Amongst a different crowd

Diversity. That's the name of the game. It is so easy to become blinkered by the vehicles we see at each and every show, so every now and then it's nice to mix things up a bit - like modern cars? Go to a classic car show. Like aircooled v-dubs? Go to GTI event... and so on.

So this morning we took a trip over to Awesome GTI in Manchester for the DetailedUK Summer Bash. I was expecting a handful of cars, maybe 30 or so. What I was greeted with were several large car parks full of quality motors from the water-cooled scene.

The van drew a few looks from passers-by even though the budget is nowhere near some of the machinery on display. But for a couple of T4s and a Sportline T5 we where the only other van there. Which is cool - it gives the crowd that only ever sees Lupos, Golfs and various Audis something different to look at.

The visit has certainly inspired me to finish off the van in a few areas - some final carpet lining, tidying up the interior, colour-coding the bumpers... and it would be nice if the van was a little lower too!

UPDATE: a few photos of the shiny modified motors here: http://stone174.tumblr.com/

And the runner-up is...

...well, one of five to be precise!

I thought I'd enter a recent competition by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles to find the UK's best looking van. Okay, I know grey bumpers and a few scratches and dings are never going to win any beauty contests but I thought a few pictures and a considered entry email which explained the van was built to be used and not just looked at, might have stood my in good stead.

Plus the winning price of £1000 to spend on VW accessories sounded very tempting. So I entered.

Congratulations to Gordon Wood from Scotland for a tasty looking T4 and to all the other runners-up, all good looking vans. Maybe next time...

Getting away

One week, one campsite, two people, a thousand things to do.

For some, the thought of spending a week in a van is totally ridiculous - there's no bathroom, kitchen, television or room service. But there is so much more! So over the next few blog-posts I thought I'd share some tips on how to get the utmost from living out of a vehicle for a week.

Tip 1: Maximise your holiday time.
To enjoy every possible minute of our holiday we like to leave straight from work on a Friday. This has several advantages; as we both work in Leeds it is pretty much straight onto the motorway network, we can be in Cornwall for first-thing in the morning, and the long motorway slog is split into two manageable chunks.
Leg one is usually Leeds to Taunton Deane services. We take a break a Donington for a bite to eat and stoke up the caffeine levels then with a good iPod playlist the M42 and M5 just fly by. Arriving at Taunton Deane around 9.30pm we pay for the overnight parking (currently a tenner) and camp up for the night.
Sleeping at the services takes a bit of forethought - always check out where most people park as that's where the traffic will be (including late-night idiots) all night. Try and get away from the passing wagons. Don't go too far into a dark corner and possibly out of gaze of the CCTV should anything untoward happen. Lock all your doors, get some rest.
We like to make the bed before leaving so there is the minimum amount of fuss when all you want to do is get your head down - it is usually just a matter of fitting the window blinds, spinning the passenger seat around and diving under the duvet.

The next morning will probably be an early start for Leg two but this is a good thing; less wagons and caravans by the time you hit the A30. At Bodmin we'll refill the van with cheap supermarket diesel (as oppose the tourist-priced fuel further into Cornwall) then refill ourselves with a full-english breakfast, finally arriving at our campsite at around 10am - luckily they always let us check-in early. If not, take a trip to the beach - they are emptier in the mornings, or stock up on provisions - the same can be said for the supermarkets, especially the ones nearer the resorts, always quieter in the mornings.

Finally, don't forget to relax! There will always be caravans on the A30, there will always be that milk tanker trying to overtake another wagon for the next ten miles and there will always be one idiot trying to cut in at the last minute when the dual carriageway turns back to single lane, keep your location in mind and it won't be long before your feet hit the sand.

Look out for some more van-holiday tips soon...

A week in Cornwall - home of the T5

A week of glorious sunshine.

So that's another week in Cornwall done. Having spent years holidaying down there in both the T5 and the previous T3 we've always been used to being among camper-company. But this year in particular there seemed to be T5s (and nice ones too) wherever we went.

Every time we pulled up in a beach car park, like-minded campers and vanners where parking up with us - often with admiring glances, a thumbs up of acknowledgment, or in some cases questioning and comments.

Here's some evidence of T5 'swarming' at the beach:

Many of you will know this car park well...

 

A slightly abused Sportline and a brand spanking Cali for good measure!

Car parking is one of my massive bugbears whilst down in the Southwest, everywhere seems to have you over a barrel with pay and display - with many car parks converting to the new 'camera-controlled' operation where you have to key in your registration - annoying to say the least - I used to like handing my ticket over to a local surfer at the end of the day for them to use into the evening.

Even the car parks look nice in Cornwall!

I'll be blogging some handy-tips for spending a week away in a van soon...

Back to Earth with a bump

Did I mention I like quiet campsites?

After a wonderful week of camping in Cornwall (with plenty of sunshine) we certainly came back to reality with a bump. We racked-up our usual mileage getting there and back, tooling around from beach to beach etc. (around 1,000 miles) and almost made it home without incident (~okay, so I put a big scratch in the sliding door by opening it against the back of a camping chair but we won't mention that~) when four miles from home we hit North Yorkshire County Council's wonderful road-chippings (sorry, 'surface-dressing').

Cue a big chip in the windscreen, thankfully passenger side but nonetheless thoroughly annoying. And then when back on the drive at home - a leaking front shock absorber - brilliant! Welcome home...

I'll go into more positive details of the holiday shortly, probably when the van is back from Aire Valley Workshop.