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Dolly and Fred: Part Two

The requirements for my second van were fairly simple, a kitchen area with a worktop away from the bed, a bed at the back that I could keep up permenantly (and not have to continually put up and down), an easily accessible toilet, the ability to get from the drivers seat to the habitation area and of course, heating. Oh, and the vehicle still needed to be small enough to get about very easily (I really didn’t want a big motorhome to deal with – it was only for me after all) You’d think these requirements would be fairly easy wouldn’t you.. and although the majority were, the bed proved to be the biggest issue, with nearly EVERY design in my price range having seating in the middle of the van that you had to convert to the bed at night. (why is this a thing??) It would be impossible to keep a bed up in this design, as it literally blocked the entry to the rest of the van.. so 95%  of the options out there were discarded. The hunt for the ‘one’ ended up with a search for ‘camper with bed at the back’ and only then did the sole varient for me, show itself.

The Story of Fred

The design I settled on was a Fiat Ducatto IH Savannah Gold which in its day was considered very much a ‘luxury’ vehicle. Now, some 18 years later they were, fortunately, just at the top of my budget, although still very sought after. Because of the additional expense on this one, I planned to borrow against the mortgage, sell Dolly, and repay a chunk back to lessen the repayments. This would be much easier and FARRR cheaper than getting a loan, and where I had overpaid on the mortgage there were more than enough funds available to me on their drawdown facility. (where you can re claim some of the over paid mortgage monies)

The search was extensive, and although only a few of these were for sale, I found 4 that were of interest. My favourite by far was a 2000 white van with a green interior, and a really good price. Everything looked perfect with this one so I started active enquiries. The guy seemed friendly enough, but as the emails went to and fro over a few days, something didn’t seem quite right. He had lots of info, and a nice selection of photos, he was happy for me to check the mot info, and even sent pics of his drivers licence as proof of who he was. That all seemed fair enough until it transpired that he was abroad, and not actually with the van – so I was unable to see it in person to check it over.  He was, however, willing to deliver it to me so I could inspect it. This sounded great, tho a litle weird, and little bells of caution started ringing in my head. I continued the enquiry however, until the courier company he was hiring asked me for my credit card details. The conversation then started deteriorating, and he couldn’t answer some of my concerns about the financial aspects of this transaction. He couldn’t give me any reasonable reassurances that by giving my details over to a third party this wouldn’t result in me being defrauded in some way. He even went so far as to begin acting insulted by my concerns and being mildly aggressive in his tone. Fortunately for me, during the time we conversed I had not stopped looking at these vans online – rather thankfully so, it transpired, because within a very short time, I had a rather alarming find. The van he was selling was also in the forecourt of a company in Cheshire selling campervans. I wrote to them and asked if it was for sale but they replied that their van had already taken a deposit. As conversation between the company and I continued, the manager told me that she had seen this online, and that the photos seemed to be taken from an older ad than theirs. She told me that it was a scam, and that I should steer clear and be very careful, because these scams were on the rise and not at all uncommon. Why SHE didn’t report it, I do not know.. but I certainly did! Horrified, I broke contact with the scammer, filed a report, notified Gumtree and counted my blessings for my natural caution. Tho I wont lie, I was disappointed at loosing this little beauty.

I still had other options though, and now my caution was alerted, I was very careful. One looked horribly tatty inside, so I discounted that one, and I was left torn between the two remaining vehicles that were available. One was with a company in Worcestershire, so I went with a friend to visit that one, a silver van priced higher than my budget, and the other was a privately owned van right at the top of my allowance. The visit to see the silver one gave me the much needed opportunity to have a proper look round, and I fell in love with the design straight away. Both vehicles available to me had positives, both had negatives, although they were all minor niggles to be fair. The private one was a strong postal van red, a colour that I really wasn’t keen on – not least because all the interior was bright red too (overkill!), but it was much better priced, and it secretly became my preferred vehicle of the two because of this. In my head I named her Pat (after Postman Pat!) – I was that keen on her. The other silver one, was a nicer colour and tho quite a bit more expensive, it did come with warranties, and after the near purchase on the scam one, that felt like a big peace of mind. This van named itself… the last 3 letters on his numberplate were FRD – well he had to be Fred didn’t he?! Mileage was much the same on both, so didn’t really enter the equation. Undecided and really struggling to choose between them, I pitted the two against each other. The private one wasn’t gonna budge with price, and nor were they willing to get a new MOT as the one they had still had a few months left on it, but the company offered to drop their asking price to nearly match the one being asked for Pat, and were not only willing to give their one a fresh MOT, but they were going to rectify all the advisories from the last one and give the van a complete service on top. This seemed to be a bit of a no brainer especially when teamed with the warranties on top, and the decision was basically made for me because of this. So, I went ahead with the purchase of Fred.

What a fantastic choice he was as well. They serviced him perfectly, not just the vehicle, but a full habitation check as well and he was beautiful all through, with me not really having to do anything other than adapt him to my personal tastes. Inside he was pretty much the same as the scam vehicle although he didn’t have an oven built in as that one did (tho to be fair I am pleased for that, as I would never use an oven on the road, and the extra storage is far more valuable to me). He had a seperate bathroom with shower, toilet and sink, a kitchen area, plenty of worktop space not only over the hob and sink, but an extra one that popped up at the side. The passenger seat swivelled around to this as well, so I could use this as a desk should I want to. Very neat! Fred came with not just one, but TWO leisure batteries that charged as he drove, a 3 way fridge, a rear end dinette that converted into a very nice double bed and most importantly heating. In fact, on the day I picked him up, two days after my birthday, he also came with an hook up charging cable, a bunch of flowers and a celebratory bottle of wine in the fridge! He was perfect!

But I am jumping ahead with the story… Before the handover day, and just as they were finalising the service, I went out to visit him to see if the new leisure battery that I had on Dolly might be able to fit in as well. It was a newer and bigger battery, so might be more beneficial in the long run as Fred didn’t have a solar charging option. I drove up in Dolly the day before, then planned to visit Norfolk for a few days more after visiting Fred. The two vans met up and I had a good tour round Fred with them showing me where everything was, and how to use everything that wasn’t on Dolly (all things water, using the heating, getting to the toilet cassette to empty it etc.) They tried the battery, but Dollys was too big for the housing, which in Fred was under the seats (saving a HUGE amount of space!) Tho a touch disappointed, I still went away happy and excited because the new van was going to open a lot more opportunities for me, which were going to be a lot more comfortable, enjoyable and thrilling..

As I left, I realised this was basically going to be my last trip in Dolly. I really only had a couple of days and I’d picked Norfolk because I hadn’t photographed there yet. I hoped to catch some of the tulip fields they have, since I’d not seen these before and this was just the right time for this. As I drove away content in Dolly, I felt sad to let her go, but thought positively about the last journey in her and my mind wandered. She had taught me so much, and given me wings I never knew I could have. I felt a little like I had an angel on my shoulder, guiding me to such awesome decisions on these vans, and I felt SO incredibly grateful for my fortune with them. As my musings went on, my thought turned back to the current foray in Dolly, and I considered that as Norfolk was her last trip with me, maybe I could make this Freds first trip as well and tie both vans into one county… then I stopped thinking and heard that in my head. Quite unexpectedly tears rolled down my face as I suddenly realised what I had just said. Dolly and Fred, both in Norfolk.

You see, quite unexpectedly all these things had come around and without an ounce of intention or second thought as to how or why. But it was this exact moment that pointed me to an answer to that unasked question – as that ‘angel on my shoulder’, the one that helped me progress on in my life, to give me something encouraging, fulfilling and inspiring to live for, suddenly became very real. And I realised that I knew who it was – or rather maybe, THEY.

My grandfather lived in Norfolk, and his name was Frederick, Fred to everyone. I hadn’t given it a single thought when Fred got his name though. My beloved grandmother, who I loved so very dearly, was Dorothy, but everyone called her – Dolly. Yeah. I know right?! I never gave that a second thought either! Dolly and Fred. They were my grandparents. Dolly and Fred were both Norfolk born and bred, and as a child my parents split us 3 children up for summer holidays, My sister went to my Dutch grandparents, my brother stayed at home for trips with my mother, and I always went to Norfolk. My grandmother and I were very close, especially after my grandfather died, and I wrote and visited her all the time from my childhood right through as an adult until the time she joined my grandfather in 1993. Dolly and Fred… the names that had inadvertently come to my vans. Explain that?!

Yes, I cried that day. They were tears of unimaginable gratitude and love.

I continued on to my trip feeling warmth, love and even a feeling of being watched over and protected, feelings that I hadn’t felt in so many years, and whether real or imagined, the comfort I got from that has lasted to this day.

Dolly and Fred: Part One

OK, lets pause here. I have had a really bad year and have been out very little, struggling so bad mentally, that I haven’t been able to keep up with the blogs either (technical issue caused much of that to be fair). The technical issue has pretty much been resolved, so I can continue with the updates on the big SW Scotland trip when I am able (Thankfully I have so many notes and photos, that won’t be too hard), For now I thought I would start back again gently. As plans go into place to completely transform everything in my life, I have had cause to look back at the last big change that shook my life up and a really beautiful story which I recalled to a friend recently. She absolutely loved it, and I realised that I hadn’t actually shared it with many people…. so today I thought I would tell you!

Long story cut short… After a not too great marriage, I got divorced and had £10,000 available at the end of it all. I envied all the beautiful photos of stunning landscapes that I saw on Google and elsewhere, and eventually realised that I would really like to learn how to do them myself – why waste valuable energy feeling envy where I could feel wonder and achievement?! With this dream in mind, I allocated £5000 to purchase the best camera and lenses so that I could get. I hoped this would give me a good start to be able to learn with, and one that would force me to look at my ability better rather than allowing me to give up by blaming my gear for bad pics! (I had a very old Canon camera, that I had been doing that with already) The second £5,000 would be to help purchase a small camper. This camper would, I hoped, be a twofold bonus – enabling me to stay away for photography of course, but also, to allow me to stay further afield for the film extra job that I also do. I had already stopped over for an occasional night in the back of my car, so it was really a natural progression. In fact it was on one of those overnight stops when another extra showed me around his wonderful VW camper and the seed of a dream had been planted…

The Story of Dolly

When the money came through, I started looking. Now the VW was, sadly, right out of my price range so I hunted harder, and found a really sweet diddy little thing called a Romahome. There seemed to be a couple of versions of it, and the ones I liked were fibreglass housing sections mounted on 3 different van bases, a Suzuki, a Daihatsu or a Bedford. I read all I could about them and found three that caught my eye online, but it became clear that I really needed to see one in person. Very luckily, I found one locally which was only being sold for scrap, so I was able to have a look without any obligation to buy This was a perfect start to the search.

I also joined a small motorhome Facebook group, and befriended a couple of people who had these vans. They filled me in on some of the good and the bad, answering all my random questions, and I was eventually completely sold on them. By the time it came to buy, one I had seen online had been sold, but I was still able to consider two more. After much discussion for one of them – (where there was a big discrepancy in the miles of two different ads she had put up and her price had changed to reflect the ‘lower’ mileage!) I was told I was being ‘too fussy’, and she was selling to someone else. As it goes this was obviously not a bad result- there was clearly a con going on there! So now I was down to one. I arranged to visit the remaining van on my way down to Cornwall for some filming, and at the same time, one member of the fb group told me he lived near the filming location, and would be happy to show me around his. Everything was falling into place!

I went to view the one for sale, and was a little concerned on how pushy the man was about giving him the money (‘did you bring the cash with you?’), I also had severe concerns about the fact that the cab of the van, and the fibreglass housing sitting on its back, and been cut and joined so you could climb from the front to the back without going outside. Whilst this was a good idea, it concerned me about the structure of the vehicle… I told him I would think about it and let him know in a couple of days, as I had to go to work, and wouldn’t be able to consider it much until I had finished.

When I met up with Jon in Cornwall, his vehicle was gorgeous, treated with love, and in really amazing condition. Over 2 whole hours he showed me every inch of it. It being his 3rd one, he knew exactly what the pitfalls were, and he told me exactly what to be careful of. He also suggested that both the ones I had been considering should be given a wide berth. By the time he finally went his way, I walked across the car park greatly informed on what I wanted and resigned myself to having to wait for ‘my’ van. Just to be sure though I checked on Gumtree to see if any new ones had gone on sale. Remarkably, I saw there was a new ad on there – for one at nearly HALF the price the others were asking. It wasn’t a colour I had seen before, and although I wasn’t especially keen, beggars can’t be choosers and this one really looked promising. The mileage was extremely low, and the condition looked really good, so I messaged immediately, and asked to view in a few days. As I was in Cornwall and this was Sunday, I couldn’t get there until the Wednesday after filming was completed. The man happily agreed, and I had the anxious and excited wait.

Well, since this story is getting very long, I will cut to the chase. I went to view, and fell in love with her. The man had been true to his word, and despite getting some really good offers from other people hoping to see, he refused to let anyone see her until I had been to visit. And boy was I grateful for that! There were so many things pointing me to this one, right down to the number plate being almost exactly the same as my beloved car, Taffy (another story there but I wont bore you!) The funniest thing was how Taffy seemed to have a tantrum whilst I was there, refusing to start as my visit ended. I ended up having a full on chat with him, explaining how she wasn’t going to replace him, that this was just to ease the journeys and giving me somewhere to sleep while I am out and about away from home… randomly, he started after that. Don’t ever let anyone tell you cars don’t have feelings of their own… I immediately put a deposit down, and transferred the money once he delivered the van to my door.

I hoped to name her Daisy. Not only were there a large number of daisy decals available which would help make her be the bright sunny vehicle I hoped for, but I also hoped she would encourage a new life of being free and out in the open. Daisy seemed to be a great name. This never happened however, because really weirdly, as she sat in my drive, I sat in Taffy chatting to my son about her, the name Dolly kept coming out of my mouth. Why? I have no idea, but my son laughed and said Taffy had named her instead – and so, Dolly became my first camper.

Dolly was a Romahome mounted on a daihatsu base, and she ran well. She needed a few repairs and a bit of a tidy up having been stood for nearly a year. Basically her backstory was that her previous owner had suffered a severe accident which left him needing a multitude of operations, from which he eventually failed to survive. The new owner inherited her, along with a car he wanted, but where he had no interest or use for a camper this size, he had sold her at a low price to get rid quickly. I fixed her up, put a solar panel on her, made new internal coverings and curtains, purchased a porta potty, fridge, a new leisure battery, a whole bunch of lightweight pans, plates and cutlery, small storage kits and by the time I was finished she worked a dream and was perfect for my needs. It took me several months to build the courage to go out in her though. (personal reasons prevented me) Eventually, I plucked up the courage and just went, travelling to Pembrokeshire for my first outing. I stayed away for 5 days and although the photography was a bit meh, on discovering the freedom, I was buzzing by the time I got back!! The bug had finally captured my heart. and so my van life began. For over a year and a half I drove all over the place, photographing Pembroke a second time, travelling to Scotland visiting Glencoe and then Skye. I went to Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset, and a number of spots around Wales. She was an amazing little van who drew attention, car beeps and waves everywhere I went! I really loved this little girl.

However, as my photographic skills and thirst for adventure grew, I realised that there were a few drawbacks and things I needed to consider about life in Dolly.

1. Getting to the housing area. Because of the way the van was designed (a fibreglass housing placed on top of a small dropside van) the cab is entirely closed off from the housing. This means that once you find somewhere to settle for the night you have no choice but to get out and walk around the back of the vehicle and enter the habitation area through a separate door. Whilst there are positives in this (the habitation is more private, any overnight warmth in there doesn’t become condensation in the cab area and for safety, if anyone were to break into the van to steal her, you are not face to face with the intruder), the negatives are equally obvious. If its poor or freezing weather (or torrential rain!) you have to brave it, or if you are attempting a bit of stealth parking you may be seen getting into the habitation area.

2. Permanent separate bed. This, for me became an important issue. I would jump out, photograph the sunset, jump out again shoot the stars, and jump out again for the dawn. I couldn’t keep resetting the bed each time, so the bed ended up staying out. Unfortunately for Dolly, this meant that most of her space inside WAS the bed all the time. I had no table now, so either worked, read, relaxed or ate in the bed all the time. It became a little restrictive. On top of this, I ended up using a bit of wood on the end of the bed so that I had a little workspace when using the cooker. Sadly for me, on more than one occasion, I accidentally knocked liquid over, resulting in me having to sleep in a wet bed!! Another issue was that the porta potty was under the end section of the bed, and well, as age was doing its thing, night-time needs were becoming more and more regular. This meant pulling the bed to pieces in my dopey state, and by the time I was done, I was too awake to settle back down easily.

3. Heating. This proved to be the real undoing of me, and my most worrying concern. Dolly had no heating in the habitation section. In most weathers, the fibreglass casing proved to be perfectly warm enough, and if it started getting a little chilly, I’d just jump under covers and I would be fine. However, on two separate occasions after jumping out at sunset then again in the middle of the night to photograph the stars, I found myself so cold, that the shivering was almost painful. No amount of clothes, blankets and extra covers warmed, me although on both these occasions I did eventually fell asleep. I was extremely concerned to wake up shivering as well though, and I realised that this was definitely not a good position to be in, and could actually be dangerous if I wasn’t sensible about this. After the first time this happened I invested in some hot water bottles, but the second occasion this happened was so worrying, I seriously started looking at other van options and ideas. Dolly was perfect for people wanting short, gentle breaks for most of the year, but for the unusual manner I used her, and the erratic times of the year, I needed something a little hardier and warmer.

And so, 20 months after I had purchased my lovely starter van, I had to begin the search for an upgrade. She had not only proved her worth, but she had shown me what I needed and why I should keep this passion going. She taught me a lot, and I will always be thankful for those lessons and the confidence they gave me in myself.