Journeys in the Banana Bus

Singletrackbusroadscamperirelandtypething

When your domain name provider (in my case 1&1) sends you an email asking if you want another .co.uk domain name for £2.99 for two years then what would you do?

If, like me, you were recovering from major knee surgery and had little else to occupy your time other than some light physiotherapy exercises, reading books and fiddling around on the internet you’d probably do what I did and sign up for www.singletrackroads.co.uk

What you’d then do, if you were me, would be to head over to blogger.com and register singletrackbus.blogspot.com and link it to your three blogs (Journeys in The Banana Bus, Single Track Roads and Round Ireland In A Wedge) so that they could all be accessed from the one “web portal” (seamlessly slipped into techy-jargon there…)

You might, then, if you were me, go back to 1&1 and point your domain names at this new portal. But only if you were me.

Labels: bananabus, round ireland in a wedge, single track roads

It wouldn't take much would it?

Hobbling around on crutches in the confines of the van, filling plastic bags with rubbish and realising that with a wee bit of TLC we could get the old fellow up and running for some summer activity without (hopefully) too much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The exterior is still a bit tatty, as it's bound to be considering I've done nothing with it but inside a quick whizz round with the dustpan and brush and a wet wipe should do it.

Where to first? Get that kettle on...

Labels: exterior, kettle, ready for summer, tidying, TLC

What is it with supermarket car parks and T25s? This is Tesco in Inverness but you can bet your bum there'll be at least two in the Morrison's in Fort William. Over the last few years we have established that this must be a local bye-law.

Labels: fort william, inverness, morrisons, supermarket car parks, tesco

Always with the f***in' chicken...

I've seen it before but what a brilliant thing to watch again. Little Miss Sunshine is a great wee film and the fantastic Alan Arkin is wonderfully watchable as the nutty grandad with a heart of gold.

As dysfunctional families go they even rival mine...and starting a camper van has never been so much fun...

Labels: alan arkin, dysfunctional, families, family, little misss sunshine

Badge of honour...

This is a wee picture of the lovely badge sent to me by Jane at Snapdragon.

She's launching a new range of cloth badges and had asked her blog readers if they'd help out by sending in snaps of the badges in situ.

Happy to help with this lovely example of a wee caravan...a T25 next perhaps?

Labels: badge, badges, garden, gardening, snapdragon, t25

A dusty walk to the tap...

Just come across this in last weekend's Guardian Family section; couldn't agree more...

At home

In the US, there are "campers" who head into the wilderness, tents on backs - and there are the "car-campers", much derided by hardliners for bringing along a vehicle full of "essentials". In the spirit of British invention, why not try "house-camping"?

Our impetus to set up a tent on the lawn came from a need to air the tent for future trips and a failure to plan for the bank holiday. Surprisingly, there was still the same sense of anticipation of sleeping outside, the same excitement in "helping" Dad put up the tent and, even better, the chance to get really filthy - especially while preparing marshmallows over the fire pit.

True, there is no new environment to explore - the fun derives from looking at the same place in a new way. Plus, the next morning, there is little packing to be done, the bathroom facilities are excellent, and making coffee does not involve a dusty walk to the tap, a gas canister and a long wait.

Rebecca Gardner

Labels: camping, garden, guardian

Who's SORN-y now?

Labels: betrayal, dvla, off road, SORN

Hey Jealousy...

Itching to get back out on the road in the big yellow beast. Gail's wee sister has been in touch to ask for recommendations for a potential upcoming west-coast motorhome trip and I've been digging around the old posts on Applecross, Gairloch, Ullapool and the likes.

I suppose I could have gone all Pete McCarthy and kept it a secret but frankly that would have been unkind and, when you've got loonies like Monty Halls telling the world and its wife all about the joys of Wester Ross on national telly then it's the beginning of the end anyway!

I'm going to start bigging-up Skegness and Cleethorpes in the secret hope that others will follow, that'll keep the West Coast clearer...doh!

Labels: applecross, cleethorpes, gairloch, monty halls, pete mccarthy, skegness, ullapool, wester ross