A few months ago, my lovely friend Sarah invited Dom and I to her wedding. As I met her on a dive boat off the Australian coast I knew she wouldn't mind if we rocked up to her wedding in Buttercup. The staff at Newton Park Farm Barn http://www.newtonparkbarn.co.uk/ were kindness itself and said we could sleep in the van after the Reception. Perfect.
Then Dom's friend who is running The Royal Oak in Wetton http://www.royaloakwetton.co.uk/ invited us over so we decided to combine the two.
Now as you have probably gathered by now, if you are lucky enough to own one of these lovely vehicles, patience is a virtue you must definitely acquire. There's no such thing as simply packing your bag, getting in the van and going. Instead Dom faced three hours of adjusting heating levers and other technical things before we were finally ready to go.
Since we got her back from 81A, she's been running really well. She almost gallops along. So as we were cruising towards the Runcorn Bridge with the sun shining, Dom decided to open the window. And that was the first of many little things that occurred to spice up the journey. The handle fell off and the window was left jammed open. We continued on the way...
We went cross country on good A roads as far as Leek. Once here, we encountered the only bit of bad traffic. Unfortunately, it was on a fairly steep hill (not Buttercup's favourite!). However, with just one minor incident of rolling backwards, fighting with the handbrake and first gear I managed to get through. From Leek we knew the roads were going to be small, narrow and winding. When I set off to someone's place for the first time, I tend to get in touch and ask them if there is a route they suggest. Dom is more gung ho than me in that respect and just likes to 'wing it'. And so, having printed out a map of the MINOR roads that lead to the village of Wetton we followed a sign for Ford.
"Don't worry" said Dom "All roads lead to Wetton."
I have to say here that the scenery was idyllic. The sun was shining down and the countryside looked beautiful. As we headed down a particularly steep valley I said
"We'd better find another way back out tomorrow. It's all right going down, but I don't think Buttercup will make it back up!"
About two minutes after the words were out of my mouth and with absolutely no signs, warnings or otherwise the road performed a sharp hair pin and changed gradient to about 1:2! We'd been on a steady incline so I was in second gear anyway but as I hauled on the wheel and desperately hit the accelerator Buttercup ground to a stop refusing to move. Thankfully there was nothing behind us or coming towards us as we were stuck at the bottom of the hairpin itself at a precarious angle! I won't write what our thoughts or words were, I'm sure you can guess...
Gingerly, I tried lifting my foot from the brake and even though the handbrake was on we rolled backwards. With my foot firmly jammed on the brake, Dom took hold of the handbrake while I grappled with the first gear. Looking at each other we took a breath. Luckily I found the bite quickly, Dom took off the handbrake and with much squealing and protest, Buttercup set off up the hill. And then you have the awful dilemma, do you let her scream or risk second gear and stopping again. Thankfully I kept her in first because another hairpin appeared though thankfully not as steep. And with a huge sigh of relief from the two of us, and Buttercup, we made it.
The gentle village of Wetton appeared on the horizon and we coasted into the village as if nothing had happened.
Wetton is a beautiful little village and the Royal Oak is most definitely the hub. Ian welcomed us warmly and showed us around. One of his regular visitors who camps at a local site had actually heard us coming up the valley. When he walked in he said to Ian
"Ah I knew I'd heard a VW on that bend. It didn't sound too happy. It made it then!"
Back to the Royal Oak. This is a fantastic village pub and as it's a Free House, there is a good selection of real ale on tap. And as for the food, this was absolutely delicious! Plus, there is even a Gluten Free menu. The pub is dog friendly, children friendly and the staff are lovely. Ian is doing a great job with the pub and we can't wait to return for the Toe Wrestling Competition in July. You heard it here first!
The next day dawned with rain but thankfully we had mended the window last night with a trusty alan key. This meant we were up and away ahead of schedule to make sure we arrived at Sarah and Thomas' wedding with plenty of time to spare. Or so we thought....
It was Dom's turn at the wheel which meant I was left with the task of map reading. I'm rubbish at this. My sense of direction is shocking and I get travel sick if I look at the map for too long. I like to make sure the route is in my head before we set off but despite this we still (well obviously I mean me) managed to lose the road we wanted to be on. Originally, the plan was to avoid the M1 at all costs and pootle down the country roads. Plan B was put in to place and we joined the M1 just north of Leicester.
Motorways are not the places to enjoy a camper van of a certain age. Her sweet spot is about 55-60 mph so you certainly won't find us in the fast lane. However as there are permanent (so it seems) roadworks on the M1 that restrict everyone to 50mph we thought we'd fit in. However, an accident had reduced this to a slow crawl and eventual stop. Dom turned off the ignition and we waited for the road to clear. After about 5 minutes there seemed to be action but not however from us.
Dom turned the key - NOTHING! He turned again, still nothing. Brilliant! We suspected the battery and knew that a simple jump start would get us going but not without some help. There's no hard shoulder through this stretch of roadworks and the traffic including huge lorries was now trying to negotiate around us. Thoroughly worried that we would miss Sarah and Thomas' big day I phoned the AA. They were fabulous but couldn't rescue us from the inside lane. This would require the Highways Agency who would tow us to the nearest services where the AA would sort out the problem. I had visions of the wedding passing and even part of the night do before we got there but I couldn't have been more wrong. Just a couple of phone calls later they were on their way.
I cannot fault either the Highways or AA. Buttercup was loaded onto the back of the Highways lorry (which by coincidence was the same colour as Buttercup and the AA) and we were given an escort with lots of flashing lights to Watford Gap. "Aye, she's a lovely old bus you've got" the driver told us. "Yes she is, when she goes!" I replied!
Once at the services the AA took over. Well I say took over, you see by then Buttercup had decided to come out of her strop. The AA man turned the ignition and she fired up straight away!!! I KID YOU NOT! He checked her over and couldn't find the original cause. And so after a mere 30 minutes from my first phone call we were back on the road. The AA and Highways Agency were worth their weight in gold.
The journey continued but the clock was ticking too. The motor way was left behind and we were on the last leg. With ten minutes to go before the ceremony we pulled into a layby and hurriedly threw on our clothes. Any attempt at glamour and sophistication was flung out of the window. With the clock now racing ahead we rushed into the village, parked up and legged it down the road to the church. There were a cluster of villagers outside.
"Has she arrived?" I called out?
"Yes, she's just gone in!" was the reply.
Feeling like extras in Four Weddings and a Funeral, Dom (who had just finished tying his tie) and I skidded into a pew at the rear of the church just in time for the vicar to welcome everyone!
Phew! The wedding was lovely and we had made it! And in the gap between the ceremony and the Reception I even had time to put on my jewellery and perfume. Blimey Buttercup you don't half know how to keep us on our toes.
Next time we go away, we are hoping for something a little less frantic. We'll let you know how that goes....
