Thursday April 11th 2013 - J is for June, Journeys and Juice

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge.

The month of June is of great significance in my camping life - not only does the start of the month bring my birthday, it's also the 'anniversary' of when I began camping in 1997. My birthday happened to fall on a weekend that year, so wanting to do something a bit different and never having camped before I asked my partner to take me to the site on Anglesey where he used to go fishing before he met me. We had very little to camp with and no tent so we slept in the back of the car; the site was basic but the weather was great and I immediately embraced the whole idea of camping and outdoor living. The rest, as they say, is history, but I often wonder if my birthday had fallen in an earlier month would I have ever gone camping at all?

Having only passed my test three years ago at an age when most people have been driving for donkeys years the one thing which initially worried me was motorway driving. Although I'd been on the road for years on a small motorbike I'd never been on a motorway as the engine size of the bike meant I wasn't legally allowed, so to say I was apprehensive is an understatement. However, the whole idea of learning to drive in the first place was so that I could continue camping now I was on my own, and I could hardly spend the rest of my life avoiding motorways, so immediately after passing my test I booked four extra lessons with my instructor so I could get some confidence in my own vehicle. And it really did help; my first solo motorway journey to the coast about thirty five miles away from home went without a hitch and after that I never looked back.

My camping life has since taken me to many different places, driving on many different roads, and I now absolutely love motorway journeys; my longest one yet will be in a couple of months time when I drive up to the Scottish Highlands. And on a warm sunny day with the window down and a cd to sing along to you can't beat a bit of speed! Of course all this driving around in a vehicle with a big engine takes juice, and lots of it. It's certainly not a commuter vehicle; for short daily journeys to and from work it drinks diesel like you wouldn't believe, but it suits my camping lifestyle and on long journeys at a constant speed it's reasonably economical. With today's fuel prices though it's a pity I can't run it on proper juice - the flavour wouldn't matter as long as it worked out cheaper than diesel!