Our adventures continue and, so far, we have only spent a maximum of three nights in the van at one time. We have enjoyed the peace and freedom that has given us. As you can imagine, it is a small space to live in. We have found it has been perfect for a short but now we are trying 9 nights; 2 will be off grid.

So how are we going to cope with that amount of days. Will we still be talking when we get home or will we be selling the van and saying this isn’t for us 🤨. All very good questions that we will hopefully be able to answer.

When we set off on Friday, I was super impressed on how Chris had made the van look so tidy. The weather wasn’t looking good so we did need to have some extra clothes for this reason. I still packed far too much but plan to change that this year with a book called Project 333. I just haven’t had the mindset to start that one yet. Our fridge was full and the microwave had been converted to a larder. 

We didn’t leave until 10 and as we can’t get into most sites until round 1:30 p.m, we decided to take advantage of Chris’ birthday present; his membership to National Trust. We stopped off at Stourhead, a beautiful house and gardens. The weather wasn’t kind to us; heavy showers with some hailstones thrown into the mix, but we were able to view the house and take a quick walk round the gardens. Stourhead, we will be back and will appreciate the gardens much more.

We then headed for the first of our stopovers, Old Oaks in Glastonbury. We were staying here for 4 nights, the longest we had ever stayed so we had a new addition to the camping experience; a new awning. This was exciting but also very daunting.

We are still very new to the world of campervan life but we are slowly getting into a routine. I’m fairly confident about hooking up the electric and I’m slowly learning about filling up with water. Lots to learn about putting the heating and water on inside of the van but I can get on with making the first cup of tea. This can be done in around 10 minutes. When we put in our order for the awning, we were told it would take 10 minutes to erect. We were doubtful, and it took us longer than that to find where we needed to pump it up. This must have caused some amusement with our neighbours! I did have confidence that Chris knew what he was doing, and after an hour,  our extension was almost complete. I left Chris to make some adjustments whilst I went in search of some food. On my arrival back, the awning now had some chairs in and we were able to enjoy our first meal outside (me with my coat on).

The awning is a very welcome addition for our experience. We will be able to enjoy eating and drinking outside along with making use of the barbecue, have somewhere to store our shoes and umbrellas and have some room for me to do some exercise if I feel the need. I’m sure that it will get easier to put it up. Let’s hope we can take it down now!

See you next time to see how our adventure went, my thoughts on the campsites we stayed in and if we actually can survive living off grid!