This is Ireland, and this long grey inland chunk in the middle? This is County Cavan. Dixie the Backwards Van rolled into Cavan with little expectation really, just full tanks of both diesel and fresh water (and thankfully empty tanks of everything else), we were looking for a week off. A week off what, I… Continue reading This Is Cavan! (Vanning, Planning & Shelter from the Storm)
In 12 months on the road, we have yet to use the services of any kind of campsite for any kind of reason. Slightly reluctant to have Dixie The Backwards Van herded into a flat field and parked regimentally alongside so many other vehicles, unsure that we want the associated rules and regulations but whats… Continue reading Hook Head Revisited (Vans, Clans and The House People)
We in the Backwards Van don't have jobs. After almost 11 months living in our van Dixie and travelling over 25,000 miles, we may have forgotten entirely how to even have a job at all as the very idea of work, of a structured daily routine and the stuffy, serious cubicle life all disappear in… Continue reading The Unfortunate Cost of Living (or, The Four ‘F’s of Vanlife)
With recent temperatures hitting 28° daily (and much higher we're sure, inside this insulated tin can) we're spending more and more time outdoors here in Yorkshire and I have not been writing much as a result, the long warm evenings are designed for strolling, by tree lined canals and in dark forests, creating our own… Continue reading Houseless is not Homeless (or, Why We Won’t Work for Google)
Hungry? Run out of bread? Feeling a little... exasperated after spending £95 on the most expensive fuel stop of your life to date? Parked up indefinitely in a tiny town with not a single shop open even if you had any money to spend? We did, and we were, all of those things at once.… Continue reading The Unconventional Oven: Williams Pear-fectly Light & Fruity Soda Bread
Nine months on the road is a long time. As I often say, if I was cooking up a baby it would be ready by now. But thankfully I'm not, I'm much closer to wanting a little puppy to live with us than another baby (my baby is almost 19 now), and we're not done… Continue reading The Worst Place We’ve Ever Been (or, Can We Get A Dog?)
Decisions. Admittedly, we at The Backwards Van are not great with them. So if someone else wants to make them for us, a local person, a complete stranger, an online review, a dream I had or even fate itself, that is absolutely fine by us. Somewhere along the winding backroads between Falkirk and the Trossachs… Continue reading Barradise Lost (Island Hopping in the Outer Hebrides)
Usually here in the Backwards Van we are all about taking Dixie out of society to the most remote and rural destinations when we explore any region or country and Scotland is no exception, more time has been spent pouring over maps of the majestic snow-capped mountains, isolated valleys and the rugged Northern coast of… Continue reading Bridges, Dreams and the Weirdest of Scenes (Strange Days in Falkirk)
Dixie the Fiat Ducato has driven us on and off umpteen ferries in the last 10 months, from the little 4 vehicle roll-on-roll-off type across a tiny inlet in County Waterford to the bigger car ferries from the Ards Peninsula in Northern Ireland and she has even thrice sailed across the Irish Sea onboard massive… Continue reading When Your Ship Comes In : Dixies DOs and DON’T DOs of Sailing the Seas
We got lucky when we decided to buy a van to live in, as it happened Dixie the Ducato was only the second vehicle we saw and we happily parted ways with our savings as soon as our eyes met her headlamps. But we had done our homework on the subject and knew what we… Continue reading Stand By Your Van (A Rough Guide to Choosing a Van For Life)
the backwards van 