Airstreaming Plans for 2011

UK Airstreamers are gearing up for an eventful and adventurous summer. Having spent the winter months in one spot, by the time May comes around Pete and I will be ready to hit the road again and get a fresh outlook. We are looking forward to the fifth and sixth UKAirstreamers Gatherings, in May and September respectively, meeting some new Airstreaming friends and catching up with our old ones. It's hard to believe that it is only two years since Pete first put the word out on this blog that we would be heading to a campsite in Wiltshire and would love other Airstreamers to join us.

The UKAirstreamers community is talking and meeting and sharing experiences, and it is still growing. At our Spring Gathering this year we are also looking forward to meeting some cool and retro non-Airstreams since we are joining forces with the team at My Cool Caravan. Just three weeks later we are taking part in a convoy of ten to twelve Airstreams, boarding a ferry together (just imagine that) and chugging along, hopefully still in convoy, to meet up with a fleet of European Airstreamers in Holland. Organised from this end by fellow Airstreamer Andrew, and from the European end by Dutch Streamers Kai and Pieter, we will apparently be part of a 40-strong throng. What a great chance to connect with and become part of the extended Airstream community.

And from there a couple of us are planning to stay in Europe for the remaining summer months and explore the North. It's going to be an inspiring summer. I think it is timely for us too, since last year our movements were largely dictated and guided by visiting friends and family and didn't necessarily take us to new places. This year there should be plenty of new experiences to keep us on our toes. It feels good to have an adventure to plan and look forward to.
T

Winter's Here

We are now in winter mode. As soon as it gets dark our homemade window insulation panels go up. They don't stop the condensation but it is reduced and we think that the temperature inside the Airstream is improved by a degree or two. Every little helps when we are experiencing the earliest widespread freeze for seventeen years. We also make sure that the internal water tank is full before we settle in for the evening. The external one often freezes overnight and you could end up witthout any water for your morning cup of tea. A bad start by anyone's standards.

Yesterday evening we braved the zero temperature and some mist and made the mile-long walk in the pitch dark to our very pleasant local pub where we enjoyed a few pints of Piddle In The Glass. I'm not trying to insult the brewer, or the pub, it's the name of one of the ales from the local brewery in the village of Wyre Piddle. Naturally, each of their brews is named with a pun on the word 'piddle'. Well you would wouldn't you? And, because when you stand at the bar ordering a drink whose name is almost a complete sentence you tend to abbreviate it to one word, Pete found himself ordering "A pint and a half of Piddle please." Nobody batted an eyelid, except for us two gigglers. The beer itself was lovely, quite fruity and golden, well balanced and entirely quaffable.

Today we awoke to a light dusting of the white stuff so perhaps another of their ales would be appropriate, Piddle In The Snow.

T

Hazy Day

While the Land Rover was having its Make-Money-Disappear functions tweaked we soothed our souls on and around the shores of Coniston Water.

Smoke from a bonfire had merged with a morning mist and hung in a thick ribbon in the still morning air above the lake. Above the haze the sky was as clear and as blue as you'll ever find in the Lake District. The blue reflected in the glassy smooth water and the autumnal shades on the trees were psychedelically enhanced through my rose-tinted glasses. Usually when you remove your pink lenses the world can look a bit drab, but not on this day.

We found a log to sit on by the shore. A fighter jet, a helicopter and a tiny sea-plane were the mechanical reminders that we were grasping at a few minutes retreat from the twenty-first century. Ruskin would be pulling out his wiry old beard!

T

Autumn Pit Stop

We are back in the Airstream after staying with Pete's parents while the trailer was being repaired and serviced. Followers of this blog may remember that a wheel fell off about a year ago. Well, we have returned to Cumbria for the first time since then and had the damaged side panel replaced. We felt a twinge of tension as we drove along the same road where the incident happened and remembered the exact spot as we passed it. Well, we had stood there for about an hour in the darkening, rainy dusk, waiting for the recovery vehicle. Click here for a reminder of the story.

I had to avert my eyes as John and Scott removed the old panel. It was a cross between a visit to the dentist and watching a documentary about face lifts. You know that some brutality is inevitable for a renewed outcome, you're curious to know what is involved in the process, but you have to watch through your fingers.

Here's the old panel...

...And the new one.

Now it's all smooth and new. The trailer has had it's annual check up, it has had a power wash. The rig looks renewed and proud and we are very happy to be back on board. Needless to say, we have been obsessive about torquing the wheels since last year's painful incident.

And by the way, since arriving in Cumbria a fault developed with the airbag system in the Land Rover, which has also had to be fixed. I'm sure that all of our previous vehicles added together were cheaper than the upkeep and repairs on the Land Rover. Plus, it has occurred to me that one of the reasons we hunkered down in one place for six months from last November to March was because we'd had the trailer wheel fall off, four new tyres and repairs to the suspension on the Land Rover, then someone without insurance drove into us on a dark and misty night. Her old banger came off worse than our big ol' tank but that wasn't any consolation to our bank account. Going anywhere would just have been tempting fate.

T

Gathering Memories

I think we have just about caught up on our sleep. I've been waking up from deep, deep sleeps feeling pretty spaced out while Pete has had spasmodic sleeps disrupted by thoughts about last weekend and already planning for next year. And to think, this time last week a convoy of eight Airstreams appeared in this field, gradually followed by another twenty-one. As far as we have been able to ascertain, that is the largest gathering since the last caravan of American visitors of the Wally Byam club in the nineteen sixties. Certainly it's the largest collection of Brits with Airstreams, ever.

But as wonderful as that is, and as preoccupied I was about seeing Airstreams en masse, looking back on the weekend my memories are more clearly dominated by images of people getting to know each other, catching up with each other, hanging out together, and having a lot of fun and huge amounts of laughter. And that is very special indeed, most gratifying.

Of course we were too busy maintaining an illusion of effortless organisation to concentrate on getting great photos but here is a selection of what we've managed to cobble together between us.








The weekend included vintage and new trailers and motor homes, dating between a 1959 Tradewind and 2010 European Internationals; there was the arrival of a convoy of eight; drinks on Friday night under the shelter of the party tent as it chucked it down with rain outside; old friends and new, mingling and meeting; a bring-and-share barbecue; campfires; lanterns; late nights; Sunday breakfast in the sunshine; 'unhitch and stitch'; baseball; people becoming more and more relaxed as the weekend unfolded; children crying when it was time to leave. It rained some of the time but the sun shone for much of the weekend.

Unexpected hit of the gathering: the flush loo. We had expected something basic and chemical but Carl supplied us with a cute wooden hut, painted inside, with curtains made by Gaynor and photos of their 1959 Tradewind on the walls.

 

Carl and Gaynor, Connor, Jordan and Rory have all mucked in enthusiastically, and made so much happen just the way it should. From inviting us to their farm in the first place, to running in the water, putting up the party tent, supplying us with firewood, and so many extras that helped us to have the perfect weekend.


Many, many thanks to everyone who came and took part, and enjoyed themsleves and contributed to such a brilliant weekend. Shall we do it all again? It's already being planned.

There are more photographs on the UKAirstreamers Forum on the Meets Rallies And Gatherings thread. And there is more about the 'Unhitch and Stitch' on Notes From A Nomadic Knitter (Tracey's blog).