Next Trip & Jobs to do.

Published on by Paul Hickman

No camping again for the last few weeks, seems like forever since we were last out in the van. The management has her list of jobs to do and there have been a couple of jobs I wanted to do on the van.

So the next trip is an extended bank holiday weekend on Angelsey. Halys is off on half term that week and it’s also her birthday so I have taken a couple of days off work.

I’ve managed to acquire and install a larger 110Ah battery and removed the broken under cupboard light and installed a strip of LEDs which also extend over the cooker and I have installed a triple 12v socket with usb ports at the front of the van to give some 12v power outlets at the front.

Continue reading “Next Trip & Jobs to do.” →

How do I blog?

Published on by Paul Hickman

Some may think it’s an idyllic process sat in or by a caravan in beautiful countryside setting, sipping a glass of wine. Ha! Nothing could be further from the truth. For me usually I’m at work waiting. I seem to spend quite a bit of time waiting. It also gives me time to think about what I’m going to write. There is no big plan for our blog when it flows it flows. Continue reading “How do I blog?” →

Baked Camembert

Published on by Paul Hickman

Baked Camembert is scrummy and so easy.

You can do it in an oven, on a Cadac, A BBQ just about any heat source.

You can buy a dish with a lid known as a Camembert Baker, strangely enough you place a Camembert in it and put the thing in the oven to bake. But who is going to lug one of those around in their caravan when the weight of everything is an issue. So you can improvise. Continue reading “Baked Camembert” →

Steak Night

Published on by Paul Hickman

One of our favourite meals in the caravan or tent for that matter is a nice Juicy steak.

Usually with some nice garlic mushrooms potatoes or even chips (oven chips) or we may cheat and buy some chips from the take away, and usually some nice green beans (harricot vert in France)

We have even been known to venture into some rarer types of steak.
A lot of people pull a face when we tell them that when in France we will often buy a horse steak (Cheval). Horse is not an animal that we eat here in the UK but I really don’t know why it is very tasty and very lean. We eat Beef and Pork here but in some countries the very idea of eating pork is enough to sicken some people.

We went to a food fair in Manchester where there was a stall selling rare meats so we just had to try a few. We purchased, Ostrich, Wild Boar, Kangaroo and Zebra. The most surprising of all of these was Zebra. Very tasty, very tender, and a very unexpected colour. We cooked all of these at a family BBQ and cut small pieces so that all the guests could try. The Zebra went down the best of all closely followed by Horse.

As the saying goes “When in Rome….” well France? We decided that we should try local foods wherever possible so horse was on the menu, Frogs legs in Paris was something else. But that was not in the caravan 😉

BBQ Sauce

Published on by Paul Hickman

Sweet, Sticky, Tangy, Spicy, Chunky, Smooth…….BBQ Sauce
Which ever version you fancy it’s really easy to make, and it’s dead cheap!

You will need a large saucepan

  • Passata (Tomato Sauce) or tinned chopped tomatoes about 3
  • Brown Sugar
  • Balsamic Vinegar
  • Worcestershire Sauce
  • Empty Jam Jars

Continue reading “BBQ Sauce” →

Caravan Food

Published on by Paul Hickman

When we tell people we go camping we quite often get a response like “Ewww what with all those creepy crawlies sitting on the floor and eating beans and sausages every meal. Not For Me! You must be mad!”

Well far from it. Even when we had a tent we never sat on the floor and I don’t think we have ever eaten Beans and sausages. One massive selling point about getting a caravan over the tent was that a caravan has an oven! An oven means that cooking becomes much more like cooking at home gone is the 2 rings and grill and we now have 3 gas rings, an electric hot plate, a grill and an OVEN! Continue reading “Caravan Food” →

No Camping & New Bits n Bobs

Published on by Paul Hickman

Not camping again this weekend! But I have ordered a new bigger leisure battery a 110ah unit instead of the 75ah one that came with the van, that should last us longer and the solar panel will keep it topped up. I also decided to add a 12v socket to the front of the van so we can plug the TV in at the front of the van I just need to figure out the best method of adding an aerial point to the front. Continue reading “No Camping & New Bits n Bobs” →

May Bank Holiday Caravanning -NOT!

Published on by Paul Hickman

O.M.G! it’s May Day, the 1st of May a bank holiday Monday and I am NOT in a Caravan!
How on earth could this possibly happen? I mean it’s not every weekend that you get an extra day is it? Well O.K. there are 2 bank holidays in May but how did I let this one get away?
Well it appears that I had agreed to decorate the kitchen. Apparently I said “After Easter” I don’t recall specifying which Easter! and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have agreed to a “Camping Weekend”. Continue reading “May Bank Holiday Caravanning -NOT!” →

Planning The “BIG” Holiday Part 3

Published on by Paul Hickman

Back to planning,

So far we have planned where we are going, and how we are going to get there. So what next?

Well what to do when we get there? Is there anything of special interest to see or do in the area?  Is there something that we just can’t live without seeing, doing?

We have been twice before so we have a fair idea of what is in the area but it’s always worth doing your research. Ah research the stuff the planning nerd dreams of. Continue reading “Planning The “BIG” Holiday Part 3″ →

Update/New Mattress

Published on by Paul Hickman

No caravanning this week. Well no actual sleeping in the van.

While we were in Wales last weekend we decided to invest in a new mattress. We found a local company online that could supply a custom shape mattress, we contacted them by email while we were still away and got a quote and all the information we needed. I bought a tape measure and measured the original mattress and made a diagram which I attached to an email on Saturday evening ordering a 9″ deep Orthopaedic mattress with a 2″ memory foam insert. Continue reading “Update/New Mattress” →