Home is where you park it
I doubt I have to bring your attention to the current situation going on around the world. The spread and impact of the COVID-19 virus and the necessary reactions of corporations, governments and individuals have caused problems for everyone.
As you may well be aware Team Bailey drove a motorhome and two caravans from Bristol, through Spain to Sagres in Portugal and the location of the lighthouse at ‘The End of The World’. The intention was then to hop on a ferry to Morocco, wind our way over the Atlas Mountains undertaking adventurers along the way to finish at the Sahara Desert and join in the Festival of Nomads.
Unfortunately, the day before we were meant to embark for Africa, Morocco closed its borders and the project was down…but not out and we shall return again to complete the Sahara Challenge. But this was not the only disruption to my motorhome plans.
On our return I had intended taking Bex and the boys to the Mediterranean coast of Spain to Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) and snorkel from Spain to France (the boys are only five and three so we’d start about five miles south of the border and spend a week getting five miles north of it. But it’d be a big adventure for them). That plan for the Easter holidays is now almost certainly scuppered.
So… what to do with the family this Easter? I don’t know. Yet. And that’s the beauty of the motorhome. The holiday is wherever it is. With the motorhome I can afford to be last minute. I’ve never had a campsite book out, ferries are rarely full and apart from that I’m under my own steam. So, I’ve no flights, hotels or transfers to cancel. No money lost or refunds to try and recover. I can simply look at the parameters of the problem, the constraints I’m faced with and build a new plan around it. The key thing about a motorhome, or a caravan if that’s your weapon of choice, is flexibility.
Over the two-week Easter break we could do multiple overnighters in the local area, we could do a handful of three to four day trips or we hit the road on an epic road trip. The fact that we may well have to go off-grid means all these different formats are still open to us, even the latter.
From our home near Bristol it would still take us three of four days of driving, bridges and ferries to get to the north Shetland or The Outer Hebrides. And it doesn’t matter whether you prefer spectacular coastlines, wide open spaces, dense forests or dramatic mountains, we all have it here at home. I know so many people who have been all over the world but never been to the corners of their own country.
Getting out to the most remote parts of the UK has even more benefits. Firstly, we need not assume this means cooped up in a house. Sitting by a lake in England, on a mountain in Scotland or on a secluded beach in Wales is just as uncrowded as your own home but can be better for the soul. The other thing to remember, with museums, theatres, shows, restaurants, pubs and cafes all having to (sadly and hopefully only very temporarily) bolt their doors, the Great Outdoors never closes.
