Tom was polished and gleaming, all the paperwork gathered together and all the bits and bobs that the new owners should have gathered up and stowed away, plus all the stuff that was going to be transferred packed into big shopping bags and piled up in the bathroom and wardrobe. The changeover took place smoothly and efficiently and all the stuff loaded into the new van, already named Boris. There was, however, one major hiccup. We'd forgotten to bring the bag of clean clothes!
Gingerly we drove off (driving an A Class is a new and weird experience, despite the new van being the same size as the old one) and headed to the nearby Caravan Club site in the Norfolk Broads (via a seafood stall for Cromer crab) to test everything out for the weekend.
We parked up, unpacked and opened a bottle of bubbly to christen Boris before settling down for the night in our new home (after playing around with the "atmospheric lighting" for a while).
Up early I moved into the rear lounge and turned on the heating to test if we would suffer the cold foot syndrome we had put up with for 3 years in Tom. The rear lounge has two hot air outlets on the ground. They are hot. Very hot. As I danced up and down with burning tootsies the pain was tempered with the knowledge that we would never again suffer cold feet!
Eventually 'er indoors emerged from the upstairs bedroom and we dressed (albeit in slightly damp underwear after they had been washed the previous evening), breakfasted and then headed towards the bus stop to catch a bus to Norwich to buy clothes. This was not as easy as described as we were not used to stowing and retrieving items and I couldn't find my wallet!
We bought the required items, wandered around a bit, had a nice pub lunch and then caught the bus back, not without incident as the driver forgot the route, slammed on the brakes and skidded back onto the right route. Its not often one suffers badly bruised shins on a bus but I suppose this is Normal for Norfolk!
On Sunday we had a long walk around the area and headed back for lunch, sitting around and enjoying some warm sunshine.
Monday it was off back to the dealer to find out why the central locking wasn't working. That'll be because it doesn't have central locking. Doh! We did, however, leave the van with them for an hour or so in order that they could rewire the aerial and enjoyed a nice coffee and cake in Potter Heigham whilst we waited.
The van fixed, and headlights adjusted for continental driving, we set off for home.
And here he is, looking as good as the day we bought him but with a few thousand more miles under his belt and a wealth of experience stored up inside. The near misses - clipping the deer running across the road in the Peak District and getting severely overheated brakes coming down off the Alps in Austria. The hot ones - 45 degrees in Freiburg, Germany, and the cold ones - frozen water pipes in Hipperholme, Yorkshire. Parking in vineyards, stately homes, mountains, forests, by lakes, rivers and the sea, in somebody's garden, outside a supermarket. Having Christmas Dinner in a howling gale on top of Clee Hill in Shropshire, driving through Monaco and along the Corniche, getting changed from the beach in a restaurant car park and then going for dinner and coming back from France with lockers packed full of wine. Stuck in axle deep mud in Peterborough and the never ending trips to Crystal Palace. It's been quite an adventure. It is, however, time to move on.
Why is he going? First the tyres will need replacing soon and, more importantly, as a British built van there is an increasing risk of water ingress from the many seals around the place. Second, the levels of insulation are not as good as a continental van and, for some mad reason, Swift decided to vent the front lounge directly from the exterior to exactly where you place your feet, hence the need to wear hobbit feet in the winter (and we use the van all year round). Third, and the main reason, the dealer at the Peterborough Motorhome Show made us an offer that was significantly above what I expected to sell it for and was, basically, too good to miss.
So - with a few tears it is a sad Goodbye Tom and thanks for some very happy memories. Let's hope his new owners enjoy their travels as much as we did.
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