Is slow travel absolutely the thing you need right now?
By Martin Dorey, writer, surfer, serial campervan owner and environmentalist
When you think of the perfect day what do you think of?
If you are anything like me you probably think of sunsets, a cold beer, spending easy days with your loved ones, swimming, surfing, walking, cycling. You’ll more than likely be in a beautiful landscape, sitting outside a cosy-looking pub or looking out over the sea. Am I right?
Maybe you are swimming in clear water, in rivers, beneath waterfalls. At night you watch the stars or search for the aurora. You cook and eat hearty food made with love.
It’s a nice dream.
But really, it’s not impossible. Far from it. And I’ll bet it’s what you need right now. Am I right?
Perfection, to me, isn’t getting a raise, signing a contract, dashing to a meeting, sitting on a train or being traffic. It isn’t orange-faced politicians, road rage or prancing about in a new top. I have never considered sitting on a plane to be a measure of success, much less the queue at passport control.
The things that make us happy are not always things. They are moments, often shared, brought about by a state of peace and love and understanding. Slow travel, and more specifically, slow travel by campervan, has the power to deliver it all.
I have owned a van for many years. The latest one, a Fiat Ducato with an interior my wife and I designed, has taken me to Ireland, where I surfed with dolphins, to France where I kayaked down the Ardeche, to Scotland where I fished on a loch an hour’s drive from anywhere and to Spain where I cooked a paella by the side of a Roman reservoir. At the time of writing, we are circumnavigating the UK for a book project about our coastline.
The van is the thing that has enabled me to have all these wonderful experiences. They live on in my memory (and in my books) and delight me when I think of them. I never remember the email I forgot to send, the bill I forgot to pay and the sofa I sank into and couldn’t get out of. Sometimes, I think, we have forgotten how to be ourselves. We are all wanderers searching for perfection. In our fast-paced world of attention grabbing, rage baiting, hate-fueling indoctrination and destruction we’ve lost sight of what it’s like to feel free.
In troubled times, when the news is dreadful and the future looks bleak, we all need a flight plan. We need hope. We need something to look forward to. The humble campervan, as I have already said, has the power to deliver it all. Mine is an escape pod, a home from home, a surf shack, a bubble that I can disappear into, entirely self-supporting and without fear or regret. I turn the key and go, go, go, with a twinkle in my eye.
I paste stickers of the places I have been on the van’s fridge door. They are enough to remind me, when things feel dark, to feel that way again. I only have to look at them to be reminded of happy days doing the things I love.
Everybody needs and deserves that. Slow travel – and by that I mean travelling slowly and purposefully – can be anything you want it to be. The only thing to remember is to look after yourself and nature and to try to immerse yourself in the places you go. The happy chemicals your brain needs to get away from the negativity that’s everywhere right now can come from anywhere. It could be going for a walk in nature, cold water swimming, volunteering for the National Trust, litter picking, eating out, reading, swimming, loving or taking the kids to a castle. Whatever your idea of a perfect day is, just do it. And if it’s a day out learning to love nature, all the better. Nature has the power to nourish us, if we take care of it too.
Right now, I am sitting on a campsite in Berwick Upon Tweed, in the van, tapping away on my laptop while my wife snoozes away next to me. This morning we got up early to find surf on a quiet beach we have been to before. Afterwards, from our parking spot overlooking the waves, while our wetsuits, flung over the wing mirrors, drip dried in the sun, we cooked kippers we bought from a smokery in Craster yesterday (and did a bit of litter picking too). Nothing major. Nothing that will make an Instagram post go viral or that will change the world. Just us, travelling slowly, eking out every last drop of a day away, slowing down enough to forget about the bills, the world outside and the monsters who are wrecking the climate, bombing innocents and serving themselves.
We could all do with a bit of that right now.
Living in a van takes patience and a little bit of experience, but with time, effort and a little bit of planning, it can be smooth sailing. Once you have mastered the portaloo, the fresh water filling and finding places to stay, you are free to roam. Life becomes less complicated. Your needs – sleep, food, water and some fun – are easily met. You can spend the morning doing the laundry if you like, but really, no one cares, so why not go crabbing with the kids?
If you’ve never been away in a campervan, can I urge you to give it a try? Turn off the news and zone out. Let your life dance to a different drum for a weekend, a week, a month or even a lifetime.
It could be just what you need right now.
Am I right?
Martin’s Take the Slow Road series of travel guides for campervanners and motorhomers, published by Bloomsbury, has so far covered England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Spain and Portugal. The second edition of Take the Slow Road: England and Wales comes out on 24th September. Use the QUIRKYCAMP25 discount code for 25% off.
Interested in giving campervans a try? Why not hire one with Quirky Campers or read more on first-time campervan hire with their blog ‘ Renting a Campervan Guide for Beginners‘.
