All my life I have enjoyed being in the great outdoors....
Whether I was camping....walking....cycling...bird watching..... fishing or indeed any other outdoor activity it has always made me happy to be outside in the fresh air......
I had a varied life of work with a number of different careers throughout my working life....
However no matter what job I was doing I couldn't wait for time off so that I could get my fix of the great outdoors......
It made no difference how much I enjoyed my work... I always enjoyed time off pursuing my outdoor activities more.....!!
On many occasions throughout my working life I used to think how great it would be to live outdoors and for many years long distance walking and backpacking fulfilled this desire.
I completed many long walks which enabled me to live outdoors for many weeks at a time....
Even with my love of cycling I was able to combine living in a tent with travelling ultra long distances by getting involved in cycle touring all under that great big sky......
When retirement finally knocked on my door I was able to indulge myself with more of the above but it eventually dawned on me it wasn't enough.....
I was finding that trips of between one to six weeks living in the great outdoors were not hitting the spot anymore and it dawned on me that I needed to give some form of fulltiming a try before age and health prevented me forever from having a go........
I was lucky because when I mentioned it to Anne my partner of nineteen years she said she was prepared to follow this dream... "as long as it's not in a tent".
We thought about motor homes and ordinary caravans (camping trailers) but none of the ones we looked at seemed right...
When we discovered the Eriba Touring range of small caravans it seemed to tick all of our boxes..... One of the main things about the Eribas is that they have a 'pop top' roof with a canvas surround when the roof is elevated...... This means that Anne could have the comfort of a caravan and I could still have some canvas between me and the sky....
One other thing.... I have always liked a retro look one reason why I like the paint job on my Tifosi bike....
Well the Eriba is very retro... The look has not changed much over all the years of production. The look just screams retro from the curved 'corned beef tin' shape.... the split windows at the pointed end and the dimpled bodywork.....
It was important that whatever we decided on was small...... I have always liked small spaces.....
At one point in my life I lived in a small studio flat and loved the thought that had gone into making the most of the space available..
All my backpacking and cycle touring tents over the years by definition have been small and all the many nights that I spent in them taught me how little space we really need in which to live...
Small is also cosy and easier and cheaper to keep warm during the colder weather.....
We didn't just want to effectively be transferring everything that we had in our home to a huge caravan or motor home (not that there is anything wrong with that) but it's not what we wanted... no we wanted this to be more than a change of what we were living in we wanted this to be a total change to the way we actually lived our lives by redefining our priorities....
We wanted to make our lives less complicated and live a simpler and less cluttered existence and this meant that small was the way to go........
Anne and I were convinced that we could live in the close proximity that a small caravan would force on us and we were eager to prove to ourselves that we could actually do it....
We ordered an Eriba.......
To be Continued.............
Whether I was camping....walking....cycling...bird watching..... fishing or indeed any other outdoor activity it has always made me happy to be outside in the fresh air......
I had a varied life of work with a number of different careers throughout my working life....
However no matter what job I was doing I couldn't wait for time off so that I could get my fix of the great outdoors......
It made no difference how much I enjoyed my work... I always enjoyed time off pursuing my outdoor activities more.....!!
On many occasions throughout my working life I used to think how great it would be to live outdoors and for many years long distance walking and backpacking fulfilled this desire.
I completed many long walks which enabled me to live outdoors for many weeks at a time....
Even with my love of cycling I was able to combine living in a tent with travelling ultra long distances by getting involved in cycle touring all under that great big sky......
When retirement finally knocked on my door I was able to indulge myself with more of the above but it eventually dawned on me it wasn't enough.....
I was finding that trips of between one to six weeks living in the great outdoors were not hitting the spot anymore and it dawned on me that I needed to give some form of fulltiming a try before age and health prevented me forever from having a go........
I was lucky because when I mentioned it to Anne my partner of nineteen years she said she was prepared to follow this dream... "as long as it's not in a tent".
We thought about motor homes and ordinary caravans (camping trailers) but none of the ones we looked at seemed right...
When we discovered the Eriba Touring range of small caravans it seemed to tick all of our boxes..... One of the main things about the Eribas is that they have a 'pop top' roof with a canvas surround when the roof is elevated...... This means that Anne could have the comfort of a caravan and I could still have some canvas between me and the sky....
One other thing.... I have always liked a retro look one reason why I like the paint job on my Tifosi bike....
Well the Eriba is very retro... The look has not changed much over all the years of production. The look just screams retro from the curved 'corned beef tin' shape.... the split windows at the pointed end and the dimpled bodywork.....
It was important that whatever we decided on was small...... I have always liked small spaces.....
At one point in my life I lived in a small studio flat and loved the thought that had gone into making the most of the space available..
All my backpacking and cycle touring tents over the years by definition have been small and all the many nights that I spent in them taught me how little space we really need in which to live...
Small is also cosy and easier and cheaper to keep warm during the colder weather.....
We didn't just want to effectively be transferring everything that we had in our home to a huge caravan or motor home (not that there is anything wrong with that) but it's not what we wanted... no we wanted this to be more than a change of what we were living in we wanted this to be a total change to the way we actually lived our lives by redefining our priorities....
We wanted to make our lives less complicated and live a simpler and less cluttered existence and this meant that small was the way to go........
Anne and I were convinced that we could live in the close proximity that a small caravan would force on us and we were eager to prove to ourselves that we could actually do it....
We ordered an Eriba.......
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| Eva the Eriba with the new Awning at night. (note the purple awning light) |
To be Continued.............
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