I can’t believe I actually did it, I took my assessment and actually passed. IM astounded by this fact after all the years of being told I was stupid and would never amount to anything, I have proved that I’m not as stupid as they thought. I am a Meditation Teacher! Amazing, and I’m not stupid, I’ll admit it wasn’t that easy for me, but the fact of the matter is I did it.
I would like to thank all my friends that supported my on my journey they’re all the nicest people you could imagine and a special lady that gave me encouraging words my loveliest friend Michelle she really did help me through my study.
Meditation Candles
Now if anyone has any intention of becoming a yoga or meditation teacher I would thoroughly recommend Yoga Dharma 229 Southchurch just give them a call or pop along to see them in person, tell them I sent you. Honestly these are the best authentic teaching school in the whole of Essex, so if you want to take up a new career and want to be taught by experts then you won’t go wrong here.
Skylar has come along in leaps and bounds, lots of new things have been added to her.
I have my solar panels on and running can’t believe that I can get a full charge on my batteries even on a cloudy rainy day, so I have 300W of solar power running through a 40A solar charger.
Solar charge controller
Charge controller
So this is my Epever MPPT Solar control, I would highly recommend this system to anyone thinking about installing a system into their van it really is amazing to be off grid.
With my hair sorted and showered it was time to get this show on the road.
Although I still had a bit of an upset tummy I wasn’t going to let that put me off, I continued packing up my last few item’s into carrier bags doing my best not to forget anything, I knew somewhere down the line there was going to be a list of thing’s but hey I’m used to it!! And yes there was as soon as I’d left I remember that I had a bag of fresh fruit sitting in the kitchen.
Bags to be sorted!!!
Bags of bits
Well it took me 40 minutes to set right out of Southend onto the main A13 heading towards Dartford crossing then it was a nice steady speed to my first stop at Sevenoaks, from there I went to a small village Four Elms, I stopped here for 10 minutes to stretch my legs from there I travelled on to Washington the South Downs where I decided to stop for the night on a campsite so as I could sort the van out, a lovely little site I used my camping and caravan card which got me a small discount on the regular price.
Skylar
First Dinner
Shower and Laundry Block
Stonehenge
So first place I’m going to visit is Stonehenge and man was I supremely surprised with it, the visitors centre was a hive of information with a feast of facts and figures about Stonehenge the whole history of the place.
The Unmistakable Stonehenge
Hiya Everyone!
After Stonehenge I parked up for the night cooked a lovely dinner for myself had a nice relaxing evening deciding my next destination.
Glastonbury
After breakfast I set off for Glastonbury it has been year’s since my last visit but it was just as fantastic!
Found a great parking place (see photo)
Parking place at Glastonbury
Parking place at Glastonbury just through the alley to town centre
Couldn’t get any closer, what a wonderful place to be there was music hippies crystal shops clothing shops it was just fabulous, I think everyone should visit here at least once in their lives!! I must go back soon I love it there such a friendly atmosphere everyone so happy.
Photography by me all copyrighted all at Glastonbury.
From there I headed west on the A39 towards Bridgewater carried on past there ending up at Blue Anchor Bay not far from Minehead.
As I sat there looking across the water I could see in the distance through the haze a glimpse of land, of course it was the coastline of South Wales, Rhoose, Barry and Gileston, then all of a sudden I could hear a familiar sound of #steam, steam from a steam train and there behind me she was in all her glamours glory a lovely old steam engine at Blue Anchor Station I believe it was constructed in the 1870s originally known as Bradley Gate, that’s when I had a sudden change of plan and decided to head for Wales!!.
RoadTripContinues
Along the coast back up to the A39 going North then A38 then M5 past Burnham-on-sea, Weston-super-Mare, Portishead Yes that (Portishead) onto the M49 and finally the M4 and the Seven Bridge into Wales….I was heading towards Brecon Mountain Railway and the Steam Museum at Merthyr Tydfil. By the time I arrived it had already closed for the day, I was hungry and needed to find a place to park up for the night, I ended up at Grawen Caravan and Camping Park.
(CF48 2HS)
Following day I travelled north on the A470 to Beacons Reservoir phor some photos a magnificent reservoir great for my photo session, after spending some time there I travelled north again into the town of Brecon to stock up on supplies Morrisons, the a walk around the town and very nice it was. In the centre of the town just outside St Mary’s church stood a statue of Wellington. The Duke (1769 – 1852) The statue was erected in 1856 by a Brecon resident Evan Thomas as a mark of respect, although Wellington had no connection whatsoever with the town, so I guess Evan just liked him……
St Mary’s church Brecon
After going back to Skylar I noticed a bit yellow Citroen van with a solar panels on its roof a guy was sitting inside typing on his phone as I approached the looked up I gave him a wave went over to have a chat with him and his passenger which was his wife Wendy really sorry if your reading this I’m terrible with names and I can’t remember his…apologies, they had been on the road for 8 months travelling the UK doing boot sales as they went to keep them on the road, and they loved every minute of it, had a long chat it was them that gave me my next destination. Belch Nant yr Arian.
The Following Day.
I set of North on that A470 towards my next point of call a Red Kite Bird Feeding Centre it was situated on a large site of a main building with diner gift shop and wooden outside viewing with seating bird feeders two lakes with I hide and a viewing site on opposite side of lake.
Part two coming soon.
Please leave a comment below and ask any questions.
This is a Fantastic show I’m looking forward to attending this event, I went last year and it was spectacular lots of Steampunk Fun for all the family.
Progress Continues I’m pleased with the way things are going at the moment, and looking forward to my up coming road trip to Cornwall nest month 🙂 . The new additions to my van Things are starting to take shape at last I now have my twin gas ring hob installed see (Fig.1) next to that i
s a small sink I have yet to plumb the water in and wire up the water pump, something else on my list of jobs. No gas yet as I’m still waiting for my gas locker to arrive from https://www.jacksonsleisure.com/ had a bit of a hold up with the delivery due to a computer technical hitch! But should be arriving tomorrow, so once I have it I can see if the space I have constructed for it is going to be right, otherwise I’ll have to re-plan.
Figure 1 New Hob
Moving on 23/05/2018. Things have progressed quite well over the last few days as the weather has been good, don’t know how long it will last so I’m making the most of it! My gas-locker finally arrived a week late although it is of good quality a well-made item although I think it was a bit pricey. When it came to installing the locker it fitted great in the space I had purposely built for it, but unfortunately when I went to drill the hole for the drop-out I couldn’t locate a suitable place under Skylar were the drop-out hole could go, so I ended up having to move it round to the side door where there was plenty of space for it to go. This is Dan my nephew helping out, he’s painting red oxide on the bare metal where the drop-out hole was drilled (See Fig 2)
Dan Working on Skyler
Hear you can see more photos of the progress made on this day.
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Just outside Southend is a village named Great Wakering, it’s only small with a population of about 5500, one of those residents is Heather Laskey the owner of “The Little Yellow Bus” a 1970/71 VW Early Bay window Volkswagen Campervan T2. She hire’s this out for weddings, corporate events, proms and other functions. I arranged to go along to see Heather and find out a bit about her lovely VW Campervan.
As I pulled up outside I could see the bus all covered up in her driveway, this was really exciting as I love the VW Campervans. Heather’s had her T2 since 2011, asking Heather what attracted her to getting a VW she told me “she’d always been around campervans”, some close family friends had bought a new campervan in the 70s that had been passed down through the family from generation to generation. Sadly it had problems with water leakages and ended up needing many welding jobs, in the end it had to go. Heather really wanted to get her own Van but didn’t think she would ever be able to afford the one she really wanted, a Split or a Bay (she really was averse to a T25). She made many searches, but alas they all seemed to have issues, batteries going flat far too quickly, problems with rust, damp or just about anything you could think of. Then Heather heard about an early Bay Window in Colchester, (not too far away from Southend), the vender agreed to sell the van for very nice price, well within Heather’s budget.
Heather drove her lovely campervan around for two years, did a few small repair jobs on it but then decided it was time to go for a full restore. She knows many people in the VW world, after asking around, she was given the name of someone, recommended for their restoration work. Heather left them with the van for two years in good faith. They sent her photos of the progress, which all looked good. The van was supposed to be ready for the VolksWorld Show in the September, so in March, before the show, it had only just come out of the paint shop. Unfortunately the paint work had that horrible orange peel look about it, also it was being fitted out before the paint job had been rectified. Well not to put too fine a point on it Heather was not a happy lady, things went from bad to worse. Heather’s had to pay the bill (under protest) to get her precious VW back. She went down to pick it up on a low-loader and bought her home.
When she arrived home, whilst trying to unload it, she was unable to get the van into gear. Heather took it straight to a local garage for repairs. Just when you think things can’t get any worse, OMG it went up in flames. I would have been crying by this stage!
Well it ended up being there for a whole year. Realising that the job was a bit too big for the local garage, Heather once again got a low-loader to pick it up and take it over to her Dad’s farm, whilst deciding what her next move should be. Heathers Father had a friend who he thought could rebuild VW engines, that friend was Harry Harpics, one of the best VW mechanic’s and engine restorers in the UK. What a stroke of luck, (“well about time!” I’d say) a straight forward restore had been a nightmare for the poor lady.
Now not the original colour, (orange) that you see everywhere, but yellow (which I think looks fabulous). The Little Yellow Bus took a long, long, time and a many more £££, but the condition it is in today was well worth the cost and the problems that Heather had along the way. The van has been completely refurbished, the original pop top has been taken away, and it now has a rag top instead, as its crowning glory.
So, now I think it looks rather spectacular, it went through some unfortunate issues to get to the stage it’s at today. After all you went through Heather you deserve to have many years of pleasure from your Little Yellow Bus. So good luck! And hopefully I will see you at some shows in the coming years.
Thank you very much Heather Laskey for giving me your time today and telling me about your long journey, best of luck for the future.
Below there are some lovely photos of Heather’s T2
I am a Meditation Teacher! Amazing, and I’m not stupid, I’ll admit it wasn’t that easy for me, but the fact of the matter is I did it.
Goaspirit61 Van Travels & Photography 