CaliAdventure
So we're just back from our first real, i.e. more than a weekend, holiday in Bertie the Bus. I can't really work out where to put a trip report on the forum so it's going here...hope that is ok Mods?
We went up to Northumberland via Yorkshire last week and it was such fun and also such a good lesson in what things we need to do differently, better, not bother doing at all and what still needs to be purchased.
Where we stayed?
We stayed at a mixture of Britstops and campsites. The two campsites were quite different - one was a very slick set up on the side of Kielder Water and one was a field at Hexham Racecourse, both served their purpose but overall we prefered to not be surrounded by lots of other campervans, tents and caravans. We loved using Britstops and we quite enjoyed the opportunity to sample local beers and some food but going forward we realise that we have to be strict otherwise we will spend a fortune on food. So offical Bertie guidelines for Britstops - beer is ok, food is not
What worked?
Having a Cube 335 porta potti - fab for night time use only. We covered it with a rug to use a footstool and stored it under the sink. Absolutely no smells at all, wouldn't even know it was a loo really (#1s only though).
Cali Cosy - went on, stayed on and will stay on for quite a while at least until summer.
Cali Topper - easily attached and removed but probably best used when parked up for longer than a day; this combined with the cosy made the nights that much warmer!
Really Useful 64L storage boxes - got two which fit perfectly under the parcel shelf; I kept them sitting on their lids, husband kept the lids on. My way was better as it drove me nuts having to pull them right out to get the lid off (thanks HC for that bit of advice).
Bergan dog harness - our doggy has always travelled in a crate so we were concerned but he was mega chilled lying on the bench wearing the harness.
Packing cubes - we got these from Amazon, there seems to be a plethora of types so we picked a mixed bunch in two colours. One for me and one for him. Such a great way to keep your clothes neat and tidy, and most importantly accessible. I did think I should put little tags on indicating what is in each bag though.
The heater - fabulous bit of kit although we barely had it higher than level 2, mostly level 1 and sometimes level 3 for a quick boost. Wasn't bothered by the noise but we did find once that the exhaust was drifting back into bertie - perhaps we were parked the wrong way but there wasn't much option for any other position
This forum - it has been brilliant for ideas, suggestions and also I just love seeing other Calis and what people do. Looking forward to the June meet.
What we will change for next time?
As I found that I was using the parcel shelf as a 'go to' area I would replace one of the larger boxes with a couple of smaller ones to give us a bit more flexibility. We kept all our cycling and walking gear in an IKEA bag but if we can use the second large box then that will go under the shelf.
I really could do with another working space whilst cooking so I have seen a shelf option so may look into that again....
Take less clothes - I certainly did pack much but I realised that I really don't need that much.
Whilst we both found the mattress upstairs comfortable enough I found that I was getting dead arms a lot so I think we will invest in possibly Duvalays with a decent thickness of mattress. I will investigate the alternatives though before the purchase.
I need a light in the wardrobe - it is like a black hole in there so my husband has promised to look into a battery-operated LED light for me.
Taking bikes is great however it is a real bind getting into the boot when they are on the VW rack - they make the tailgate really heavy; this was probably my biggest bugbear for the week and it often meant I couldn't get easy access to things so we didn't use the back cupboard as we should have done. Not much we can do about this but we need to consider this when packing.
I think the drawer under the bed is like the Tardis so will plan to utilise this more particularly for cooking - having the PP under the sink takes away a lot of useful kitchen space so I will have to use the drawer more and ditch things from there into the back.
I would like to invest in some Brandrup storage but it is so expensive however there are a couple of items which really would serve us well as go-to storage...to be investigated more.
I'd like some solar lights for the awning - think they will be nice particularly in the warmer weather.
I'm going to get myself a collapsable kettle, a splatter guard and a collapsable colander.
Overall thoughts
We thoroughly enjoyed our first trip....and only came home because the Easter weather was so rubbish. The freedom that having a Cali gives you is incredible, apart from when we hunkered down at Kielder for a few days we didn't really know where we were going to end up - such a fab feeling
. I love a fancy hotel or B&B but you just don't get that feeling, or at least we don't, when holidaying in that way. I found that our approach to what to do that day was so different - we would go where Bertie took us instead of meticulously planning on what to do that day. Odd why this is as we could approach a day out like that if based in a cottage or hotel but we just don't
We loved getting up early and arriving somewhere new before everyone else and seeing a place just as it is waking up and leaving when it gets busy e.g. Whitby but we also loved being able to stay snug in bed and then chill out in a warm Bertie on a wet, soggy day just reading the paper and drinking tea.
I'm keen to try out wild camping as we saw plenty of spots particularly in the national parks but I think I need to have more of an idea of how that works...there are some good posts on the forum so will get reading.
Anyway that's it....we love our California. It's offical
I can't wait for our trip to the Scottish Highlands in August for two weeks
CJ
We went up to Northumberland via Yorkshire last week and it was such fun and also such a good lesson in what things we need to do differently, better, not bother doing at all and what still needs to be purchased.
Where we stayed?
We stayed at a mixture of Britstops and campsites. The two campsites were quite different - one was a very slick set up on the side of Kielder Water and one was a field at Hexham Racecourse, both served their purpose but overall we prefered to not be surrounded by lots of other campervans, tents and caravans. We loved using Britstops and we quite enjoyed the opportunity to sample local beers and some food but going forward we realise that we have to be strict otherwise we will spend a fortune on food. So offical Bertie guidelines for Britstops - beer is ok, food is not
What worked?
Having a Cube 335 porta potti - fab for night time use only. We covered it with a rug to use a footstool and stored it under the sink. Absolutely no smells at all, wouldn't even know it was a loo really (#1s only though).
Cali Cosy - went on, stayed on and will stay on for quite a while at least until summer.
Cali Topper - easily attached and removed but probably best used when parked up for longer than a day; this combined with the cosy made the nights that much warmer!
Really Useful 64L storage boxes - got two which fit perfectly under the parcel shelf; I kept them sitting on their lids, husband kept the lids on. My way was better as it drove me nuts having to pull them right out to get the lid off (thanks HC for that bit of advice).
Bergan dog harness - our doggy has always travelled in a crate so we were concerned but he was mega chilled lying on the bench wearing the harness.
Packing cubes - we got these from Amazon, there seems to be a plethora of types so we picked a mixed bunch in two colours. One for me and one for him. Such a great way to keep your clothes neat and tidy, and most importantly accessible. I did think I should put little tags on indicating what is in each bag though.
The heater - fabulous bit of kit although we barely had it higher than level 2, mostly level 1 and sometimes level 3 for a quick boost. Wasn't bothered by the noise but we did find once that the exhaust was drifting back into bertie - perhaps we were parked the wrong way but there wasn't much option for any other position
This forum - it has been brilliant for ideas, suggestions and also I just love seeing other Calis and what people do. Looking forward to the June meet.
What we will change for next time?
As I found that I was using the parcel shelf as a 'go to' area I would replace one of the larger boxes with a couple of smaller ones to give us a bit more flexibility. We kept all our cycling and walking gear in an IKEA bag but if we can use the second large box then that will go under the shelf.
I really could do with another working space whilst cooking so I have seen a shelf option so may look into that again....
Take less clothes - I certainly did pack much but I realised that I really don't need that much.
Whilst we both found the mattress upstairs comfortable enough I found that I was getting dead arms a lot so I think we will invest in possibly Duvalays with a decent thickness of mattress. I will investigate the alternatives though before the purchase.
I need a light in the wardrobe - it is like a black hole in there so my husband has promised to look into a battery-operated LED light for me.
Taking bikes is great however it is a real bind getting into the boot when they are on the VW rack - they make the tailgate really heavy; this was probably my biggest bugbear for the week and it often meant I couldn't get easy access to things so we didn't use the back cupboard as we should have done. Not much we can do about this but we need to consider this when packing.
I think the drawer under the bed is like the Tardis so will plan to utilise this more particularly for cooking - having the PP under the sink takes away a lot of useful kitchen space so I will have to use the drawer more and ditch things from there into the back.
I would like to invest in some Brandrup storage but it is so expensive however there are a couple of items which really would serve us well as go-to storage...to be investigated more.
I'd like some solar lights for the awning - think they will be nice particularly in the warmer weather.
I'm going to get myself a collapsable kettle, a splatter guard and a collapsable colander.
Overall thoughts
We thoroughly enjoyed our first trip....and only came home because the Easter weather was so rubbish. The freedom that having a Cali gives you is incredible, apart from when we hunkered down at Kielder for a few days we didn't really know where we were going to end up - such a fab feeling
. I love a fancy hotel or B&B but you just don't get that feeling, or at least we don't, when holidaying in that way. I found that our approach to what to do that day was so different - we would go where Bertie took us instead of meticulously planning on what to do that day. Odd why this is as we could approach a day out like that if based in a cottage or hotel but we just don't We loved getting up early and arriving somewhere new before everyone else and seeing a place just as it is waking up and leaving when it gets busy e.g. Whitby but we also loved being able to stay snug in bed and then chill out in a warm Bertie on a wet, soggy day just reading the paper and drinking tea.
I'm keen to try out wild camping as we saw plenty of spots particularly in the national parks but I think I need to have more of an idea of how that works...there are some good posts on the forum so will get reading.
Anyway that's it....we love our California. It's offical
I can't wait for our trip to the Scottish Highlands in August for two weeks
CJ
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