What's this all about?

3 years ago you wouldn't have got me near a caravan. "Devil boxes they are, slowing down the traffic and making me late". Then I met Linda and was introduced to the world of folding campers. Many a good time was had in our Conway Tardis, but I was all for a touch more comfort. We upgraded to our first caravan, an old Compass Rallye which we bought from our good friends Jude and Steve. I'd been well and truly bitten by the bug, and a year later I found myself pushing for an upgrade. We bought our Stirling Eccles early in 2009 and have been away in it for short breaks every month since..

In July we went on a two week holiday around the north of England. Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland National Park, Keilder Water and the Lake District were all visited.

We had such a great time we've decided to have a year off and do it again!

We both work in local government, so are lucky enough to have an employer that allows this sort of thing. Last month we nervously approached our boss with a letter requesting a 1 year career break, and a couple of weeks ago it was approved!

We start our career break on 1 January 2010 and will be travelling England and Scotland for the year, seeing all the sorts of things you see on the BBC's Coast and Countryfile.

We'll be taking our two dogs and our mountain bikes and having a jolly good time.

I hope to be updating this blog as often as I can during the trip.