van – Afterwards

Day Trip to Whitby

Off again to the Yorkshire seaside.

You can read all about where this lark started here and our first night here. Then there was a trip to scarbrough and now it’s Whitby’s turn…

Whilst I love Scarbrough I simply adore Whitby. The Drive took us out over the North Yorkshire moors and with 2 hours we were parked up next to the harbour.

Whitby has no shortage of history and gave us captain Cook, Dracula and two of the ships that set out to settle in Australia in 1788. Then there is the Abbey (which alas was closed ) which is just truly inspirational.

I really don’t need to go on about the place just look at the photographs…

Day Trip to Scarbrough

Off to the Yorkshire seaside.

You can read all about where this lark started here and our first night here.

The kids were off school this week and unusually Mrs Afterwards and I were off at the same time so we dicided to take the van for a run over to Scarbrough. The weather was unseasonably pleasant and I fancied giving her a good long run out. The van that is, not Mrs Afterwards.

There was no real need to pack anythign so we just coralled the kids into it, stopped at Starbucks for coffee and off we set. I was in such a rush to see what mileage I could get that I neglected to plug in the Sat Nav and in a most manly fashion told myself that I have been plenty of times and I would know when to turn off.

It wasn’t until we neared Thirsk that I realised that I am not to be trusted with such things and I had missed the turn to York many miles before. it did however turn out rather well because the Thirsk to Scarbrough road is a pretty detour indeed and if anything I felt emboldened to neglect the sat nav more often in an attempt to avoid the beaten track and all that.

Well that’s what I told myself because real men don’t need maps right ?

Anyway, the outskirts of the idyllic North Yorkshire Moors awaited and we enjoyed the sights of Kirbymoorside, Pickering and a host of other picture postcard locations as we made our way to the seaside.

Most of you will never have been to Scarbrough, but those who have will knwo it is a quite quintiessential English Seaside town. I spent many a holiday there when I was growing up and still love it to this day.

Now when I go I like to do all the same things I have done every other time I have been there. There are whelks and a walk from the north to the south bay and back, admirign the 1000 year old castle, penny slots, fish and chips, the occasional waffle, a mooch around the shops and a wander across the beach.

I know I could do something else but I find the familiarity quite comforting and am quite happy just being a regular boring old tourist.

Highlight of the day though was pulling over onto the verge on the way home and putting on the kettle and making coffee and simply watching the sun set. yes I know I sould like an old person, and yes I realise it sounds rather twee but it made me smile rather a lot.

Oh and the mileage? It was particularly economical and whilst I couldn’t quite work out what I was getting to the gallon (because I have no ide what a bloody gallon is ) I knew it was good which was a real bonus.

Our first night in the Van

Our first night away

You can read all about where this lark started here.

My youngest and I decided that we would head out for a night and see what it was like spending a night in the van. Not wanting to rough it too much I booked a place on a Caravan Club site over in Lancashire for just the one night. Only cost me £19.20 and a few quid in diesel and off we went.

We were a bit behind in setting off so made a hurried stop at tescos to pick up a few things and then we hit the road again. Now I am known to just make things up as I go along and having spent about £90 I was barely out of Halifax before I had a niggling feeling that I had forgotten stuff.

As it turned out I had forgotten almost everything.

Turns out that you need more than a couple of sirloins, some beans, utencils, bread and butter for a night out. Whilst I had managed to remember to buy a pan I had neglected to bring or buy anything to eat out of. Well there was one paper plate but that was it. I had also bought the world’s sharpest knife which I proceeeded to slash my finger with within moments of opening it which reminded me that I had forgotten any sort of first aid kit too.

But I am jumping the gun a little there because before that we enjoyed a rather pleasant walk around the country park and saw some ducks and a giant mouse trap and enjoyed a sculpture trail. All very fabulous.

Actually even that is jumping the gun because prior to that was the setting up of the van for the night. Not too tricky once we organised ourselves a little and got things unpacked. I did manage to unplug the electric from the rather surly Geordie taxi driver at the pitch next to us but apart from that no major issues.

So the walk was done and dinner was cooked. Tom ate his corned beef, beans and sausages out of the can they had come in and I ate mine from the pan. We then cooked a steak too which was fantastic though it did make the entire van smell like meat and that we just ate straight from the pan.

By now it was about 6pm and we weren’t quite sure what to do with ourselves. Getting away from all the usual distractions will take some getting used to. We chatted for a while and then watched a film on the ipad and ate a few biscuits and finished off the milk we had bought for no apparent reason. Well Tom did.

That is when the pissing started.

Oh god he needed the loo about 5 times over the next 3 hours and every time it was a case of getting wrapped up warm and making the trip across the site. First few times it was fun but by the fifth I was ready to try and fashion some sort of cathater for him.

Eventually he was empty and I had hidden all beverages and we settled down to bed.

That is when the farting started.

I am not sure the beans were right you know. Probably off. Either way it was a most windy end to the evening. We both slept pretty well and it was nice and warm with the heater keeping things toasty as we slept.

Morning came a little earlier than I would have liked but we both woke relatively refreshed and following a leftover steak sandwich for breakfast we packed up and headed home.

We had a fabulous time you know, and it was just great to get away and realise the freedom it gives us and make some new memories.

Happy days and next time we may even take a change of clothes and somethign to eat out of.

White Van Man

My home away from home

You may have to endure posts from me on the subject of camper vans and camping because I recently bought a VW camper conversion.

To be clear, I don’t particularly care for camping. Let’s just get that out of the way. I have been a few times and whilst it was pleasant I never really got the bug. I do though like the idea of it, particualry as my boys are getting older (Sam is 14 now and Tom nearly 11), and see it as a way of spendign more time with them before they realise that I am a dick and never speak to me again. To be honest I think Sam already has a strong suspicion.

Now I know I could have just bought a tent but but that didn’t quite float my boat so I jumped in and bought a van which can sleep 4 (well probably not 4 people my size but we will see how it goes) and has solar power, a heater, fridge, cooker, etc etc.

So far I haven’t slept in it but we are enjoying going out for the day, making caramel latte, and just getting used to being in it and working out how to spend time in it without it become infested with rats or smelling like a tramp’s bottom.

I’ll let you kinow how I get on. Here are a few pics from the first 2 weeks.