A few weeks ago the camper van I built 10 years ago was sold.
I built it from a an old St John's Ambulance, it only had 8000 miles on the clock and had been stored in a hanger it's whole life. Dad and I went to pick it up and the idea was already forming in my mind as we drove down there.
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| Before - St John Ambulance |
I got it back and gutted it and then set about converting it into a camper with the idea to take my wife (then girlfriend) around Europe in it the following summer.
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| The inside of the van to be ripped out |
If people are interested I have some pictures of the conversion as well, let just say that a lot of hours went into that conversion, I'd work all day then get home and start again on the van. I was living at my parents at the time and had a little workshop there which I could park outside to get the work done. My wife made all the curtains and cushion covers as well, which we fitted on a test run down to her place. The one and only time it broke down (although I managed to fix it on the Gloucester bypass!).
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| Nestled in between some much bigger campers |
When we left I had tested very little, I pretty much downed tools, picked up my wife and set off for France. We had only booked a ferry in and a ferry out, everything else was left up to chance!
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| Pitched up in France the first night - everything worked! |
Everything in the van worked as it should though, with very few teething troubles, we had running water, electric, lights and a gas cooker and a good sized sofa that turned into a double bed at night.
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| The van outside Colditz castle |
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| Easy to set up camp |
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| Prague |
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| Big enough for my wife to cook in! |
For the next 6 weeks we travelled over 4000 miles, camped on 19 campsites and drove across 8 countries, a year later we drive all the way to Poland as well. Everywhere we went people would stop and ask about the camper and want to look inside, I remember crossing the boarder into Germany from Poland and all the boarder guards wanted to do was look around the van and ask questions about how it was made!
It was a great way to travel and suited our life at that point in time. Fast forward ten years, we now have a life that is far harder to pack up, with three kids, a big veg garden and more stock than you can shake a stick at, the camper was something that wasn't really going to get used anymore, my sister was last to use it a few years ago.
Better to sell it and let someone else have some adventures in it. Hopefully it'll be driving round for a long time yet!
What do you think to the van?
Where would you drive to?
