The Maiden Cruise

When reading about blogging and the best way to go about it, the main point, was to be an observer and tell it as though you're seeing stuff for the first time. So I'll try to keep that in mind as we set off on our very first trip in the van, all the way to Inverness, which is about 120 miles each way. Now for us, the first bit of the trip is the ferry from Orkney to Scotland, which takes about 2 hours from getting on to off. I'm OK at this water stuff, but Jake just doesn't have the sea legs, so a flat crossing was hoped for. The weather forecast was excellent for all of our time away, sun and more sun and the campsite we'd booked was in a nice position on the outside of the city.

The ferry trip was uneventful, apart from watching a young lass eating a whole bag full of assorted lettuce leaves for her lunch, followed by a box of baby beetroots! Whatever gets you through the day.

Driving our motorhome is a pleasure. It's fully automatic, with a 3 litre turbo engine and for a 7.4m long vehicle, it really nips along.

There's this thing about motorhomers and no doubt I'll mention this a few million times as the years go by! They wave. At each other. Like, all the time. It's the done thing. So driving down the A9 or the wibbly wobbly way as I call it, not only am I concentrating on getting this lefthand drive, 7.5m machine along the road, I'm having to think every time another bloody MH comes along, to wave at the people in the front of the thing who are looking for me to wave back at them. Nuts.

So, we get to the campsite.

It's right next to the Caledonian Canal.

And as forecast, the sky was blue.

Of course this being the maiden trip, we had to have an official launch, so the barby and the champers had to  come out. 

There were ducks on the site, they came and went and this one took a bite out of Jake's toe.

We spent five really lazy days, just learning how the van worked and enjoying the sun. We walked along the canal one way and crossed at the locks and came back the other. We walked into Inverness along the river and saw stuff we've never seen in our previous visits, staying at hotels. The city was full of people from all over the world and Inverness really is a great place to visit.

The castle and River Ness.

The campsite was mainly full of well retired 'tuggers' or caravaners and was pretty quiet. I think we (I) rattled a few cages during our stay. Our vehicle alarm went off at 3 in the morning and again at 7am. The night was that quiet, I'm sure the alarm could be heard in Glasgow!!! 

We also went singing on Sunday night at a local karaoke bar. I really can't remember going back to the camp, but the ladies in the van next to ours told me I sounded as though I'd had a good time!!

So all in all, a productive first trip, lovely weather and a comfy bed in the van. 

Only five weeks till we leave for Europe. Can't come quick enough for both of us.

Weight

Strange thing weight. It affects everyone in some way or another. In learning about the whole mobilehome thing, I've just really learned what Max Gross Payload means!!! To do the long story short, we've a van with a maximum weight, fully loaded and with full tanks of fuel and liquids of 3,500 kgs. Went to the weighbridge yesterday, (almost) fully loaded, but without Jacky and a lot of clothes and the van came in at 3,460 kgs!!!!!

So we've got rid of all the heavy not really needed stuff and emptied the water tank and now Jacky should be able to go away with me.

Tomorrow, we take our first small step with a four day trip to Inverness. Excited? I would say so.

The Hard Part

Now this is the hard part. We've had to re-home our poocat TT. She has been part of our lives for over 7 years and is more than just a cat. We have found what we hope, is a great new home for her, where she can play and hunt and continue to lead her happy and contented life puurfectly! We love her and will miss her.

View from Behind!

If you see this then you are following us. Warning! There's turtles on board.

The Van

So here's our new home for however long it takes.