After much searching of the Internet we happened upon O’Connor’s and we very very glad we did. The original idea for a few days away came when my partner bought tickets to see van Morrison for my birthday earlier in the year, we then decided that a camper van was the way forward.
Having owned a couple of vans years ago, I fully knew what to expect and Barbarossa didn’t let us down. Because we live less than an hour from O’Connor’s we decided to bring the van home, sort ourselves out and start our journey from here, we went up the A39 past Bude and stayed the first night at Sandymouth Bay, not sure we were allowed to spend the night in national trust car park but there were no signs so we took full advantage.
Now the following morning we set our destination to Glastonbury, taking in the coast roast as much as possible, the road through woody bay and pollock weir is not for the faint hearted but most enjoyable and highly recommended. After a trouble free days driving we landed at Glastonbury and parked up on an immaculate site called “Old Oaks” ideal for the town and he tor, sunset, beers, dinner in the van, job done.
The next day we headed to The Lamer Tree Festival, a great friendly little festival near Blandford forum. Van Morrison was awesome and Barbarossa definitely turned a few heads !! Once we had shaken off our slightly fuzzy heads we headed to our final destination (recommended by Oconnors) tis was Harford Bridge camp site near Peter Tavy, only 30 minutes drive from Okehampton, all the pitches in the lower field back on to the river and the place was a complete haven of calm and peace, perfect for our last night.
We ate at the elephants nest pub and cannot recommend this highly enough. Our journey back to okehampton in the morning was hampered only by a slight hitch, mainly to do with me foolishly trusting the fuel gauge ( I should have known better) luckily O’COnnors came to the rescue, good old Andy , nothing was too much trouble. Parting with Barbarossa wasn’t easy and I could have spent the whole day exploring all the other vans, in my element !!! Huge huge thanks to the whole team, amazing people to deal with, amazing vehicles, great concept, brilliantly executed. Cannot wait for our next “adVANture”.
By Paul Partridge
