The Great Motorhome Hunt

Sometime in early Feb (probably about when I penned my last blog) we decided we’d had enough of our secret squirrel motorhome hunt and let the cat out of the bag. Only a select few had been privy to our plans. But after several phone calls home, including one to Ryan’s folks from Plymouth where we nearly let slip on what we were really down there for, we decided to let people know what we we’re planning and to take the inevitable parental concern and questions in our stride! Our weekends since the beginning of the year have largely been occupied by looking at motorhomes, in our quest to buy one to travel round Europe in for 3 – 4 months this summer/autumn. Our travels in January yielded nothing better than leaky sieves or rusty junk buckets. Into Feb and we struck one that was in great nick inside, fairly tidy outside, bar one exception but had quite high mileage and they weren’t willing to take the price we offered. We didn’t push closer to their price tag because of the mileage so carried on looking. Struck a couple more dogs when we popped into a dealer north of London after we’d looked at another private sale north of the city at the start of the month. Despite recovering from a strain of manflu, where it hurt to live (I was infected with manflu, not Ryan!) we looked at a couple the weekend before last, again striking out with some unloved and run-down campers. The middle weekend of Feb we saw one that looked promising, but on a second look the weekend of Ryan’s bday we discovered a massive amount of oil under the engine, and the owner wouldn’t take it half a dozen miles to an independent garage for a pre-purchase inspection, so we went with our gut and passed on it. Also looked at one some Aussies were looking to sell, but it had a few engine leaks, oil and coolant and was overpriced for what it was. First weekend of March and we didn’t do a great deal, which was nice for a change. Saw just the one camper for a change, and it only required a tube ride to north London. One of the oldest ones we’ve seen, 1984, but really a bit big for just the two of us. Searching for what’s right for us, is proving trickier than we thought! After our mini break in Copenhagen we took a look at a camper in southeast London, which took a mad hour and a half to get there, we driven miles out of London quicker than that bus/tube/bus ride! The AA had to come and start the van, and we still haven’t heard what’s wrong with it, so have crossed that one off. This weekend we’ve inspected one that looked and sounded promising in pictures, but was another water damaged camper, so will be steering clear of that one. Looked at one down in Brighton as well, but the mileage was wrongly advertised as kilometres when is actually miles, making a significant difference! We thought it had 120,000 kilometres on it, but that actually the mileage, so has over 208,000 kilometres, which is quite, quite high. Highest we’ve seen. Have lost track of how many we’ve seen, somewhere between 10 and 20. Hoping that next weekend we’ll be able to see one that we heard about a month ago, the owners are sorting a new MOT at the moment, so fingers crossed. Also know of a camper coming back into London owned by some kiwi’s who are heading home in first week of April, so will take a look at that one. So for now, on we hunt...