Nearly there

Well, the initial euphoria of Bessy being delivered was tempered by the disappointment of everything not being as it should have been. 

There was a great deal of squeaking when I first fired up the diesel engine on Saturday morning and the coolant light came on a little while later. The driver's courtesy light and heating control lights weren't working and so the cab was almost pitch black at night and the driver's side windscreen spray didn't spray. Finally, we hadn't noticed it but both tables were slightly damaged and an infill cushion was missing which makes up the double bed.

So with a heavy heart I had to email the dealer again who agreed to come back up on Tuesday and sort everything out, returning it to the garage that had done the work if necessary. True to his word, he did this and everything was fixed by Tuesday evening. I really can't fault the dealer on his excellent service, and I've spoken with him so often that I almost I've got to know him as a friend now. He'll be a very good person to know in the future too I'm sure.

So we're good to go now and tomorrow I'll be loading Bessy up and we'll be off on our maiden voyage to Anglesey via a couple of stops on the North Wales coast on Saturday morning.

Watch this space for some photos of Penmon Point.

Our Bessy Finally Arrives

After a three week delay mainly due to significant engine problems, Our Bessy was delivered today.  The initial minor delay was caused by a failure in the blown-air heating system requiring that the heater was reconditioned by a Carver specialist.

However, she also overheated on the M6 delivery journey from Worcestershire and had to be taken to a commerical garage in Middlewich where she spent a few day having a new camshaft, cambelt and associated gear and pulley systems, followed by pressure testing in Stoke to make sure nothing else had been damaged due to overheating.

So today was an exciting occasion as I waited in expectation for 10am to arrive. But nothing seems to go to plan with Our Bessy and it was 11:20am before she actually turned up outside our house.  And then, as the dealer went though the handover demonstration, we discovered that the toilet pump wasn't working!  At first I had thoughts of Bessy being taken away to get it sorted, but all credit to the dealer who tried everything to get it working, and following a few phone calls, he eventually did.

So now we have her to ourselves - watch this space for more news as we familiarise ourself with Bessy's controls and prepare for our first short overnight trip to Anglesey.

Welcome to the Adventures of Our Bessy

Bessy is shortly to be our new campervan (or motorhome if you're a bit posh).  She's a 1997 2.4 litre diesel Peugeot Boxer fitted with an AutoSleepers Symphony van conversion and she's in pretty good nick for her age.

We're buying her from a dealer in Worcestershire and she's due to be delivered on Thursday - needless to say we can't wait for her to arrive.

After weeks of deliberation, including looking at a brand-new Volkswagen California which was over £45,000,  we decided to dip our toes in the world of motorhomes with a somewhat cheaper option.

Cheaper and the fact that it has a built-in toilet and shower cubicle which the very nicely designed but incredibly expensive California doesn't have.  So after seeing a couple of vans in the flesh and viewing many for sale on websites, we plumped for the AutoSleepers 'Symphony' model, which seemed to have everything we need.

OK, so it's not brand new, but we're not really brand new kind of people.  Who knows? If we like it, we may buy a newer model at some time in the future.

Bessy is chiefly going to be my birdmobile.  I want to be able to go out birding at a moment's notice and stay overnight somewhere without the fuss of worrying about accommodation -  a motorhome with a toilet, shower and cooking facilities seems to fit the bill.  But Sarah is very keen to use Bessy for travelling around the country and perhaps even abroad.

We used to have a static caravan on Anglesey and we've really missed it since having to give it up in 2010 when it was well past its 'use by' date.  In fact, we'll probably take Bessy to one of our favourite places on Anglesey for her maiden voyage - Penmon Point.

Watch this space for photos of her first adventure.