We might all be sitting at home right now, and feeling pretty down about not being able to get out and about in our campervans, but I have to keep optimistically looking ahead to a time when we can enjoy touring this amazing country again. It’s pretty wild here today (Boxing Day, 2020) – pouring down rain, and blowing wild and blustery. Not much moving outside either, now that the further restrictions are in place in Scotland, and the frenzy of delivery vans has passed for another Christmas. So it got me dreaming of better weather, and better times. I have been thinking back on our trips since we got Ali Bongo, as well as other trips with the family caravan back when the boys were younger. We’ve been lucky enough to see quite a bit of Scotland over the years, but that still leaves so much more to see – the Inner Hebrides, the North East, with Banffshire and Aberdeenshire, the South East from the Borders to the sea, and Berwickshire, and huge areas in the interior of Scotland only driven through. And, I have started to wonder if our incredibly adaptable Bongo might be able to be used to provide a base, at a single location perhaps for a week, the better to explore an area….
I’m talking about a driveaway awning.
We do have some favourite campsites, that we are drawn back to, for their facilities, for the area, and some have lovely friendly owners too, that go the extra mile and make your stay just a little bit special. And, we have done the base-camp type camping trips before, albeit with a huge caravan and at least the tow-car, sometimes a further car ( we used to use an SUV to tow, and it was thirsty for day trips) for getting around in. It became such a military-style campaign every trip that we would go just a couple of times a year, and it took HOURS to set everything up. The whole experience kinda loses it’s appeal when it becomes such a chore to set up.
And this is why we both love the campervan life so much. Of course there are compromises – it’s pretty stressful for the five minutes it takes to either make up the bed or put it away in the morning if we are both in the van! But, we have developed a system, and I can operate pretty swiftly, having perfected the art of making up our lovely comfortable bed in the time it takes Lorraine to have an evening smoke! It’s a bit longer putting everything away again, and I usually time this to her trip to the loos. It works for us though, and other than this transformers-like faff, our needs and tastes are simple, and our wee Bongo fulfills them very nicely.
But what if we went to one of our favourite campsites – Cannich, Grantown on Spey, Solway View, Beinglas Farm, Ardmair Point, Applecross….. – and established a bit of a “base camp”, using as many of our fellow Bongonauts do, a driveaway awning as a base? Could we avoid the urge ( I think so, lol!) to bring so much “stuff” to make ourselves more comfortable that we end up with the stress and hassle reminiscent of those past caravan sagas? If so, the possibilities are intriguing.
If we limit ourselves to what we bring, to prevent the van becoming just that – a van to transport mountains of gear, then it might be enjoyable. We don’t need a full camp kitchen setup, after all I built my little removable kitchen pod so that I could use it outdoors, or under the canopy, so it would work just the same in an awning. We could extend our electric hookup cable from the van into the awning to use 240v out there for the fridge, and we already have little lantern type lights we could use. We carry a folding table and camping chairs too, so they can be used. Some kind of rug for the floor and a groundsheet are in the loft as well. And we have an awning rail attachment in the form of a figure-eight, attached to the van guttering on the passenger side where we attach the canopy if we decide to put it up.
The big advantage is having a space outwith the van, with standing room. And the massive advantage driveaway awnings have over caravan awnings? They are self supporting, essentially tents, so can be erected without the van for airing and drying when you are home again.
We were very nearly off and running recently, when we were kindly gifted an awning by friends of ours in October, after they had spent the night wrestling with theirs in a storm they had decided it wasn’t worth the hassle. Unfortunately, on close inspection later at home, the storm had pretty much trashed the poor thing, having damaged two of the three plastic windows while battering the thing around in the night. But, they had generously also given us the groundsheets, carpets and heavy duty pegs they had used, so we were prepared should we decide to go this direction in the future. I had really liked their awning too, not too huge as to be difficult to erect, or too bulky to store in the van. Basic, but practical too, with door options on the front or side, and big enough to easily stand in. https://www.obelink.co.uk/obelink-trinity.html
And so, with Christmas coming up…..I ordered a new Obelink Trinity as a surprise for Lorraine! She had seemed pretty taken with the idea of the outdoor space, and the possibility of eating and sitting “outdoors” instead of only in the van had appealed.
Sitting listening to the wind and rain outside as the skies darken in the late afternoon, it feels uplifting to dream of sunnier, warmer times. To look ahead to exploring winding country lanes and hidden gems of coastline or village tea rooms. I think we might plan a trip to South West Scotland, staying at our beloved Solway View, perhaps for 3 or 4 nights. Or, we might visit Speyside and stay at Grantown, exploring from there. Then again, Moffatt gives us options of the Borders and Southern Scotland too. Or visit Cannich near Loch Ness, establish ourselves there for a few days and explore this area more thoroughly. We can pitch up, stick the awning up and fold out the table and chairs, we can cook and eat, sit and chat, in the awning, we can make up the bed earlier in the evening so it’s already done for bed time (thus reducing that frantic five minutes of stress for me!) and come the morning, we can sit outside and deal with the bed later – or not at all, depending on our plans. The awning might become the living room, and the van the bedroom. Who knows? We might not feel it’s worth the faff. Or, we might love it.
At least we don’t have to worry about getting it dried and packed away until we get home, unlike a caravan awning ( I’ve seen us taking it down two days early as rain was forecast and the hassle of drying a huge canvas at home was just too much!), we can take it down wet, bring it home and stick it back up in the garden to air and dry. We enjoy using the canopy we have too, and it goes up in just a few minutes so even on a single night pitching up it’s worth it if you want the space under canvas to sit. The awning offers more privacy and versatility though, being completely enclosed, and of course free standing.
I’m looking forward very much to finding out if this opens up a new set of possibilities for Ali Bongo adventures. I’ll let you know, of course!!
Ali Bongo's adventures 