Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[Geo the Sarge]

Having stopped working some time back, I have spent quite a bit of time travelling with Bramley, my border collie as a walking companion.

Initially I tried tent camping with him, however he would never settle in the tent at night and always fought to get out, which was fine on decent evenings, he would just lie outside but that wouldn’t be suitable for the colder days, therefore I opted to get ourselves a wee camper.

My first camper was an ex fleet “Wicked Camper” Toyota Hiace which I picked up cheaply and stripped the outside and built a fixed bed and kitchen unit. Although it had clocked over 350 thousand miles it was a great wee runner and lasted me a couple of years before developing a fuel issue that was going to be too costly to repair. This wee van took us all over the Highlands and Lake District.

I now have a Ford Transit Connect that again I have built in a fixed bed and kitchen unit and it’s been a decent wee runabout. I may look to pick up something a bit bigger in the near future, more for the added comfort than anything else as Bramley always shares the bed. He does love being in the van but won’t sleep on the floor.

I keep most of my gear in storage boxes under the large space below the bed, which, incidentally, is two benches from an old dining set we had which I have bolted together and attached to the frame of the van. I have a 12v cool box, however I rarely use it as I found a cool bag which was cheap which works so much better. I just freeze 2 litre bottles of water and place them in the bag a couple of hours before I’m ready to go and it works great. A couple of weeks ago during the hot spell I spent 3 days up at Dornoch (beautiful place) and there was still Ice in the bottles when I returned and the inside of the bag was colder than I could ever get the cool box to be.

I have a 3 plug EHU attached to the inside of the van which I use on the odd occasion that I visit a campsite. I have a small portable charger similar to a Jackery that I use for charging my Ipad and phone and this usually lasts a good 4 or 5 days. Considering I watch football or some Netflix/Prime documentary most evenings that’s good going for a portable charger.

If you can give me guidance on how you upload your pics so easily, I’ll get some pics up for you.

Next instalment I’ll cover my oohs and aaarghs of campers.

Geo

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Fantastic post Geo, I love the detail. Pics would be great, I'll try to explain how I post them and if anyone knows a better way perhaps they will chip in.

How old is Bramley now BTW?

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I use the Imgur app download to my phone, you can find it on Play Store.

Click to see full-size image.

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Click "Upload Image" top left, choose the pic that you want to upload, then click copy URL and paste it into blonde, then highlight it and click the blonde "Image" button.

It's a clunky system that gets easier with practice but I'd like to find a better one.

Click to see full-size image.

[Pokerpops]

If we’re swapping conversion stories I’m close to completing a Daf LF 45 to be a live-in for my daughter.
Nothing overly fancy, mostly CLS frames covered with ply and OSB.

[Geo the Sarge]

Appreciated Tom, I'll have a look at that.

Bramley will be 6 on 15 September. He's been a fantastic companion and for a collie is a very chilled chap. He loves being away in the van and anytime I go to the van to start packing he'll jump in and doesn't;t move till we set off. He is also a great conversation starter wherever we go which is one of the best things about the camper life. Whilst in general, I don't like being around groups of people nowadays, I have met some fantastic and interesting individuals, some with stories similar to mine and others who have had some incredible experiences, both good and bad.

A wee story that I know you'll understand:

Last year during the May bank holiday we took the grandkids for a long weekend to a caravan site down in Southerness, Dumfries and Galloway. On the last evening I started getting chest pains and a horrible pain in the jaw, I knew the jaw pain wasn't dental and decided once we had driven back I would go to the hospital to get it checked. It turned out I had taken a mild heart attack and the result was that I had 3 blocked arteries. The following day I was taken down to surgery and had 3 stents implanted after they had unblocked the arteries, this all took just under an hour.

Remarkably the only sign of anything having been done was a small mossy bite size blemish on my wrist, incredible. I was released 2 days later with instructions to take it easy for a bit.

The following day I decided that I wasn't going to sit and mope about it so packed up and Bramley and I headed up to Plockton in the Highlands for a few days. I never felt better.

Geo

[Geo the Sarge]

If we’re swapping conversion stories I’m close to completing a Daf LF 45 to be a live-in for my daughter.
Nothing overly fancy, mostly CLS frames covered with ply and OSB.

Oh my, supreme jealousy here. That's quite a wagon, appreciate pics.

Will it be a static live-in or is she going to be a van lifer?

Geo

[Geo the Sarge]

During my travels I have seen some amazing vehicles used as campers, from Micro campers like ours to huge converted Unimogs and of course all the fancy Dan purpose built camper vans and motor homes.

One of my main gripes is why so many cough up mountains of money to have huge power set ups (Leisure batteries/inverters/solar panels etc) and then spend all there time on campsites hooked up to EHU.

I met one guy who had a beautiful Mercedes sprinter which he had converted and done a great job on, however most of his storage space under his fixed bed was taken up with a huge power set up of 3 or 4 leisure batteries a powerful inverter and also rooftop solar panels. Whilst having a chat he confessed to never having “Wild camped” and always used campsites. I just thought the expense and effort had been wasted.

On the wild camper side I find it incredible the amount of mess some campers leave behind and it has become a big problem especially up here in Scotland, so much so that there are a lot of restrictions being introduced in some areas and of course a lot of annoyance and dislike of camper people from some locals. This in itself forces a lot of otherwise wild campers to have to use campsites in some areas.

The prices of campsites over the last few years has risen extortionately, however during holiday periods they are almost always full. A couple of years ago you would book a pitch and pay your daily fee and all facilities that were available could be used. More and more now when you are looking to book onto a site there are additional costs if you want to use an awning, for EHU and also for Wifi use, all which were available previously under your daily fee. More and more of these campsites are now also charging an additional fee if you want to take your dog…WTF!!

If I am out for more than 3 or 4 days then I’ll generally look for a basic site that provides shower/toilets and an admin area where I can recharge my portable charger and I have found these to be so much better in respect of views and closeness to the beach etc. 2 of my favourites have been Fidden Farm on the Isle of Mull and Horgabost on the Isle of Harris. Both sited on the coast directly onto beautiful beaches, basic amenities in shower/toilet block and an admin area but both with amazing access to wonderful beaches and a basic 10 or 15 pounds a night per head regardless of what type of unit/awning/additional tent or pets you have.

Red Squirrel campsite in Glencoe is another favourite, same as above but without the beach, however the whole Glencoe area at your doorstep, amazing area for hillwalkers/climbers.

Geo

[Pokerpops]

If we’re swapping conversion stories I’m close to completing a Daf LF 45 to be a live-in for my daughter.
Nothing overly fancy, mostly CLS frames covered with ply and OSB.

Oh my, supreme jealousy here. That's quite a wagon, appreciate pics.

Will it be a static live-in or is she going to be a van lifer?

Geo

It will be a mix of the two Geo. She’s aiming to travel, but will always have a space on our drive when she needs it.

I’d love to share some pics but I have the same issues as you in that regard. I had a search but can’t find the imgur app that Tom suggested. I’ll keep trying though.

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You will need to search "lmgur photo upload" on  Plsy Store  on an android phone.

Pics would be great. 

[Geo the Sarge]

I'm the same regards Imgur, can only assume not available on iPhone or iMac. Currently looking at what is available.

Geo

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Sorry to hear about your health scare Geo  but we kind of have to expect it at our age. I have a few issues myself but, touch wood  I can still do the things I want to do at the moment.

It's lucky we live in modern times. Can you imagine your heart surgery 50 years ago?

[Geo the Sarge]

I was thinking much the same when you posted regards the Somme cemeteries.

A lot of these servicemen died due to their injuries not being able to be treated at the time, disease and no direct access to the medicines etc we now have.

Many would have suffered greatly for days/weeks before dying, whereas medical advances mean that in todays world we see many suffer horrific injuries and survive whereas 100 years ago survival was nigh on impossible.

Geo

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Tony uploads pics so there must be something out there that even a chimp could use.

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I use an app called Park 4 Night to find free overnight parking. It shows places near you and gives you coordinates, a picture and a brief description.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.