Friday

The day has dawned dry, bright and sunny so no excuse not to get on with some more jobs. A pressing one is to take Betty to the recycling centre to start shifting some of the interior finishes that I’ve spent the last few days demolishing. As expected the council website is unclear if waste brought in anything other than a car is allowed or if you need to pay to dispose of it. What is clear is that any vehicle bigger than a car needs a permit, which I can easily obtain online by paying £8 for the year. Although I’m a bit anxious to take Betty on her first outing in London by myself, there’s nothing for it but to just do it. We manoeuvre out the car park and drive smoothly through a small village, navigating roundabouts, traffic and a bridge. We get to the recycling centre and it’s not obvious if Betty will fit through the car entry so I park up and go in search of someone to ask. The man on the gate is very friendly and assures me that since I have my permit I can drive Betty in through the car area and dispose of her innards! It’s all very satisfying up to the point I need to ask a staff member to help me remove the old mattress from the bed inside as it was too unwieldy for me by myself. Once most things are recycled I drive home feeling very proud to have survived our first adventure together.

Saturday

I don’t have a huge amount to time today to work on Betty as I am going to visit my Grandma in the afternoon. For the first time I bring Lemon over to the bus with me and she quickly chooses a spot in the cab to sunbathe and watch me work.

I dedicate a couple of hours to dismantling the bed frame and removing the last of the fixings at the back of the bus. I’m really happy because aside from the larger carcass pieces of furniture I’ve been able to save a lot of the wood and plywood to reuse when it comes time for me to frame out my layout. I’m also pretty impressed at the Ryobi hand vac that I bought which works off the same battery as all my new power tools and is a complete beast. After a good couple of hours all I am left with inside Betty is 5 pieces of furniture to be disposed of. Need to plan my next trip to the recycling centre…maybe tomorrow.

Sunday

I can already tell today will not be a productive day. The weather is grey and threatening to rain and my energy levels are low. I realise that attempting to get Betty to the recycling centre and back on a Sunday will be torture and reluctantly put it off to next week. I load up a bag of cleaning supplies, thinking I’ll start to prep the windows for the privacy film by giving them a good clean, but I get caught up with house jobs and run out of time. At 3pm Simon says he will help me fix the door lock which after a week I still haven’t managed to get working. After some investigation we decide the bolts are too long and need to be cut down. I don’t have an angle grinder yet so we resort to using a small hacksaw. It takes forever.

Finally halfway through the second bolt Simon remembers I do have an oscillating saw and that makes quick work of the job. I must remember to work smarter not harder! I must also remember that when using my drill, it tends to work better if it’s going in the correct direction….

We triumphantly get the door lock working and make a plan to look at some other locks and door hinges tomorrow. My last task of the day is to take Betty out to go and collect some deck boards for a project in my garden. It’s fabulous to actually have a vehicle able to collect large items. I managed to pick up 3m squared of deck boards FOR FREE! I can definitely tell I’m getting a feel for, and becoming more confident driving Betty.

I think my learnings from this first week are that this whole project is going to take a lot of time. Hopefully tasks will speed up somewhat but there are so many things to do and only having small pockets of time puts a limit on how much gets done. To be honest at this point even if I was able to work on it full time I’m not sure my body could handle it. After a summer of barely any manual labour I am out of shape and need to rebuild some stamina.

I’ve started looking at the supplies I will need to buy to start the floor work. I.e the water tanks and gas tanks that will fit under the chassis. It’s probably a good job I’m making slow progress on the demolition as the tanks alone will cost about £900 so will take me few months to save up!

Overall I’m really happy with how it’s all going, I love having a project to work on look forward to what next week brings.

Today is the day I collect Betty Bus! Well take 2 of collecting Betty. I made my final payment and officially took possession of her on August 9th, but knew she needed to go straight to a garage for a service, a fresh MOT and some repairs.

Due to the parts she needed taking longer to arrive than anticipated, it was the end of August before I could go and collect her. My mum and I drove the 2.5hrs from London to Melton Mowbray, the plan being we would drive back together in convoy. We stopped for a delicious lunch in a lovely pub and then went to find Betty.

It was a bit of a shock seeing her again after almost 4 months (I first viewed her at the beginning of May) and she looked huge.

I managed to figure out all the controls and then the first thing went wrong. As I went to put my seatbelt on I realised that it wasn’t long enough. The garage had had to replace the old seatbelt which was damaged so Betty would pass her MOT but not even a child would be small enough to fit this new seatbelt around them!

In disbelief that we had driven so far to not bring her home because of a seat belt, I made the stupid decision to drive her any ways.

Clearly the universe decided it needed to take matters into its own hands as 10 miles into our trip home all of the fault lights on the dashboard lit up and the accelerator stopped working. There I was broken down on a dual carriageway somewhere between Melton Mowbray and the M1 in an ex mobility bus.

The next few hours were a whirl of lovely strangers stopping to help, arranging a recovery vehicle to rescue Betty, and managing to start her and get her off the dual carriageway and into a pub car park. When the recovery vehicle arrived it turned out that Betty was too big to fit on his rig. My only options were to call a company that recovers commercial sized vehicles and wait for them to show up, or try starting her to see if she would drive back to the garage we collected her from only hours earlier. I got lucky with option number 2 and left her back at the garage, then made the long journey back to London with no Betty.

The next few weeks I was in contact with the garage, who had to go back to the company that originally modified her, to get them to send a new seatbelt, as well as re run all the diagnostics to understand why she broke down.

It is now September 28th, the new seatbelt is installed and the garage could find no reason for her to breakdown. I am once again making the trip up to Melton Mowbray for attempt number 2 at bringing Betty home.

I’m both nervous and excited. Surely today everything will run smoothly and I’ll finally be able to start my biggest project to date. God I hope I don’t break down! So far the bus and cost of repairs and servicing totals almost £8,000. I can’t fathom having spent that much hard earned money on a vehicle that I can’t reliably drive. Also the number one proviso for a camper van is that it has to be able to travel to places. I’m sweating as we pull into the garage, and praying to the universe that things will go my way.

I’m handed the keys and told she’s ready to go, but that she may need a jump start. The mechanic is lovely and after getting her going he gives me a whistle-stop tour of all the controls and how to best maintain her. He’s excited to see her turned into a campervan and I promise to bring her back for her MOT next year so he can see the progress. Now it’s crunch time and I drive away from the garage, wondering how far I’ll get before things go wrong.

It’s a miracle and nothing goes wrong!

To be honest the worst thing to go wrong was that the pub we stopped at for lunch 20min after leaving the garage, wasn’t serving lunch!

Betty was a complete star and cruised the M1 and M25 like she was happy to back on the road again. To be fair after sitting in a barn for the last 4 years she was probably dying for her freedom!

I pull into the car park at home and once parked take a moment to be thankful for the safe journey and excited about starting the conversion work. I also make a mental note to replace the drivers seat with something much more comfortable before any more long journeys, as my sore bum is happy to be finished driving for the day!

First step in building a campervan, buy van. CHECK!

About 3 years ago I took an epic solo road trip from London all the way to, and around, Italy. I went for 3 weeks, spending the first 5 days driving down through France and the west coast of Italy until I reached Reggio Calabria. I spent just over a week there before making the return trip, up the east coast of Italy and through Switzerland, Belgium and France to get back to the UK. Most of the time it was just Lemon (my dog) and I, but I was lucky enough to have 2 friends come out and visit me separately in Calabria. It was honestly the trip of my life and I have never felt so free and happy as those three weeks.

Once I was home I decided that I needed to find a way to travel more, to bring that road trip freedom into my everyday life. In trying to decide how to do this I stumbled across a lot of van life videos and the nomadic lifestyle and wild camping really appealed to me.

Fast forward to 2024 and I have spent the last 2 years grafting to make enough money to buy myself a van to convert into my very own camper van! It’s been a real slog getting to this point and I’m sure my friends are sick of hearing about the camper van I’m going to have one day. BUT the start of that one day is finally here as I have officially bought a Mercedes minibus which is the perfect shell to build this dream. After a lot of research into panel vans, box vans and buses, I decided that I wanted to look for a Treka Bus. This is a Mercedes sprinter van that has been converted into a mobility minibus, usually used by local councils.

In May of this year I found a woman selling one in Leicester, that looked to be in good condition and was within my budget. Lemon and I went up to view it and fell in love right away (well maybe not Lemon). I was lucky enough to be able to make a deal with the seller to allow me to pay in several instalments over the summer and take possession in August. £5,500 later and she is all mine! Before I bring her home she needs a full service and a new MOT as she has been stored in a barn for the last 4 years. Hopefully this won’t take long as I’m dying to start the conversion work.

I will admit that I have never done anything like this before. I know almost nothing about cars/vans/busses, my diy skills are basic and I have no experience with electrical, plumbing or furniture making. I have watched about a million hours of YouTube videos, done a lot of research and am going into this with an, ignorance is bliss, and, that it will all be a learning experience, kind of attitude. Wish me luck!

Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming posts as I take you through this conversion journey.

As some of you may know, over the last couple of years I’ve been dealing with some breathing problems that developed unexpectedly and for which doctors don’t have any concrete answers for. The current thinking is that they may be post Covid complications, although that does seem to be a catch all term these days for anything that can’t be easily explained. Physically it means that I went from a fit person who did 2 long dog walks a day and went horse riding 3 times a weeks to barely being able to walk the dog once a day. Aside from feeling like I just couldn’t get enough air I also had absolutely no energy. It’s been really tough on my mental health as I love being active and being outside, as well as I’ve put on weight which doesn’t feel great either.

After 18 months of waiting for doctors appointments and tests, resting as much as possible (well for me anyway) and taking supplements I’m finally seeing some small improvements. My energy has definitely improved, although I still have to be careful about resting, and my breathing isn’t as laboured as it used to be. I’m looking forward to working with an allergy therapist to see if there’s anything in my environment or diet that I can improve that will help. I’ve also decided to start increasing my physical activity. My thinking, is that by pushing my body a little bit it might help it become stronger and it will only be a good thing for my mental health.

I’ve decided to start running (even though I hate running) because I thought it could be an activity that I could do with Lemon that she would enjoy. I’m following the couch to 5k app and even if I have to stay on the first level for weeks (or forever!) any movement is better than no movement.

A break in the rain this morning seemed the perfect time to start, and Lemon and I headed out.

It all started well enough but about a quarter of the way through Lemon decided she didn’t want to run anymore and threw herself on the ground in protest!

In order not to ruin my run I let her off the lead and she ambled along behind me thoroughly confused. Apparently we both need training!

The great news is I completed the first 30min! I didn’t die and although I’m pretty exhausted now, I’m feeling the endorphin high and almost looking forward to going again in a couple of days.

Let me know if you have had success doing couch to 5k and if you’ve got any tips of how to train a dog to be a good running partner!

I wake up uncharacteristically late this morning. So late in fact, Lucy has to come and check that I am still alive! Clearly the last 5 days of being on holiday have been exhausting!

It’s late morning and we decide to head out of the centre of town and over the bridge to the neighbourhood of Triana. Triana is known for its food market and as the historic home of the ceramic factories that Seville was famous for. Historically Triana was a lower income area but is now one of the posher neighbourhoods in Seville.

It’s a lovely 20min walk and we find a cafe for breakfast just outside the market. Once we have eaten we venture inside to explore. we realise quickly that we should have explored inside first, before stopping to eat as the range of cafes and restaurants within the market is amazing. I think we both assumed the market would be loud and crowded like we experienced in Barcelona the previous year, however it was the exact opposite. The rainbow colours of all the fruit and vegetables catches my eye, and then I’m lured by the smell of the cheese. Everywhere you look there is Iberian ham and finally we find ourselves in the fish section. It’s probably a good thing we only travelled with carry on bags as I could be tempted to buy everything!

Once we’ve window shopped ourselves full, we head over to the tourist information and are pointed in the direction of the ceramics museum.

On our way to the museum we are lured into small ceramics shops selling colourful wares. We browse freely and each buy a small souvenir, very restrained of us considering how gorgeous all the pieces are.

Again we remind ourselves we have no luggage room. We find the ceramics museum tucked into a corner between some shops. We pay the 2€ each to enter. I love an unassuming museum that completely knocks your socks off, and this was that! It turns out this museum was built in the archaeological ruins of one of the original ceramic factories and so the structures of the kilns and some of the machinery still remained. The interpretation was simple, yet easy to read and so informative. I learned so much about the manufacturing and decorating process, and saw the most amazing murals and furniture. It was such a joy and at 2€ per person a brilliant way to spend an hour.

We browse a few more shops before stopping for refreshments and have a quiet hour people watching and reading our books in the lovely weather. We wander down along the river towards the docks and cross the bridge to take us back to the city centre. We arrive just in time to jump on a river cruise, a different way to see the city. The breeze coming off the river is refreshing and we relax and sway with the river. Ironically we meet a couple from the UK who happen to live in the same town as Lucy. It’s such a small world.

After our river cruise we decide to visit the Alfonso XIII hotel as we are informed it is the most luxurious hotel in Seville and worth stopping in to admire the entrance hall alone. It really is magnificent with beautiful high arches and ceramic tile decoration. They even have a small museum exhibit.

We decide to be very decadent and have some cocktails at the hotel bar.

It is now late afternoon and after all the refreshments we decide to walk back to the Plaza de Espana to see it properly in the daylight.

The scale and detail of it are unsurpassed and it is easily my favourite place in Seville. The combination of bridges, a moat, ceramic detailing, and viewpoints to overlook the plaza just make this place so unique. I could honestly spend hours wandering around.

It’s hard to believe it was only built in 1929 for the world fair. It combines the architectural styles of art deco, renaissance revival and baroque revival. I feel it does have a somewhat Disneyland aura to it as it’s so perfect, clearly a testament to the restorers who carried out extensive work from 2007-2010.

By now it’s early evening and we are shattered from a full on day. We head back to the apartment for some pool time and then decide to forego eating out tonight in lieu of hitting up the local supermarket and having a picnic at the apartment.

I can’t believe this is the last night of my holiday and that tomorrow morning we will be heading to the airport to fly home. The experiences I have had in both places have been so different, but both inspiring and amazing in their own ways. I’m definitely not looking forward to leaving the sun, heat and European lifestyle.

I guess I just have to remind myself to say “a la prochaine” , until next time!

We are both up pretty early, eager to get out and explore. First we decide to head to a cafe that supposedly does the best churros in Seville. Before we even enter we know we’ve hit the jackpot as the little restaurant is overflowing out the door and there is the hum of a busy kitchen and happy customers.

It is an assault on the senses when you enter. There are crowds of people standing at a bar that stretches the length of shop, the staff yell jovially over the noise of the customers and the smell of the deep fried dough and melted chocolate is heavenly.

We stand in what we think is a queue to be served, but we honestly have no idea what the protocol is. Finally Lucy manages to communicate with the Spanish woman in front of us who speaks no English, and deciphers that the queue is for a table, but to be served at the bar you just need to push through. We decide to wait for a table and sit with the locals. We wait about 20min and get shown to a table. A menu is given to us but there’s really only one right choice. We both order the churros with chocolate, and fresh orange juice.

From our table we can see the chef at work, artistically frying the dough as if it’s instinctual. When our breakfast arrives we both agree we’ve died and gone to heaven. Mirroring the locals we eat quickly and relinquish our table. We push our way out of the still bursting little cafe, and take a moment to admire and marvel this innocuous looking space.

With our bellies full we wander over to the cathedral to see if we can buy tickets for that morning. After a bit of confusion we manage to find the right queue and gain entry in the first wave of visitors for the morning. I’m overwhelmed as we enter at the sheer size of this cathedral. In fact it turns out it’s the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. Similar to the Mosque-Cathedral in Cordoba it was built on the site of a mosque, however only the Giralda tower (bell tower) remains in the moorish style while the cathedral around it is quintessentially gothic in style.

What I love about this cathedral is that it is actually an art museum. Everywhere you look there are paintings, wood carved details, silver and gold objects, textiles, costumes and more. At the centre is the usual nave, choir and altar, but surrounding it there are just more chapels and rooms displaying the most amazing artworks. It feels like an Aladdin’s cave. I feel very much at home.

One of the best surprises was discovering that Christopher Columbus is buried here.

As we wander, we see the entrance to climb the Giralda, which is included in our ticket. However after ascertaining that there are 35 ramps to climb to the top and no lift, we decide to leave it for another visit. Between the two of us we have badly functioning lungs and a relatively new knee replacement so we save our energy for the rest of the day.

We emerge out of the cathedral and enjoy the courtyards as the midday sun roasts us.

We venture up to the Jewish quarter for some refreshments and head over to the Alcazar to enquire about tickets for that evening.

We come up lucky again and are able to get tickets for 6pm that evening and decide to celebrate by stopping for lunch on the way back to the apartment for an afternoon swim and siesta.

Reemerging refreshed a few hours later we head to the Alcazar. I was expecting something similar to the one I visited in Cordoba but they could not have been more different. The size of this compound is enormous! Every time we enter a new wing or rooms I think we must have seen it all, but it just keeps going. When you first enter the decor is simple and austere however as you explore further, the rooms become more and more elaborate and opulent.

I’m obsessed with the colours, pattern and shapes typical of the moorish style. One of my favourite parts has to be the internal courtyards with water features and greenery, that feel so serene.

After we’ve explored the interior we head out to the gardens which are also a triumph of intricate landscape design and architecture.

After a hugely enjoyable couple of hours we head back to the cathedral quarter to get refreshments and decide where to go for dinner. We are both craving steak so find an Argentinian steak house about 15 minutes outside of the city centre. We decide to splurge on a taxi for the sake of a good meal. When we arrive at the restaurant we find it is closed.

Not quite sure what to do at this point, our lovely taxi driver saves the day by offering to take us to his family’s favourite steak house which is another 10 min further outside the city. In for a penny, in for a pound! Luckily he rings ahead to ensure it’s open and get us a table. We drive through an industrial estate and are dropped off next to what looks like a building supply centre. I did have a fleeting thought, are we about to be murdered, but we are pointed to an empty terrace and see the restaurant door.

The inside could not be more different than the outside. A beautiful modern restaurant with a butchery counter and a sophisticated vibe. We start with cocktails and get the waiter to surprise us. I end up with an apple gin and lemonade which is delicious. We decide to splurge on a 1kg entrecôte to share and once we have chosen the cut of meat they bring out the exact piece for our approval. I have a heavenly baked goats cheese starter and then the steak and patatas bravas arrive.

The steak has been lightly seared and it is served with a hot stone so we can cook it to our taste. It is absolutely delicious. We enjoy our meal and pair the steak with a lovely local red wine. We are the last to leave the restaurant, our steak cravings fully satisfied. The restaurant help us get a taxi and before we know it we are back at the apartment crawling into bed after another fabulous day.

It’s a day of mixed emotions as I wake up early and pack my bag to leave Cordoba. I’ve so enjoyed my time here, feeling relaxed and peaceful, taking my days at a slow and leisurely pace.

Conversely, the nomad inside me is ready for the next adventure and is looking forward to exploring a new city. Coming to Seville also ends the solo part of my trip, and I’m excited to see my friend Lucy who is flying in from the UK this morning.

It’s still dark as I leave the guesthouse and make my way through the sleepy pedestrian streets up to the main road. As if waiting for me, a taxi appears and I hop in, headed to the train station. I get a last look at the Alcázar, the palm trees a silhouette in front of the palace. I give a silent thanks for the joyous experience of the last 3 days.

By the time I reach the train station the sun has risen and I feel I have re entered civilisation. The bustle of commuters on a Monday morning is a stark reminder of the reality I left behind only days earlier. I’m on a slow train back to Seville which means I see a lot more of the Spanish countryside than the direct train I took to get to Cordoba.

I grab some breakfast at the train station and it’s not long before I see Lucy walk in with her backpack. I get a wave of excitement at seeing a familiar face and in anticipation for what the next few days will bring.

We jump in a taxi and 15minutes later we are deposited at the edge of the pedestrian shopping area, where somewhere within the maze of streets is our apartment.

The crowds of people and the buzzing of the shops feel electric, as we navigate our way to a small, nondescript alley and find the door to our apartment block.

The apartment is beautiful. I particularly love the use of fun wallpapers and bright furnishings.

It’s so quiet you can barely hear the bustle of the shops below. The crowning glory (and part I’ve been most excited about) is the rooftop pool. A little oasis of calm and relaxation hidden among the rooftops.

Our stomachs rumble and we decide to venture out to find some food and familiarise ourselves with our new neighbourhood. We stumble across the Plaza de San Francisco and enjoy cold cerveza’s, calamari and Iberian ham on a terrace, as the relentless sun beats down. We escape back into the shade of the shopping streets and find ourselves unexpectedly dwarfed by the Metropol Parasol.

This amazing mushroom like piece of architecture is the world’s largest wooden structure, and Seville’s third most visited landmark. Market stalls, bars and public picnic tables are dotted underneath it, taking advantage of its shade and creating an urban pocket in the middle of the historic city center. It’s a juxtaposition of history, architecture and culture that just works.

We enquire about tickets to the viewing platform on top, and decide to book them for 10pm this evening when the whole structure will be lit up and we can see the cityscape at night. By now we are both flagging from the heat and early starts to the day. We decide to head back to the apartment and take advantage of the rooftop pool.

We emerge back into the city a few hours later refreshed and revitalised, ready for our walking tour of Seville. We meet our guide, Julio, a local art historian, and I’m astounded and delighted to be introduced to 25 other people from across the world who have signed up for the tour.

Julio is masterful as he manages to remember everyone’s nationality and relates the history of the city to the different countries and cultures around him. When he calls our group to order he shouts out “follow me family!” And in those two hours it feels like we actually are a family, hungry for knowledge and adventure.

We visit the cathedral, the Jewish quarter, the Alcazar and end up at sunset at the Plaza de España. We are hot, our legs are aching but our brains are full of the stories of this amazing city.

As day turns to night we retrace our steps back to the cathedral quarter to find a restaurant for dinner. We manage to snag a rare table outside as the restaurants and bars are full to bursting. Our choices are easy, wine and paella. Halfway through the meal a group of men wander by and start playing music, the ladies on the table next to us get up and dance. I think to myself how quintessentially Spanish but also how carefree and confident those ladies look enjoying their evening. A reminder for us all to endeavour to live with their spirit!

We finish our meal and head back to the Metropol Parasol eager to see what awaits us at the top. It does not disappoint. A stunning walkway that gives 360 degree views of the city and maps of the skyline which explain what all the buildings are. Undoubtedly the best part is the light and music show that illuminates the top of the mushroom. The colours changing in time to the music like waves across the night sky. It truly is magical.

When we can barely keep our eyes open another minute we take the stairs down to ground level and find our way back to the apartment. I take advantage of the beautiful evening to sit with my feet in the pool at midnight with a glass of wine meditating to the hum of the city. How could tomorrow top today?

In case any one is interested I thought I’d do a little round up on how much it cost me to spend 3 days in Cordoba

Day 1

Flight from Stansted to Seville: £75

Bus from Seville Airport to Train Station: 5€

Return Train from Seville to Cordoba: 30€

Taxi from station to hotel: 7€

Hotel (3days): £285

Food and Drink: 57€

Groceries/shopping: 30€

Walking tour:15€

Day 2

Cathedral: 17€

Food and Drink: 53€

Equestrian Performance: €17

Day 3

Palace: 5€

Royal Baths: 3€

Food and Drink: €35

3 day total : approx 633€

Obviously my biggest outlay was the flight and hotel. If I discount those and look at how much spending money per day I used, it comes to about 91€ per day. I made use of the free food and drink at the hotel and bought some snacks and wine from a local supermarket so I wasn’t buying all my food from restaurants. Food prices in Cordoba seemed on par with most places, but it was the attractions which I found cheaper than in bigger cities. Overall, I felt it was very good value for money for 3 days of great fun, great weather and relaxation. I would highly recommend visiting Cordoba for a couple of days if you have the chance as it’s a true hidden gem!