As part of our initial planning, we’d agreed to take a long camping holiday in Europe with Ashleigh and Donald, to test both the Surf and our travelling ability. We put some thought into how to pack the vehicle, and decided at that time against any fancy built-in storage systems, opting for 8 or so heavy duty clear plastic containers. These stacked very tidily in the back, allowing easy organisation and location of items. Each container had a name – “The living room,” “The Study,” “The garage,” with appropriate contents.
We were travelling with 2 tents; our compact, secure, easy to pitch 2 man hiking tent and our cavernous, breezy, lumbering 6 man behemoth. Our first stop was the Lake District, where we helped my brother and his family set up the Action Partner’s Campsite, which provides accommodation during the Keswick Convention. Making extensive use of the “Outdoor box,” we spent evenings rock climbing on the famous Lakes cliffs, and offroad driving, accompanied by a V8 Range Rover and a Defender.
Louise emerging from a deep puddle. Moments later the photographer was saturated.
Later, we made tracks through England and the Low Countries into Northern Germany, stopping along the way with family near Antwerp, and in recommended spots through Germany. Donald and Ashleigh, by this time about 8 months pregnant, left us as we passed South of Hamburg and returned home to begin packing to move house to Scotland, while we continued on to Berlin, a day earlier than we’d planned after being rained off the rocks in Ith. Leaving the Surf parked, unloved, on the street for a few days, we based ourselves for a couple of wonderful nights in a friendly, family run hotel just off the most expensive shopping street in the city.
Overall, the trip was a great success. I’ve written much more about it here, here and here, so there’s little point recapping it all. It proved the vehicle’s capability to do a long trip, similar in length to one leg of the Africa journey, without problems. In fact there were problems; the exhaust developed a hole and a universal joint in the prop shaft began to fail, but both developed so slowly, with so much warning, that our confidence in the vehicle was built in leaps and bounds. Our packing system, although it was a long way from perfected, seemed adequate, and is much less hassle, and has less potential for problems, than building a permanent system into the vehicle.
Camping beside, and living out of the back of, the Surf. Note the coffee press on the ground beside the kitchen sink - an absolute essential.
Our living arrangements will be substantially altered (being on the roof, not the ground beside the truck), but since we will still be carrying the tent and chairs, the space inside the truck was about the same as it will be. Although bringing the BBQ was a waste of space, if a nice one!