WINTER WONDERLAND

This morning we awoke to a winter wonderland. everything was covered in a thick layer of snow.

Our first thoughts were to grab our walking boots and water proofs out of the back of piglet and head out into the countryside.

We do love a bit of snow and of course here in the midlands we hardly get any so this was a real rare treat 

Everything looked like a postcard, trees had snow and ice dangling from there branches like Christmas decorations, glistening away in the wind.

Gaps in the hedgerows revealed vast fields and hills in the distance covered completely in a white layer of snow.

Villages looked like they were straight out of a Christmas film, with log fires burning making the air smell like we had stepped into the past, inside people looked out onto the snow covered roads some making snowmen in there gardens.

We were now out in the countryside away from the villages and towns. Nobody around just us and nature, birds would swoop in front of us hiding among the hedgerows then fly onto the ground leaving small trails behind.

We moved a stray log next to the river and used our blanket to make ourselves a cosy seat. We had a warming cup of tea and enjoyed watching the snow fall around us

Today was a delight, getting to walk in the snow and see the fields and forest transformed into a snow covered landscape, another reason we love the seasons on this little island we call England.

WINCHCOMBE AND ITS WALK

The Cotswolds a place of unmatched beauty and quintessential British villages. With its honey stone buildings, history and legends it is a place that has won over the hearts of the world bringing tourists from far and wide to see its chocolate box appearance.

We love the Cotswolds and have also been won over by its charm but not just its villages but the amazing and varied walks it has across its many hills valleys and patchwork fields.

One such walk lead us to the historic market town of Winchcombe where we wild camped in our van before our walk.

Winchcoomb began its life back in neolithic period where still today stands a stone lined burial chamber known as Balas knap.

In the middle ages it had become a thriving wool town.

We were most interested in its church and its rather amusing carvings or grotesques on the outside.

There are 40 of these carvings 20 of them depict demonic sprits and demons and another 20 depicting  locally important people. 

We got some food supply's and had some tea delivered from our friends over at Grizzly tea and set off into the cotswolds following its old country roads winding in and out of forests and local towns.

Arriving at a little car park we boiled our kettle and had a warm cup of tea and some lunch before heading off to find the church.

The church itself did not disappoint with its 90 foot high tower and grand windows, it is hard to believe that this church dates back to 1175. of course over the years it has been greatly renovated and changed with the times.

The grotesques (the characters on the church) were as whimsical as its legends stated and of course the most famous one which is the picture above is said to be the inspiration for Lewis Carrol for the mad hatter in the story Alice in wonderland.

Out of respect we did not want to take photographs inside of the church but its grand and impressive architecture is seen through out leaving its viewer in awe.

After we had explored the church it was getting dark, in these winter days the darkness creeps in quicker then we think so we headed back to the van to find a camping spot before the sun was hidden behind the Cotswolds countryside.

We found a lovely car park in the village of snows hill, it was a free car park and had no signs saying anything about overnight parking. It was quiet and surrounded by a small wood. we made our dinner and closed the curtains just as the sun went behind the hills.

We awoke in the morning to the sounds of singing birds and the suns light finding its way through the small gaps in the curtains. Breakfast was first up on the agenda before we made our sandwiches and tea for our long walk today.

The walk started in Winchcoomb so we found a car park and followed the directions from there, across the roads and down some little side streets until we came to and opening in a lane climbing slowly up into the hills above the town.

The walk led uphill and opened out into fields which were a little muddy underfoot but nothing our walking boots could not handle, and besides we had a flask of tea and sandwiches so nothing could go wrong.

Half way up we turned around to a stunning view of the old wool town itself with its chimneys wisping small white clouds of smoke into the sky from wood fires. Taking pride of place among the historic landmarks of the countryside.

We walked up steep hills through a forest covered in mud helping each other from slipping back down into the muddy puddles below.

When we arrived at the top we were greeted by some incredible views of the countryside before us stretching right across to the Malvern hills in the distance. This naturally is where we sat in the winter sun to have our tea and sandwiches as we all know its not a walk unless you bring the essentials.

We sat there admiring the views watching the birds and pheasants dart in and out of the trees and the sheep walk the fields looking for the best patch of grass to eat. Its views like this that make you sit and be amazed at how beautiful nature is and how precious our countryside is, so delicate and innocent going about its daily life carving mountains and hills, valleys and rivers. All this can be changed by us as humans. You realise that the world is a big place and we are just a little part of the bigger picture around us.

The walk lead us across fields and forests away from the towns and villages of the cotswolds making us feel like we were the only people there out in the hills. 

We passed through a field of sugar beats which by the looks of things the sheep and found there way into and had preceded to eat every other one leaving a trail of bites out of each sugar beat, we did find it rather amusing and could not help but smile at the thought of the sheep nibbling there way through the field.

In the next field was the culprits keeping a close eye on us opening the gate just incase we forgot to close it allowing them entry once again to there feast. Sheep really do have a way of making us humans think they are merely eating grass when there true intention is to find a way into the next field over.

The sun was starting to set and we we privileged to see a golden sunset across the fields of crops.

We got back to our van Piglet and decided to get some chips as a little treat, enjoying them in our van discussing our next walk and adventures.

Written by Adam Woodward 

VAN LIFE

Piglet our van is back on the road and we have taken to van life like a duck takes to water, camping out under the stars exploring the countryside and being able to make tea whenever and wherever we want. We thought we would do a little update on our travels over the past month.

We got our van back after she had a new water pump, fuel tank and coolent pipes fitted and hit the road straight away. Having all the space is awesome and having space for everything means we can just get out our walking boots whenever we want and hike the countryside.

We have been keeping our travels relatively close to home just incase old piglet decided she wants something else fixing. It also gives us a chance to see what we may need on our longer journeys and things we don't need. One thing we do have to finish is setting up our gas so we can use the camper stove and not the little portable one we have got.

Wild camping is great fun, getting to wake up to a different view everyday and watching the sunset and sunrise is just a bonus. We have found that we are never bothered by any passers by so far and people seem to be very interested in the van often waving or smiling as they walk past.

Another bonus is that we managed to finish our National trust passports, finally it only took a year!

Piglet is a perfect size to fit down the small roads of the Cotswolds so she will get along fine with the even smaller roads of Devon and the Lakes (we hope), even if Sarah is on the right hand side and has oncoming traffic coming towards her, making for some rather interesting debates on weather we can fit past this giant tractor or not.

We don't think the van is helping our hiking addiction though.

Its been a busy month and piglet has been a trooper not missing a beat making us gain our confidence in her. In the new year we have a lot of camping trips planned all over the country and we are going to be taking our travels one step further by having a youtube channel, which means you can watch us and our adventures and everything we get up to if your so inclined. See you on the road and in the countryside everyone keep on adventuring.

WE HAVE A VAN

 Many of you know how much we have always wanted a van. Our very own home on wheels.

After a year of long hard looking, trawling through internet posts and building up our mechanical knowledge best we could. 

           We can finally say we have our own lovely little van!!

So now our struggle is over (or just beginning) we hope that if you are looking for a van yourself maybe we can help shed some light on the task of old van hunting. 

 Buying a van for us has always been something we have wanted to do, We are always on the road travelling and camping so having a home on wheels means we can explore for longer and further without having to use campsites all the time.

Our first step was to choose a van and that part was easy as we have always wanted a VW T25. The reason being is we think they are very well designed, spacious and are possibly the best looking van ever made. At the start of our search we had a budget which was around £3000 which for a T25 is not much in terms of getting a decent usable van.

In the meantime whilst we saved we looked at many other options and vans to see which would suit us best from large jumbo Iveco van to smaller ford transit van that we could self build into a camper.

We looked at sprinter vans as they are large have lots of space and have a very good reputation of being one of the most reliable engines around some covering 300,000 plus. The downside for us was that they were all diesel which we thought may prove a problem in the future with the government here in the uk wanting to get rid of diesel cars from our roads plus we heard the parts are very expensive.

We then looked at the cheaper option of an Ldv convoy again being diesel but also having a petrol option made us think this would make a very good large camper. 

It turns out after a lot of research that the poor old LDV has not got the best reputation for quality and the rear diff often fails meaning unless you have deep pockets you have to scrap your van. BUT Don't let this put you off the LDV though they are the cheapest van money can buy and are in fact rather good if they have been looked after.

After all the searching and researching the old t25 was always going to be the van we wanted so we started to save and research as much as we could so we could find a good quality van.

We researched, bodywork, engine problems, air cooled or water cooled engines and the different conversions made. We joined a very good club called club 80-90 these guys are incredible and very helpful on the forums helping with any problems you may have.

So what did we learn and how can we possibly help you in finding your very own van.

The first thing about the T25 is its bodywork, it is by far the most important part of the van even more so then the engine. These vans were first produced in Germany in 1979 and were the follow on of its predecessor the very famous VW T2.

The body work over the years has taken a beating and a small design flaw in the vans build means that water and grime gets in behind the vans seems and can not be cleaned back out causing the van to rust and rot from the inside out. This for us 40 years later means that most of these vans unless they were incredibly well looked after are going to have rust in some form or another.

The trick is when you look online is to learn where the most common rust spots are and start from there working your way around the pictures and seeing how bad the rust has become, remember this is from the inside out so if the rust looks bad it means that underneath could be a whole world of trouble.

The usual rust spots for a vw t25 are 

Wheel arches 

Fuel cap 

Behind the fridge inside the van 

Front window seal 

cab steps 

There are other locations but these are where you are most likely to see rust and it would not be uncommon to see it when viewing a van. One rule of buying a t25 is never buy a resprayed van unless they have pictures of the van before and the process they went through to make it look the way it dose now, even then its a very big risk.

This is because these vans are becoming very sort after and are worth anything from £3000 to £15000  and some people will filler there van not treat the rust and paint over it, this is just going to leave the new buyer with a whole list of problems and expense in the future as the rust will just rot the van away under the bodywork until it bubbles on the paintwork.

However a little bit of filler is to be expected and we would be very impressed if you found a van with none. Our method was to find a van that we could see the rust meaning we could judge how bad the rust was and if it could be treated without having to weld a new part on. Every time we found a van which looked all shiny and new we found it hard to see the rust problems and would move on only stopping if we could see a slightly rusty van, sounds crazy but believe us it works.

We are in the process of treating the rust on our van using Built hydrate 80 as the rust killer and Built electrox as the primer. We also removed all of the interior so that we could treat any rust inside.

We are lucky in the fact that our van has mostly surface rust but in one or two places did have some damage that in the past had been treated and filled properly, however this shows how tricky these vans our the hole above was just a small chip in the paintwork but on closer inspection it was a beast! 

Another trick when you find a van online is to contact the seller and ask for a list of pictures such as wheel arches, sliding door, cab steps, under the van, engine and behind the fridge if possible. If the owner is happy to send the pictures and they are of good quality then more than likely being truthful and are not hiding anything where as if the owner just sends you a message saying come and view the van it is best avoided as all they want is for you to drive all that way and then buy the van. Believe us we have had it all. 

Pictures taken like they just fell over, 'its at a friends house and i can't take pictures this week just come see it' other things to look out for  'Just needs some TLC' - turns out its been sitting in floodwater and TLC is the name of the boat to get it out. (obviously this isn't always the case)

With the body work out of the way its time to decide which model and engine you would like. The vw t25 was produced in Germany in the late 70s, and were all air-cooled until 1981 when they moved to a water cooled engine.

In our opinion and this may not be correct we wanted the water-cooled. the two engines have there ups and downs the air-cooled is far more simple then the water-cooled but because it is cooled by the air when you are driving it means being stuck in traffic and on very warm days there is a possibility you could overheat. They are also slower then the water-cooled so keeping up with modern traffic can be hard but all in all the air-cooled has a massive following and we have nothing against them at all.

The water-cooled also has problems with the introduction of coolent pipes that ran the entire length of the van to transport the coolent from the fan at the front to the back these often rot away and need to be replaced which is what we are doing on our van now with stainless steal ones.

There have been many conversions of the t25 from the westfalia to the devon, we have a westfalia these were made in germany and were the official company that VW used to convert the van into a camper van. they are all left hand drives and everything is in kolomiters but they are one of the only conversions which adults can sleep in the pop top roof as most other models were not made as strong.

The westfalia also has a lot of storage space and everything is fitted for convenience.

We looked for well over a year for our van and always wanted a pop top westfalia and were very lucky to be contacted by an 80-90s club member asking if we would be interested in buying his. We asked for pictures and he sent every one we asked for he gave us lots of information and was very trustworthy. we went to view the van and fell in love and handed over the money as he handed over the keys. this moment felt like it would never come we had spent hours looking at eBay and gumtree becoming obsessed and yes believe us you will become obsessed with looking sometimes checking every 5 minuets. But when the moment arrives where you finally buy your van all that hard work pays off.

When you buy your van it is only the first step, ours is a 1984 model so its 34 years old and we are slowly fixing any problems we find. Our first job was to give her a service so we changed the oil and filter, spark plugs, distributer cap and arm and the air filter. Lucky our fuel lines had already been changed and theses are very very important and should be the first job you do as soon as you get your van as if they have perished there is always a chance it can set your beloved van on fire. This is more common in the air-cooled. 

It is also advisable to change out the fuel tank as the design of the tank often means they rot through so the fuel tank and lines were our first port of call

We painted our fuel tank with rustolum combi colour and decided it best to let a professional fit it as it is a dangerous job as it involves fuel.

With these old vans it will take you a while to find all its problems unfortunately we overlooked one and broke down, yes this is real van life not like the ones you often see on the internet with half naked people laying on there van roof. Not that we are saying there is anything wrong with sitting half naked on your van roof but its most defiantly not like that most of the time.

Our water pump decided that after 34 years it was time to retire which is not that bad for its age but not that good for our poor engine so we are currently fixing the new water pump onto the van and will be on the road again soon enough. This is real van life you will break down but you get to meet some amazing people, when we broke down we had no way of getting a tow home that night but luckily a family who owned a farm just by the side of the road said we were welcome to keep the van there for the night until we could get a tow home 

It made us think that there are infact some amazing people in the world and we are excited to meet many more like minded people on our travels.

We have named our van Piglet as we thing she looks like a little pig so if you see us and piglet on the road give us a wave and if you see us wild camping come and say hello and if you are a van owner such as us we would love to meet up and hang out under the stars drinking tea.

We have big plans for piglet as we hope to have her as our home on wheels living and travelling the country, the adventure has defiantly begun.