I count myself amongst the lucky few who cannot only count their hobby as their job but it’s one that’s taken me all over the world, so it’s hard to know where to take the wife and leave work behind. Not sure a week away in the van reliving a trip I did for my “Home Ground” in the mag quite counts, but with friends in tow it couldn’t have been better.
While I spent endless hours fitting out the van last winter it was all designed around my kit, and me, though turning my bed into a double was quick fix with a plank of wood and a lilo. I’d apologise for the lack of any romance but no sooner had I convinced the wife it was a good idea the kids wanted to join us on our adventure.
The Dunt and Green families joined us, though they had opted for the luxury of motorhomes that dwarfed my van in both size and facilities, which I guess was the tipping point that made Aaron grass me up. Neil Greentree of Quayside Windsurfers had offered to put me on the best of luxury wheels from his adventure store, it felt wrong turning him down but having spent hours persuading Sally my van would be big enough I wasn’t going to back down now, though I did take some stick.
After a sailing at Hunstanton we camped wild for a night before heading over to Well-Next-The-Sea, the wind never really returned but Paul and Michel Peerry not only pitched in their toys in with our but gave us the grand tour of the floodwaters of Wells. To be honest it they made the trip so enjoyable it was hard to move on but home was eventually calling.
I’m not sure how but despite a near catastrophe with the vans electrics I managed to perswade Sally that we should take in another spot on the way home, it wasn’t as wild as our first night but seeing the beaches of Sea Palling the next morning not only topped of a good week but I’ve been told I should fix up that double bed properly as she’ll be joining me more often… I’ll believe that when it happens J
