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Thanks everyone for your continued reading.

Richard

Khyam impressions in the wind...

Having spent the last few days camping right at the edge of the Llyn Peninsula, with a less than favourable forecast, it was hard to avoid the wind. Driving rain and gusts up to 70mph were on the cards and the Khyam dealt with them extremely well.

Where others failed...

...the Khyam stood firm.

Partly down to the design I think; the 'flexible' knee joints of the pole system allow for a little bit of give in the heavier gusts while the feet are firmly pegged down - the only thing I would change would be to add a rope in the middle of the 'drive-away' side to hold the awning firm when the van isn't there.

The only slight annoyance was during the heavier, late-night gusts, with the tunnel section attached to the multi-rail it would billow and pull the van - a similar feeling to someone occasionally, and quite violently, rocking the van whilst we're trying to sleep. This was rectified by simply not attaching the van to the awning for nights two and three!

All I need to do now is to tell myself the Khyam will stand firm and that there's no need to check on it every couple of hours (something that is quite difficult in a howling gale!)

On the level...

I absolutely hate sleeping on a slope; feet down and you're constantly pulling at duvet all night, feet up and you're asking for a monster headache the next day.

One of our first ever investments was a set of chocks to remedy this and make sure we're pretty much level wherever we camp - we now have a set of four due to camping on some pretty steep gradients in Wales.

Until recently our only method of checking we were getting close to level was to either A: check which way the sliding door slid open (only good for front-to-back) or B: make a brew or pour a beer and place the drink on the van floor to check the level.

All of this seems crazy when, for only a couple of quid, we could fit this just inside the sliding door:

Finally, no more arguments about it 'looking' level! Simply place chocks under the appropriate wheels and creep up them until the bubble hits the centre of the indicator - why we've waited so long to get one of these I'll never know?!

Needless to say, I'll still be pouring a beer when we're chocked-up!

Stanford Hall 2011

Stately camping

In total contrast to last month's Bustypes, Stanford Hall couldn't have been more relaxed; no rush to get there mega-early just to bag a camping spot, no wristbands, proper toilet facilities that are cleaned and checked throughout the weekend, plenty of space to camp, a quiet night's sleep (rare at any v-dub show!), a good choice of food stalls that don't look to be run by unhygienic gypsies ready to mug you of £5 for an undercooked slab of burger... in all a 10/10 event - I guess the weather helped too.

If every you wanted to see the family-tree from which your Volkswagen has descended, then Stanford Hall is a must visit - see you there next year.