all packed and ready to go

So the moment the summer arrived in Wales the camper co-operated meaning we were finally ready to set sail. After a slightly hectic final day of sorting and packing it was around 20:30 when we wearily set off…..for a 7.4 mile trip down the road! DON’T PANIC it was intentional. We had decided it was about time we actually slept in the camper (i know – imagine if we hated it…gulp) so we pootled down to a local campsite in order to test the process and experience of camper camping.

Dad had had a laugh when we told him where we were planning to camp, The Hollybush Inn, saying something about hanging out with hippies. Dave got worried but we tentively made our way there anyway. We were treated by 5 peacocks and some interesting characters chain smoking they way through cloudy looking pints on the lawn. Unafraid I went inside to enquire and was met by two interesting looking characters who informed us there was no electricity and the card machine wasn’t working. No worries we thought, all part of the experience. We settled ourself in our pitch (narrowly avoiding what looked like an actual hippy commune covered in flags – dad wasn’t lying) we were instantly accosted by our neighbour who told us his life story. It being us, we found our escape via the need for an end of day pint excuse. I’d like to point put that we have nothing against hippies but we cautious about revealing our (my) slightly Londin posh twang and being revealed as phoneys on the camping trail.

Settled in the bar I managed to ask for tomato and goats cheese salad and end up with mushroom pasta. This worried me as clearly my English isn’t even up to scratch and so does not bode well for the number of coutries we are planning to visit. We were also entertained by the 70 year old couple next to us discussing the sex life of their daughter in law…’a couple of glasses of wine in her and she would relax enough to have a go at at least trying to get pregnant’ and then, more notably, their own sex life. apparently putting all ones energy into cycling means there is little energy left for any oter extra-curricular activities.

After a night of extremely deep sleep (nothing at all to do with red wine) Jim (dad’s superhero local mechanic/friend) came to see us and do the final check (valve clearances if you’re interested).

And then…..it was time. We headed off from Hay-on-wye in the direction of Bath – part of our plan to slowly make our way to Portsmouth ahead of a ferry to Bilbo (Northern Spain) on Friday afternoon. So far so (more than) good….we are on honeymoon!