Chantelle

Wow - here I am, I've just created this blog, my first, ready to tell the story of Chantelle, our beautiful 1963 Bedford Marshall bus that is going to take us on some wonderful adventures. I'm going to write this for fun, for all those people whose eyes lit up when we told them about her, and for anyone else wanting to do the same thing, so we can share what we find out. And maybe because just because I'm so excited about the whole thing !

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Headed back on Sunday, lovely easy journey, it really is a great way to travel. We spent the afternoon doing the clearing up of all the left over building materials. Gave Chantelle a really good clean inside, and left her really tidy, and fragrant.

Cant wait for the next trip at the end of July

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Work in Progress

Woke up and cooked a great breakfast, which we ate outside, lovely. Then, set to work to fit the new seat. Life was sweet, and the current one we reversed, and reused the holes, so only had to drill 4 new ones. We did a bit of experimenting, and got just the right space, with a nice gap behind the seat for storage. Took about 30 mins, all to the soothing accompanyment of the guitar from the tent next door. It really looks fab now.

The beds worked really well, we all had the best nights sleep we've ever had at a festival.

Friday, July 07, 2006

The first trip


We are seriously excited this morning. Drive down the M3 in the car, just under an hour, as usual, and start to get Chantelle ready for her first holiday. She's looking pretty good, we put the fridge on, then tuck the provisions in the cupboards- still waiting to have the doors fitted, so tape the up with the crucial duct tape. Do a clever bit of maneouvering to get her out of the drive, and we're off, to do exactly the same journey in reverse. I've written down the times, to try and get a feel of how slow she is. It takes exactly 90 minutes, which means we need to allow 50% more time for a journey. The kids were really thrilled to be picked up by the bus, and we showed a lot of interested kids around. Then, back down the M3 for the third time today ! We stopped at Fleet services, and had a major family debate over where to park.

Seating worked out well, took turns to sit at the front, or in the bus, both quite comfy. Arrived at the festival to many smiles and waves, but we were too long for the flat area reserved for campers, so had to park in the sloping car park. Tried to use the planks we'd brought as wedges, but they just slid out, so we ended up angled for the weekend.

That first beer out of the fridge was truly the best I've ever tasted - I love my bus xx