Our Bob Is An Awesome Bob!

Many, many months ago I promised some pictures from our first holiday outings in Bob.

Here goes…

Playing cards in rainy Wiltshire having been to see Stonehenge on our way to North Devon. Our first night all together in Bob!

Next, at our campsite in Devon with Joolz’s van getting off to a smokin’ start!

It was the first time we’d tried the awning and because we were doing a fair bit of driving around we didn’t attach it.

We went into Exmoor to visit the village Helen’s parents lived in and had a picnic :

but only after a lengthy spell sat behind the locals!

We did the Devon-Essex run in one run which took about 10 hours as I had to keep stopping to rest.

After a day of washing and clearing out Bob we were off again to a woodland campsite in Suffolk. As we weren’t planning to move Bob for the week we fixed up the awning to Bob for the first time. It was very useful, especially as Helen’s sister and her family were camping on the plot next to us and we had lots of bikes and toys to store.

Overall then two weeks of enjoyable camping and 1200+ miles covered without a hitch, made all the sweeter after the problems we’ve had with Bob. She did us proud though and we’re thinking about Europe next year with Liesel!

Home! In the past week Bob’s done over 1000 miles (inc 350 today over 10 hours) and hasn’t missed a beat. What a girl!

I’ll post all the details of Stonehenge & Devon next weekend when we’re back from holiday part II in Suffolk.

Whilst other parents sat on wet chairs and braved the winds at Cressing Temple I sat smugly in Bob with the side door open and kept warm and dry. And when the rain stopped and the sun came out, Bob just looked cool…

Then we came home via McDonalds, eating our meal at the table in the back of Bob. Fast food has never been such a chilled experience!

All booked up for our first camping expeditions in Bob! Very exciting!

Last weekend we again camped on Helen’s dad’s front drive. We’re building up to a camp site slowly!

Also there were Helen’s sister’s family and their T4 Caravelle which they use to travel across Europe (England > Spain > Romania > Hungary > England) during June and July. They very cleverly filled the area behind the second row of seats with custom made boxes as part of a false floor so that, if needed, all four of them could sleep in it. Puts the small trips we’ve made in Bob so far into perspective!

But yesterday we went to Southwold in her and we’ll soon be off camping in Devon and in Norfolk. To celebrate our excitement at this I’ve added a new page called Our Travels upon which I shall record all the places we have visited in Bob. In its own way it’s all very exciting!

Before I write this I must say how odd it is that after being almost obsessive about taking pictures over the past six months I completely forgot to this past weekend. So this post is all about our momentous first sleep in Bob and I’ve no photos to mark the occasion. Oops. This doesn’t detract from the weekend of course which was glorious in terms of Bob, the weather and Morris Weekend, I just wish etc. etc.

On Saturday morning Helen filled Bob with all of he things we’ve not really had the opportunity to fill her with before – pots, pans, sleeping kit etc. and we set about trying to sterilise the water tank. A daisy chain of hose pipes lent to us by (and using the outside tap of) Brenda next door flushed out the tank before we filled it up, popped in the sterilising tablets for an hour, and then re-filled it. There are certain leakage issues in the piping between the filler cap behind the passenger seat and the tank itself but otherwise all was fine.

Packed up with our stuff, including ice blocks and milk in the fridge, we set off and we had our first (of two) accidents over the course of the weekend. As I reversed out of the back garden the back wheels dropped off the curb and it was at that moment I realised the passenger side door wasn’t fully clicked to. It was only a slow, gentle drop but it was enough to pull the door open enough for it to wedge on the annoyingly placed fence and, I believe, bend the hinges slightly. Whatever, the door now catches on the frame so we shut the door, locked it, and Helen used the sliding side door for the rest of the weekend. If the door had swung open at any other point but there… It’s an avoidable job that will need doing, and probably won’t be cheap either.

Annoyed but still upbeat we set off for Thaxted. A stop at the local garage showed that the tyres had lost no pressure at all in the past fortnight, which was good. I had noticed that the throttle response seemed poor though and guessed that, as before, it was the pin that holds the throttle pedal up that had fallen out. A second stop in a lay-by and that was sorted, although only by sliding the pin back in – it’ll need a permanent fix soon. We set-off again and as we went around the first bend the fridge door flew open and the entire contents were thrown across the van floor. A third stop saw the power pack & crook lock wedged against the door as the fridge clip seems to be broken. Happily, there were no more stops ’til Thaxted.

Arriving at Helen’s Dad’s house (Moulton) we found that Anne had put a ‘Reserved for Bob’ sign on the drive for us which was a nice touch. We parked up and went in doors to watch the FA Cup Final. We then went out to see the Morris Dancing. Helen’s Dad has danced with Thaxted Morris Men for years and so we always try to go to the annual Ring Meeting where Morris Men from all over the UK ( and sometimes the world) come together in Thaxted to dance. It being the 75th Thaxted Ring Meeting there were many more Morris Men than usual.

Although I forgot to take a picture of Bob parked up and curtains drawn I did take some pictures of the dancing. They were taken on my mobile in poor light into the sun but they’re something! The picture on the right is of  Thaxted Morris Men in flight.

One of the things that happened again and again during the weekend was people wanting to talk about Bob and share their experiences with VW Campers. Almost universally their flaws are discussed openly and critically, but it’s in a jovial and fond way. I wonder how many other vehicles would illicit such a response.

After the first lot of dancing we headed back to Moulton for some excellent food before going back out for the evening session. The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance as danced by Thaxted Morris Men is amazing. Sadly it was on very late due to the large number of Morris Men dancing and Helen’s legs couldn’t cope with more standing. We retired to Bob having missed the Horn Dance – an excellent excuse should one be needed to see it at the Patronal Festival later in the  month.

Our first night in Bob was…cosy. After Alfie had informed us it had been really cold we took our thick sleeping bag. Going to bed in a couple of t-shirts and pyjama bottoms I was soon down to my boxers (sorry for the image!) and poor Helen was in the closed side of the sleeping bag and so cooked. There was also little escape either for her from my snoring. I have decided that Campers are designed for people of 50 years mechanical experience with the body dimensions and suppleness of a 10 year old! It was lovely camping out in her though, and a breakfast of Earl Grey/sterilising tablet tea and chocolate biscuits whilst sat on the bed was bliss!

We’d been invited over to a friend’s house on Sunday morning. We went round for a cuppa and ended up staying for a barbecue lunch. It was a wonderfully relaxing morning and it was perhaps this that led to our second accident of the weekend. The house has a very big, ‘lawned’  garden and the children present (six under the age of seven) had been given rides around the garden in a flat bed truck that was there to help move some furniture. When we eventually left in Bob the atmosphere of relaxed fun caused a rush of blood to the head and me deciding to play up to the crowd. So I didn’t turn Bob around out the front, I drove her around the back to do it. This went down very well until I misjudged the gap between the hedge and the swings and bent one of the seeing posts. I have apologised profusely and been generously forgiven. I shall now move on…

Sunday afternoon was spent in Margaret Gardens watching more dancing and doing a bit of country dancing ourselves. It was a bit too hot sat there, but we’d have been glad of it in the evening  as the wind picked up, the sun went down and our thinned blood demanded blanket around shoulders.

We headed home just as Bob’s lights were needed and were soon in bed sleeping/snoring. The weekend has given us a list of jobs to do (passenger door alignment, throttle pedal pin, fridge door catch etc.) and a taste of what it is to camp out in Bob. It may only have been on a front driveway but it was a start – the first night of many.

One day shy of six months after Bob arrived and she’s finally being used as nature intended. Alfie & his friend George are out in the back garden having a sleep-over. Helen & I shall be trying it out on Saturday and you never know – we might even go to a campsite one day!

We went over to Thaxted last night to see Helen’s family. Bob was wonderful. Long may it continue…

Second gear is a little notchy at times but things are looking up. After the accelerator pedal pin coming out on Thursday, Friday’s journeys to and from work were utterly uneventful – apart from the fact that they took place in Bob.

We’re taking her out for a trip through the country lanes tomorrow such is my faith in her. Excellent.

I’ve added a new category – gears – because it’s becoming something of a saga in its own right now.

With the Mazda sold we’re back down to two vehicles and I’m using Bob to get to work each day. I set off for work yesterday to find that the gearchange had degenerated again, so before heading home at the end of the day I had a fiddle with it. My efforts didn’t help much and it was a tricky drive home.

This morning however was shocking. I found myself unable to change down at all, so what should have been a 30-40mph down change from 4th to 3rd had to be a 0mph struggle into 1st before working my way back up through the gears again. My fellow work-run motorists loved me. 

Another stop plate adjustment session took place before coming home and although 1st is a bit vague she’s driveable again. I wonder what the gearchange will be like tomorrow…

In other news, I need to top her up with oil for the first time and don’t really have the kit to reach the awkwardly posiitioned oil cap (I’ve sorted it now I think) and the windscreen washer bottle seems to have spontaneously developed a leak. Like they all do I’m sure.