R. I. P.
Posted on 23 Jul, 2010 by Lynne Walker | Filed under Blog • General
The van has now gone to its final resting place.
After ten years of use the van is away, sold as salvage. It had covered about 130,000 miles, been to France, Italy and Norway (passing through other countries to get there). It had seen countless orienteering events but only been hauled out of one assembly field (JK 2008 – I think - in Surrey). Up until the last service in March it had sailed through services and MOTs, then it started to show its age and needed quite a bit of work on it.
Sounds a bit like me at the moment as I have had four visits to the doctor in ten days but at last the ‘volcano’ on my leg is more of a rounded hill; there is still inflammation showing but that is getting smaller as well.
We had camped beside the van many times, most recently in Ireland at the start of June. We had camped in the van as well. Paul had not met me when he fitted it out with the bed, but at least he put another layer of Karrimat under the carpet for my bed on the floor. In winter I referred to this as the ‘Frost hollow’ but it actually was the ‘Walker hollow filled with frosty air’. There was one memorable night (in October as well!) when we woke up with the icicles hanging from the roof on the inside.
The van was also the ideal vehicle for going sea kayaking from. You could drive to the launch spot, pack your kayak, sleep that night in the van and then head off the next day with a dry tent in the kayak. The roof was a little high for the vertically challenged but Paul is tall so that overcame the problem. However he was complaining about lifting ‘Puffling’ up so a new kayak might have to be looked at.
On Friday 30th July, the ‘Wee car’ goes as well – not for salvage but as a part exchange. We will then just have one vehicle.
What will it be? Watch this space!
I am a level 4 orienteering coach and a qualified Assessor & Coach Educator. I have been orienteering for xx years and have coached on many foreign tours.