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This year has had it's moments and I have finally moved out of the house and set off on our adventure. First stop, Scotland! Dumfries and Galloway to be exact. Finding temporary accommodation for me and the dogs seems like an impossible task so I figure the best bet is to live in the tent. Hopefully it's not going to be too cold!
It was a bit of a rush to get everything sorted for the tent, however the hardest thing was selling and throwing away of things I have stored because "I'll use that when I have some spare time." Of which that spare time was never realised. Fortunately the elements did some of the work for me and old computers (Amiga A500, Commodore 64 etc) had become damp and beyond repair. Other things I had sold on eBay including the cage trailer and had swapped that for a roof box and roof rack. Which seem a good buy at the moment.
I bought a tarp for the front of the tent so me and the boys can sit outside in relative comfort and watch the world go by, and most of all look at all the stars. From what I read on-line the place where we are going is fantastic for seeing all the stars, and I have seen some wonderful pictures of the milkyway too.
As it's now winter I decided to buy a stove too, it sits inside the tent and even when on low it belts out some fantastic heat. With the additional side plate it's great for keeping things warm. The only issue with such a small stove is the size of the flue, apparently they do need cleaning out on a regular basis, although it's not very high and I am hoping that I can clean it out by some ingenious method without having to turn it off or remove things. One idea was to use cobalt magnets as they are good up to 300 degrees. However I have found that one on the inside of the flue and one on the outside was just very hard work. Firstly they are very strong and therefore hard to move, secondly the one inside didn't always move with the outer one. I know this is because of the flue but it was worth a try.
Life is quite cosy in the tent even though it is quite cold, night times get down to around 4 degrees and daytime temperature hovers around the 10 degree mark. With the fire on inside it does get quite warm and I do have an electric 2kW fan for backup.
I work from the tent too which was working out well at the beginning, after a few days the novelty soon wore off for the dogs and they soon became restless as they were in the tent all day whilst I worked. The wind and rain lashed down for a while and the winds became so strong that it would lift the tent up at night.
As cathartic as it is I do miss home comforts and the security of a roof over my head. It is a means to an end though and I am grateful to have this chance. The area is beautiful and the people here are wonderful. Well, it's only a few weeks to Christmas, fingers crossed at finding a house soon before the snow comes!
