We’ve decided to spend a few days camping in the New Forest. As I said yesterday, it’s not actually new. It was created as a royal hunting ground by William the Conqueror nearly a thousand years ago. But, I guess a thousand years ago it was new.

But thankfully, no hunting these days, just a load of horses and cows roaming freely. They belong to local families with grazing rights that have been passed down through the centuries.

It was a gorgeous place to wake up, so quiet and surrounded by nature. A couple of horses wandered by, a robin came to visit, and it was just so calm.

It’s a primitive camp with no toilets. But there is a dump station and fresh water, so that feels like a luxury. You know you’re a vanlifer when a tap and somewhere to empty the toilet feels five-star.

And the best part? We are right on all the cycle trails. So this morning we headed off on a ride to Beaulieu.

The cycle trails are mostly on gravel, but it’s decent gravel, good enough for our slick tyres. There was one point where it got a bit deep and slippery going downhill, but the rest was fine.

That last bit was on a main road down a steep hill with loads of traffic. I wasn’t keen on that bit. Not so much the traffic but the steep uphill we’d have to cycle on the way back.

It took us about an hour and twenty minutes to reach Beaulieu, and what a neat little town. The first thing I noticed was the beautiful river with the old abbey reflected in the water.

But we were hungry. I was drawn by the pub, but Mike spotted the Beaulieu Bakehouse. It was full of cyclists, which usually means the food’s good… or they’re all knackered. But we thought, why not?

We both ordered bacon, egg, and hash brown on a brioche bun, and it was the most delicious bacon and egg bap I’ve ever had. I suspect they snuck in a bit of hollandaise on there too, as it was sooooo tasty. Proper bacon too, probably from a local farm.

But by this time it was proper hot. (Actually, it was already hot at 9 am when we left.) And we now had to cycle back. What were we thinking?

And first we had to tackle that steep hill on the main road. And as it was now lunchtime, the main road was even mainer! Thankfully there was a slight edge we could walk on as we pushed our bikes up. There were plenty of other bikes on the road holding the cars up, so we didn’t feel entirely responsible.

I was pretty heat-stressed by the time we got back to camp. I used to love the heat, but somewhere along the way that stopped. I’m not sure when.

But… we have a shower I’ve just been itching to use. So I grabbed it out, filled up a bucket of water, and plugged it in.

Nothing.

Tried another power socket.

Dead.

Shower doesn’t work.

Brilliant.

We’d been carrying this thing around for two years for absolutely nothing.

So, I did the next best thing. Grabbed a cup, dipped it in the bucket of water, and poured water over my head and all over me. It was absolute bliss!

Then I talked Mike into giving it a go. He’s not so keen on cold showers, but the water was almost tepid. Even he enjoyed it, and we felt so much better afterwards, with all the stickyness now seeping into the ground. Don’t worry, we didn’t use soap.

We had a vegetable stir-fry for dinner and a couple of zero beers. Perfect!