Campervan Fun

My lovely wife, Helen, has always wanted a campervan. We’ve looked at various makes and models for a number of years, even taking an old Peugeot for a test drive. However, earlier this year I was left some money, which we decided to put towards a VW Campervan. A 2017 model with less than 45,000 miles. Bright yellow.

Friday 16/2/2024

We’ve named him Custard. Northern custard not southern custard. He’s amazing. We were supposed to pick him up at 1 pm, but phoned the dealer to see if we could pick him up early as we were so excited. There was a squeak in the engine that the dealer assured us they will sort out when the garage has time.

We drove home and found that the mirror on the driver’s side doesn’t push in. With Gordon in tow we returned to the dealer. After a lot of faff, and being ignored, the offending wing mirror was gaffer taped up and we were told that a replacement would be ordered and fitted the following week.

We drove to Morecambe, via a petrol station as the tank was almost empty. We parked up and went for a walk. Custard looked great.

Saturday 17/2/2024

I created three walking routes from the Great Langdales as Helen had booked us into a National Trust campsite. We all went to Lancaster parkrun, me to run and Helen walking around the park with Gordon. On the way back, Gordon was more than happy to sit on his own on the back seat. Also on the way home, Custard decided to mess about. The engine shut off when I was stopped at some lights, and I didn’t stall. Custard did it again when we arrived at the barrier for the campsite. Also, only half of the touch screen for the Sat Nav/radio worked. We’ll add them to the list.

At the campsite we raised the roof and set up the awning before heading off for a walk up Lingmoor Fell. Heavy rain stopped the walk early. Back in Custard, and there was a small leak at the back and the larger gas ring doesn’t work.

As we dried off, Helen cooked fried haloumi with fruity couscous. Delicious, washed down with a beer, or two. The fold out table had grass on it. Shoddy cleaning from the dealer, and the water tank hadn’t been filled up either.

Gordon needed a poo and Helen fell over hurting her back when she took him out. Not funny. I then bashed my head reaching behind the back seat. Helen suggested that I know looked like Mikhail Gorbachev.

Feeling a little annoyed at the dealer we headed to bed fairly early. Helen climbed into the top and I followed, but we weren’t sure if the roof was strong enough for our combined weight. Also, Gordon didn’t like that we’d left him. We returned to the main bed, which was fairly hard and Gordon decided to sleep in between our sleeping bags. Not a great night’s sleep. We’ll need a mattress.

Sunday 18/2/2024

Early coffee sat in the van enjoying the lack of rain. We then went for an eight mile walk up Rossett Pike and back.

Obligatory selfie with the beautiful Mrs B.

We were both feeling a little sad about Custard and his various problems, and we almost quit the walk. We were both very pleased that we hadn’t as the views from the top were stunning. It was also an easy route to follow with no scrambling. Gordon’s second Wainwright.

The sun had dried out the awning and the pop-up top, which we stowed away just before it started raining again. Gordon enjoyed looking out of the window from “his” seat.

The campsite was excellent and we will definitely be visiting it again in the summer. As for Custard, his list of ailments are:

• Squeaky engine
• Broken wing mirror
• Engine randomly stopping
• Only one key
• Sat Nav/radio touchscreen
• Small leak
• Gas ring

We will be visiting the dealer during the week to move forward with the various problems. I’ll keep you informed of how we get on.

Apart from the minor or major problems, we absolutely love having a campervan and we should have bought one years ago. We are incredibly excited about heading off on adventures at least every other week.

The Politician by Tim Sullivan

Wow, I’ve already finished reading book #4 in the DS Cross crime thriller series, and The Politician is another great read.

A retired local politician has been murdered, and it is assumed to be a robbery gone wrong with jewelry missing. However, with DS George Cross on the case there is mor to it than at first appeared.

The Politician was in the process of divorcing her husband after his latest affair. Their son is in deep debt with a loan shark and had previously stolen a painting from his parents to sell. The Politician was involved in a planning dispute which had been going on for years, for which she had received plenty of threats. She was also an online agony aunt, giving out impartial advice, again which she received plenty of death threats. Her long term assistant is on a year long break in the far east. Due to the high profile of the victim, someone in the force higher up than George’s immediate boss is drafted in to oversee the investigation, although she has enough sense to leave George to his own devices.

What can I say? Another cracking crime thriller from my new favourite author. Unfortunately, there are only two more full length books in the series, with two short stories, which I don’t think will keep me occupied for very long. How soon will DS Cross be turned into a TV series? Any recommendations for who I should seek out next?

The Patient by Tim Sullivan

As I have previously blogged, I have became a huge DS Cross fan, written by Tim Sullivan. I have now finished the third book in the series, The Patient.

A woman arrives at the crime unit and refuses to leave. She believes that her daughter was murdered, while the police have concluded that she died of an accidental overdose. George Cross talks with her, and determines that she is correct, her daughter was murdered.

In this book not only does DS Cross have to find who the killer was, but he has to battle with his superiors and a colleague who reports him, the colleague who concluded that it was an accidental overdose. On top of this, George’s father is taken ill, Stephen the priest continues to pressure George into performing an organ recital, and George also opens a can of worms by writing to his long absent mother.

To find the killer, DS Cross has to investigate the girl’s still drug using ex-boyfriend, her creepy ex-boss, a number of other former drug users, and her therapist. One of them surely must be the murderer!

This was another excellent crime thriller, and while I might have partially guessed who the killer was before the end, there was still another twist. I’m also enjoying the relationship between George and his police partner, Ottey. The minor characters add a lot to the story as well.

Once again I gave this book five stars, with Goodreads having an average score of 4.6. I have already started reading book four in the series. My only gripe is that there aren’t a dozen more books in the series to read.

The Camping Shop by R. R. Haywood

This novella is R. R. Haywood at his best. The Camping Shop is a bonus short book within the Undead series of books. However, unlike Blood on the Floor, which I reviewed last month, this is what a bonus story should be like.

The story is set about three weeks into the apocalypse, and Howie and his group stumble upon a large camping shop. There are plenty of dead bodies inside, although they weren’t killed by the undead, they appear to have been killed by each other. Obviously, two groups inside the shop attacked each other, after barricading themselves inside away from the carnage. They had running water, high-energy camping food, camping stoves and gas, so more than enough to keep them alive for a long time. So what happened?

Different members of the team have flashbacks as they try to work out what went on, until Reginald steps in.

Less than 70 pages long, this was an excellent addition to the Undead series. I wouldn’t recommend it if you’ve not read the rest of the series, but as a bonus it is unmissable. I gave it five stars, while on Goodreads it has a very healthy average score of 4.5.

The Cyclist by Tim Sullivan

I rushed through the first book in the DS Cross series (read my review here) and it didn’t take me much longer to read the second book in the series.

The Cyclist is the second DS Cross book, and it involves the death of a drug taking cyclist with a number of not so much enemies, but people who do not like him. Was it his team mates who objected to his performance enhancing drug taking? Was it the parents of the teenage girl he was seeing? Was it a rival drug supplier? Was it his brother? Slowly over the course of the book more information is teased out.

The second book was easily as good as the first, with all of the main characters more flesh out than previously. DS Cross’ partner Ottey is slowly coming around to his peculiar ways, especially as his murder solving rate is second to none. His immediate superior has resigned himself to simply allowing DS Cross to continue being an anomaly. Towards the end of the book I had an idea who the murderer was, however, I was wrong, as well as there being an added twist.

I gave this book another five stars and I have already started reading the third book in the series, The Patient. Unfortunately, there does appear to be only six full books in the series, with another two short stories, which means it won’t take me long to devour them.

The Rise by Ian Rankin

This was heavily advertised on Amazon and Kindle. I’m guessing that Amazon paid the famous writer of the Rebus series of books a hefty fee to write an Amazon exclusive short story.

The story is set in an exclusive and very expensive apartment block, filled with a diverse set of characters. There is a fading film actress, a Russian Oligarch, and a Saudi Princess.

The night concierge is found murdered and the owners of occupants of the building do not welcome the intrusion of the police. There are a number of dead ends and interesting asides with the various inhabitants, and then a surprising twist at the end.

I have to say that I enjoyed this short story, partly because it was short. It would definitely have dragged if Ian Rankin had been tempted to turn it into a full length book. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited and enjoy a good crime thriller, I would recommend this, eve if like me, you’ve never read anything by Ian Rankin. I had a quick search, and apparently there are 24 books in the Rebus series. If I stumble across the first book in the series in a charity shop, I will probably buy it, but as they are not available on the Unlimited subscription, I will most likely give them a miss.

Anyway, I gave The Rise four stars.