The first camping trip in the campervan this year was to Wales. The route was governed by a visit to some friends that had recently moved out of Belper to Llandrindod Wells and then by us wanting to venture North to take in some sights and places we’ve always wanted to see. Belper, Derbyshire to […]
Portable Folding Solar Panel
Since installing a Biard 100W solar panel on the roof of the campervan, I’ve experienced the benefits of solar power while away with the family. I’ve also noticed a few downsides to a permanently fixed installation and the biggest problem came when we needed to park the van in the shade due to the sun’s […]
UK Coast Tour
When someone mentions “Coast to Coast” in the UK I usually think of the popular route across the country that starts in the Lake District and ends in Whitby. Our recent campervan road trip version of Coast to Coast followed a slightly peculiar route based on the weather forecast at the time – from Cornwall […]
Campervan Solar Panel Installation
I’ve been running a rigid frame 50W solar panel at home for a number of years to provide 12V lighting with the intention of using it on the caravan and then the campervan but I just couldn’t bring myself to mount such a big frame on the roof of a moving vehicle. After noticing a deal […]
The Electric Campervan
After helping launch the world’s first electric campervan at the NEC last October (2014) I finally got the chance to take it out and give it a right good thrashing! Over the last 6 months, Fish Media has been working with a Derby based campervan conversion company – Hillside Leisure – to update their website and create […]
Motorhome and Caravan Show 2014
It’s that time of year again when we nip over to the NEC for The Motorhome and Caravan Show. This year I visited on behalf of a Derby based client, Hillside Leisure who create beautiful bespoke micro campers. After we built them a new Hillside Leisure website where they can upload details of the vans, I’ve […]
Normandy and Brittany Road Trip
Last year in 2013 we took a road trip in the campervan from the UK to the South of France, it was a pretty epic route of 2,260 miles but it made us realise that travelling in the campervan is a much better experience if we break the route into three hour sections to make […]
River Dart Country Park
We’ve just returned from a three night break at the River Dart Country Park Campsite and managed to go outside of the school holidays as the school had Thursday and Friday as inset days. We went in the campervan with two other families who were in a caravan and a tent (6 adults, 6 kids) – each […]
Touring The South Of France
“Living The Dream” … what an amazing phrase. When I first wanted a campervan the dream was to start touring the South of France, hopping from one site to the next, enjoying the views and the local customs. Getting to a point in life where I could actually afford to live the dream meant growing up, […]
North Devon
Wow, last week turned out to be a pretty good week to get away. A trip to North Devon was on the cards – this time in a group of 15! We got down a day early and stayed at a site where we once had a seasonal pitch, Willingcott Caravan Club Site. I wasn’t […]
Swedish FireSteel 2.0
Watch how easy it is to start fire with the FireSteel and some lint from the tumble dryer. If you want one, you can Buy a Swedish FireSteel 2.0
The Lakes
This Bank Holiday weekend we took the opportunity to jump in the bus and drive North. After 160 miles we landed in the Lake District and pulled up to Windermere Camping And Caravanning Club Site. We took the Quechua Base Seconds XL living area which literally popped up in seconds and then took a few […]
LED lighting for the Campervan
In the caravan I fitted LED bulbs in the existing light units. This saves a massive amount of battery power when you are off grid – meaning you can stay away longer before you need to re-charge. Basically one 15 Watt halogen bulb can be replaced with a 3 Watt LED bulb meaning the battery […]
Motorhome & Caravan Show 2012
I’ve only just realised that the name of the show which displays lots of caravans, motorhomes and other general outdoor type things changed it’s name slightly at some point. Since 2008 I’ve been attending and uploading pictures to this blog from The Caravan and Motorhome Show but now it seems to be called The Motorhome […]
Meet The Bus
Let me introduce “The Bus” – I don’t usually name my cars, sometimes we go out in the “Mini” and we used to have the “Honda”, but now we have “The Bus”. After touring with the caravan for five years we decided to change – mainly due to the painfully slow journeys covering hundreds of […]
Road Trip around France
A couple of years ago I took our touring caravan across the ferry for a trip around France but due to the fact that towing a caravan from Derby to Poole takes so long (220 miles at 50 miles an hour) we decided to stay only 15 miles from Cherbourg in Normandy. This year we decided […]
UK Caravan Sites
Here are links to the sites we’ve visited in the last few years, some we’ve visited more than once and are planning on returning again this year. If you are planning on touring this year, have a browse through the links as they give you a good idea of the quality of the site. View […]
The Really NOT Very Mobile Solar Project
The caravan has been put away for the winter so I decided to try and use my 50W solar panel for something at home. First thoughts were based around a test project to see if a 50W panel could be used to keep all my tech charged during winter in the UK. But then my […]
Motorhome & Caravan Show 2011
The show this year is running from today until Sunday (11-16 Oct) at the NEC Birmingham. We went on our annual pilgrimage today and as usual, here are a few shots taken and uploaded direct from the iPhone. The show is THE place to go to see the full range of caravans and motorhomes available […]
INOV8 12v Battery Charger
In the quest to run everything from 12v I needed the ability to recharge my camera batteries as well as other general purpose AA batteries. I found this product called INOV8 Universal li-ion Battery Charger on play.com for £11.99 delivered. It comes with a 12v car adapter and can be used to charge any lithium-ion battery including 3.6V,3.7V,7.2V […]
Twin USB and Twin 12v Adapter
This is a car twin 12v cigarette lighter power adapter supplied by Cables and Leads from Derby. When I’m away in the caravan I struggle with the limited 12v power sockets. This device will provide two USB sockets at 500mA and two further 12v cigarette lighter sockets which can be used with extra 12v to […]
Powermonkey eXtreme – Mobile Power Review
When I first saw the Powermonkey eXtreme listed in the ‘coming soon‘ section of the Powertraveller website I got a little excited. I had previously seen they had a larger battery called the Startmonkey200 and thought this could be a backup power consideration for campers but I somehow thought they must be developing a dedicated […]
Off-Grid Power Research
Once again I’m investigating ways of generating electricity off-grid (not necessarily green power). Part of the emphasis will be on mobility, this doesn’t mean it will fit in my pocket, but certainly could be used for living in a caravan, boat, tent or nuclear bunker 😉 The main point is to create electricity from a […]
On Tour with Social Hiking
Recently I’ve had a few conversations with Phil Sorrell (@DaylightGambler) about his geo-blogging site called Social Hiking (in alpha) and we’ve been discussing ways in which it could be used outside of hiking and for geo-event-blogging type of shizzle (see my post on The Social Media Portal). He’s amazingly pro-active and has already added extra geo-tagging services like Gowalla. I […]
Caravan & Motorhome Show 2010
This post will update throughout the day with live images 🙂 As usual, it was an amazing show. This year it even had a CAMRA Ale bar! I took the opportunity to sample a few ales as I was not driving and also try out a couple of electric bikes. You might […]
My Essential Travel Tech
My essential travel tech gets lighter each year, mainly because tech gets upgraded, gets smaller and some gadgets have enough multi-functions to replace other separate items. Power has always been the key and each time I’ve replaced an item I’ve tried to ensure that it can be charged from either USB or AA batteries to […]
6.5W Folding Solar charger MMP4
This week I’ve been testing a portable folding solar panel. It’s called the “6.5W Folding Solar charger MMP4” it costs £110 and was provided on loan from @Select_Solar I’m trying to find a lightweight panel that can easily be carried and would provide a decent enough current to charge the Kensington USB battery (http://j.mp/df3uGI)This panel […]
Three MiFi Mobile WiFi
I’ve had my eye on a Three Mobile WiFi unit for a while, I managed to blag one of the original Three units from @Documentally which used my USB dongle but wasn’t battery powered. @ThreeMobileBuzz contacted me via twitter and asked if I would like to trial the new unit – luckily I was destined […]
Energizer Rechargeable Solar Flip
As mentioned in the video above, this is an AA or AAA battery charger from Energizer. It comes with an AC adaptor but also a solar panel to recharge your batteries. The pack also includes 2 x 2000mAh rechargeable Energizer batteries and feels quite solid with a rubberised finish. It claims to be […]
Caravan & Motorhome Show 2009
As you may of noticed from a few live uploads earlier, we went to the Caravan and Motorhome Show at the NEC today. Here are a load of iPhone snaps of the kit on show … the most expensive motorhome we saw today was £187k … Crazy machines! You might also like … Motorhome & Caravan […]
Roaming into France
Bonsoir … I’m in France and wanted to jot down a few of my experiences with roaming data and costs. As we sailed out on the ferry leaving Poole Harbour, the first thing I noticed was how far the O2 signal stretched. It seemed I could still twitpic at no extra cost (on the iPhone […]
Touring Caravan Kit
So at the start of 2009 I’ve been thinking about last year and the touring Caravan we bought in March 2008. We have been thinking about where we might go in 2009 and what extra kit we might need. When I first got ‘the van’ I was totally unprepared for the onslaught of kit required […]
Solar Power Trickle Charger for £30
So here is an idea I had to get cheapish solar power via a trickle charger. I bought a portable Jump starter from Maplin for £19.99 and a 12V 1.5W solar panel for only £9.99 to keep it topped up with power. Total cost £29.98! I removed the tyre air compressor from the back and […]
The Mobile Internet
There is a lot of noise at the moment about netbooks and netbooks with built in 3G. A lot of mobile phone providers are giving away netbooks with bundles of mobile phones or mobile internet USB dongles It’s all looking good and things are moving ahead quite fast at the moment in the world of […]
Caravan & Motorhome Show 2008
People on my facebook account have asked what the hell was going on at the weekend with all the live postings of caravans and motorhomes! … well, we went to the NEC in Birmingham for the Caravan & Motorhome Show – it was pretty good with a lot of nice new stuff for the kids […]
Hillhead Holiday Park Caravan Club Site
We had Hillhead Caravan Site pre-booked for months and was really looking forward to spending two weeks there – I’m glad to say we were not disappointed! After the 250mile trip we arrived at the site and found the entry layout to be very clearly marked with two lanes for arrivals and one lane for […]
Hawthorn Farm Caravan Club Site
We had a week here in May 2008 and I really liked the site. Initial booking and reception was very friendly. Pitches are half hard standing and half grass – we selected grass. We had two options for Water, waste and bins from our pitch. The wardens were driving around regularly in their tractor and […]
Blackwall Plantation Caravan Club Site
First impression of the site was how nice it was to be surrounded by pine trees. Most of the site is hard standing, but we wanted grass – it was roasting hot and it seemed no-one else wanted grass! we got a great spot in front of the under 5 play area – not so […]