Our motorhome

My wife, Lesley, and I became motorhomers in a long, drawn-out fashion.

We started out in our youth as lightweight tent campers using Triumph Spitfires for transport, which also included taking an old English sheepdog along as well. We learned the art of travelling light early on.

After five years of this, we decided to up sticks from Birmingham to Cumbria. This was over 40 years ago. Back then, rented property was very scarce. The local paper was once a week and, if there was something advertised, we had to be in Cumbria ready to jump at it. My, how times have changed.

We converted a 1969 Mk1 Ford Transit van (an ex-Heathrow airport crew bus) into a campervan; a very basic one by today’s standards! We lived in it for nine months and then a static caravan for another two years until finally getting a rented flat. We went back to sports cars and tents again for many years.

With retirement looming, we purchased our first caravan, an Eriba 530 Touring. We were really taken with it; who needs anything more? Well, three years down the road whilst at the Malvern Show (we only