Derbyshire Tour - Upe theerrr!

10 September we arrived upe theerrr!

Dave's Birthday – 12 Sept – all Dave wanted to do was fill his box and go to the cinema so we did!  Steve and Dave went to Total Recall and Mogs and Aud treated ourselves to the luxury director’s box and watched the Anna Karenina film – very good but bit of a history lesson!!  Mogs loved the wine waitress service during the film J

Birthday Boy fills his box!!

Next a trip to the Peak District and our tour guide Steve gave us all the info on dark and light peaks – yep we do remember Steve!!!  Fab scenery and a great day

Aud and Steve have a resident wild pet they're trying to get rid of - sitting having a quiet wine Mogs looked out and saw the RAT climbing the bird table!!!  EEk!!  Time for the Rat Shooter to get his gun out......

Rat Shooter!!

Pub Challenge – on the Saturday 9 of us headed off on the Hulland Ward pub challenge – 18 miles walking and 5 pubs on the way – 10 am start and 7.30 at last pub – fab day with lovely scenery and everyone was impressed D made it without moaning J

End of the pub challenge - taxi home 3 hours later!!

Great time up in Derbyshire and Eth arrived on the Friday ready to get settled in college for his Music Technology course – when we dropped him in Nottingham and saw all the young fit girls staying in his Halls Dave and Steve wanted to stay and take up Music Tech too!!!!

Thanks Aud and Steve for a lovely time and look forward to seeing you in Europe in your new Vannie – here she is!

The Time Machine!

Time for the gypsies to head back to Devon for an overnight stop with our super mechanic buddy Russ

Fab to see Russ who made us really welcome and took us to the pub for dinner – we didn’t complain!

Russ's Pad

Dinner at the Black Horse - Torrington

Back then to Devon and our second home at Seany’s J

Gypsy Life!

We're out the house - homeless! - at the end of the road with 3 vehicles packed solid -

D: where do we go now?!'
M: Bay View Inn - we need a beer!!

First stop - Holsworthy Fire Station for 3 nights - Dave is still a fireman till end August :) Drinks at the White Hart - last night.

Next morning woke up to a fire shout at 6.30am - uniforms everywhere!!  Mogs hated it!

Next stop - Crooklet's Beach car park for Annie's Bude hen night - who was the waiter?!

How many socks can he fit in his pants?!!

LOTS

Next stop Crummys!!!  After a long sesh in the Rydon!  Our home from home in Holsworthy - Mogs not being the tidiest of people is taking over :)  but he's loving the fish and trees dinners?!

Great week at Sean's - he's a star! - plus Mogs last week at work :)  bit of a Vannie trauma at the last service before heading off - Russ came knocking at the door saying 'come quick!'  The flux capacitor has blown up and we need a 32/34/32 box imported from USA!! Sounds bad but D is on the case and ordering parts from afar.  Russ is ready and waiting to put Vannie's bits back!

Then the gypsies headed for Bude and a wine tasting evening - new stop was Annie's B&B Shorebreak -www.shorebreakbude.co.uk  - had to find somewhere to pee till the guests had gone - Dave found the window!!

Next stop - Weston super Mare - shit hole!!  Full of go-lightly's and mud - moved on to Portishead - another shit hole!!  Moved on to Premier Inn at Cribbs Causeway - TIDY :)  Dave's happy

Next stop - Kez's luxury dockside flat in Gloucester - great to see her and have dinner and catch up - decided my daughter has more furniture and stuff than we do now!!

Moving on....Off to Brum in the morning to hand in Mog's work laptop and phone - end of the England Athletics Education Co-ordinator role - Mogs is now officially a European Globetrotter with her Musician on Tour!!

Then the travellers headed to Hulland Ward, Derbyshire to stay with Aud and Steve....ooppp thure...

P45 on the way - We're moving out!

The Move

Back home from London and the signed Tenancy Agreement was on the mat to rent Mogs' house out - time to hand in notice at work!!  We really are off soon!!

A and G got the bubbly out to celebrate and we had a lovely time catching up with Jim, Maria, Will and Ollie who were down in Bude on their annual holiday

It was Maria who noticed Vannie's numberplate when we were showing them the van - P450 SHK !!

Hectic weeks ahead getting ready to move out....

Dave has been on Bude Bargains EVERY night selling stuff - how much more can Owen buy?!!

Rox is off to her new home!

The only sad part about going travelling was saying goodbye to Roxy but she has a fab new home with Shirley, Sara and Mr Pakey - here she is below with her pal.  She will have loads of walks and be spoilt rotten and is already settled in well.

Settled in :)

The Big Swim!

We really should have been cleaning and clearing stuff the Sunday before moving out but had trained for weeks for the mile sea swim from Port Gaverne to Port Isaac - it was a fab day for it and we headed down the coast - both very nervous - Dave's first race and Mogs hates swimming in waves!  It was good to leave the cleaning behind for a day though!

Les and Kirk and Alec and Ames were there to support us - really appreciated them coming - here we are before the swim - Dave isn't breathing in (honest)!

Faster than a Lightening Bolt!

The swim was hard but great fun and we both did brill - Dave 33:06 and Mogs 28:46 - watched the live bands after and had a few well earned beers :)

Next day was MANIC cleaning - luckily we had super cleaners Les and Kirk with their pinnies on!  We were on a deadline to get out of the house as the tenant was arriving lunchtime to move in - we were still moving stuff out as well as cleaning so the policy was if in doubt stick it in Vannie!

So the pics below show Mogs moving out and Mogs moving in!!!

Moving Out!

 Moving In!

Gypsy life is next.........



Vannie goes to the Olympics

Team Vannie GB

After getting through the first round, Vannie was now on her biggest trip ever (obviously not what John would say!) - 4 nights at the Olympic Park!

Whilst cruising on the M5/M4 the postcode of the campsite was put in by Mogs and we started heading that way - 4 hours later we arrived at the wrong campsite!!  A weird old man met us - Mogs said she'd spoken to him on the phone but he didn't know what we were on about - in fact the campsite just had 5 empty caravans there!  Oops - off to the pub over the road to google campsites in Woking - luckily Mogs remembered the one she'd phoned and the SatNav recalculated and got us on our way......

1 night in a field then off to watch the women's marathon in Parliament Square - great to catch up with Alison and Malc then back to Woking for BBQ at Kate and Paul's - fab to see them and Chris and Dave - way too much wine consumed but great night - thanks to K & P for the shower and leccy for Mogs to use her hair straighteners in the morning!!

Kate and Paul's lovely tea and coffee in morning! Plus shower and leccy :)

The travelling musician chills before heading for the big city!

Like Rats in the Sewer!

Dave loves the Underground....

At the Olympic Park - awesome atmosphere for the Athletics

Lunch and a wine or 2 with Joyce in Wanstead - Mogs godmother and her mum's friend - fab to catch up after many years and thanks for the painting tips for Dave!!

How high up are we?! what an atmosphere though...

One Night Wonders!!

Macro - Exeter

Mogs had a work meeting in Exeter so Dave headed off to watch a well scary film on a 2 for 1 night but he was only one - sad man in the cinema with his popcorn!!  Couldn't find anywhere to stay so biggest empty car park was Macro so Vannie was in hiding in the corner of the car park.

We did have a pic but Mogs lost her phone on a mad drunken night in Torrington - Dave says 'that's another story!'

Learner drivers arrived in the car park in the morning while we were washing our teeth - time to move on to Sainsbury's for a coffee and a poo - we're living the dream!!!!

Next Stop - Holsworthy Fire Station

We decided to head for Holsworthy for a night out at the bands in the square fair night with Seany.  Good night had by all - after quite a lot of alcohol we headed back to the station and waited for all the firemen to arrive for a shout (or Mogs did!). That thing she was thinking didn't happen - although G nearly did a false call to get them all out!!

The next morning after using all the facilities - showers, toilets, coffee - Mogs got very excited!!!

"Hello Control - I'm very excited!"

After Mogs had calmed down we took a few more pics and checked the size of Dave's chopper and tested the hose ;)

Mogs has now finished adding pictures of the fire station!!

Fun time :)

RAC Rescue!!

We were invited out to a lovely evening at the Durrant House Hotel in Northam near Bideford.  It was a City Electrical Factors Show with ample food and alcohol.  So we decided we would take Vannie and sleep in the carpark .. as you do! 
The night went well and the show was really good and the alcohol was flowing and everyone loved Vannie as we showed them all the lights, computer etc. and ended up having a late night.

Next morning ...................

Bugger!!

RAC man:  Where you heading?
D:  Round the world
RAC man:  You haven't got very far!

Apparently we had the wrong switch on the battery and it died - where's John (Tech Support) when you need him?!

RAC man:  I do Europe as well

So we've got his number :)

How are we going to go round the world when we can't even get to Bideford?!!

Next week we're attempting Exeter!!  Wooooooo......

The Caribbean in Cornwall

One weekend in May headed off for a night in Vannie - ended up at Harlyn Bay - fab beach!!

 

Harlyn Bay West Coast Barbados ;)

First time out for the awning :)

First Brekkie in Vannie - thought we were organised but forgot mugs for coffee!  had wine glasses though :)  Dinner, or tea as they say in Devon, didn't happen - M brought chicken but wasn't sure how to cook it on the new camper cooker so dodgy dinner in campsite clubhouse with the kid's disco in background!

Musician on Tour!!  The kids loved him :)

Great time and who was the first to spill red wine in the van.....INNIE!!

Mogs had first drive in Vannie around the campsite - bit bigger than the Mini!  Could be a while before I'm let loose on the road ...