Coventry is probably a strange place to write about, but despite being a very unattractive city, I always love visiting. We have a friend living close by and have visited a number of times. The first time we visited Karen in the van it was early in our van life adventure. Her drive is very narrow, which made pulling onto it interesting. We “pruned” a bush on the side of her driveway and, luckily for us, the tree which overhangs it came off worse than the van roof. Neil was stressing about potential damage to the solar panels – after many similar experiences we have learnt that they are quite tough.
While visiting Karen, we went to visit Hoops, her gorgeous thoroughbred. Having grown up with horses, I love any opportunity to be around them. Karen is now the only person I know with a horse, so it is a treat. She offered me the chance to ride, but I declined. Hoops was young and inexperienced, and I was old and out of practise – this did not prove to be a great combination the previous summer. Riding in the paddock , Hoops went one way and I went the other. At 16.2 hands high, it was a long way down and it took several weeks for my back to forgive me!
My love for Coventry comes from watching a play there several years before about the Second World War. It was about the bombing of the city, and what was going on with the cracking of the Enigma code, think the Imitation Game, but with more emphasis on what happened in the city. Any city that has been through bombing like that deserves to look a bit ugly.
We had never been to the cathedral, despite having watched the movie Nativity every Christmas, and only living up the road for more than 10 years, so off we went. At the time we were still stressing about parking the van in towns and cities. Thanks to my fantastic directions, Neil ended up driving through a very narrow no through road. Does anyone else breathe in when doing this? It’s never going to help. Maybe my suggested routes early on are one of the reasons he is cautious about where we drive now.
We did get parked close to both cathedrals, and popped into the museum first. Dippy was there, which was an unexpected treat. The diplodocus skeleton from the Natural History Museum was on tour in Coventry. It brought back memories of visiting the museum when I was young, visiting with my son, and coming across Dippy on tour, while shopping in Birmingham with my niece.
The old cathedral was lovely. Sadly it is just a shell, very badly damaged in the bombing, but it is beautifully maintained and very atmospheric, especially on a gloomy English summer day. Sadly we ran out of time and only got to stick our heads in the door of the new, very modern cathedral. So although Coventry is not the first place you would think of for a day out, the museum and the cathedral are both highly recommended.
The following evening we arranged to meet friends for a meal out. It was nearly a disaster. We were still using Britstops – which gives great recommendations of pubs that allow campervan parking, but we always end up spending too much money. I had a look through the book and found a pub not too far for Kate and David. I threw the book at Neil and asked him to book the meal and check we could stay. We arrived, parked up, and waited for them, with a drink. Kate called to say they were at the pub and where were we? “We’re here,” I confirmed. After a few phone calls, me running around outside the pub, Kate running round outside the pub, we realised we were in different pubs! In my defence, there were 2 pubs with the same name on one page of the Brit Stops book. Neil had booked and driven to one of them, I had sent Kate details of the other one. Their Malt Shovel did not do food on a Monday, so they drove over to ours, The Malt Shovel, Gaydon, and the food was really good.
We were only about a month into van life and, although we took to it like ducks to water, we were learning what was going to prove difficult. We were using power really quickly, especially as I was still working, and on the many overcast days, this was a problem. We ended up having a second leisure battery fitted which has helped a lot. We still have to be careful in the winter months, when the sun is low in the sky, unless we are driving a long way, but we are self sufficient as far as energy goes in the summer months, even with the grey days.
Water is also something we no longer take for granted. Showing my age here, but who remembers having a bath on Sunday night, and a big wash during the week? Probably the same people who sang “Living in a box” when reading the first blog. I was lucky growing up. Being the eldest I got the bath water first – my poor sister was number 3! Van life can be quite similar. Firstly, showers use a lot of water. Less than a bath, but when you have a limited supply, it is still a lot of water. Secondly, we didn’t want any gas in the van, so we have a system for heating the water which uses the diesel heater. (This is probably the one thing I would not recommend to any van builders.) Firstly we have to fill the small tank in the “garage” with water from the main tank, then we have to push the heat into the “garage” and heat the water. It heats up quite quickly, and the shower itself is lovely. It’s actually better than the shower we had in our flat. We do not, however, have enough water to shower every day. This is where a big wash comes in as the alternative to a daily shower. We do keep clean – I promise.
As well as a big wash, we have become shameless about asking to use the shower at friends houses. Invite us for dinner, we’ll arrive with our wash bag and towels. Even just invite us for coffee, and the wash bag is likely to come with us. We are very lucky to have understanding friends. Either that, or they are relieved we shower before they have to spend much time in our company.
Site showers are very hit and miss. Mostly, they are clean and the water is hot, and we can stand under them for as long as we like. I have even dyed my hair, and then stood under the shower on a campsite for long enough to wash it out. Occasionally though, they can be very grim and you have to decide on just how much you want that shower. I always keep my crocs on in public showers – other peoples feet are just yuk. On occasion, I have lined all my toiletries up carefully, so I don’t have to touch the sides of the cubicle. I have also looked in and left, having yet another big wash. I think the worst was when I put on a hair dye at an aire in Ireland. I waited 30 minutes and then went into the shower. It was clean and modern and the water was cold. I love swimming in lakes and seas, but that’s an expected cold, with the benefit of being outside, and being prepared. This was just ice cold, on my head, and I had no option but to wash the dye out. My head was freezing and ached by the time I had finished, and I was so glad to get back into the van and turn the hairdryer on – yeah for 2 leisure batteries! (We went back to the same aire sometime later and the water was lovely and hot.)
So, if you are in the Midlands, visit Coventry. Great shopping as well as the beautiful cathedrals. And if we visit you, make sure there is hot water, so we can shower, but be warned, we may be a while, enjoying the luxury of unlimited hot water.
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