Two of us riding nowhere spending someone's hard earned pay

The van is packed and we're ready to set off for mainland Europe again, after some lovely camping trips this Spring.  The photo is a recently opened campsite near Hartington in the Peak District that we are sure we will be returning to.


We're not exactly riding nowhere; the plan is to aim for Tuscany and meet up with Karin, an Italian friend we met in Spain a couple of years ago.  From there we hope to do some walking in the Maritime Alps - we've spent money on the guidebook so this might happen.  The hard earned money is all ours.


We will update the blog whenever we get the chance.  Our Italian friend tells us that internet access in Tuscany is a bit hit and miss and we're somehow not surprised.

From nine 'til five I have to spend my time at work

We thought we would add a postscript to our blog, updating our readers (nearly 10,000 and rising) on how we have coped with returning to life in Manchester.

The good news is we have both managed to find work, even in the currently shrinking Public Sector. Carol is back in the NHS and Anthony has a job in a school, so doesn't return to the nine to five grind until September. We miss the freedom of travelling and spending our days walking and cycling in beautiful places; our window boxes are full of lavender, rosemary and thyme to remind us of southern Europe. We miss the warmth of the sun and that sense of total relaxation. Carol in particular will often think wistfully about where we were this time last year.

However, it is lovely to spend time with our friends and family; the photos show us out and about in the Peak District. The saving up for next time starts here!

VW T5 Devon Sundowner

Our van is a VW T5 Devon Sundowner, built in 2007. If you see us, a wave is always appreciated!

Devon owners have now got their own website and forum up and running, thanks to the hard work of Bob.  The website can be found here and has some useful information about Devon vans.  From this site Devon owners can access the forum and make contact with other owners of Devon vans.

How?

You might wonder how we have managed to afford to buy a new campervan and spend a year not earning. This has been a project we've been planning for about three years and there's no magic answer for those of you itching to make your own escape; we've just earned and saved in a number of ways:

1. Selling stuff on Ebay - a big thank you to everyone that bought the stuff we cleared out.
2. Working - Anthony grafted away at the University of Central Lancashire and Carol has worked in many different posts over the past three years, sometimes three at a time, so thank you to all those employers.
3. Downsizing - we managed to sell our house, thanks to a lovely couple, and moved to a small flat to pay for the van.
4. Going without - over the past three years we've lived without new gadgets, clothes and stuff and saved instead.
5. Cheaper holidays - having bought our first Campervan in 2005, we've saved money as we've holidayed.

Ideas for the trip

We've saved enough to be travelling around Europe for about 12 months, depending on the current exchange rate with the euro. This type of journey has many interpretations, the Grand Tour, a search for the sun, spiritual journeys etc: We hope to find our own way, now and then overlapping with the journeys of others.

During the year we want to spend most of our time in the warmer parts of Europe and get to see some of the beautiful places Europe has to offer; so we'll be concentrating on National Parks and other protected areas. We hope this will give us a chance to see how different countries manage their valued landscapes and how the population use these spaces, as well as providing us with opportunities to see some exceptional wildlife and plants.

While we are away we also have other plans for self-improvement: Anthony wants to improve his skills on the harmonica: Carol would like to improve her plant identification skills and will record observations of the trip in a field notebook; a genre familiar to any Geography student.

Although we are fairly self-sufficient, it would be lovely to meet some nice people on the way too and we have a pile of novels that have been on our to be read pile for some time that we hope to finish.

Repairs, spares and emergencies

For VW base vehicle

• Tyre tread measure
• Jack
• Jump leads
• Bulbs for side lights, indicators, brake and main beam
• Oil
• Tow rope
• Fuses, various
• Screen wash

For the conversion

• Fluorescent strip light
• Window stay
• Fuses, various
• Cupboard catches, 1 large and 1 small
• Spare hose and regulator for gas cylinders

For the bicycles

• Bar ends
• Various screws, nuts etc
• Chain links (useful for mending the tap!)
• Brake pads
• Park Tool multi tool, which includes chain tool and spoke key, pliers, pump
• Spare saddle cover
• Inner tubes
• Puncture repair kit (forgot this and had to buy one in Italy)
• Tyre levers
• Gear and brake cables
• Cone spanners
• We wish we had bought the adjustable spanner and the freewheel/cassette remover

Emergency items

• Reflective vests
• Tic remover
• Mosquito repellent
• Torch
• Colour copies of important documents, including passports and log book
• Whistle
• Anti-histamine cream, calamine and glycerine cream, anti-histamine tablets and zapper for bites
• Blister plasters and padded foam
• Chlorine tablets and neutralising tablets
• Ibuprofen and paracetemol
• Indigestion relief tablets and Zantac
• Nasal strips, night cold and flu capsules (in case of colds)
• Plasters
• Travel sickness tablets

Things for repairs and other spares

• Plastic gloves
• Heavy duty hand wipes
• Zip ties, various
• Hooks, various (self adhesive, screw in)
• Spare tubes and batteries for hearing aid
• Tax disc holder
• Instructions for equipment
• Wallet (with small amount of money as decoy)
• European adapters
• Vice grip
• String and guy line
• Insulating tape and masking tape
• Screwdrivers, cross head and straight
• Seam grip sealer (for awning or cagoules)
• Clamps
• Jubilee clips
• Tension straps
• Tent repair kit in strips (useful for fixing the damage done to the side door handle on the van)
• Multimeter and mains tester
• Velcro and self adhesive pads
• Elastic bands
• Safety pins
• Shoe laces
• Vaseline
• Superglue
• Small screws (various)

Almost there!

Less than two weeks until we set off on our travels now.

Anthony's last day at work is tomorrow; after almost 23 years at the University and not surprisingly he's reviewing the good and bad times there and realising what he will miss.  

The list of things to do before we leave is coming to an end, as we firstly have a week's holiday in Scotland with old friends and Matthew and Rachel to look forward to before saying final farewells to family and friends in Manchester, packing the van, taking the van to the weighbridge for a final check and setting off.

Preparation

We don't want to go into lots of detail about the different things we have sorted out before travelling for a year. Other bloggers have done this much better than we have (see below). However, there are a few things you might be interested in:

Clothing: We have limited space in the van and don't intend to do any ironing while we are away, so over the past year we've bought lots of technical walking gear, Rohan, Alpine Lowe and others. This is lightweight, quick drying and easy to wear. Whilst this clothing is expensive, we've managed to save money by buying second-hand on Ebay, buying in the sales and from Cotswold Outdoor getting a fantastic discount with our Cycling Touring Club membership.

Keeping in touch: We have a 3 mobile phone, which allows use of our price plan minutes in Italy and Austria and will be useful for text messages and we have the laptop so we can use Wi-Fi at campsites when available. Otherwise it will be telephone boxes and internet cafes as other options seemed expensive and complicated.

IT stuff: As well as the laptop we will have a portable hard-drive to back up photographs and documents and a pen drive for an additional back-up. As these, by necessity will all be in the van, the internet will also provide additional back-up for photographs.

Extras:  Two bags of guidebooks for countries we won't visit until later and some extra novels are being left with Matthew and Rachel to bring out in August and Christmas. We've also left some parcels of novels for them to post out if we are ever on a campsite long enough.

Modifications to the Campervan: Everyone modifies their van to suit their own needs and we are no exception. We are not taking any clothes that need hanging, so we've added three shelves to the wardrobe to give us much more space for clothes. We also put shelves into the large cupboard under the oven, to make it easier to get at the pots and pans we keep in this cupboard. As Carol is only 162 cms a box to fit in the passenger foot well was useful for comfort and for Rough guides and phrase books not required in the country we are in. We put a fabric shoe rack on the back door for our campsite shoes and a unit designed as shelves for the shower on the wall above the loo for toiletries.

Help and advice: We've picked lots of brains during our planning and thank you to everyone that has helped us, the following websites have been particularly useful:

http://www.doyourdream.co.uk/- thanks to Mel and Ryan for their marvellous site.

http://www.magbaztravels.com/ - this couple have masses of experience around Europe and share it very willingly.

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ - the lively discussion boards on this website are worth the £10 annual fee alone, not to mention all the other info there.

What we will miss

It is more a case of who not what; although what does include Marmite, real ales, crumpets, The Guardian, Book Group, the Archers, seeing PNE make it to the Premiership (in Anthony's dreams) the Foxton Centre, chip shops ... and many more things we've not thought of at the moment.

Who we will miss are all of our friends and close family;  Top of the list, of couse, are our son and his fiance, Matthew and Rachel, pictured here in the Lake District.  We're pleased that we will be seeing them in Italy in August and Spain for Christmas and New Year, when they will be coming out with luggage packed with Marmite and crumpets!

It would be fun to meet up with any friends who are visiting southern Europe while we are away.  Do get in touch if you think we might be nearby.

Money matters

Before we left we rang the two banks we have accounts with; Alliance and Leicester and Nationwide to inform them we would be travelling for 12 months. They both said they wanted us to ring them every 3 months, so they could update the information they had and to ensure our cards would not be stopped.

After the first three months we rang them, no problems, apart from the expense of international telephone calls.

After six months we rang them again. Nationwide now said they didn't need us to ring. We checked with the wise and wonderful on Motorhome Facts Forum and they confirmed that this wasn't necessary. Alliance and Leicester now say we need to ring them every nine weeks!

We use on-line banking when ever safe and possible. Alliance and Leicester blocked access in Slovenia, as they don't consider this a safe country to allow internet access. We have been able to access Nationwide everywhere.

Slovenia was the only country we had some problems with cash machines; our cards did not work in all the cash machines we came across.