After finally crawling into bed at around 2:30 am, my alarm seemed to come around far too quickly. By 7:00 am I was back on my feet, packing the last few bits and carrying everything downstairs before Lia arrived.
By 8:30 am we were on the road, heading to Norwich Airport to return the hire car to Avis before making the short walk across to the Park & Ride. That’s where we met James and Kelly from Capricorn Campers to collect what would become our home for the next couple of weeks.
This year’s motorhome was practically brand new—only a couple of months old—and after a thorough handover we couldn’t wait to get started.
Back at Mum’s, loading everything into the camper turned into a bit of a neighbourhood event, with several neighbours wandering over for a look inside before we finally pulled away just before lunchtime.
Our first stop was Tesco to stock up on supplies before officially hitting the road.
A Detour to Sherwood Forest
The first major stop of the trip was Sherwood Forest.
I thought Lia would want to see the famous Major Oak, the legendary tree connected with Robin Hood. It’s estimated to be somewhere between 800 and 1,200 years old, although we couldn’t help but notice it looked very different from when I visited previously, turns out that the tree after much attention has died and although it will sit like this for some time, it has not budded any new growth this year and looked pretty sad in its own way.
The magnificent canopy of leaves I’d remembered had disappeared, leaving the ancient branches looking rather bare. Apparently this year’s late spring meant the tree hadn’t fully leafed up yet, which was a little disappointing.
Even so, standing beneath a tree that’s survived for almost a millennium is still something pretty special.
Six Hours on the Road
From Sherwood Forest it was a long drive north-west towards Harrogate.
By the time we finally reached the town we’d been travelling for almost six hours, and I was definitely ready for a break.
A quick stop at HSBC was needed. After a couple of extra laps around the town trying to find somewhere suitable to park the motorhome, we eventually succeeded.
Next stop was dropping Lia off at her friend’s place before Mum and I continued on to our first campsite of the trip, Rudding Holiday Park near Follifoot.
One final stop at Sainsbury’s for dinner supplies, and we could finally settle in for the night.
It had been a very long day, but after months of planning, the UK motorhome adventure had officially begun.
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