Welcome to my first Blog!
Well, it’s been an eventful month. I guess first off is around my trip to Sheffield to view the latter construction of, and finishing of Bilbo (van 1!). You can probably tell – I’m a Lord of the Rings fan (book more than films) and 15% discount on a hire to the first one back correctly predicting the name of van 2! On the back of a couple of calls with Ross at Reborn Campers, we agreed on a 2018 VW Transporter Type 6 about to get a fresh conversion. I took the train to Sheffield, inspected the construct and end product and drove back up to Edinburgh.
First impression was the van drove really well. Comfortable, cruise control for motorway and key, small enough I could manoeuvre into a supermarket car park for provisions. I actually preferred the drive on the A roads from Newcastle north, which encouragingly, more accurately represents Scotland.
Service is really key around my new business so it’s important to me that the vans are well looked after, work and don’t let hirers down. I’ve therefore covered 1500 miles since I bought the van, looking for those niggles. A couple of things have emerged which is great – minor ones and don’t impact a future customer.
First big roadtrip was with my wife Jill down to Lake District. The boys had a rugby tournament there so was just the two of us. The weather was horrendous on the way there, to the extent that a HGV overturned on the motorway north of Carlisle. After the inevitable hold up, we were back on track and was good to see how the van behaved on some of the intricate lanes in the Lakes. No real problems ensued and we even managed a walk between showers!
We stayed near Sedburgh and we cheated – stayed in a country pub attached to a brewery – had to be done! Getting back up the road with the boys was much less eventful.
Having done some research around rentals, a couple of upgrades were done two weeks ago. A diesel heater was installed which takes care of those cooler evenings (in Scotland, I hear you say!). Also installed was a certified gas set up for the hob. All safety checked and signed off for a year.
Now for the roadtrip proper. On my mind was, how do I explain the operation of all the facilities on the van confidently and what happens when something goes wrong? So, last week I was off to the Cairngorms and Glencoe. Objective – see what breaks!
I treated myself like a visitor to Scotland as all I left home with was clothes, towels and sleeping stuff. I booked a site off the web I’d not been to before and headed off. First stop was Perth for provisions and then it was on the A9. When I got to the site, it wasn’t good. Right next to the train track and pretty shabby. This was good however as this was a learn. As it was still light, I travelled 20 minutes north and picked a campsite on site – availability and nice. Pub convenient walk away (there’s a theme here!). No electric hookup but that was OK as wanted to test things off grid. The water pump failed me but that was a simple fix back home and again, glad it happened to me. Pulled down the rock and roll bed and a decent enough sleep! Had the diesel heater on for only 10 minutes and had to switch off as too hot.
Next day was a couple of Munros (3000ft mountains in Scotland) by Loch Laggan on way to Glencoe. Great time of year for Glencoe as no midges! Some great photos there on my Insta page. Overnight at the Red Squirrel campsite and great food and cheer in my favourite pub – The Clachaig.
Next day saw me down the road uneventfully and back to base for that small repair on the water system. Next time, the website, the premises, plans for van 2!
