Exploring Exmoor · a new chapter begins
We were just beginning to climb out of the pit of exhaustion and burn out. We don’t know why this re-build had hit us harder than the original build, but we were tired. Our original plan to re-build Sophia for a trip across Africa had seemed like a few cosmetic upgrades at first. We would change the layout, add some windows and extend the kitchen. In December we ripped her back to the insulation. Who were we kidding? It was like a complete van build again, but this time in the depths of winter. Fast forward 6 long, dreary months and it feels like we are finally coming up to breathe. We’re finished! Fin. End Scene.
Exmoor was the chosen place for our little test-run. The wild, wind swept moors resemble Dartmoor, our second home, but with more places we haven’t explored. We spent the first night parked up next to an abbey, on the outskirts of the national park. We’d already lived in our van for 1.5 years, but now everything felt new again. Making a cup of tea felt like a big deal. Using the fridge, finding a home for all our food, it was delightfully and surprisingly new. Those first few days on Exmoor were pure medicine. We parked in a lay-by beneath Dunkery Beacon, the highest point on Exmoor, where we slept overlooking the Bristol channel, city lights twinkling far, far away.
It had been worth it. It didn’t take us long to realise how much we’d needed this re-build. Removing the fixed bed gave us half of the van back. When I was cooking, Ben was 5ft away from me (which felt like a mile!). The new windows let in so much natural light and I could watch the sunlight dancing on the new rattan cupboards forever. Removing the dark ceiling also made the van feel lighter and more spacious. Sophia was really unrecognisable. We were head over heels in love with our new home.
In the warmth of June, we hiked and we ate and we just existed. Exmoor is an isolated corner of England and we found the space and the quiet to de-compress. Van builds are genuinely exhausting and people often find themselves blind-sided by the scale of them. They’re huge projects, often undertaken in the evenings and on the weekends. They demand so much of you - mentally, physically and emotionally. You’re constantly problem-solving, making mistakes, figuring out what to do next, trying to get it right so that you don’t waste time/money/materials. You want it done by X-date so that you can go and camp on the beach while it’s still sunny. You want it to look beautiful but you can’t figure out how to do that thing you saw on Instagram. Speaking of Instagram, so-and-so who started the same time as you are already weeks ahead - what are you doing wrong? …You get the picture. But it was worth it all. Put one foot in front of the other and eventually you’ll reach your goal. Recharged and rested, we were more than happy to close this chapter of van life and get ready for our first real adventure; an eastern voyage to Turkey.
