Retrospect

Worship

As a child I spent a lot of time in close proximity to the church, due to my grandad being a priest. Most of my holidays would be spent at the grandparents', and so the church became a playground first and foremost. Although I grew to identify as a spiritual being rather than religious,  I still hold a deep fascination for these places of worship. There's a feeling of familiarity and austerity each time I step into a church, any church.

Bertie the Lumberbus

Now that we're on British soil, we finally had a chance to thoroughly clean our pride and joy. So here's why we've been calling Bertie a lumberbus/your nan's cottage on wheels. Beautifully hand crafted by Hugo, largely from reclaimed materials. 

Looking back, we can't believe that this 1984 baby didn't break down on us once in over five months. Ok, except for a viscous coupling fan issue whilst passing through France on the way back. I swear everyone we know breaks down in France. On the bright side, we had some lovely warm showers in a hotel for a change. European breakdown cover to the rescue!

XXV

I turned 25 whilst in Switzerland so we got to do some hiking, birdwatching and cake-eating. Hats off to Hugo who made me the best vegan birthday cake from scratch, in the van, with no fancy equipment at hand. 

Now it's time to rush back home to England, just in time for Christmas.

Snowcapped

Switzerland. It's freezing cold, so much so that we woke up in the morning to a frozen up cooling system. Time to boil copious amounts of water and begin operation defrost. No more shoddy ebay antifreeze for this van.

Driving into dusk a few hours later rewards us with some splendid views.