Author: onewomanandhercaravan

I slept ok, but woke up a little chilly as I’d left a couple of windows slightly open and the temperature dropped in the night! Smelt someone else’s breakfast on the site so made myself a bacon sandwich (Are there many better smells that bacon being fried?)

Quick shower in the spotless toilet block (I know I’ve said that before, but its very important to me!) then I popped into the site shop to pay my fees and met the other owner Phil, who welcomed me to the site again and gave me some great tips on where to visit in the local area. He also gave me a small discount on my site fees because ‘They like me’ – how nice!

I had a plan in mind for the day;

• Drive to Louth and have a walk around the town
• Drive onwards to Marblethorpe and Chapel St Leonards to try to get a glimpse of the coastline around here
• Visit the Lincolnshire Aviation museum
• Drive back to the site via Woodhall Spa (recommended by my Mum)

So off I went, minus a caravan on the back of my car.…. It took me a moment to get use to how fast my car is again!

Louth

What a lovely town, but I must have forgotten I’ve been here before as they named a café after me…

First stop was the imposing Saint James church that boasts the tallest steeple of any medieval church in Great Britain. Work began on the steeple in 1501 , completed in 1515 and stands at 287 feet, 6 inches.

Lincolnshire is famous for its Wool trade and inside some local craft clubs has created a model of the church in wool! Very impressive, as was the beautiful wooden arches in the roof and the stained glass windows. It was a pretty church with a community café in one end, so full of chatter and laughter which I found a huge difference to any other church I’ve been too! There were some wonderful medieval pews with tip up seats. In medieval times prayers were said stood up with uplifted hands and the ledges could be used by the old and infirm to balance and ‘gain some relief’.

The Lincolnshire Uprising began in the church in 1536 – you can read more about this here.

Afterwards, I went for a stroll around the town where I found some lovely independent shops and streets, plus some pretty buildings.

I also found the Louth museum (£4 adults) which was a great find – lots of local history including this hand drawn sketch by William Brown, a local house painter and newspaper reporter. In 1844 the church spire was being repaired and was surrounded by scaffolding, so William climbed up and drew the 360 degree bird’s eye view of the town! I spoke with a lovely Gentleman who worked at the museum and had lived in the town for over 40 years who was very happy to point of a few bits of the sketch I may have missed.

The rest of the museum covered local industry and buildings and one poem by a soldier who was wounded during the 1^st world was while he was recuperating in Louth, GL Gracie RAMC, 26/5/1916.

There was a young man from Perth,

Who was born on the day of his birth,

He married they say on his wife’s wedding day,

And died on his last day on earth.

Louth also suffered a devastating flood on Saturday 29^th May 1920 where water went above 5ft over the course of a couple of hours. There was a floor map showing the extent of the damage and stories from locals, one being a woman who was in labour as it all happened and her husband was forced upstairs with her because of the flood water and wasn’t too happy about it!

After a couple of hours in Louth, it was time to set out to the coast and towards Marblethorpe. And that’s all I will say about that place…. I drove straight through it. There doesn’t seem many places to see the coastline around here (or that I can find at least) as there appears to be huge mounds of earth between the coastline and towns, so you can’t get near enough!

The day was running away with me so I decided to miss Chapel St Leonards and go straight to the aviation museum. On the way I passed through Alford, where I didn’t have time to stop, but would like to one day as it looked really nice.

So onwards to the Lincolnshire Aviation Centre (www.lincsaviation.co.uk) – the largest bomber command museum in the UK. The museum is set up to closely resemble how it would have looked during WW2 when it was an active airfield. Entrance fee was £8.50 per adult, so very reasonable.

I wasn’t in time to see the Lancaster Bomber taxi along their runway, but did see it in all its glory in the display area. Many of my friends and family know how much I enjoy air shows and the social history during the Second World War, so this museum is right up my street. There was a huge hanger displaying old log books from airmen active at the airfield during the war and other paraphernalia left behind when it shut down.

This included study notes from airmen learning their jobs – a bit like my caravan lists!

There was a model of a Lancaster you could sit in, or at least try to, it was quite a squeeze! Cannot believe fully grown men managed to get in there and stay in there for hours, being shot at and boiling hot/freezing cold. I have huge admiration for these men (and the men and women on the ground who helped them do what they needed to do) and every time I go to museums like this, my admiration grows.

One of the many fascinating displays also included wreckage from aeroplanes that didn’t make it back to their base – remembering those who died, will full permission from their families. Truly heart wrenching.

There was also a briefing room, the airmens digs and the control tower to look around – all with sound effects and information about how people lived during the operation of the airbase.

The weather isn’t great, but I’m on holiday! Great couple of hours spent here, learning a lot and once again feeling grateful for the sacrifices of others so we can all live as we do today.

On the recommendation of my Mum I stopped off in Woodhall Spa on the way back to the campsite. It was a lovely town with some pretty shops, including a great book shop with tea room. Also in the centre of town was a memorial to the Dambusters in the shape of a dam, which I made a special stop off for.

45 minute drive back to the site where I’ve enjoyed a G&T with fajitas (just about went together – gin goes with everything!)  I’ve done some washing up (wild!) and now about to make up my bed. Not quite needing the heater on, which is a good thing as I don’t have a list for that…. Dad, you may get a call tomorrow!

Goodnight!

Woke up at 7am and immediately started worrying about the day ahead! I don’t know why it’s such a big thing – I’m only going on holiday! I can only assume my self-confidence has taken a hit being made redundant and with Millie going to sleep forever on Monday morning, my emotions are all over the place.

Dad arrived at 9am to help talk me through taking the porch awning down and setting the van and my car up ready to move off. I think he quite enjoyed watching me do all the work after years of doing for me and my family (!), but I needed to know I could do it on my own.

I emptied the toilet. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I’m not going to go into too much detail about it for everyone’s sake! Suffice to say, I will be using the facilities on the campsite a lot to save my self too much of this job.

I followed the list I’d written with step-by-step instructions on what to do to prepare to leave a campsite, added a few notes and soon I was ready to go. Cue an emotional outburst from me, I hugged my Dad goodbye and set off alone. Queen of the road.

For the next few days I am staying at the Wolds View Touring Park in Caistor, Lincolnshire. I received a call from Jane, one of the owners this morning to ask what time I was arriving as I had made them aware it was my first camping trip alone and they were keen to be around to help me if needed – how lovely!

I arrived about 3 hours after leaving Brackley and the journey was totally drama free. All main roads, until close to the campsite – what a relief.

True to their word, I was welcomed on arrival and helped on to my pitch. I managed to use the motor mover and got my van on to the pitch in the right place! Only slightly scary part is that the pitch isn’t level and the back legs will need to balance on an old railway sleeper. I managed this and again, the people on the site was really helpful.

I then followed my list (yay for lists!) and set myself up. I did call Dad a couple of times to check about how to turn on the hot water (my list needed finessing) and how to improve reception on my TV aerial, but otherwise it felt straight forward.

The site is SPOTLESS which make me very happy. It relatively new and very well looked after. It has very clean toilets and showers, along with washing facilities, a washing machine and a lending library. There is also a coffee shop on site that’s open at the weekends (I won’t get to use this sadly) and a reception with small ‘essentials’ shop. There is also a selection of leaflets about local attractions that I used to plan my trips for the next couple of days.

I decided to take it easy this evening with a glass of wine, dinner and a planning session as I’ve been non-stop for the last few weeks and catch up on sleep/blogging. It’s actually raining as I type, which means it’s lovely and cool outside, and there is still blue sky – weird! Off to use the facilities and have a shower, then back to the van to set up for the night. This all seems to be going very well so far!

We woke up to lovely sunshine and a visit to Whittlebury Spa for the day to celebrate my sister’s birthday to look forward to.

First breakfast and a cup of tea and putting the bed down and then we were off for a lovely day relaxing and chatting at the spa. We both had a neck, shoulder and back massage and enjoyed the pool and heat and cold spa area and then my sister had a facial while I read in the sunshine – bliss.

Time for me to say good bye to my sister and I set off for the campsite to be met by…..an ant invasion in my bin. Apparently this is very common and nothing to worry about – who knew! Moved the bin away from the van to be dealt with later.

I quickly washed up everything from last night as one of my brothers in law (BIL) was coming to visits and this happened.

Beware flip flops and the lip on your caravan door. Instead of landing on the washing up bowl, I threw it forward and ended up breaking a mug. Quite a good average for me though – one mug in a whole 24 hours of being in the van!

BIL arrived with sausage and chips, I gave him the grand tour (took about 60 seconds) and ate our dinner with non-alcoholic cider. After he left….I was on my own….

I used my carpet sweeper for the first time – brilliant suggestion! I wouldn’t have coped with an untidy caravan for a month and sweeping it up all the time with a dustpan and brush. This was ideal!

I made up my bed – this time all for me – and after worrying I wouldn’t sleep as I was so anxious about the next day, I fell straight to sleep.

Today I had to make the devastating decision to put my house rabbit Millie to sleep. Mollie, her companion died about 4 years ago and Millie and I have lived together in my house for the last 4 years. She was nearly 11 years old and has welcomed me home every day, sent me off to work, listened to my rants and happiness for all of that time. She had lost so much weight, was incontinent and had lost the sight in both her eyes and just wasn’t herself. I know it was the kindest thing to do, but it was still an awful thing to decide to do. I was with her when she went to sleep (alongside my lovely Mum) and I asked her to give Molly a kiss from me and enjoy binkiying together once again. The vet and nurse at Willow Vets in Olney were amazing and made it very peaceful and blameless for us. RIP Millie – I will miss you everyday

From heartbreak to carrying on with a very heavy heart with my plans, Mum and I set off to Tesco to buy me some basic foods and drink to take with me and to secure my house up. There will be someone popping in every day and my neighbours are keeping an eye – so all set.

The van is packed, I’ve stopped crying for a little while at least, so it’s time to set off and tow on my own. Dad will be meeting me at my first campsite, as sensibly I’ve found somewhere not too far way in case of any first night issues. I will also be joined by my little sister for a sleep-over.

Dad took me through the process of making the caravan ready to go and I wrote a list to refer back to (remember, I love a list!) when I’d have to do it all myself in a few days. I’m off!

After quite a few deep, calming breaths, I drove off and … it was fine! If anything, it was easier on my own as I didn’t have to apologise if I made any small mistakes. Took me back to the day I passed my driving test and was able to drive alone for the first time! Couple of hiccups on the way – A road I wanted to take was closed and for a few moments I thought I might need to reverse…..luckily I didn’t as there was somewhere to turn, but it did mean I had to pull out on to a busy high street. I waited until both lanes of traffic cleared (took a while) and did it – all fine!

The other, which is funny now I look back on it, was as soon as I got on a long single carriage way road, I got stuck behind a tractor towing bales of hay, travelling at 20 mph. I shrugged it off and was actually quite happy to go so slow, but the driver behind me (yes reader, it was a white BMW) was not so happy. He was beeping his horn, I can only assume at me, the caravan in front of them going so slow, clearly oblivious to the MASSIVE tractor and wagon in front of me.

I took my Dads good advice of pulling back as there are often idiots who cannot stand being stuck behind a caravan for a few minutes and over take in dangerous places, to leave a space for him to pull in if he did indeed try to do this. He did. And as soon as he over took me, he had to pull straight back in as he couldn’t get past the tractor. So, what did I do (sorry Mum) I beeped him for about 5 minutes as it was clearly him now holding me up! He made a very weird hand gesture out of the window – I can only assume he was apologising to me for his mistake.

Anyway – I made it to my first campsite! Hilltop Cottage Campsite, Brackley.

I was the only person on the site! It was only a small one, Camping and Caravanning recommended and was surrounded by fields and grass. Check in was quick and easy and they explained the amazing amount of security they had on site, which made me feel very safe (or a bit scared I’d never get out!).

There was a small toilet block with one shower – all to myself on this occasion. Dad has beaten me there and we drove through the security gate to choose my pitch. I had the pick of them all (around 10 pitches – all with electric hook-ups)

Dad took me step-by-step through the arrival process of setting up the van on site (yes, I wrote another list) and I think I get it all. Remains to be seen….. My little sister arrived in time to watch me put my porch awning up for the first time.

Airvolution Swift Air 220

It was actually really simple and quick to put up – the pump was provided as this is an air awning, rather than a traditional metal pole one. Took about 15 mins (first time) to attach to the caravan, blow up the frame and peg it all down. Simples! Dad left us to it after that and we settled down to enjoy Spaghetti Bolognese and a mixed fruit cider outside the awning. Had a lovely time chatting and then made our way inside to make up the bed for us.

The caravan has a double bed but can also be used as two singles – perfect. The sun set on my first day as a professional (can I say that yet?) caravanner. Yay me!

Its attached – my tow bar that is, not the van just yet! Went for detachable as I’m a car snob and don’t want a fixed tow bar on my posh car! Thanks for the advice family!

James at Jims Tow bars was brilliant to deal with – answered a text quote request really quickly, called to confirm address and was always available by text, which is useful when phone calls take too long! Friendly and professional when he arrived (they fit on your driveway – brilliant) and clean and tidy when he left. Checked all electrics and talked us through the tow bar and how it works etc. I couldn’t recommend them enough.

I guess this means I have to tow my van now (arghhhh!) Dad was nice (brave) enough to come out with me the first time. All went well and I drove on a single carriageway and motorway, plus smaller roads to try to get a feel for it. No real issues apart from remembering to take the corners a little wider, watch my speed and remember my car is slower when pulling out than it is usually! Did also try my hand at reversing……will need a bit more practise.

Look what my Mum made me! Perfect finishing touch – made it feel like my own van.

Filled my van up today with all my new stuff as well as clothes and equipment. Golden rule observed – biggest weight in the middle/front of the van, not at the rear. Rather enjoyed figuring out where to out everything and felt very prepared for my adventure. Let’s hope I’m right! Not long until I get to find out…

It’s taking ownership day! The money is in my bank account (but not for long) and I’m due to pick her (I’ve decided she is a she as she is an Abbey) up at 2pm with my Dad. Dad will be towing her home, as because of my tight timelines, I couldn’t get my tow bar fitted until tomorrow. Dad has a tow bar for his van – solution! All insured and breakdown cover arranged – so just need to pick her up.

Full hand over from White Arches – though my Dad is a pro so knew what he was doing – ironed out a few minor issues before we left (they owe me matching hub caps and the arm in the front locker was broken so needs to be replaced, plus they had blown a fuse when cleaning her out, so that needed to be replaced – good spots Dad!) but otherwise, all ready to go.

We hitched her on, checked the brake lights and indicators worked and we were off – I am the proud owner of a caravan!

Now the not so fun bit – cleaning her out! The caravan had been serviced by White Arches, but as a used caravan, I wanted to make sure it was 100% clean and all mine. Three jumbo packs of anti-bac wipes and Vanish carpet cleaner later – she is shiny as new. Dad did a sterling job checking everything worked and the electrics were on point – couldn’t have done it without him.

This is all getting a bit real – I really have to learn how to tow, hitch up, release from the car, set up and look after my van in just a few days. Am I crazy?

I have the basics from White Arches, now I need the fun stuff. It feels a little like buying for my first home all over again – needing all the basics.

I asked my sister and mum what they have in their caravans that they couldn’t live without and started a list. I had most of the necessary items on the list like cutlery, plates, glasses etc, but glad the following were suggested – chopping board, Tupperware, cling film, rubbish bin ice cube bags, mattress protector and a carpet sweeper!

Top buys:

• Kitchen craft ‘unbreakable’ melamine side plates, plates and bowls – classic colours  – (The name of these sounds like a challenge to me and the colour goes with the pastel green in my caravan)
• Set of large plastic acrylic tumbler glasses – Amazon
• Bissell natural sweep carpet sweeper – Amazon
• Alba small screen TV – Argos
• Mattress protector – Dunelm
• Rubbish bin – Ikea

And a pretty artificial plant and pot from Ikea too – just because I can.

Special thanks to Mum and Dad for driving me to numerous shops across Milton Keynes to get the best prices and everything I needed, and my little sister and brother in law for my cutlery and wine glasses and for ordering the sweeper for me! Grandma supplied 2 saucepans, a cafetiere and a cool bag  – thank you all x

I’ve decided that I would prefer to plan my trip and book all my sites in advance. That way;

• I know where I am going next, as do my family
• I guarantee a pitch at the sites I want to stay on
• I can select how much distance I want to travel (and how much time I will drive for) from site to site – for example, I don’t yet like the idea of taking my caravan through a petrol station, so will try to make sure I fill up when I am not towing and only travel the miles my diesel tank will manage!
• I get a couple of days (minimum) at each place to make the most of my time there
• I can choose specific places I want to visit and find a site based in that area

I LOVE history, especially social history and have been a member of the National Trust for a number of years now. There are so many places that are too far away from home for a day trip, so a lot of my adventure will be based around places I want to visit. I checked through their website and handbook and made a few decisions based on that.

I also asked for recommendations from friends and family (please send more once you know where I will be!) and then marked both of these up on a fold-out map of the United Kingdom, taking all of the above into consideration.

Which lead me too:

1. A campsite close to home for the first couple of nights so I can get some help from family to set up and they can rescue me if anything goes wrong!
2. Lincolnshire – there is an antique/vintage shop I’ve followed on Instagram forever that I’d like to visit and I’ve heard Lincoln is lovely – plus it’s near to the coast and I love the seaside, plus a couple of National Trust properties nearby.
3. Next, further up North to Yorkshire, near York, Whitby, Castle Howard, the North Yorkshire Moors and a few other places worthy of a visit
4. Move slightly to the West to the Yorkshire Dales, and perhaps a little into the Lake District
5. Going down now (no offence further North – I will get to you one day) back to the Peak District, especially near Lyme Park and Buxton
6. North Wales now, only ever been to Newtown in Wales, so new territory to me
7. Over to the Middle to meet my family for a long weekend of camping together in Derbyshire
8. Then back west to Shropshire – somewhere I visited as part of a school trip a very long time ago!
9. South Wales next – Tenby being a place I’d like to visit and surrounding areas
10. Finally, a couple of night in Gloucestershire before making my way back home.

Phew – that should do for now!

I’ve been thinking about doing this from about 3 days after being made redundant. I have been working since I completed my A-Levels at 19, so this is the first time I have the opportunity to take some extended ‘leave’ in nearly 20 years! That means, I’ve been searching the internet for potential caravans for a couple of weeks to see what’s out there and what I can get for my limited budget.

I can’t afford a brand new caravan and to be honest, for my first van, I don’t need a new one. I love a bit of vintage and would rather love a used caravan well, than invest a lot of money in a brand spanking new caravan and hurting it as I learn how to do this!

First priority was to get my Dad on the case with me (he has been caravanning for about 40 years and has bought a few in his time) so we went to a few places to take a look, compare the prices and quality of second hand vans and get the best deal as quickly as possible because I’m impatient to get going!

I ended up buying my van from White Arches in Rushden. The starter pack included in the price gave me all the basic equipment I needed to start out and they had the full service history of the caravan and were great to deal with, agreeing to a few requests we had and happy to fix a few small issues.

So, here she is! My Abbey Freestyler (2002) caravan.

Just one careful owner before me, and was clearly really well looked after. She will be ready to pick up on the 3^rd August, fully serviced and ready to go – excited!

There I was, driving in to work on an ordinary Thursday morning, stuck in a queue, when an email and calendar invitation pinged into my inbox. Quick look – company announcement at 9.00am. Long story short, I, along with a number of other people, we’re told our roles were no longer required and here I am….redundant.

To be honest, it wasn’t a complete surprise for many reasons I won’t go into here, but it was still a bit of a shock to hear the actual words. You’re no longer required. Yeah, yeah…it’s the role, not the person, but I was the person doing the role, so….?

Cut to 3 weeks later and here I am, sitting in front of my personal laptop (work one had to be given back) and planning my next move.

(In case anyone reading this is interested or can help….. I work in internal communications and events, My last role was heading up a team of 7 in a large retail company and looking for new opportunities.

I’m also a published features writer and looking for some freelance work….. ……CV available on email or my LinkedIn profile….)

So, what next?

It’s a bit scary this redundancy thing. No job…no salary…no way to pay the mortgage or bills. So, eventually I will find my next job and will again enjoy what I choose to do for a living.

In the meantime, this is the first chance I’ve had since I started working full-time when I was 19 years old to take some time for myself. So, this is my chance, and I’m not throwing away my shot (One of many Hamilton references I will be making along this journey – have you seen this musical yet? If not, why not?!).

I had a few options open to me;

1. Go abroad and visit a country I’ve never visited before
2. Do nothing and spend some time at home
3. Take a tour of the UK (or some of it) and invest in a caravan…

I’ve been to some amazing countries and plan to visit many more, but would prefer to do this in the company of my friends and family, plus I have a holiday booked at the end of September to Jordan already. So, number 1 was out – plus who has the money to spend travelling around the world for 6 weeks when they don’t have a job?!

I could stay at home and spend time with friends and family, but they all have their own lives and most of them have a job! That’s number 2 off the agenda.

Number three….now, there’s something in that one…

But why in a caravan and why the UK?

I want to highlight that young (or any age), single women don’t have to be afraid of going out and doing it ourselves, even with things usually done ‘by a man’ – like towing a caravan.

The amount of negativity I’ve received about;

1) buying a caravan ‘at my age’ – I’m 37, not 18 people! Also, is there an age deemed acceptable to buy one?

2) going camping alone (how will you keep clean, what will you do, how will you cope alone – umm, in the shower in my caravan or in the hundreds of wonderful washing facilities on campsites around the UK, and I will be discovering all the fab places to visit in the UK and, ummmm, the same way I cope alone at home?!)

has really surprised me.

I get that people who have never camped don’t always ‘get it’ and think you sit in a cold, unlit metal box with no entertainment, getting rained on….well, perhaps that last bit is sometimes true, but there is nothing wrong with wanting to discover the country I was born in. I’ve been to amazing countries all over the world and will continue to visit them, but isn’t the UK one of those amazing places people ‘must visit’? Well, I am.

Also, my whole family are kick-butt campers and have been for years. Most of my childhood memories include a caravan, and every year my Dad would drive me, my 2 sisters and my mum to the South of France or even Spain, towing the caravan behind us.

I used to make a handmade sign that my parents would hang up in the caravan window telling everyone else on the road where we were going! We always used to discuss where we thought other caravans were going when we were travelling and if they were going as far as us, so I decided to let other people thinking the same, exactly where we were going!

It’s time to break the apron-strings one more time. I moved out of my parents’ house over 12 years ago to my own place, now I need to move out of their caravan!

Plus, check out this list of female explorers from Wikipedia – I’m not saying I am anywhere near achieving anything as impressive as any of these women, but look what they did, in a more difficult time than I am living in – alone!

What do I hope to achieve?

• Stop worrying so much about what people think of me. I spend way too much time thinking I’m not good enough and listening to other people (all well-meaning) tell me what I should be doing with/in my life and really taking it to heart and getting upset and doubting myself and the decisions I make. Well, I’m doing this my way and doing it alone. If I can do this –I’m on my way to knowing in my heart I can do anything – without others people’s opinions mattering.
• Navigate my way around a few places in the UK I not been to, all alone, with a caravan attached to my car that I have to detach, set up, make safe, have fully functioning, fix any issues in, re attach, reverse, get around corners, keep upright, keep safe etc (not anxious at all…)
• Enjoy myself, learn things, keep myself safe and healthy (as well as my car and caravan) and do something many people wouldn’t even consider doing.
• Keep this blog up and running throughout my travels (therefore keep finding access to WiFi)

So hopefully somewhere along the line, the next subtitle will be ‘The Good bit’…readers stay tuned…the countdown to ‘Adventure start’ date (Monday 6^th August 2018 – about 2 weeks from today!) beings….