Trip Prep, Running and Motoroamers

I can’t believe we are already into December! Once again the year has flown, by, yet when I think back it seems ages ago since we were running and chilling out in Spain at the start of the year, or even tackling the Zermatt half and ultra marathons in July.

Since we got back home to Kimberley in Nottinghamshire, we’ve kept ourselves busy writing a new book – Motorhome France – which we finally published at the end of November (if we ever talk about writing another book, remind us how much work is involved and how long it takes!). 

While we’ve been home I’ve picked up my Utility Warehouse business again (it gets packed away when we’re on the road) and have been helping folks save money on their household bills, which always makes me happy. Last month my business got packed away again for a bit as we got Zagan out of storage for a quick trip around Scotland, taking in part of the NC500 (we managed the NC343 – leaving quite a bit of it for another trip). It was stunning, so we know we’ll happily head back there on a future trip. It was a flying visit for two reasons, we had a run booked and the day after tickets to see the legend that is Ranulph Feinnes. We were like excited kids as we headed over to Derby Theatre to see him talk. It was very low key and he just chatted about his life and answered questions. We left thoroughly inspired.

Our tour of Scotland helped us to write a list of things we need to fettle on Zagan and buy ahead of our first tour of 2020. Top of that list was a window vacuum for the front windscreen. I’m not sure if it’s just an A Class motorhome problem (caused by sleeping in the drop down bed next to the windscreen), but while we toured Scotland the windscreen was soaked every morning – even with our external silver screens in place. We’ve managed for years with a squeegee and chamois leather, but I finally bit the bullet and a quick search found a window vacuum that wasn’t silly expensive, so I treated us. 

Jay has replaced two fluorescent tube lights in Zagan with LED tape lights (from Screwfix), in the kitchen and lounge. These were the only remaining non-LED lights in the van, and we only put them on when on hook-up because of the drain on the battery – we called them ‘the expensive lights’. No more cooking with a head torch!

Before the first frost Zagan was fully emptied, including bedding and spare clothes etc, and prepared for winter storage. It won’t be for long though as we’ve booked the ferry to Spain for mid January. Our first trip across the Bay of Biscay will be in the winter, what could possibly go wrong? Don’t worry, I have stocked up on every seasick cure going! Today our 2020 ACSI Camping Card books arrived, so we’ve been thumbing through them dreaming of sunshine and discount campsites!

We’ve had great fun being part of our local running club, and volunteered to be part of the committee. Fortunately they had a role perfect for us, and at the AGM we were voted in to be the website and social media managers. We’ll be able to carry on our roles while touring in the motorhome and it will help us feel closer to the club while we’re away. We’ve donned the club colours many times at various league races, parkruns, a 24 hour race and a couple of half marathons since we’ve been back. Those races along with all the training runs have helped us both keep both physically and mentally fit.

Finally we’ve written a few pieces for other blogs. The first of which has just been published on motoroaming.com. Multi-year full-timers and prolific bloggers Karen and Myles (the motoroamers) have pulled together a great resource giving top tips from several other bloggers for life on the road. I’m not sure we class as experts, but it was really nice to be asked to contribute.

I’m pretty sure December will bring lots of catch up with family and friends, which is perfect ahead of our next trip in the New Year. Before we know it, it’ll be time to get out our motorhome packing list and start refilling Zagan – yippee! 

Ju x