The UK Bit Before Europe

One minute we’re here, the next minute we’re gone

It has now been almost six years since we watched Eileen The Motorhome drive away from us with her new owners on board. Two weeks before Covid hit, in early 2020, we purchased a half-share in another motorhome in England. A campervan called Reggie.  Rodney’s niece, Neroli and her husband Ian made the purchase for us, built a barn for it on their farm on the Devon/Somerset border and then while they used it a couple of times, we twiddled our thumbs at home in Sydney waiting to be let out of Australia. It was a frustrating two years and when 2022 rolled around it felt like the planet was crying.  In Sydney the rain wouldn’t cease, towns flooded, then wars started and Covid continued spreading its tentacles.  It seemed inappropriate to be going off on a jaunt. So when we finally did board a plane on March 23^rd 2022 to England via Darwin, we couldn’t believe that we had finally set off. 

Big brother Neil picked us up at the awful hour of 5am and took us up to his Kettering bungalow.  After a quick bag sort, he drove us into town to order two bicycles from Halfords. Job done. Tick. One manual bike and one hybrid E-bike ordered to be collected on April 12^th was one big worry sorted.  Now we just had to remember how to ride a bike.  And for me, to learn how to change gears as well as how to use the extra power under my derriere!

And then after more than two years of owning Reggie, we finally got to meet him. Compared to old Eileen the Motorhome, he’s a bit bigger, a bit more modern, he’s diesel and automatic with six gears. It’s going to be interesting getting back into the swing of motorhoming again……in a different abode. There seems to be a lot more buttons and knobs to operate, more outside lockers and less internal storage to fill. The bed goes up to store against the ceiling and lowers at the turn of a key and the press of a button. We have to climb off the bed using a step-ladder, which I have to admit, I’m perceiving as a nightmare accident waiting to happen!

We used Neil as our chauffeur to get us around…. a lot…..!  Covid infections stymied and altered some of our plans, but we managed to squeeze in catchups with 82 friends and family in less than five weeks, with a lot of covid tests taken en route. Somehow we both managed to stay covid free. We purchased items needed for Reggie along the way and covered multiple counties across the south of England from Cornwall to North Norfolk and everywhere in between.  Reggie does feel bigger than Eileen despite only being half a metre longer and a little bit wider.  Perhaps it’s just that the narrow roads of England are disconcerting in an overhanging hedges type of way.

I won’t list everyone we caught up with, or everywhere we went, but we would like to thank everyone who fed us, put us up for a night or more, entertained us, and greeted us with warmth after so long apart. Thank you, all of you.

So here we are again…travelling in the best exotic Reggie Motorhome for the elderly and excited ……. with a full wardrobe AND the kitchen sink.