It has finally happened: my folks have become hippies!
A few months ago when my parents were returning back to England for the winter they made the decision to purchase a motorhome from two of our very good friends. They were finding that the Santander-Portsmouth ferry crossing was getting harder for the dogs to manage and it really stressed them out.
In fact, both dogs tended to get pretty ill for several days after each ferry trip so they decided to look at an alternative travel arrangement between England and Portugal.
Having a motorhome would give them the convenience of leaving and arriving in England/Portugal at the last minute, rather than booking months in advance and they could go at a much slower pace.
They worked out that the total cost of tolls and fuel used when driving through Spain and France would probably amount to the same as a ferry ticket, but with a motorhome they could easily stop off and visit different places along the way. So why not?
Meet Wendy:
Wendy is an 18-year-old 4-berth Fiat Ducato 2.8 litre motorhome with everything we could possibly need for an extremely comfortable drive from England to Portugal. We’ve had her for nearly 6 months and she’s been amazing addition to the family, so to speak. Dad absolutely loves her and Mum often jokes that there is now another woman in his life.
Another huge benefit of Wendy is that my folks can bring over more supplies from England to keep them going over the summer. That means the shower cubicle in Wendy ended up being filled with (and this is not a complete list):
– 20 packets of ginger nut biscuits
– 10 packets of dumpling mix
– 20 packets of stir fry sauce
– 12 jars of mango chutney
– 10 jars of horseradish
– 6 jars of mint sauce
– 6 jars of Thai green curry paste
– and about 1,000 tea bags (they still manage to run out)
And they forgot the HP sauce.
I couldn’t believe it. I flew over all the way over from Canada and asked Mum if she could make stew and dumplings for dinner on my first night back home. I opened the fridge to put the HP sauce on the table for dinner and it simply wasn’t there. Dejected is an understatement!
Anyway! Wendy successfully made the trip from England to Portugal and we’ve already been out on an overnight adventure with her to the beach at Costa Nova.
I never expected my parents to subscribe to the motorhome lifestyle but they’ve thoroughly enjoyed it so far and say that they’re already planning out their journey back to England!
Last week we took advantage of some good weather and went over to Costa Nova on the coast. I’ll write about that next time.
