The post lock down tales of adventure

Our blog can continue now we are back on the road, continuing to travel and live our best life. The life we always dreamt of when we planned this lifestyle. The freedom of the open road, travelling with no particular destination in mind and enjoying new sights around every corner. 

Our motorhome Daphne is the perfect post lock down travel wagon. As we all know Covid 19 has not gone away. We have our own facilities on board, our own sheets and bedding, towels and kitchenware. We dont have to share so can limit our risk of infection. Masks are now mandatory in shops and we have all the soap and water we need.

Campsites opened on the 4th July in England. So we started to plan our freedom. After 17 weeks we were sad to leave our lockdown sanctuary in Sussex, sad to say goodbye to family and friends and also excited to continue our travels. We made good friends at our lockdown campsite and as we all started to go our separate ways we were given a map of the UK by our neighbours John & Sheena. This was no ordinary map and once we have visited each county we can scratch the map to reveal its county flag. A great present and good inspiration to explore as much of the UK as possible. We set ourselves a challenge: we would start off by trying to sleep in as many different counties in England as possible. This is no mean feat as there are 48 of them!

Our scratch map of the UK, you can see the counties we have visited so far.

To date we have managed to sleep at least one night in nine out of the forty eight counties. Not bad after 2 and a half weeks back on the road. We have also had our niece Imogen to visit in the New Forest, celebrated a Covid 19 style 50th birthday for Jane's sister Angie in Somerset and visited friends: Ann-Marie in Cheltenham and Mary in Gloucester. Suffice it to say, we have had a great time travelling and making adventures in our motorhome Daphne. 

Ivan with his slippy shoes 😂. We started off in Hampshire: the next county. We stayed on the tidal road at Keyhaven. 

Otto at Keyhaven harbour looking out wistfully to Hurst castle and the Isle of Wight.

Imogen and Otto relaxing in the New Forest 

Beautiful New Forest sunsets.....and relax 😀

Our home for 5 nights. We felt like we were camping in parkland. Lots of places to explore and we were right next door to Ringwood Forest. 

Otto is pleased to see his mum Una and Janes sister Angie is even more pleased to have them together for her birthday. 

A feast to celebrate Angie’s birthday 😋

Dunster castle. Photo by Angie Ward.

Visiting Dunster castle in Somerset. We booked ahead a time slot online and enjoyed a full afternoon with family. 

Moving on we visited the White horse in Wiltshire

The sunset went on forever at the top of the ancient hill fort 😍

We were lucky to find a city centre car park that Daphne fitted in and we stayed 24 hours.

We had Bath crescent to ourselves early morning.

Victoria Park was alive with bees.

Ivan and Otto at the famous bridge in Bath.

The famous baths were shut due to Covid 19. We had to make do with showers in Daphne.

We found some evening entertainment in Bath with an outdoor Pop up beach bar. Very quiet for a sunny Thursday night in July.

Bath city centre knows how to bloom 🌸🌺

Travelling north we tucked away en route for the night. We could see the Severn bridge and the river across the fields. 

The Red lion let us stay in the pub car park for a few nights. 

We always love a visit to Ross on Wye. A beautiful town full of history and book shops. 

Ivan’s first pint of Guinness since lock down 🍻

The pepper pot. 

Upton is another town worth a visit upon the Severn river.

After visiting friends we arrived in Evesham at nighttime and found a riverside car park to hunker down. 

Evesham is a pretty Cotswold town on the river Avon and has beautiful parks and gardens to visit. 

Ivan mid food prep in Daphne’s kitchen

We made ourselves at home with our campsite near Banbury. 

We cycled to Cropedy. It’s very hilly and I’m sure Otto has put on weight in the basket! 

Otto overlooking the Oxford canal. 

We never think cygnets are ugly swans, they are gorgeous 😍

Some of our tomato plants are bearing fruit and we are starting to reap the rewards. 

The tractor factor 😀. If all our journeys are this interesting we are going to enjoy our travels all the more. Keep in touch to see where we travel next and stay safe xx. 

The highs and lows of lockdown

Life is not always plain sailing. As everyone throughout the world has had to restrict their lifestyle and follow their own governments guidelines due to the Coronavirus we are sure we are not alone in our thoughts. In this blog we go through the highs and lows of being locked down.

Ivan and Otto at the entrance to our quarantine site. Daphne is behind.

In January 2019 we sold, stored or gave away everything we owned, ended our jobs  and said goodbye to our family. We went travelling in our motorhome Daphne. We had a great time and decided this was definitely the lifestyle for us. We love every minute of living in Daphne and the freedom it affords us. Little did we know that 14 months later, on the verge of another foreign adventure we would have to stop, cancel all our plans and actually end up a mere 5 miles from where we used to live. We are now on our 9th week of lockdown.

In lockdown, similar to the UK weather, when often you can experience all four seasons in one day, our moods change as often as the wind. From feeling grateful in our remote field, enjoying nature, beautiful walks and home cooking, we can often feel bereft, miss our old lifestyle and our friends and family, all within the space of a few minutes. The anxiety that a virus like this can bring must be experienced throughout the world and we feel worried for our friends, our family, society in general and each other.

This pie chart resonates with us 😂.

Generally we are positive. At the start of our quarantine we felt unsettled and anxious about what was best to do. We read about fellow motorhomers who were being unfairly judged and victimised because of their lifestyle and choice of where to isolate. We felt relieved to have found a place to stay. Within a few days the police visited to make sure we were not on holiday and moving around too much. They had complaints from nearby residents. They took pictures of our registration numbers and told us to stay put, not to move the vans that were on our site (4 units are here) and to keep safe.

We both felt unwell when we first arrived. We had sore throats, headaches and lethargy. No temperature or cough so not Covid 19 symptoms. Ivan managed to feel better after a week or so and Jane felt generally unwell for 3-4 weeks. Whereas before we felt physically fit we would struggle to walk up a nearby hill without having to catch our breathe. We slept for England and made do with food in the cupboard so we could stay away from shops and people. 

The campsite is closed and after a few weeks we were then told it had been sold and new owners were taking over. We had a period of time when we did not know if we could stay. We didn't know where else we could go and keep ourselves safe. Jane had conflicting advice about her health condition and if she needed to shield or not. It was not until 5 weeks in that she received her shielding letter from her GP.  We could not follow the exact guidelines in the letter as we are living in a 6 metre long van. We had already taken a proportionate approach to keeping Jane isolated so we will continue in that vain. That means that only Ivan goes out to do shopping and laundry. We both walk or cycle everyday and keep fit, avoiding contact with people. 

The highs of lockdown are definitely getting out with our pup Otto and exploring the local countryside. Coming back to Daphne for tea and homemade cookies makes it even better 🙂

Luckily the new owners have agreed we can stay, phew! We do love it here and feel it's the best place for us. Somedays we struggle with a lack of purpose and are struck with the sense that we are not contributing. We think this must be quite common for everyone who is not an essential worker and who has to isolate. We long for the days when we can travel again and enjoy the freedom we did last year and that we had dreamt about for so long. Thankfully our friends and family have been ok so far and we hope they continue to be. The highs and lows would be very different if this was not the case. We are very grateful to those who are continuing to work, to hold everything together and provide for us.

We have listed below 6 things we feel have helped us:

1. Recognising it's ok to feel out of sorts
2. Going outdoors and enjoying nature and exercise 
3. Staying connected with family and friends
4. Eating fresh food and experimenting with cooking
5. Trying to achieve something every day. For example: completing a crossword; reading another chapter; writing a diary or blog; learning something new
6. Making each other laugh.  

Jane and Ivan outdoors

Let's hope we will all be ok no matter what x

Daphne and a moody sunset sky #houselessnothomeless

We would be remiss if we did not mention the loss of life from Covid 19. Our thoughts go out to those that have lost their lives and their loved ones. We know people are working hard to combat Coronovirus and we know each country is going to be hit hard by a tough economic climate, the worst of which is yet to come. It's hard to comprehend the dramatic change that is happening to all our lives and will leave a world that's very different from just a few months ago.

One overarching 'high' linked to lockdown is the knowledge that we will and can all help each other. If we were to reach out for any help whatsoever we know this would be forthcoming from many areas in our lives. This is a huge comfort and makes us safe in the knowledge we are not alone. In these unprecedented times stories on social media and the news reflect the kindness being shown nearby and worldwide minimising the impact of any negative actions and giving us all hope.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. This is just a snap shot of our time in lockdown and everyone will be experiencing it differently. Although we do not have a house to stay locked down in we do most certainly have a home in Daphne and for that we are very grateful. We hope the highs outweigh the lows for us all. Stay safe and keep in touch xx.

The lockdown

Covid 19 has meant Ivan, Jane and Otto, the pup, have been in lockdown for 7 weeks in their motorhome Daphne in the U.K.

Ivan, Jane and Otto at the campsite with Daphne and Ivan’s classic 1958 motorcycle behind.

This blog is an insight into our world as we stay holed up in a tiny campsite at the foot of the South Downs. Everyday is different and everyday is the same! We are lucky to be able to stay at the now closed campsite and as we cannot move Daphne we have unearthed “Raffles”, Ivan’s Matchless motorcycle from our garage for transport as we need it.

We stay at the campsite and have everything we need in the way of electric, water and waste facilities. Unfortunately there is no TV reception and a very limited phone signal. We spend the days enjoying the sunshine, nature, the bird song and beautiful walks. We read books and magazines, play music and surf the internet.  Our pup Otto keeps us amused and we can chat to our neighbours (there are 4 units in a large field) from a distance. We are cooking everyday meals from scratch and we are foraging in the woods and fields.  Virtual quizzes, festivals and games are fun to get involved in. This week we are going to the Virtual Overland festival on Saturday.

Ivan goes shopping for groceries on Raffles, goes to the launderette and checks on his mum and dad weekly. Jane stays in Daphne with Otto and we sometimes go out for a cycle altogether. Life is slow at the moment and despite this the weeks fly by. Most evenings, after our walk we watch a DVD to finish off the day. Thankfully we have been able to borrow from friends and family a good supply to keep us going.

Below are photos showing some of our time in lockdown:

Jane & Ivan on the South downs and Daphne in the valley below

Otto's favourite place in Daphne 

Beautiful walks and bluebells in April 2020

Our attempt at cheese scones: no scales; tiny oven 😄

Views across the downs

Dandelion honey in the making

The finished Dandelion honey, it tastes just like honey, delicious 😍

Otto enjoying the spring cowslips

Jane playing her tongue drum

We play records every day, we love vinyl

Photos from our evening walks. Cissbury ring at sunset is our favourite so far

At our campsite. We are houseless and luckily not homeless.

Thank you to everyone for keeping in touch. In these unprecedented times we are very grateful. Stay safe everyone. Lots of love xx 

The C word

The Coronovirous has come to the UK where we are currently in our home that happens to be on four wheels. Sharing our lives with our pup Otto we have been travelling around seeing new sights and catching up with family and friends. Now, along with the rest if the world, our lives are on hold. On the brink of a pandemic due to "Covid 19" all non essential travel is ill advised and the foreign office has banned overseas travel for at least 30 days.

We have postponed our trip to Germany and over the last week had a fretful time wondering what the right thing was to do and where we can live this virus out. Luckily we have managed to find a small campsite just outside of Worthing and we hope they will stay open, unlike other sites who have closed. Living in a motorhome has set us up to this way of life fairly well as we enjoy each others company and are used to living in a small space. Over the months our pace of life has slowed down and we are used to not having much money to spend on food and going out. That said we have been shocked at the empty shelves and queues in supermarkets as well as individuals panicking.

At times like these we like to concentrate on those who are helping and have been very grateful to receive messages of support and help from friends and family. At the campsite we are staying in people have checked we are ok and offered to go shopping for us. We have joined a "Covid 19 mutual aid" Facebook group and this plus the "Vanlife" community groups are offering unended support for those in need.

Luckily for us we have all we need by buying what we can afford as we need it. We appreciate the simple things in life more and more and we can just roll with the changes. Life moves on and we hope to stay healthy and happy. We wish this to everyone out there too. This C word Coronovirous will no doubt change lives forever and we hope we can stay resilient and survive.

In the meantime if we can do anything to help then please let us know.
Love and best wishes, Jane and Ivan

PS: the sun is out 🌞