We have now completed just over a month in our 6 foot square tin box, so I thought I’d write a bit about what it is like living and working in a camping car.  To be precise it is 7.2metres long, 2.3 wide and 3.4 tall. I doubt if it is made of tin either. I remember about 5 years ago looking at buying a campsite, looking at static caravans and saying we couldn’t live in something so small.  I guess one of the things is we have pruned down to the bare minimum in terms of kit, although sometimes I think not, and we do still have a house with all it’s contents back home.

When I was young 1 weeks holiday a year was about the norm, and given we owned shops that is what we got.  Always at wakes week (first week of July in Halifax), when the shops closed. We used to leave at 5 on a Saturday and we’d return on Sunday the following week.  Dad always had trouble finding somewhere that did that time span. If we had a trusted shop assistant we may add on a few extra days. Always UK, although we once got a flight to the Isle of Man for the weekend and spent the whole time in the police station, but that is another story.  I do remember at primary school my best friend describing her holiday to the exotic south of France, sun, sea, bread. We were in the girls playground (yes boys and girls were not allowed to mix at playtime), which means I was about 8. I guess my love of travel started then. I went on every school trip going (much to dad displeasure at the cost) and every school holiday I go and stop with my wonderful aunt who at lived in Elland, Mytholmroyd and the Yorkshire Dales.  I seem to love seeing new and different places and being away from home.

I love going for a different walk or different bike ride each night, I cannot help but smile when I see the waves crashing on a beach, a grin spreads on my face at a lovely view. I almost jump up and down with excitement if I see an unknown bird or an animal.  I admire old and ornate buildings and sometimes other human achievements grab my fascination even when ugly (German submarine housing as an example). And I love camping. It’s a marmite activity is camping, but waking up under canvas, sheep bleating, birds singing and even children playing or sat in the tent in the rain to me are some of life’s greatest pleasures.  However I always said I’d not get a caravan, having stopped in them in the rain it sounds like you in a steel drum. Motor homes, well it’s so long since I’d been in one I didn’t really know. It was a leap of faith deciding to motorhome around Europe in a tin can without a plan, but it seemed to fit some of my loves in life.  The next few blogs will go into details of how we are finding things