time on a Brit Stop despite paying for it for 2 years! 2.5 hours drive from home, to break up the trip to Devon, and worth a recommendation. We arrived just after 8pm and had the choice of the tarmac car park in front of the shop and cafe or grassed overflow areas.  We picked the level tarmac for ease … Continue reading Bank Holiday Half Century Fun