Lets do it again, and again, and again.............

So, after the first time away, what to do next? Go again of course. Ann was in work but I was off with Stu so we decided on a single night to check out a place we all liked the look of for later in the year. A Boys Own trip wouldn't hurt either - it's why we bought Arthur in the first place, Ann saying I was too old & knackered to sleep in a tent anymore.

Red Bank Farm is a working farm in Bolton le Sands right on the shore of Morecambe Bay (www.redbankfarm.co.uk). Licensed cafe, good reviews on UK Campsites, and would only cost us £9 for the night (£6 for adults, £3 for kids all year round).

Weather was brilliant all week so we packed light (no long trousers!), took plenty of "refreshment" (just for me although a glass of cider had been promised to the Boy), bbq coals & the laptop for a bus-based cinema night (So I Married an Axe Murderer - Channel 5s Royal Wedding night film apparently. Has Kate got a mad sister & did Wills last girlfriend smell like Beef Vegetable soup?).

Run to the coast went well. A few struggles with 1st gear during a brief encounter with Carnforth & we were there. No awning as just the two of us so setting up was simply leveling up on chocks & putting the handbrake on and then off for a wander. "Don't wear your flip-flops, Stu. We're walking a long way". "I'll be ok, Dad. Leave me alone, I'm not a baby........"

Half an hour later, Stu's feet were on fire as I walked him all the way to the village to find a nice pub for an afternoon drinkie - he'll learn. Feeling a little guilty, I suggested he sat with his feet in the canal for a while to cool off. Not for too long though - the pub was just over the bridge.

We should have stayed at the canal - I've never been in a pub before that didn't have any bottled drinks or crisps because "we're still waiting for a delivery". Deliverance would be nearer the mark in there and would be viewed by the regulars as a documentary, not fiction. A collection of creatures lurked near the pool table, possibly because they worshiped it as some kind of God, possibly because they were waiting for a non-local to bend over it. As I didn't want to find out exactly what they did with the chalk, 2 quick beers & 2 quick Cokes later we were out of there "before our IQs dropped too far" to quote the increasingly cynical son of mine. Note that it was 2 beers, I wasn't going to let the fear of bum-rape stop me having a second pint.

Walk back to the site was good for a laugh too. We got stopped at a level-crossing for about 30 minutes while various trains went past. Realising that Stu had never been up close to a train track before, I suggested that he stood close to the barrier looking straight ahead while I watched the Virgin Express approach at high-speed. Ah, bless, he fell for it and the sheer terror on his face after the train thundered past 6 feet away seemed to have made him forget all about his aching feet. All this fun & child benefit too......................BBQ followed by campfire with toasted marshmallows on sticks ended a wonderful day so we climbed into the bus & watched the DVD. Great nights sleep too.

Up early next day & another wander before breakfast in the cafe, pack up & home. Massive queue heading north into Blackpool as we pottered down the M6 towards home - who are these people?

Rest of the week? Not much really, gave Arthur a wash on Sunday morning & went to a VW meet at a pub in Didsbury with Cal in the afternoon. Steve, Ann, Stu & Albert all came along but we mostly ignored them & chatted to other owners like the nerds that we are. Not many others there to be honest but it was Easter Sunday so maybe other families aren't as accommodating.

Have re-fitted the cupboard in the back & sorted out the hook-up. Amazing how well electricity works if you actually connect it all up right - it could have been worse, we could have been electrocuted..............

2 weeks til Ann (my lovely wife) tries again, free camping weekend in return for helping Cal's dog training club at an event in Bakewell. New sleeping bags have been bought for Ann & Stu after Ann tried one out on the floor of Millets in Altrincham - so wish I'd been there but the mental image will keep me warm for a while yet. Hope the sleeping bag does the same for Ann.

Long long week & even longer weekend nights

Where to start? Last Monday is as good a place as any. Paul texted to say he'd sorted the wheelbearing for £60 & that I could pick up that night. He also mentioned that "the whining noise had gone". To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what he meant because if there was any noise as Arthur goes along, it's more of a roar that I always felt was coming from the dodgy gearbox. Anyway, got up there to pick up, pushed cash under door, found keys on top of sun visor (nice Hollywood touch there I thought) & off we go......

A 1984 Transporter with god knows how many miles on the clock is never going to be silent running but we are certainly now in the quiet category - good result for £60 & a little grief last Saturday. Actually, the result is that I can hear a few other squeaks & rattles that the old roar had been blotting out but nothing to compare to before. The radio can now be used for the spoken word & music other than the mad bad loud stuff that I had to (had to?) listen to before.

Tuesday - long night working on Arthur after work. Got the 240v hook-up finished (so I thought, see later), cupboard mountings fitted, curtains fitted with wires to tuck the bottom of them behind when in use, tiebacks fitted. Came in feeling like a bit of an Alpha Male (after fitting curtains? yes I know, it's all relative) & slept the sleep of the righteous.

Wednesday - went round to the eldests to meet his girlfriends mum but ended up dragging all out of the house to show off my handywork. Bore? Me? Never.................

Thursday - did a preliminary pack-up of all the bits n bobs. We had been thinking that space would be tight but in the end it turned out that there's more room than we thought. Didn't sleep well, really worried that Ann wouldn't like it & that things would go wrong.

Friday, before work - packed a few more bits & went off to the Workhouse with a head full of campsites, sunshine & promise of real ale. Can't remember much about the day but suppose it was a day like any other full of appreciative articulate customers.

Friday , after work - the descent into Hell began. For some reason, we'd agreed to food-shop for the weekend after work on Friday - YES I KNOW, WHAT WERE WE THINKING?

Dropped Ann at Tesco, took the middle one home & came back to Tesco. Met the youngest there & in we go to find Ann. Methodical sweeps of the aisles found nothing, I'd left my mobile in the car so I sent the boy in to look while I continued to prowl up & down looking along aisles. Lost 15 minutes I didn't want to lose doing this before finding them both. Got home, finished packing, gathered us all together in a kind of pre-match huddle & gave the pep talk, "Lets all try to be calm, we've waited a long time for this, things will go wrong & we will have forgotten things but lets not stress each other out"

Off we go.

1 mile down the road, I realise I've forgotten my wallet. Ah, the joys of telephone banking, I can call First Direct & get them to transfer cash to Ann & we'll find a cash-point somewhere.

2 miles down the road, I realise I've forgotten my painkillers. Bigger problem here, I can cease to function as a polite human being without Tramadol if I take too much exercise & the intention is to drive, pitch camp, sleep out, walk all day Sat & then break camp again Sunday. Traffic back to home is horrendous due to roadworks so I decide to say nothing for a bit so I don't get pressurised into turning back. Can't spare the time, putting up a new awning for the first time with the light fading is no basis for a stress-free weekend, so decide to go up the A6 to get cash and armfuls of Paracetamol/Ibuprofen at the Sainsburys in Hazel Grove.

Did I mention that it was Friday rush-hour? The A6 in Friday rush-hour? A fully laden bus with a decidedly iffy 1st gear on the A6 in Friday rush-hour........great. A nose to tail 45 minutes later, we broke free & raced off through Disley, Chapel & over the top down towards Castleton. Winnets Pass is a 1 in 5 descent but nothing was stopping us now as we charged downhill. The brakes worked as intended & we proceeded calmly through Castleton, into Hope, out the other side & arrived at Laneside Caravan Park (www.lanesidecaravanpark.co.uk).

Friendly owners showed us to our pitch & left us to it. My biggest worry was that we would provide some kind of floorshow for others as we demonstrated our brand-new status by cocking everything up, by me using my very best polite sarcasm "Actually, you'll find if you do it this way, it is perfectly simple" etc, etc.......Didn't turn out like that. Awning went up easy enough though pegging out was a struggle. I'd booked a hard-standing pitch thinking this meant a strip of concrete for the bus to sit on while the awning was on grass. It didn't, it meant hard-packed limestone all over that you have to pound pegs into with the back of an axe because you've lost your mallet. Never mind, live & learn.

Sent Ann & Stu off to the village to find the Chinese take-away while I finished off setting up. It was at this point that I discovered that the hook-up didn't work so mobiles would be flat & coolbox would be battery only. No matter, you live & learn. They came back with a great big box, we ate like kings (should be Emperors I suppose) & we settled down for the night. No toothpaste, ah well, you live & learn.

Off to bed, Stu in the awning, me & Ann in the bus. Ann couldn't sleep, draughty, cold & what I thought was the best sleeping bag & had given to my lovely wife clearly was not up to the job of keeping her warm. Tears followed, not mine, but felt dreadful. Ann was only doing all this to humour me & to not feel excluded when me & Stu nip off camping somewhere. It was a long, long, night...........Still, a nice bacon & sausage barm in the morning will help to, ah, no, wait, forgot the fry pan. You live & learn...................

Saturday dawned bright & noisy. So many birds tweeting, sheep bleating, etc. Sounds I love but not after probably 4 hours sleep between us. Stu, of course, slept like the dead & awoke bright and so happy we could have strangled him. Previous nights Chinese made the missing fry pan a moot point as the thought of food was far from our minds. Bought toothpaste on site, got clean & we wandered off. Site has a river running past with stepping stones so a morning went just passed by wandering about & watching Stu getting his feet wet. Into Hope, found a cafe & had breakfast for lunch then wandered off to Castleton - 2 miles across fields full of lambs. Possibly the best walk ever.

Back to Hope by bus & into a pub for the FA Semi - least said about that the better. My one comment would be that if you truly wish to appreciate "citeh" & their 6 woolly-toed following, do it in a small Derbyshire village pub.

Return to site & Ann decided to sleep in the awning rather than the van, swapping places with Stu. The price you pay for a crystal clear April day is a bitterly cold April night so she was back in the van in the small hours - good job it's a full width bed.

Morning came & armed with a fry pan bought in the site shop, bacon & sausage barms were made & tasted as good as anything I've ever had on a campsite. Packing up after this was a breeze & back home via the Snake Pass - Arthur performed brilliantly & although the road was clear ahead, I was only holding up 5 cars at the most.

Today was spent washing & putting stuff away and thinking of next time & what can be done better. Whether Ann will be with us is up for debate - will depend on whether the brilliant days can offset the horrible nights - will get a 3-season sleeping bag if nothing else & I suppose better planning/execution on my part will help. Lets see - days are long enough when Ann isn't by my side & nights are even longer x

So I lost my virginity at last.........

.....bet that got your attention but it's sadly true.

Got Arthur back from Pauls early yesterday am. Leisure battery fitted & various other bits done including gearbox oil change - more of that later. Set off home, all good. As we got close, we noticed a squeaking from the front nearside. Thought nothing of it - he's an old boy & if I've learned nothing else, it's that when one job is done, you notice something else that needs doing.

So finally after 5 months of tootling around, first time starting & a general smug-ness about my perfectly functioning T25, I have a breakdown to report. A wheel bearing gave up when taking Ann (my lovely wife) and Stu to Lyme Park to meet grandkids for A Big Day Out. Ann wasn't happy, I thought it was funny, Ann really didn't think it was funny, I thought this was even funnier. I sat in the back, Ann sat in the front, arms so tightly crossed that it made me feel breathless. Luckily, the eldest was available to pick her & Stu up & deliver them to Lyme Park for a beautiful day in the sun rolling down hills & eating picnic. I got a trip to the garage on the back of a breakdown truck driven by that bloke who knows exactly how to sort this country out. You know him, he's the salt of the earth, that uncomplicated bloke who is fashioned from the common clay, the bedrock on which this fine land of ours solidly stands, or to put it more simply, a moron......................

It's a tick off the list though, been meaning to call Britannia Rescue just to check if campers are covered. Thankfully, they are and we're now proper camper owners. Should be back on the road Wed pm once Paul weaves his magic.

Gearbox? Gearbox, gearbox, gearbox................ It appears that a rebuild/replace will be necessary unless it was part of Mr VWs design for little bits of metal & ball-bearings to come out when you change the oil. Getting into 1st gear has always been a bit of an issue but other than that, it's fine. No crunching/grinding at all but definitely noisier than it should be. Perfectly drivable at the moment but will be sorted as soon as we're back from Hope Valley on Sunday.

I hereby appeal now to all Gods of Motoring, past & present, to grant us an uneventful drive there & back. Oh, & if you could throw in some nice weather & the thick end of £1k for a gearbox, that would be nice

Quiet week really - fitted the 240v hook-up socket to the back of the rear numberplate flap, widened the bit on the rear platform where the bed frame rests (don't really want the bed to collapse every time one of us rolls over in the night) and covered the kickboard in lining carpet to match the bus walls.

Booked into Pauls for next week for leisure battery fitting & for another look at the gears. Having problems getting 1st gear again once we've been running for a while - 80-

90 forum suggests bleeding the clutch slave cylinder - hopefully that'll sort it out..

After grandkids day out last week, took Ann, Stu & Ann's dad Albert round to Jays new place in Chorlton - pic below. Ran sweet enough but as above, 1st gear a little problematical. Still arrived with a silly grin on my face though.

Two weeks until 1st camp-out in Hope Valley - I've got a snaglist a mile long & running out of days to do them in. Will all be worth it though if all goes as well as hoped.........