So it's been a little while.. not much has been going on. Except a lot of prep and messing about with the van, in the hopes our first delayed trip would be success. And it was! Thank the lord.
The van didn't miss a beat, it got us to Durdle Door and back without any worries at all. Which was a massive relief given how much I have spent on the van for both the conversion and to keep the engine running. It may have helped that I gave it a fresh service just before we left, new oil, filters and just a bit of lovin'.
It wasn't a long drive there, its only about 76 miles from Portsmouth apparently (according to google maps). But it takes a while, about an hour and a half of lovely motorway through the New Forest. It's actually quite simple, you just hit the M27 west, and just keep going until it merges into the A31, and then just follow that for ages, and turn left a bit!
When you arrive, you'll be met with the steepest and fairly narrow entrance ever (seems so in a van you haven't driven much anyway). We knew where to go as we had visited for the day before, so it wasn't too bad. Once we found reception we checked in, and were greeted with lovely people and smiles. They gave us a little map, drew on it where we were and where we needed to go, and then we were off.
They make you drive towards the day visitor car park, and then double back through a barrier that you need a code for, and then you just find your plot. Very easy as it happens as they are all signed, and hedged off. Each plot is private, having a hedge border fence. They are easily mostly big enough to get at a push, 4 camper vans? inside them, so you could in theory have a great time with a few different parties together, in your own very little private plot.
Each plot comes with its own electric post, which is included in the cost of the stay, so no need to buy electric tokens or cards etc. We set up, plugged in and it was that simple.
The facilities aren't far away either, we were far enough away not to notice people coming and going all the time, but close enough it was never far for the loo! The facilities inside were very good, awesome in fact. Saying that, we haven't been anywhere else yet except for Comforts Farm in Cowes to compare it to. They easily win compared to Comforts Farm as everything was inside, the heating was on and they were kept very clean. Not that I'm saying Comforts Farm wasn't clean, they were and were lovely. But as it is a farm, the facilities are more of an outhouse affair, despite having electricity and good showers etc. Just no heating, but in summer you don't need that. Going back to Comforts Farm again this August - love the place, was such a good find for our first ever proper trip away.
Durdle Door is an interesting place to go to, the arch is iconic and the Jurassic Coast is an awesome place. If you walk East over the hill and back down it, you come to Lulworth Cove, which is equally as lovely, except this has a cafe called the Beach Shed Cafe. Local seafood is served here, the Whitebait, Plaice and Calamari is all excellent and recommended.
I did want to get my drone up for some awesome shots, but there are signs up saying no drones and no bbq's, which is a shame. Shame some people have to ruin it for everyone else.
BBQ's however are allowed on the touring site, but no fires. BBQ's must be off the ground, but the same applies wherever you go to be honest.
Would deffinetely recommend Durdle Door Holiday Park, for tourers, camper vans or even tents. If you have none of them, you can also rent pods in the same area. Take your kids!
As far as the maiden voyage for 2018 goes, this has been awesome and went very well. The Sheltapod went up a dream too and was a doddle to use, it lived up to its reputation, especially after receiving it and having to leave it in its bag for a few months. See below for the videos of setting up and packing away the Sheltapod, with a review to come soon after a few more uses.
I think that myself, along with everyone else who wants to go camping, wants the weather to improve already! There is a minor rumour going around about a 3rd cold spell... which I dont care about unless it snows. If it snows, our country falls apart. Completely. No one has been taught to drive in freezing conditions. Saying that, neither was I, I somehow just know. Again, it might be my job, or my mother, who always seems to have the answer to everything. The concept however is very simple. If you drive a BMW, just dont go out. Full stop. Or indeed the same for any rear wheel drive vehicle. PLEASE JUST DON'T GO OUT. It's you that messes up this country. If you drive anything that is front wheel drive, go slooooowllly. Start moving off in second gear perhaps, third if its really icy. Try not to let your wheels spins, because when they do they polish the floor and make it worse, or dig down, and obviously wheel spin is frictionless so that means you won't move.
Since coming back from Cowes on the Isle of Wight, we have failed miserably to use the van as much as we'd hoped for various reasons... These include but are not limited to the following: I have basically used all of my work holiday now, so I'm struggling to find the time to use the thing. Work for me is quite tiring as it is, so I usually find the prospect of getting the van gone to be used fairly daunting, and that I'm in need of my beauty sleep! We also have a holiday in Croatia booked for the begining of October, and since this has occurred we've been saving a bit of money to spend there, so the van has taken a back seat sadly. We're not really equipped for wild camping yet, and camp sites cost money, diesel the same, etc. Motivation has been low sadly :( Unfortunately I have considered SORNing the van so I don't need to tax and insure it, thus saving several hundred pounds, ready for its use again in March/April time next year. I haven't actual
Some stuff I missed from the last post will be in this post! I also videos a lot of what I did so the video is posted below. Along with everything else that I did in November, I also stole some ideas from other people and pinterest. Namely in the screwing mason jar lids to the underneath of a shelf and then using the corresponding mason jar to store little bits of crap that you don't need lying about in your house let alone lying about the space in your van, and then screwing the jar back onto its a lid, hence creating creative storage solutions. That was a mouthful. I don't even have a photo for you, so you'll have to watch the video to see. Going with the cheap and cheerful (functional), I decided a while back not to install 240v electrics as I couldn't be arsed, and it was quite expensive. I work with boats, so I knew of cheap installations for 240v electrics as they are the same. I found a power cable for boats that came with 3 standard uk plugs on the end
Each plot comes with its own electric post, which is included in the cost of the stay, so no need to buy electric tokens or cards etc. We set up, plugged in and it was that simple.
Comments
Post a Comment