Plan A: It begins…

Hello! This is me and Charlie, or Charlie and me, if you prefer…

Plan A: Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England to Wellington, New Zealand. 

Overground via campervan? Water via boat? with dog! Only 11,800 miles, let’s call it 12,000 for a bit of wiggle room. Nessie had 72,800 miles on her clock, she could easy do it!?!

That’s it, that’s the plan. Ok, there might need to be a few details to sort out… but, it’s the start. Well, it was the start… two and a bit years ago; you know, before the ‘C’ word. 

Life keeps changing; and maybe one day I’ll tell you more about the previous 60 years of changing. Lol I know, it can’t be true…?! Can it? 60? Really? However, as I type, I’m off to New Zealand! Well, that’s the plan I had a couple of years ago when I clearly thought it would be a good idea. Chinese bat droppings got in the way. 

So, no travelling? Isolating then? Social distancing? No camping? But I was living in my campervan! (lovingly ripped out of an old minibus) I had become persona non gratis. I’d be chased down country lanes by vigilant police officers and, more worryingly, vigilante villagers waiving pitch forks and torches demanding death to the covid carriers ‘GERROFF MY LAND!’ 

Ok, I’m not a paragraph in and I’ve already used up my quota of artist license for my first ever blog! I may have exaggerated the police and villagers bit… I have never been approached, harassed or moved on by anyone, but I know of many that were. It was a pretty scary time to be doing anything outside at all, walking your dog was tricky enough never mind looking like you might be trying to escape the compulsory lockdown (*paragraph/pages here to get out my political soap box… I may be some time…). So, no travelling. But I had a campervan, well, it was nearly a campervan… and I wanted, needed, to use it without being stuck with a pitchfork. 

A temporary part time temp job as an ‘essential worker’ helped to kept me sane*.

Now, delivering stuff from Argos in and around Scunthorpe may not sound particularly essential - that is until you pull up outside a house where a single parent with three young kids have been locked in for weeks and the simplest childs toy would be anxiously awaited for by pent up kids, their teary faces pressed up against the window, and even more so by the desperate parent trying to cling to some sort of sanity! Being on the late shift on a Thursday meant I got ‘clapped’ just for driving around at 8pm 🤷‍♂️ - after the first time, I set my alarm and got out to support the proper hero’s on the NHS and carers frontline. But ‘hero’ status set aside, I wanted to get a bit nearer to New Zealand. 

So I got a job as a part time ‘warden’ on a campsite where I could legitimately stay in my campervan for free! Ok, so it was only in Norfolk… only 160 miles further south, but it was a job where I could pitch up and properly ‘shakedown’ my camper to prepare for anytime we might be free to travel further afield. This might also be a good source of income as I travelled, I could move from campsite to campsite plotting my way across the continents. It also gave me chance to get my campervan in better condition for transporting me and Charlie half way round the planet. 

I’m in South Devon now…. another Warden post, this one full time and permanent which means I get to be a tiny bit closer to New Zealand whilst trying to save a bit of cash by keeping my living expenses down to a minimum. You see, working while travelling was the plan, is the plan, cos I haven’t got any money! 

“Wha…??”. I did say there might be a few details that need to be added to the plan, and ok, I know what you’re thinking, “it’s not really a plan is it?”…. It might sound a bit ‘gappy’ at the moment but bear with me, I’m getting round to it… And who’s Nessie…?

This is a view from my lodge veranda towards Dartmoor, it’s not bad is it? Check out my campsite here: 

https://www.pennymoor-camping.co.uk/

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