And... We're Back!

That didn't take long! If it had been a weekend, I guess you could have called it a weekend break. Not sure there's a name for two nights away when those nights are Monday and Tuesday.

We had a great time, anyway. The weather forecast was very poor but the actual weather turned out much better. We had a couple of showers but things mostly stayed dry and the sun was out for a good while both days and today as we came slowly back. We did get a downpour in the middle of the night and the bus leaked a bit, here and there, but only in places where it didn't matter.

The bus in question is a double-decker that's been converted into a two-bedroom apartment, with the bedrooms and a large lounge upstairs and a kitchen, dining room and sitting room downstairs. It's amazingly roomy, larger than plenty of actual flats I've been in (And lived in.) although it might not seem that way if you were six feet tall. 

I used to be five-eleven but I've shrunk with age, as people do. Now I'm more like five-nine and I could stand upright with about an inch clearance in the center of the rooms. A couple of times I grazed my head against the ceiling even so.

Not that that detracted from the excellent experience. We both agreed we'd happily live in a conversion like this. There would be plenty of room for two people (The bus actually sleeps four according to the website but if it was two couples who shared the two double beds, at least another two could easily sleep downstairs on the long, padded seats.

The whole thing is completely off-grid, in a field up a dead-end country lane, leading out of a tiny village. Electricity is solar-powered or from a generator. We managed with just the solar because the generator is apparently noisy and you have to text the guy to come over and start it. We had plenty of power to keep the lights on at night and charge our phones and my laptop so what else do you need?

 

There's a wood-burning stove, which we didn't use, and a gas cooker (Bottled gas.) which we did. Also a microwave, which we didn't even notice until we were just about to leave. As well as no mains electricity, there's no mains water. 

So what comes out of the taps, then? Air? No, water, but not from the regular supply. It comes from an underground reservoir of undetermined (By me...) provenance. There's a warning that it's not suitable to drink neat from the tap but that's immediately undercut by a further note that all the locals use the same supply and they drink it, the implication clearly being "so, are you going to be a wuss about it?")

We drank it. Although only in tea and coffee, so it was boiled first. Also we cooked with it. Boiled again, though. Beryl drank it neat but then she drinks out of muddy puddles. Actually, she deliberately stirs up the mud in clean puddles with her paw so as to make them muddy and then she drinks out of them. I've seen her do it.

Beryl absolutely loved the bus. She acted like it was her new home from the moment we got there and settled down faster than I've seen her settle anywhere new. She's crazy for stairs and steps so she was up and down the very steep staircase all the time. (That's another thing you might want to bear in mind if you have mobility issues - the spiral staircase is not for the wobbly of limb.)

The view was fantastic, provided you like a view that resembles a still photograph. Seriously, you could stare out the window for ten minutes at a stretch and never see movement. If it wasn't for the odd bird flying by you could make that ten hours.

Beryl, as you can see, took the opportunity to practice her zen mastery. She stared happily out the window at nothing for ages. Of course, dogs can smell things three miles away, so I imagine there was a rich scent vista to keep her occupied.

 

Outside, apart from endless, empty fields, there's a completely self-contained patio with seats, tables, barbecue equipment and a separate shower unit. We had the bus door open all the time and Beryl could go out safely and potter about with no danger of her wandering off. Not that she would. She doesn't like to be more than a few yards away from one or other of us if she can possibly avoid it.

We did some driving around the local area, which is all farmland, villages and very small market towns. It's close to moorland but we didn't go onto the moors this time. We did go to a reservoir with the amusing name of Wimbleball Lake, though. It was very low after the long, dry summer but the nature reserve around it was great for walking on a sunny, late summer day (Or early autumn, depending how you're counting.)

And that is our holiday for the year. Since we got Beryl we don't go far or for long. Maybe one day we'll get her inoculated and dog-passported and take her somewhere exotic. Like France. Or even Northern Spain. I think that would be about her limit. She's a great traveler and she loves new places but she doesn't do well with heat. Perhaps we should go north instead of south...

We're here for now and the foreseeable, though, so normal blogging service may be resumed. Or it may not because I have to figure out a new schedule involving driving over to see my mother three or four times a week instead of once a month as I have done since... well, always. 

Also I have to buy a car to do the driving in. We've always managed with one between us up to now. 

All of which means, if there are unusual gaps in continuity here, that's probably why. Although I don't really expect it will make that much difference. I can knock these things out a lot faster than I usually do, if I have to. 

Like this one, for example...