Another perfect week away

We took off straight from work last Thursday and did the usual run to Taunton Deane for an overnight stop, leaving us nearer to our beloved Cornwall the next day. It may have been the tiredness but instead of telling the chap at the services we were sleeping in the car park, we told him we were in a Motorhome... 'that'll be £20 then' was the reply, 'but you do get a £10 voucher for breakfast'. Which we promptly snapped-up and used the following morning.

Ready for off - the early bird is first to the beach!

Staying at our usual campsite Trewan Hall for a week - the perfect place to relax. It has become the norm now for our September visits not to bother with the Khyam awning, but to live out of the van just using our new Khyam canopy for a little outside shelter.

Note the lack of other people - just how I like my campsites

After a week of mooching around Cornwall; eating, drinking, walking, sitting and generally doing very little, we headed up to the Camping & Caravanning Club site at Blackmore - just around the corner from Busfest at the Three Counties Showground. The weather was playing-ball and we could barbecue each evening - unfortunately surrounded by other people...

Parked on hard standing doesn't quite give you that 'barefoot on grass' feeling

Dotted amongst the other campers were a collective of vehicles that had done the Silk Road - an ancient trade route from China back to Europe. Obviously you need a vehicle that is slightly more hardcore than the usual, this MAN based 4x4 camper was my pick of the crop, a truly awesome machine:

Any vehicle that needs a ladder to get in to is cool in my book!

So after nearly three full days of milling around Busfest and the campsite looking at cool campers, it was time to head for home. Perfect weather, perfect surroundings, in an almost perfect van (I'll go in to detail in the next post), what more could you want from a week away?

Sunrise on the day we head for home

Roof research...

With the colour-coding complete and a nice shiny van to look at, should I really be thinking about cutting a massive hole in the roof? Probably not.

We're still a year or so away, financially, from being able to fit a pop-top but my initial research into which roof to go for starts here.

Calm down dear, it's just a Photoshop job

This is how I'd like it to look (I think...) colour-coded in Stone Blue with a dark charcoal(?) grey canvas. Or do I go black roof with light grey canvas? Can you see why I'm starting early?!

I'm not too fussed about having a bed 'upstairs', just somewhere to stash a few bits-and-bobs - like clothes at the end of the day that usually get thrown in a heap on the passenger seat.

What I am keen to have is a roof that doesn't rattle, squeak or whistle whilst on the motorway, and doesn't leak, create drafts or flap when popped-up. I'd rather pay a little extra for a quality product and for a fitter that will take the utmost care of my van - if they were on my doorstep that would be even better but I'm more than prepared to travel for the right roof.

So which is best? Who do you recommend? How much have you paid for yours and are you happy with it?

Back from the repaint

The van is back on the drive after another week at Merseyspeed. Instantly the paint 'feels' better to the touch - or is that just psychological?

Whilst the van was in I asked for another little job (rude not to), one that I should have had done first time around. The wipers seemed to stand out like a sore thumb after the facelift; big and numb-looking with a few rusty spots around the hinges.

Time to upgrade them to Caravelle spec. This involves changing the arms to thinner, more profiled versions, and the blades to the more modern 'beam' style.

If you fancy making the same change, you will need:
Arm: V7H6 955 409
Arm: V7H6 955 410
Blade: V7H6 955 425 (x2)

It might only be a small change but visually makes a big difference. Wiping performance is improved too - handy for the Summer of 2012 don't you think?!

Stanford Hall 2012: Finally

At last, the show we look forward to all year, went ahead despite more rain during the week running up to the event.

The organisers did a great job of getting everyone in over the soft ground without too much hassle and by mid-Saturday afternoon we were camped-up and chilled-out.

The camping area has a lovely relaxed vibe to it; nice and quiet with every type of VW imaginable from early Barndoor splits thru to brand new T5 campers, everyone is there with a love of v-dubs.

Lowered vehicles looked very low in the long grass

The show seemed quieter than usual, mainly down to the change of month and also down to it being Camperjam next weekend - in these frugal times it becomes hard to do too many weekend shows back to back.

As usual there were some awesome vehicles in the showground.

The K70 - becoming a rare sight these days. Tasty on Fuchs wheels

A 356 that had quite a few people drooling

Gorgeous Karmann Ghias

The Splitscreen Van Club lineup as impressive as ever

Stock and slammed rub shoulders by the Hall

Cool and quirky with a face only it's Mother would love. Über-rare Tempo Matador

If ever you want to see what's great about the VW scene then a trip to Stanford Hall is an absolute must. See you next year!

New Bra fitting

In a token gesture towards the failing front-end paint, here's a trial-fit of the new half-bra shaped for the T5.1 front end.

Quality is pretty good from the usual supplier; CMC/The Bra Factory.

Beddgelert: highs and lows

With the recent facelift done it was time to get back in the van and get using it again. A trip to Beddgelert was on the cards for my birthday, to do a spot of mountainbiking, bbq'ing, and generally chilling out in the forest.

Cue the worst rains in June for a long time! Not that it would put us off.

Camped-up the van looks even more at home on the campsites now it looks less like a tradesman has come to fix the plumbing!

We'd had the worst of the rain on the journey down, a quick walk in the woods (and in the drizzle) had made up our minds - pub.

The next day dawned bright so a trip was made down the valley for a clamber over Caernarfon Castle - a great recommendation for big kids as well as small:

Overnight rain then brought out those seeking damper hobbies:

Great to watch but it looked cold. These guys were paddling down stream through the spectacular Aberglaslyn Gorge; a gap between slate hills barely wide enough for the river, road, a footpath, and the railway to all fit through. Seeing the Welsh Highland Railway train come through was a bonus.

From here it was down to Porthmadog to stock up on provisions (we managed two barbecues during the break) and then a trip on to the beach at Black Rock Sands.

So those were the highs, what about the lows you ask?

Well, on first arriving on the campsite I quickly took to the van with a cleaning cloth and almost dropped to my knees... STONECHIP!

Surely not? Wait, and another, and another... this can't be right?

A quick email and photos to Alex at Merseyspeed (and a couple of beers to calm down) to arrange calling in on the way home. It seems that the VW factory-primed section of the bumper hasn't taken the paint at all well. The top coat of stone blue paint can be scraped away with a fingernail - fair play to Merseyspeed, a date has been set to put things right.

No doubt more will follow on this in due course.