One and a half years after it was originally booked for, we met up with friends for the “2020/21 New Year” trip…

Even with two extra toddlers, the Presbytery was spacious and comfortable and we did a lot more than we usually manage at new year, so definitely a success!

Afterwards, we tacked on two most enjoyable days with Ruth and Josh to make the most of half term.

“If we’d known it was going to be this wet we wouldn’t have come…”

25 hours of near-solid rain didn’t make for the best reintroduction to camping weekend. But there were many positives: bluebells, puddle jumping, like-minded friends old and new, fun with fires, sticks and water rockets, cake…

Our first ever trip to the Cotswolds – a long weekend with Grannie and Grandad. Also our first attempt at taking the bikes away – everything did fit in the car but we’re still trying to work out if we can fit a tent in as well…

There was a slow realisation that the weekend might include some cycling, then a realisation that it would be three days of cycling. Having not ridden for 1.5 years, this was a quick reintroduction to saddle soreness.

We started by cycling over to Littleover on Monday for a playdate – avoiding more time in the car and giving the bikes/trailer/seat a test run.

On Friday we made a short trip to a park in Burton where we met Joe, Andrena and Cassie and cycled back together.

Saturday was a longer 30k ride via an off-road cycle track for Jess, a closed playground, a cafe, a steep hill to a priory and then finally an open playground.

Sunday started with a quick ride to the Melbourne Cloud trail, where we left Joe and Andrena (and Cassie) to get on with their ride to Peterborough and beyond, while we tootled back past a playground to home. Another great 30k ride.

An afternoon jaunt from Bradwell that resulted in some good pictures!

We met up with the Patricks on a gloriously sunny Saturday, hoping to get the three year olds scrambling along the tops as well having a walk and a catch up. March winds had other ideas, but we still had a good day out!

Our first weekend away during term time since kids and covid (not sure which is the more limiting factor on this).

Staying at the Langdale High Close YHA for Tom and Becky’s wedding, in glorious weather for the walks and festivities. A small selection (believe it or not!) of photos below…

After having the van sit on our driveway for the best part of 2 years, it has finally been let out to adventure with it’s next owners.

A tough decision, but ultimately the van was too small and unreliable for us, so after fixing most of the engine troubles in the Autumn, we put it on sale at the start of the year. A few people were interested, but it finally sold to some local friends – we look forward to seeing it on their drive when we visit.

Having spend so long converting and using the van, it was really nice to write an advert for it, showing off the best of the van, realising/remembers all the little design details that went into making it such a perfect camper for us.

The van didn’t leave us without one last fight though. Once we realised it was going to friends, I did one last push (using the self build forum) to try and solve our weird electrical issues. Within minutes I had a response, and the next night I spent 20 minutes scrubbing the negative connection to the battery, reducing it’s resistance from 150 ohms to 1.5 ohms. Finally, the issue that had confused the AA (recommended new battery), the garage (recommended auto electrician), and the the auto-electrician (it runs fine?) was fixed, and the van was back to starting first time and not flashing the STOP warning light.

Finally, our blog name: mountaineering has been a bit sparse for a while, and now yellow van is also outdated. However, for simplicity we will keep the name for a while longer. Perhaps the next van will get a new blog name…

A wet and windy week.

A few days in the peak doing Christmas part 2, where a bubble machine was a big hit.

It was still cold and wet, but the hills were higher and steeper to run up. The buggy came for a run, and we also got out on our own for the first time since February.