Early in the year, Jane’s brother had a lung transplant. He gave us a few worrying moments back in ICU as he recovered, but luckily at the end of the year is in much better health and can do far more now than he ever could 12 months ago.

Not unconnectedly, we realised that life is short, and healthy active life doubly so. This led us to the NEC in February, where we accidentally ordered a new motorhome. This one is called Jones, continuing our pottery themes for van naming. Jones is a little bigger, quite a bit taller, much better off-grid, and has 4WD. We’re hoping to explore many remote places in him.

At the end of March we were very lucky with some excellent weather for our hiking holiday in the Lakes. We climbed Cat Bells and Skiddaw – though unfortunately the cloud came down as we summitted the latter.

In April we had a month’s holiday in France, in what we hoped was the last holiday in our old van, Denby. We stuck to the east side of the country, which we don’t know too well – Alsace, and the Jura – before heading into Provence for some wine and sun.

On the way back, we took a detour to Amsterdam, where Jane was to be treated for her fear of heights by the people who starred in the Fear Clinic on Channel 4.

The treatment consists of making the poor subject very frightened indeed (in Jane’s case having to stay on the top rungs of a wobbly ladder on the narrow roof terrace of a five story house) and then giving them a beta blocker, which erases those mental pathways.

We’re pleased to relate that Jane is definitely cured – as much as can be anyway. A fear of heights is much more logical than one of cats, for example, and so a certain level of trepidation is to be expected in dangerous places.

In early August, we picked up our new van, and by the end of the month we were off in it, heading towards Romania, where we spent almost a month. We highly recommend the country – the countryside is fantastic and the people friendly. It doesn’t hurt that prices are low too!

Some highlights of this trip include:

The last two months have mostly been spent working on the new van, and preparing for our winter trip to Morocco.

We set off on the 23rd, and stayed the night in Bonneval, just south of Chartres. The 24th and 25th are being spent in the grounds of Château Marquis de Vauban, just outside Blaye, in Bordeaux country. We’re having our first ever Christmas in a motorhome!

A merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to you and those you love,

Love, Jane and Rog