Also in for a MOT whilst she’s at Volksworks – hopefully she’ll pass without too much of a hitch – but you never know with a 23year old vehicle. Should find out by the end of today. Watch this space..

News just in only three things wrong

• Steering gaitor split
• Front right brake sticking
• Fog light warning light on switch

So hopefully back in action tomorrow.

Even though she’d been untouched for 6 weeks  started without problems (Woot!).  Let her tick over until nice and warm and brought the battery home to give it a top up on the mains charger.

A very kind friend of ours offered to give us free accomodation over the winter months in a farm near Bramhope.

So now she’s nicely tucked away in a hay strewn barn, but she’s not alone! a
A friendly caravan is parked next her to keep her company on those long dark winter evenings.

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! )

It made us laugh that by far the most common van in the camping field was the T25 – a case of function over form some would argue!

The journey down south was slightly stressful as we hadn’t even left Leeds before the red ‘I-am-overheating’ light flashed up on the dashboard but she just needed a little drink of coolant and we were off. Whilst sitting in gridlocked traffic (and awful rain) several hours later (don’t you just love the M25!) we realised that our brake lights weren’t working but we couldn’t stop as we knew we had to relieve the poor family friend who was guarding the tents that night and we were already very late so we carefully continued the journey. Almost 8 hours later we arrived on site and after a quick snoop in the fabulous tents set up for the wedding reception we settled down for much needed sleep.

Thankfully the rain had stopped and the sun came out all day for the wedding which was great fun and Rich managed to grab a lift to the nearest Halfords with my Uncle and repair the break lights all in the time it took me to get glammed up in the morning – surely I can’t be more high maintenance than Bertha! Thank goodness we’ve finally got both my gorgeous cousins safely married off to lovely ladies. The beautiful bride and groom arrived to the church in style – a lemon yellow bay campervan borrowed from a friend – Rich had to inspect it of course!

Not only did we save some pennies on our accommodation but we didn’t have far to stumble after the wedding reception – just across the field to our Bertha. Following a big post-wedding BBQ at the tepee tents the next day we set off back up north with a plan to stay somewhere en route. Although people might think that owning a campervan means you can roam freely wherever you like and just set off on a whimsical camping adventure with no planning it’s not quite that simple. As many of you campers will know, sadly campsites get booked up very quickly during summer weekends so I had the arduous task of locating a campsite using the internet on my phone. We ended up with a spot at the ‘Bo Peep Caravan Park’ not far off the M40. It was a really nice site (although the site was large, our pitch was just at the edge of the site so felt quite private) with good facilities and very much in the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside – the site was surrounded by huge fields of corn and divided by little tree-lined paths. The nearest village, Adderbury, was worth walking into and was really picturesque with beautiful cottages and a village green.

The remainder of the journey the next day was hassle free although we felt that Bertha had developed a slight tilt in the last few miles of our trek up the M1 so this was slightly worrying and turned out to be a misshaped tyre….almost ready to blow according to the garage who looked at it the next day; a lucky escape, phew!

We’d taken most of the time in the morning choosing/arguing over a campsite (it’s more difficult than you would think and lots get booked up quickly when the weather forcast is good) and were pleased to discover we’d made an excellent choice with Craken House Camping Site in Leyburn.  It was a small site with only 25 pitches and had fantastic views over to Middleham Castle.  Each pitch is really big and we were in a little field next to a babbling brook near to another T25.  Rich was in his element as there were lots of doggies on site too (I think this will be a future addition to the family one day….!).  I made some attempt to make friends with the resident goose on site (George).  Sadly George had lost his mate a few years ago and we first saw him standing next to an old mirror which had been placed in the yard to keep him company – I don’t think he wanted to share his mirror with me!

Unfortunately we were forced into the van early evening due to midge attacks and our rubbish cheapo insect repellent burners were nothing more than ineffectual joss sticks.  Still, we didn’t mind and I was  secretly quite excited about cooking my first 2 course meal  (seafood kebabs for starters then pasta, yum, washed down with plenty of ale and cider).  It was a bit tricky banishing Rich from the kitchen though!

The next day it was ‘cracking flags’ as my friend Carrie would say (although thankfully we were in a lovely green field and not a paving flag in sight).  I fulfilled my hippie dreams of pottering around the van barefoot and reading my book – even managed to do a bit of crafting in the sun whilst the boy did some more tinkering with the mains charger…and other ‘boy’ stuff then we walked into Middleham for some food.  We were typically ‘Yorkshire’ and didn’t pay to go into Middleham Castle but I’ve been before and if you like that kind of thing it’s worth a visit.

Sunday was roasting again and I sampled the free shower on site – very clean (me and the shower!) but I’m thinking of buying a solar shower which you hook on the side of your van for those wild camping excursions – Rich was a bit worried that I’d be turning into a real hippie and getting naked outside the van but I assured him I’d keep my swimming togs on – wouldn’t want to inflict that on any passers by!  We packed up and Bertha took us home via Jervaulx Abbey, an absolutely beautiful place.  Sadly the lovely looking tea rooms and tempting choice of ice creams were beyond our means (no cash and they didn’t have a switch machine, damn!) but we had a nice wander in the ruins and then drove home…trying not to think about the housework and the Monday morning work blues ahead…..

Anyway, fingers crossed she’ll be out today as we have a booking at a campsite in Leyburn an some beers chilling in the fridge!

On another note I’m quite excited as I’ve just created my first link – I’m a bit of a novice when it comes to these ‘ere blogs…