InvictaMoto's Family Travels

We should pick the van up on Friday. Until we get it I am not assigning a name!  Or rather we aren't assigning it a name. I'll just call it Van for now. Once we pick Van up we need to get acquainted with it. It does mean with this expenditure that we will have to cut back in other areas.  It means unless we get very lucky the timeshare in Tenerife will need to go. When I say lucky I mean being able to book places in Europe that we can drive to in Van.  I have £180 invested with RCI.com from 2020 when COVID hit and everything was cancelled. Finding places that take a pet is more of a problem. There are some but Reggie can be territorial. Looks like the this year's week will be lost as we can't get an exchange that we want or need.

So far we have booked a couple of nights on the way down to Brixham, where we have the holiday stay. But what about coming back? As we will be in the Motorhome-with-No-Name (to be known for now as Van) we should be able to knock the miles off easily enough.   But as we walked the dog today along our familiar stretch of the Royal Military Canal we decided to look for a camping ground on the way back as well. I had a look for some scenic areas where we have been before and would like to try again.  I saw a site on the club site  right alongside the Fleet Lagoon on the Dorset Jurassic Coast.  I had thought of one night after we leave Brixham but the site seemed to only allow booking for minimum of two nights.  No problems I thought.  It will mean Friday and Saturday nights in the Van. The site is called Eastfleet Farm . It's not a club site but affiliated.  So that will cost us £66 for two nights including the extra fee for Reggie for the pitch for t...

With the arrival of the motorhome in the next few weeks we decided to take it to Devon on this staycation rather than the car. If we had decided to buy one earlier we would have sucked up losing the deposit on the holiday home and saved the balance. But, that didn't happen. So instead we will go a few days earlier in the RV/van/motorhome (yet to be named!). By May we ought to have a few trips under our belts.  There is only so much you can learn from books and magazines. So on the way to Devon we have booked a couple of nights at a campsite that's about halfway between home and Brixham. We chose Back of Beyond Touring Camping and Glamping Park . It's an adults only site and for two nights with Reggie it's £69. A motorhome pitch with electricity. The site is quiet and doesn't have the entertainment and all that jazz. So we will see. Once the van is ready for collection we can look at going out locally. Probably for one night to get the hang of it. Plus we have to mak...

Well.  We have thought about it for a long time and then not done anything.  Then a few weeks ago we decided to go and have a look at some at a dealership in Sussex. We liked a few there.  On the way back we called into another one, also in Sussex, in Rye. We had set a budget of £30k max. This would get a decent low mileage van but around 2008/2009 build. We had had a look online at a few local dealers. There are two in Kent but nothing in our price range. We guessed we needed to up the budget to £35k. A few more came into that budget. We saw the 2013 Eldiss Majestic at Rye. Went for a look and it started to rain heavily. We went again a few days later and it was still there and dry.  On our third visit I had a test drive and we decided to take the plunge. Deposit paid on March 12th. Collect it in a week or so from now. A bugger that we have the staycation to Devon coming up in May and that we have already paid in full. I might have swallowed ...

Just over a month to go until we head off to Brixham. I texted the owner to check on a few things, parking etc, as once we paid the balance of the rental we got the address. I wanted to see on Google Maps what the property looks like from the street.  Looks okay. We have to decide when to set off from sunny Kent.  Google Map directions shows the A303 route to be a spot under 5 hours. With stops to stretch legs etc, this could be a lot longer. We can't get in until late afternoon and so other than me being frustrated at progress especially past the bottleneck at Stonehenge, we have plenty of time. Even on this map today, there is a red marker on the map. Friends that do this trip regularly always claim plain sailing, but leave home about 5am. Maybe that's what we need to do.  Then we have 11 hours for a 5 hour (plus Reggie break stops)? Last time we set off from Fleet Services along the route and it took 8 hours!!! Google does give that alternative route to the...