Rosemary and I are parked overlooking Ladybower reservoir, between Glossop and Sheffield. We've just been for a long walk around the three reservoirs, Derwent, Howden and Ladybower and are sat enjoying a cup of tea and a bacon and egg butty from our new camper van.
Our new pride and joy - going to have to think of a name for her?
The huge Howden dam...where 617 squadron practiced for the Dambusters raid
Yep it's all change again. We've gone and bought ourselves a second hand van. It all happened in the blink of an eye too.
A month ago my car broke down and I had to get the AA to recover it to the dealer. It turned out to be the UK fitted immobiliser ECU that had gone faulty and needed replacing. When it went wrong again a week later I had to wait nine hours for the AA as it was that snowy cold Monday and probably the worst day ever to need the AA. I'd had enough and called Rosemary to say I was getting rid of the car. Rosemary sort of half joked that we could sell it and get a motor home. I thought she was joking.
What happened next was just weird. Whilst waiting for the AA, I got a call from Neil Coverley (my friend who has just done LEJOGLE). He wanted to know if I was interested in buying his camper van. I thought this was some kind of Deja Vu meets the Twighlight zone. Spooky stuff!
Its got a groovy bike rack too - perfect!
He and Naomi love the freedom their van gives them and had decided to splash out on a brand new one. Neil had been offered a really good price if he paid with cash. This meant he could do with getting rid of his current van quickly, so he offered it to me at a really attractive price that was within our grasp. I had regularly looked at the price of motorhomes and some of the prices are just crazy expensive. The second hand market is very buoyant and vans hold their value well. I'd always considered it a bit beyond our budget, but Neil's offer was just too good to ignore. He offered to email me with the van details straight away. Rosemary and I had already seen it the last time we went to Neil's house, so I knew it was mint. Rosemary had remarked on the "camper van envy" she had felt after seeing it. I quickly spoke to Rosemary, expecting some major resistance. We would need to raid our savings and Motorhomes had never really been Rosemary's idea of fun in the past. Anyway within 30 seconds she had said yes. I couldn't believe it. "ok....err right then!...err I better call Neil back then"
I quickly called Neil back and told him we'd have it. He just said "bl**dy 'ell Brian, I've only just clicked send".
Wow! we had bought a Campervan.......in two minutes flat!
We then realised we would have to let Nick and Sarah Craig know as soon as possible. Avid readers of my blog will be aware that Nick had very kindly offered to lend us their fantastic VW camper van. However it needed some work to get it back on the road. It had been such a generous and helpful offer that Rosemary and I felt really quite unsettled and guilty about having to explain our change of plan. We were hoping that they had not spent any time or money getting it ready for us. So we popped round with a bottle of wine and flowers to say sorry and thank them for there kind offer. Luckily the old girl was still tucked away in the garage and Nick had not had time to get started on her as yet. So it was with a big sigh of relief when we explained our new plans. They were both very gracious and wished us well with our journey. A BIG thank you once again to both Nick and Sarah.
Rosemary, where all good wives should be..............I'm soooooo dead for that.
So there you have it. All change. Our savings have been replaced by tumbleweed blowing across the account statement. But we are the proud owners of a lovely Campervan. Its got a double bed that I can fit in, even with my legs all stretched out (I'm 6'5") There's a proper fridge freezer, an oven, a three ring hob, a shower, toilet, a TV & DVD player and central blown warm air heating. Its fourteen years old but has only 33 thousand miles on the clock. Its going to be our holidays for the next few years so we should get our money's worth. Monty seems to like it too. Rosemary got straight in this morning and drove it for the first time all the way over the Snake pass without any hassle. Its one of the most dangerous roads in Britain, so a great effort in a wide camper like this.
Stop press! ....can't get the blog post to upload.....no mobile phone signal at Ladybower! Hope it isn't like this when I am posting during LEJOG! Oh well, I'll put the kettle on again and save the upload till later.
p.s BTW - I promise I have been training this week. I'll post on that soon TTFN
p.p.s - another BTW. All that was wrong with my car the second time was that the berks at Monks Heath had forgotten to put new batteries in my key fobs when re-programming the keys to the immobiliser. 9 hours waiting for the AA for a set of £2 batteries and no apology from Monks Heath Motors....love my car, hate the dealer.
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