{"id":6320,"date":"2022-04-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=6320"},"modified":"2025-11-12T02:37:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T02:37:28","slug":"the-uk-bit-before-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2022\/04\/25\/the-uk-bit-before-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"The UK Bit Before Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One minute we\u2019re here, the next minute we\u2019re gone<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Laura at Neroli and Ian’s farm<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019t 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 23rd<\/sup> 2022 to England via Darwin, we couldn\u2019t believe that we had finally set off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big brother Neil picked us up at the awful hour of 5am and took us up to his Kettering bungalow.\u00a0 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 12th<\/sup> was one big worry sorted.\u00a0 Now we just had to remember how to ride a bike.\u00a0 And for me, to learn how to change gears as well as how to use the extra power under my derriere! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rodney at Padstow Harbour<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We used Neil as our chauffeur to get us around\u2026. a lot\u2026..!\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Reggie does feel bigger than Eileen despite only being half a metre longer and a little bit wider.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s just that the narrow roads of England are disconcerting in an overhanging hedges type of way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Laura walking up Glastonbury Tor<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Chapter House in Wells Cathedral<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I won\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here we are again\u2026travelling in the best exotic Reggie Motorhome for the elderly and excited \u2026…. with a full wardrobe AND the kitchen sink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rodney, Laura and Ivy Dog in Hindolveston, Norfolk<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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On the road in Reggie The Motorhome<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One minute we\u2019re here, the next minute we\u2019re 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\u2019s niece, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":6322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-routes-around-europe-in-reggie-the-motorhome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6320"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8099,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6320\/revisions\/8099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}