Offftt ouch 
Van went in for MOT and service today. They told me I might not get it back until tomorrow so been doing the DVLA refresh all day😬
It passed first time with a couple of small advisories, neither of which were rust related, which for 26 years old ain’t too bad. 
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Everyone made it eventually. It’s the now annual Dad’s and Kids camping trip I organise. This year we’ve got 13 families and 38 people in total.
Organising it has been like herding cats but it all comes together eventually. Unfortunately it’s been too dry, so camp fires are banned. Lots of whisky and beer, football, frisbee and other stuff planned.
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Disclaimer. I’m not spontaneous.
In a bid to get more out the camper, tried to be a bit more spontaneous and booked a night away with less than a week to plan 
Turn up bang on check in.
Pop the roof, plug it in and straight out on 4 hour (possibly pre planned) walk (grateful not one of the tent people pitching up).
Arrive at pre booked pub after 3:45 of walking 
Eat, sleep, watch next door start the 3 hour packing up as we head out for 2 hour (pre planned back up walk, as walk 2 wasn’t suitable 
)walk.
Back at site with 15 mins to check out. 5 mins to spare off we go.
Not sure I’ve cracked the spontaneity yet. But felt like making good use of campers simplicity.
Random cow photo… Please no puns. It’s a good job he finally moooooooved.
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You sound pretty bullish about your new found spontaneity! 
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Is that a before shot? Because it sure looks a bit bent there 
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Ha, yeah. Can’t tell any damage.
Unless you stand about 25m back and then you get to compare different shades of grey 
I can’t unsee it 
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Too many ‘pre booked’ in there for spontaneity I think; but these days in the UK everything is booked out in the summer season. Blame Covid.
I really want to be more spontaneous but being tenters, realistically it takes me 2 hours to load the car and 2 hours to setup camp and 2 hours to break camp. I don’t feel able to do that for one night regularly and weekends are often busy. Need to work harder.
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Had the joys of tenting when the kid was younger.
Fine for a week, just about ok for a long weekend. But one night it just ain’t worth the hassle.
Really want to keep the van minimal so we can just keep moving easily.
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We did a one nighter on Sunday. Was a good laugh, and we stayed local so didn’t need to factor in travel. But it was a lot of hard work and I was shattered after tbf.
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That’s what we’ve done, no drive away awnings or paraphernalia. Just pull up, plug in and pop the roof, job done.
I think we may have discussed it on here before but there’s a FB group called UK Pub Stopovers where they list and discuss pubs that let you stay in their car parks as long as you eat there. It’s branched out a bit more where some have full facilities and charge £5/10 per night so are virtually campsites but it’s a handy resource if just looking to do the odd night or stop halfway somewhere.
Ps. There’s a book called Britstops and apps such as Park4Night too
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there’s more than one FB group doing similar - I think I belong to 3 or 4. plus you also have apps like Searchforsites and Park4Night which also have pub stopovers listed amongst all their other sites (free, paid, camp etc).
then there is Britstops which is an annual book that lists pub stops but imho is a rip off at £28 pa and only updated yearly - doesn’ compete with others I’ve mentioned, but has it’s fans.
And if a pub’s not listed but in the right area, I’ll check the car park using Google Maps and then call the pub - most will allow an overnight in return for food and drink.
Just booked a few days in Charmouth next month. Couldn’t get on our normal site with easy access to the river & sea so had to go on the one a bit further away. Probably won’t bother taking the kayak but this site does have a pool, bar, restaurant so will be a change to the basic one we normally go to.
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Hmmmmm, a bit chavtastic.
Pool is only open during school holidays and the restaurant is very much of the variety Jamie Oliver would want shut down
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When I first saw that I thought it was a pizza with all that stuff on top, then I read it again and realised it was just the box. #gutted🤣
Ah crap. Our local kebab House has the pizzas and all the gubbins too.
Disappointing.
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