Well, if you’re lucky enough to have a Bertha, or a close relative to the T25, then camping in November isn’t half as bad as it sounds.  We had wanted to go to this beer festival ever since a holiday in April when we’d discovered The New Inn at Cropton – a fab pub with a micro-brewery attached so we roped in a few more willing participants (although they had to brave a chilly tent) and booked a free camping spot. Said camping spot was of the most basic type – actually we were just parked on a driveway and our tented friends were in the beer garden.  A couple of porta loos was the extent of the personal hygiene facilities provided but you can do a lot with baby wipes as all you seasoned campers will know and I did bump into one girl in the pub toilets having a full wash in the sink!

As well as large amounts of ale and cider (you should of seen the length of the bar with 88 hand pumps!) we had a new little gas heater to keep us toasty in the van which worked a treat but the potential hazard of an open flame made me a bit nervous.

On Saturday morning Bertha’s hob and grill were working overtime cooking a full English for 4 – unfortunately we didn’t have the eating utensils to cater for everyone having thinned down to the essentials when we visited Scotland and forgetting to put the extras back (well, we did find that 11 forks had migrated into the cutlery drawer which, for a 2 berth van, was a little excessive!).

Although this is a blog about our van it would be wrong not to at least mention the joys of real ale which Rich has introduced me to.  Altogether (between all 4 of us) we went a long way to tasting the full 80 beers on offer….. wish we could remember all our favourites but there are too many to list.  The St Johannesburg Pale Ale Porter stands out tho’ very strong chocolatey taste and a nice hoppy aroma @ 7.5% yummy! )

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