Bertha has had a lovely time down near Chichester this weekend and felt very pleased with herself as she had some official duties to guard the amazing tepee tents hired for my cousins wedding (although I think she was less nervous than me who also had official duties as I had to give a reading – eeeek!).

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!

Having enjoyed a three day week (if only it was every week) we set off on our travels to the Lakes for a little birthday getaway.

We thought it would take 3 hours but Bertha reached a record breaking 70mph on the M6 so we managed to reach ‘The Quiet Site’ in 2!

Great campsite with only a few fellow campers on Wednesday night, although it filled up towards the weekend and was probably a bit ‘big’ if you like the more secluded sites. Free hot showers though and a useful camp shop to stock up on the essentials such as blow up mattress stoppers…we’re still saving for some new bed foam!

The bar was fantastic, an old barn dating to 1752, check out the slightly bonkers pool table if ever you visit – there is a huge wooden beam across the centre of the table at shoulder height which makes for interesting play and there was good selection of real ales which we were pleased about, a play room off the side of the bar if you have little ‘uns and a table tennis room. Oh, and they stocked scampy fries….

On the Thursday we set off on a long walk, not realising quite how hot it was going to be – better than rain though! The map was supplied by the campsite and is downloadable from their website – we chose the Aira Force walk, 8 miles – and the views were really amazing, highly recommended. When we finally got to Aira Force waterfalls and located the tea rooms (quite a challenge in itself!) we had a well deserved piece of cake and downed a few litres of water. Our tired and hot little feet found a nice pool to dip themselves into which revived us for the last several miles….we also knew we had supplies for a BBQ back at camp that kept us going!

Friday was a more typical British summers day with lots of rain so we explored the local towns of Keswick and Penrith. I fell a little bit in love with a Commer campervan that was for sale in a car park in Keswick…but don’t tell Bertha (it wasn’t as lovely as her anyway).

Home on Saturday morning in time to source some last minute wigs for a fancy dress school disco party at a friends that night!

Well all my handy work rewiring the battery soon went wrong lol. Having set-off to Clapham and stopping off to get some food and beer on the way, we arrived back at Bertha to find out no stereo, internal lights, or water pump!!! WTF…

Discovered in my ignorance that the fridge shouldn’t be powered of the leisure battery and had drained the living daylights out of it. Nor did the leisure battery seem to recharge from the alternator – found out later that this the fuses blowing with the large current drawn when turning the engine over with the starter motor.

I was almost correct in my wiring but I needed to use one of these Split Charge Relay instead of the relay already installed. Some changes to the rewiring, seperate circuit for the fridge, added a multiple fuse holder (instead of the individual inlines), power splitters, some spades etc. and now everything is tickerty boo.

Been away on several trips with no problems, fridge runs on 12v from the alternator, leisure battery is recharged from the alternator and provides power to stereo, internal lights, pump etc. Also have a mains charger recharging the leisure battery when on hookup. Happy days

Good old Bertha was discharged from hospital a mere few hours later with a clean bill of health! The doctor said we’d got a good deal with our lovely van and had just done some minor tuning so we set off on our second trip very chuffed (although the back windscreen wiper is still a bit poorly!).

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…..

Well, it’s sunny, it’s Friday, we both have the day off work but we have no Bertha.  Sob.  She’s gone to hospital, but fear not Bertha watchers, it’s only for a check up at Herbies Hospital, our local VW specialist garage.  We (usually safe to read ‘Richard’ here if it’s anything mechanical / stereo / alarm related – apparently I’m in charge of soft furnishings!) decided that it would be a good idea for her to have a full service just to make sure everything is in check before any long journeys.  Luckily a friend recommended Herbies Hospital in Leeds and so off she went this morning.  It was a cool little place and we saw a friend of a friends van which is currently being completely overhauled – if only we had some spare cash to do the same – although we do love Bertha just the way she is……hmmm, after last weekends first night away we wouldn’t mind a nice new memory foam bed mattress though!

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…

Sunny bank holidays are definitely made for BBQs and camping so we managed to combine both this weekend.  Saturday night was a delicious boozy BBQ at a friends house where we talked endlessly about the intricacies of campervan ownership and whether a porta pottie was to be, or not to be, to some of our other friends who own vans (both couples have vans that are currently off road so I felt very pleased that Bertha was ready for her first trip!) – we probably bored the others to tears but there was plenty of ale, strong cider and nibbles to keep people occupied.

On Sunday morning we woke up early and excited as we were heading off for our first sleep in Bertha! We set off around lunchtime, got stuck in traffic, had a mishap with the newly fitted stereo (i.e. it stopped working after about half an hour – long story, something about batteries which I still don’t fully understand!) and finally made it to Clapham for mid afternoon – not London of course but North Yorkshire.  A nice campsite but it was a little bit busy and seemed a bit more like a caravan car park than tranquil country retreat.  Still, we had a plot and an electric hook-up and there were plenty of fields and country smells nearby.  I was a bit nervous about plugging her in for the first time but Richard was confident the whole van wouldn’t blow up which, of course, it didn’t!  The fridge stayed lovely and cool, the lights worked (but were incredibly dim) but there was still no stereo.  Anyway, we had a nice evening, strolled into the village and found the local for some food and drink and came back to bed.  Three hours later we both had terrible back ache and hadn’t managed much sleep.  It seems that Bertha seriously needs some new bed foam so we’ll be investigating this soon.  On Monday morning we created a feast of ‘Camping Omlette’ a dish perfected by our friends Selina and Karl – basic recipe = lots of stuff you’d normally find in a full english breakfast (bacon, sausage, black pudding, tomato, mushrooms) cooked up and all thrown into an omlette.  I have it on good authority that cheese makes a yummy addition.

Our journey home took in the Ingleton Waterfalls Walk - been doing this since I was a kid.  Lovely but busy and you have to pay to do it (humbug…never used to when I was a nipper..).  A great weekend ended with us showing Bertha off to my extended family who were all very impressed!

It was time to find out how and if the leisure battery was hooked up to anything. They had put a new battery in as promised and a mains charger, but couldn’t see where and what it was wired up to.

So I rolled up my sleeves and got the screw driver out and started unscrewing the shelf, panel and back of the cupboard it had been installed in.

To my delight there was a split charge relay installed as well, so the leisure battery must of been removed by the previous owners before selling it. This is good news so as the leisure battery will now recharge from the alternator when driving and mains hook up when camping – best of both worlds.

The fridge and water pump are wired up to it but nothing else, going to wired up the stereo, interior lights, and a w4 12v plug so we don’t run down the main battery when parked up.

Day 2 and number one priority is to get a stereo in the campervan as there isn’t one in currently. After painstakingly  researching  (sometimes OCD is a benefit!) I found a suitable head unit with bluetooth streaming – Clarion FB289RBT. Once Iphone OS3.0 is released this summer we’ll be able to using our iPhones to remotely stream audio from it, so they’ll act like wireless full colour touchscreen remote controls – how cool is that!

Now it was time to install and work out the mass of wires. There seemed to be rather too many lose wires around, so i decided to have a clean out. Whilst doing this I put new spade connectors on all the earths and cleaned the contacts as some of these were rather brittle and frail to the touch.

Front speakers didn’t work definitely and had seen better days and the door cards look a bit tatty – ordered some new ones from JK. Need to think about covering the door cards as well – vinyl. cloth, padding…

Going to try and get some 6×9’s in here with mdf mountings. Rear speakers work fine, although they’ll need upgrading at a later date – but for now we’ve got some sounds!! Need to wire up the head unit to the leisure battery next but I need to work out how that’s wired in first.

Anna got her cleaning gloves out and some 1001 carpet cleaner and gave her a good once over, got rid of those dirty marks in the carpets and cleaned out all the cupboards She’s smelling like a new lady….

We picked her up today, both felt very nervous handing over the cash – it’s always nervous buying a second hand car but a van that’s over 20 years old…?!?!

The ‘technical’ chap who was going to show us how everything worked was off that day so they couldn’t give us a grande tour. Slightly annoying as we couldn’t really say we’d wait to pick her as it was a 2 hour round trip.

The journey home was quite eventful, the air vent in the roof popped up whilst going down the motorway. In fear of it ripping off completely I pulled over to secure it down… my efforts proved to be to no avail.

Anna was in front in the car and it was too late for her to pull in time. Thinking that she would slow down I set off merrily back to Leeds. Unknowing (in the excitement I forgot to take my mobile) she thought something more serious had happened and started heading back down the motorway as soon as she could get on the other lane…..

Also the wing mirrors decided to push themselves when going over 60mph in making it impossible to overtake (another job to go on the list) and it was chucking it down which didn’t help.

Eventually we both made it back home, after I had made an accidental detour round South Leeds (adding an extra hour on the journey!) and Anna had fruitlessly driven up and down the motorway.

Anyway we laughed about it after and we’ve got our lovely new campervan home in one piece!!

Bertha we love you bertha