Day -40 : Life in a van : Padstow to Porthcothan

17.04.22: it was dry during my walk from Padstow to Porthcothan, spells of sunshine and perfect for a hike

Well, what did I expect? Walking around Padstow on Easter Sunday, around midday and nice weather – it was the opposite of some stretches I completed with maybe 1-2 dog walkers or hikers. It felt a bit too busy for me. Time to complete the SWCP soon…

It was an experiment, spending almost three months in a van. Not yet finished completely but when I return to Germany it must have been something like 66 days spending in about 25 qubic meters. And I can already summarize that I liked it and the experiment has positive results. But this does not mean that I would swap house and garden against a van. Surely it can only be an add on for a period of a year – longer than normal duration of contractual holidays (if possible).

There are so many places in Europe to discover. A van is most likely best means for travel, living and enjoying these discovers.

A special thanks goes to my wife who decided to buy a new and high-tech van instead of following my original plans. This would have been to (self-)convert an old Mercedes Sprinter van or buy and old UK registered (converted) van which one could easily park (and sleep/camp hiddenly) anywhere in the UK. With this van I always had a bad conscience when not using a camp site. But seriously, when I started my experiment in February there were hardly enough campsites open this time of the year along the SWCP. So, I did it basically as the hikers who camped wild in their tents.

I felt a bit like a snail (carrying its house on the back). Well, I had only a light-weight backback of around 10kg (compared with other long distance walkers it was about 50% of theirs). But I had to get back to my van, to my house, to my own bed every evening. This was certainly a lot more logistics and planning than I initially thought. And the pragmatism to react spontaneously with bike instead of bus or even walk or hitch hike back to my van might sounds like additional stress and yes, it was indeed. But I would not have liked to spent two months in a tent, hostels or B&Bs – for me it was the best possible way to walk the path and have a mobile homebase which I moved along the path.

Below are some pictures of the hike. Please click to enlarge if you want. Also below are my Komoot Tour Details, the Relive Summary Video and a Timewarp Video. 

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