Hiro Hits Solfest!

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Around this time of year, the lure of drinking cider and listening to music in a muddy, hippy-filled field is strong. In all honesty though, our last festival experience was not so great. Or relaxing. We slept in a two man tent with Milo, who was nearly two at the time (otherwise known as the ‘enjoys running full pelt into the distance and not coming back’ age), and ended up awake very early desperately hunting for coffee. We found closed food vans, litter pickers and a few late night stragglers instead. It was a pitiful scene.

So we were slightly apprehensive about repeating the experience – but optimistic that having a campervan and an older (although still pretty hyper) child would make for funner times.

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Amazing Arisaig (Part 2)

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Sometimes the planets align, the gods smile on you and you find yourself in the exact right place at the exact right time.

After a wobbly start to our trip, being in Arisaig at the precise time Scotland was deciding to have its summer felt like some kind of act of divine fate.

We took a boat trip from nearby Mallaig and spotted seals and porpoises. Some hilarious confusion from the boat passengers ensued about what exactly a porpoise was. A whale? A turtle? A Nessie? All serious suggestions…

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Amazing Arisaig (Part 1)

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So, the plan was to travel all around and share the many different places and campsites we visited with you. Then Arisaig happened. It’s impossible to leave. It’s basically heaven on earth.

We drove up to Arisaig (‘the Safe Place’) on the west coast of Scotland from Glen Coe following our first big take-down challenge. We realised we needed to be off the campsite by 11am at approximately 10.50am. Would we make it time?

Challenge failed. We left over an hour later. Some work needed on the packing system!

The day’s driving entertainment from Milo consisted of his take on Eye Spy:

‘What’s purple and orange?’

Fifty guesses later…

Milo’s red car.

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Highlands Ho!

Road to Glen Coe

There can’t be many more scenic drives in the whole world than the one between Edinburgh and Glen Coe.

I embraced my inner tourist and hung out the window taking pictures the whole way – it’s totally stunning and a much-needed antidote to the retail park hell we’d endured earlier getting the last bits for our trip.

(Stu bought a rug, we took it back. I bought a rug, we took it back. We decided a rug was perhaps not an essential campervan purchase. We bought a tennis racket instead. You get the idea.) Continue reading

Trying to Leave

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We’ve got a week off work…and the flu. Campervan Gang down.

After a few days in bed, a lot of flu medicine and some despondent Glastonbury watching, we emerged for our belated holiday. I discovered that Hiro is an excellent place to have a nap in Sainsbury’s car park when you’ve got a fever and we were now going to test the power of campervanning to heal and recuperate!

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The Maiden Voyage

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It was the Summer Solstice, it was Father’s Day weekend and the sun was actually shining!

After a few weeks of engine TLC, it was time to give it a bash.

We set off for Honey Cottage Caravan Park in the Etterick Valley in the Scottish Borders. We only had a night and there’s loads of the Borders we still haven’t explored so we kept it local – only 40 mins drive.

Handyman Stu spent the morning modifying a camp bed to become Milo’s new campervan bed. (It goes over the front seats, leaving more room at the back for the grownups – good plan, look into it!)

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Meet Hiro the Campervan

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This is definitely not the next Top Gear blog, you’re not going to get chat about horsepower turbo torque here. I passed my driving test 6 months ago so my vehicle knowledge leaves a wee bit to be desired!

But here’s what I do know about our new campervan so far:

  • she’s a Toyota HighAce (nowhere near as expensive as a VW but hopefully semi-reliable).
  • she’s dark green.
  • she’s got some rather funky red polka dot curtains, a cool spinny-roundy front seat and a Rock’n’Roll bed (which sounds very exciting).
  • she’s quite noisy to drive and hard to park, but you get a great view being up so high.

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The Story So Far…

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It all began in a beer garden, as the best plans usually do!

Over the years, mine and Stu’s favourite chat about the future has been the ‘let’s get campervan and go on awesome adventures’ one. This blog will be the story of us attempting to do that!

The Great Van Plan began with a (slightly tipsy) conversation in the aforementioned beer garden. The following might not show either of us in a particularly romantic light but I’m afraid it’s an honest summary of the talk… Continue reading