We've just woken up from our first night. Slept well. No dramas. 

We're on the west coast in Devon and were treated to a lovely sunset last night.

We're back from our first weekend away in the van. We spent two nights in a campground near Lynton. The picture above is from the walk on the way into Lynton where we also went on a water-powered funicular and had cider and a plowman's lunch.

From there we travelled north yesterday to a pristine campground called The Old Oaks at the foot of Glastonbury Tor pictured below. Lots of history here including a bit of hanging, drawing and quartering.

Today we made our way back up to Manchester stopping off in the Cotswolds for lunch at Stow-on-the-wold where we had a delicious stilton, bacon and apple chutney baguette and a side of scotch egg. The van is in storage now and we'll go pick it up again on Saturday when we'll be taking Meg to the Lake District.

We're going to enjoy eating and walking our way around the UK and Europe.

Oh, and we stopped at Dunster castle on the way to Glastonbury yesterday.

Rainy day today. We've driven up to Borrowdale which is at the other end of Derwentwater from Keswick. 

Stopped of at Kendal Castle (see above) on the way plus visited the markets in Keswick and had lunch in Bryson's tea rooms which is where Lynda and Paul lived and worked a while back.

Bryson's has a nice bakery but the tea rooms are a bit tired unfortunately.

Last night we stayed in a quiet forested campground after a small stroll along the waterfront of Derwentwater to a nearby pub for a couple of beers (and to use the toilets because our campground didn't have any and we were a bit shy about using the van toilet).

Today we walked around Lake Buttermere. It's about 2 hours and easy going.

There's a really nice drive over a pass with a slate quarry on the way to the lake. Lots of sheep with their black lambs. Everything is very chilled out.

NZ vs West Indies at Old Trafford

On Friday night we went to see Lawrence Arabia at the Castle Hotel here in Manchester. Tiny, intimate venue. There were about 30 people in the audience and the room was packed. Really very good though. For the encore the band members had to crouch on the floor because there was no where they could exit the stage.

This weekend was dedicated to doing a bit of work on the van as well as an overnight trip to Chester to visit Andy and Melissa (and new whippet puppy Pippa).

Installed a 200W solar panel which should give us more time off grid.

It's been difficult getting all the right bits for the job but the result is pretty sweet with the panel fitting nicely between the roof rails. About 15 hours research and 4 hours installation.

I have an additional 100Ah leisure battery but have been unable to remove the passenger seat where it needs to go due to not having a 20mm socket and wrench. Will see if anyone at work has one.

As part of this also installed a solar charge controller and Bluetooth dongle. Fiddly wiring as well as having to buy a crimping tool after learning the hard way that pliers aren't up to the task for Mate N Lok connectors.

Here's where the solar cables enter the roof. Drilled a small pilot hole up from above the fridge where the manufacturer has helpfully located spare cables that run through the bodywork to under the driver's seat where the EBL is and where I've put the solar charge controller.

Then back up on the roof with a 32mm hole saw to cut a hole for the panel cables. A bit of filing off the burrs, gorilla tape around the edges and a lot of sealant. Job's a good 'un!

Also, installed a bike rack. This was a doddle.

Back in Wimbledon for the tennis 2 years later. Sally entered the ballot last year and was lucky enough to score centre court tickets for the men's semi finals.

Two very good games; Bautista Agut vs Djokovic followed by Nadal vs Federer.

Packed up the apartment this morning, put some stuff into storage and loaded up the van. We're off!

First stop Acomb Grange in York for three nights. Tomorrow will be getting things in their place along with connecting up the solar and additional leisure battery. It's been hot the last couple of days!

The first day in York was scorching hitting a high of 36°C. We spent the day getting things in their place and connecting up the solar panel then cycled in to a restaurant for dinner.

The next day we added a second leisure battery and took a bus into town to explore Clifford's Tower and The Treasurer's House.

Today we drove to Goathland on the North Yorkshire Moors where we walked an hour or so down the valley to Grosmont and caught the old diesel train back. There's also a steam train that runs but we missed it by a couple of minutes.

Got rained on.

And ..... here is an update. 

From Goathland we drove to Robin Hoods Bay. We considered doing the Whitby to Robin Hoods Bay walk but in the end opted for fish and chips overlooking the sea. We then travelled to our first 'Brit Stops' overnight stay at the Jolly Sailor pub. These stops are free but it is nice to spend some money with them (though we are finding that we spend more than we would if we paid for a campsite at the moment).

First stop - Roseberry Topping. This is a short steep walk - one of the ITV  top 100 walks - in North Yorkshire. Had arranged to catch up with some workmates in Newcastle and Durham so a bit of driving to see them and then to Bellingham on the outskirts of the Kielder national park. 

An early morning walk to the Hareshaw Linn waterfall - first trip with the rubbish pickers - we collected a bag of rubbish. Lunch in the van and then headed into further into Kielder. We rode our bikes to the Silvas Capitalis (Forest Head) and then spend some time looking for red squirrels (no luck). Parked up at the Pheasant Inn for a lovely dinner.

Today we are off to Scotland - lovely drive through the country-side and a short stop in Jedburgh in the Borders (where Border Collies come from). Stopped at Archerfields Walled Garden where we sampled their beers before cooking tea in the van.