Two major happenings this month. One, the introduction of four little paws into our family. Bonnie (Naughtland Bonnet) is a wee bundle of fox red Labrador cuddles. Our 12 year old fox red lab Lexie is regarding her with some caution and amusement but thankfully both seem to be getting on well. The second major happening is the purchase of our first motor home. This is a dabble in the grown up world of chemical toilets and leisure batteries. Our much loved blue T5 has given us many fond memories, including being the accommodation for 11 weddings, numerous holidays and transport of many ebay adventure gear purchases. However now that we are both over 30 and need a) a good cup of tea in the morning and b) to have a separate bed than the labradors we decided that it would be a sensible investment and a perfect excuse for adventures.
A trip to The Range sorted us out with duvet, saucepans, kettle, toaster, crockery, cutlery, blankets etc etc etc. In order to be adventure ready we wanted to ensure that we could turn key and go, none of this spending an evening faffing before getting on the road. This also (#toptip) got us thinking about clothing and we soon filtered all of our adventure gear (wetsuits, beach towels, dryrobes, hoodies, fleeces etc) into the many storage spaces which had the added bonus of gaining us some space in our tiny country cottage. We also packed a cupboard full of Ordnance Survey Maps, travel books, and sketch pads, packs of cards, compasses, matches, buschraft gear etc. One of the things I love the most about adventuring is packing gear.
So the first free weekend we hit the M5, heading towards a campsite which I had carefully researched and booked in advance. Loading the pupster and big dog onto the passenger seats in the back (we looked long and hard for a motorhome that could provide this function for us) it was adventure time. Lesson 1 – spending time researching campsites is a waste of time when you’ve got a motorhome, the venue for our first night away was far from our adventure ideal (a busy family holiday park) so we hit the road again and used an explorer map to find a little campsite just outside Woolacombe.
The dogs absolutely loved life outside the awning whilst we cooked our traditional spag bol on the oven. Breakfast was just as fun in the same way and we spent an amazing day on the beach (accidentally purchasing a surfboard). By far, the absolute best motor home moment was being able to head there after a long day on the beach, change and shower, and have a lovely cup of tea before the drive home. Am I still allowed to call this an adventure? Absolutely! Looking forward to the next!
Cotswold Kate 