Retracing our steps

Gosh - what a difference in the weather - been sat outside, drinking coffee, reading etc - however, it is chilly when that sun goes in. But never mind that - the sun shone beautifully and we travelled a different route back to Oleron via the main roads - we find ourselves there again now. The facilities are fab here as I said before. The sun is still shining and this gives us time to plan our onward journey. En route we purchased our, by now, obligatory baguette and had a picnic in a car parking area with those beautiful mountains in front of us. Boy I shall miss those baguettes (and the mountains) when we return to the UK - but for now, bring it on - when we arrived back at the Oleron campsite, no one was at reception but we had the code from our last visit and let ourselves through the barrier. There was only one caravan on this large site, so we were spoilt for choice. Nearly grounded ourselves reversing onto one pitch, but we found the perfect spot and it wasn’t long before the chairs, books and tables were out and Tom was lolling in the shade of the hedge. He’s such a love - no lead needed - he just hangs out with the folks. Alan has taught Tom to put his paw up for a tummy scratch over the last couple of days - genius - now this quite sizeable paw wacks you on your leg at regular intervals and he ain’t taking no for an answer. Don’t tell me you can’t teach an old dog new tricks - you can - and this boys a fast learner.

As we didn’t do much in the way of interest for you today I thought I would chat a little about motorhome life. Actually I will talk about our motorhome as there are so many combinations, connotations, layouts etc it would be difficult to describe every type of van on the market. Obviously, a caravan gives you a fair bit of space these days and when you go to the shows up and down the country (there is major show on at the NEC at the moment) you can look inside a myriad of different specs - and of course, if you own a caravan you can rock up, pitch then get in your car and travel to your hearts content. A motorhome is slightly more compact (we wouldn’t be driving one larger than 7.5 metres) but everything you need is inside. However, back to our own little ‘Dolly’ The front seats rotate to face into your living space which gives you two armchairs. They are very comfortable and you can put your feet up on the bench seating either side, in front of you is a table arrangement that moves in and out and from side to side, so whatever you need to use the table for, it is quite adaptable. There is bench seating around the table. As you walk towards the sleeping area there is a full size fridge freezer which operates on gas or electric dependent on whether you are wild camping or not and this is kept topped up by the vehicle/leisure battery when driving around. Above that is a small TV (we have an aerial on the roof). We don’t watch the TV here to be honest. I use the iPad and we have an EE WiFi available to catch the odd programme of an evening. What with Hubs, apps, Netflix, and Amazon Prime you don’t miss much. The kitchen is small but wraps around on two sides. There is a sink with hot and cold water - you heat the water via the van controls as and when you need it. There is a three ring gas hob and below that an oven and grill. Small but perfectly capable of cooking a good meal. Then as you enter the sleeping quarters, on the left there is a self contained bathroom toilet, sink and small amount of storage and to the right the shower. Very efficient and enough for us. Then, as you step up through you have a glorious double bed which is raised - explain more about that later - the bed is the width of the van which is around 2.2 meters. Super comfy - however, we had a bit of a teething problem with the arrangement thinking we would have two single quilts - when we did our trial run before leaving for France - we realised we didn’t like that - so I rolled the single quilts like buffers against the side of the van and introduced a king size quilt instead. This has worked really well and protected the window blinds from damage what with wayward elbows in the night. It’s so cosy, I can’t tell you. I think we sleep better in that than anything else. There a fair amount of storage about your heads through the van and you do have to stand on tiptoe, stretch and maybe even stand on a step here and there. But you soon get organised - keeping on top of storage is key. Accessed outside the van is our electric socket, water inlet, gas intake, and garage situated below our beds. This gives us so much space and is a great area to store anything you aren’t currently using. For example, as we find better weather, all our outdoor gear goes in there. All sorts really. Dog food, seats, tables, clothes airer. All the things one might need. I hope that gives you a little insight into our daily lives on the road, Nighty night