Back on the road again - nearly!

"Bunty"

Recently, my gardening jobs have concentrated themselves into one week, followed by a fairly empty week, allowing me time to make jams, spin wool or do my own gardening – whatever takes my fancy. I didn’t really plan it that way, but I do quite like it although my body is not so sure about gardening for 5 days in a row!

A couple of weeks ago was one of my quiet weeks, and the weather was not good, so I started to spin the Shetland fleeces that I talked about in my previous blog. To keep me company while I was spinning, I set my YouTube music selection to ‘Random shuffle’. My YouTube music collection is pretty eclectic, made up of classical pieces, folk music, celtic music, 70s and 80s classics, etc and other random stuff that I’ve heard on people’s Facebook posts and enjoyed. Sometimes the random shuffle seems to get stuck in a loop and I end up listening to back-to-back Dire Straits or Fleetwood Mac, but that particular day it seemed to be behaving itself until I realised that it had played Crystal Gale’s ‘River Road’ (twice), Martha Tilston’s ‘Nomad Blood’ (twice!) and Canned Heat’s ‘Back on the Road Again’ – I could see a bit of a theme developing and, having too much time on my hands to think, it set off a train of thought that chugged off down the track, gathering momentum as it went. To be honest bits of this train – let’s call them the carriages, to continue the analogy – had been waiting in the sidings for some time, just waiting for the locomotive to come along and link them all together.

Carriage #1:

Back in 2015, when I finally hung up my WWOOFing shoes (or should that be wellies?) I had hoped to find a way to continue WWOOfing without having to work back-to-back with no break in between to rest and catch my breath, but the need to earn a living led me to start my gardening jobs and clients expected me to turn up regularly, not come one week and then take off for a couple, so the dream died … or so I thought.

Carriage #2:

During lockdown, while the markets were closed and I couldn’t sell my jams, chutneys, etc, I saw some of my market trader friends start doing home deliveries to keep their businesses going. It occurred to me that, if I had a van, I could also travel around, selling my wares but, as the markets had never been my main source of income, I couldn’t justify the expense of buying a van, taxing it and insuring it, so the dream died … or so I thought.

Carriage #3:

A few years ago, when I was first on my own, my lovely sister and brother-in-law started to include me in a group that went to the Fairport Convention music festival in Cropredy, Oxfordshire each year. At first, we camped in a large tent but, when they both retired, they bought a campervan so that they could do more travelling abroad, so the van went to Cropredy and I slept in the awning. I rather liked the idea of a campervan, but they are very expensive, so the dream died … or so I thought.

The Locomotive:

I have just turned 66. I am not getting any younger. I have finally qualified for my State Pension. It may not be a huge amount, but it does mean that, if I want to, I could become, at least, semi-retired. Those tunes just kept on playing in my head and through my speakers as I sat spinning wool into yarn – a very contemplative occupation. I put down my wool, picked up my laptop and looked on eBay for ‘Campervans’. There were a few possibilities but they were all ‘oop North’ and too far for me to go and see, but then I saw one that said ‘Weston-super-Mare’ as the location. Before I could think twice I picked up the phone and dialled the mobile number that was listed. It turned out that the van was actually in Bristol, the listing had been put up by the guy’s son-in-law (who lived in Weston). For a moment I discounted the idea of going to see it, until I realised that it was my side of Bristol and only a stone’s throw from Dundry, where I regularly do a farm sit, so I knew exactly how to get there and didn’t have to navigate myself through Bristol itself. Before I could get cold feet, I made an appointment to view it that afternoon.

The interior

It was old – 25 years old, to be exact – and had travelled many miles, but was in surprisingly good condition inside, and with only a few bubbles of rust visible on the outside. We went out for a test drive. It was a noisy diesel, but was quite quiet inside and there were no ominous puffs of black smoke from the exhaust. It pulled like a train, and tugged at my mind and my heart. We negotiated (I just knew that Creative Negotiating Course I’d been sent on years ago, when I was a components buyer, would come in handy one day); we struck a deal and he agreed to put her through an MOT. I drove home, wondering what on earth I’d done. She’d cost me the best part of half my savings but my heart was singing and my face had a permanent grin.

Last Thursday evening, my daughter and her partner took me to Bristol and Jeni and I drove her home. The most direct route home would have been up Dundry Hill but it is very steep and very bendy and I didn’t think it would be a clever idea to make that my first obstacle in a vehicle I had never driven before, so we planned a slightly less testing route and, after initially stalling her as soon as I got in, my biggest problem was keeping to the speed limit! Jeni was supposed to be there to give me encouragement and support but she ended up being the one trying to keep my exuberance from bubbling over and telling me to slow down. It would have been ironic to get my first ever speeding ticket at the age of 66 whilst driving a very old diesel campervan!

Hob and grill

Fridge

So now she is home and we are already planning her first trip – to Devon and Cornwall to catch up with old friends. Jeni has suggested a name for her – when I was a child, the family dog was my constant companion on solo adventures so, please, let me introduce you to Bunty the VW T4 Trident Autosleeper Campervan! She has a fridge, a sink, two gas rings and a grill, a pull out double bed and another one in the roof space, blown hot air heating and a solar panel on the roof that charges not only the leisure battery but the main vehicle battery as well. She also came with a brand new awning that I haven't looked at yet, as it keeps raining! All I have to do now is kit her out ready for her trip, and that has already started as my friend, Mary, has given me kitchen items, including a whistling kettle, for my birthday present! In time, she may also double up as 'Jan's Jam Van' and we'll go off to markets, village fetes and perhaps even have a regular circuit of Mendip villages, selling my wares to Somerset folk!

Sink

Rear seat/bed

The rear

‘I make roots, I pull them up again, woah, my Nomad Blood’!