a new experience at 80

Good for you, the world's your oyster!!!
Go local for a few days, stay on a site, but pretend you aren't. Then you can try out all the new toys as though you were off site too.
Don't try too much, just relax and try it out
Good luck!

As you reside in Peterborough how about a trip to Norfolk. We stay at Deepdale quite often. The staff are pleasant and helpful. There are shops including a supermarket at the entrance and two pubs within walking distance.
The coast path is across the road or if want to go further there are buses to Hunstanton or Wells next the sea at the site entrance. 
We took our Duetto there as a first trip and the same when we swapped to the Rienza.

Good for you!!

I go with IanH's advice.  Don't go too far, keep it local while you learn how to use your new toy.  We find that travelling as little as half an hour from home gives you a different outlook and makes you relax as you have left all those little jobs that you ought to get on with behind.
Above all enjoy yourselves!!!

Welcome to the fraternity. 

As someone who is older than yourself I would advise anyone moving to a larger vehicle to take some driving lessons in that vehicle.  That will improve your confidence and that of your passenger.

In my view a reversing camera is essential.  The other major hazard is meeting a van coming in the opposite.  Our wing mirrors  stick out and are easily destroyed.

Enjoy your van.

Dave 418 wrote:As you reside in Peterborough how about a trip to Norfolk. We stay at Deepdale quite often. The staff are pleasant and helpful. There are shops including a supermarket at the entrance and two pubs within walking distance.
The coast path is across the road or if want to go further there are buses to Hunstanton or Wells next the sea at the site entrance. 
We took our Duetto there as a first trip and the same when we swapped to the Rienza.

I'd second Burnham Deepdale as a good first site. We went there with a hired Auto-Sleeper as a test run before we bought ours. A good site with good facilities and accessible from a main road, so no need to go down narrow lanes on your first outing (unless you want to!).  White Horse pub nearby does good food. Also the Crab Shack not far away does great sandwiches!

The Devon looks a very nice van - enjoy it.  The high up driving position gives you a good view of the road.  Estimating width is the hardest thing so avoid narrow roads if you can.  I echo what others have said - stay local to start with and limit trips to just a few nights.  It seems you may need to break your wife in gently!

Thank you, it is nice to know these feelings are normal, but what a surprise from the wife, she could get in and out unaided, and did not need a leg up after all, are well never mind, the site at Deepdale sounds like a good place to start, because that is the kind of site we need, any more come to mind?, better than kelling heath a bit more to see, we will miss having transport once set up. We had a Narrowboat for the last 20 years and that was great, sold it 3 years ago and we did miss it, we went out yesterday just for a ride, next time we must stop some where and have a cup of tea. We do worry about sleeping though, getting the cushion's flat and comfortable looks to be a challenge, any advice would be appreciated.

To achieve a comfortable bed (sometimes on multiple cushions / seat bases) many of us use a good memory foam underlay. My wife and I use Duvalays, which have a foam base and a joined (down one length) duvet. You'll see various threads on the Forum on the subject. Some store their foam / duvet during daytime on the rear seats - make the seats comfortable and saves limited storage space for other items.

Of course, you won't have as much space as in a narrowboat, so there must be compromises. So experiment!

Cymro

When we started with the Duetto we found a cheap mattress topped with half of zip together sleeping bag as a base and  whatever duvet weight we were using a home. The second half of the sleeping bag is kept handy if it got silly cold. We still use the same set up in the Rienza . It easy to make up the bed and store away before travelling. The only addition now is to keep two weights of duvets and a spare cover in the locker because we have more room. 
Our naibors bought a Corinthian motorhome recently. Before they brought it home they filled there dinning room with bits and pieces they thought they might need. If they asked me I could have saved them a fortune. As others will agree buy the basics and make a list of essentials and maybe things during you’re first trips.

just booked 4 nights mid august at deepdale it looks wonderfull and in such an interesting place booked a dinner date at the white horse for one evening because it is our anaversary, 56 years wed, and i am now getting the hang of it, got to make an effort, thank you

thankyou for answering my post we are looking forward to 5 days in deepdale thankyou for recomending the pub i think it will be perfect for us, the food at the pub looks good  . we have been. looking at bedding what a job that is, you can spend a lot of money with no guarantees of being comfortable any advice? was hoping to put a solar panel on the roof but with 3 roof vents there is not a lot of room left

Whether you intend using the beds as 2 singles or a double won’t make much difference to the choice of bedding and you’ll find some ideas in the thread linked below. I’d suggest to start with the cheapest option which is probably duvets from your local supermarket.

https://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com/t39157-wxl-sleeping-bags-or-duvet?highlight=Duvet

Having gone down the tent and  trailer tent route we had some bits we could swap to the Duetto like pans , cutlery and bedding. We havnt really  bought much more other than a decent sized frying pan. Having the locker space now I moved my fixing junk and tools from the Landrover in as well. Most of it hasn’t been touched but it’s there if I need it.
One of the selling points with the Rienza was a second leisure battery and a solar panel already fitted. I changed the controller to a better one but it’s given us chance to be off grid more.
Last time we were at the White Horse at Deepdale we sat on the balcony overlooking the marshes. That was for our Fortieth anniversary. It was a very nice meal.
The staff at Deepdale with answer any questions you have and have always been helpful. Enjoy you’re stay.

Well done - now the adventures can begin. I would recommend TRANQUIL PARK sites. They are quality adult only sites so generally peaceful and beautifully kept with large pitches. Check out their website: www.tranquilparks.co.uk. We live in North Devon but stayed at Delph Bank Touring Caravan Park, Holbeach, Spalding - which is only 40 minutes from Peterborough. Handy Bus stop outside, Farm shop/cafe close by.  But really, 'The world is your lobster' embrace your new vehicle and grab life - each day is an adventure and remember, old age can't catch you if you keep moving!!!

Thanks everybody Wow how hot was Monday and Tuesday couldn’t set foot in the van in the drive but Wednesday we went to a local campsite and stayed overnight back yesterday still a bit warm but we coped very well sleeping wasn’t too bad but we didn’t quite get the cushions right but we are learning The campsite let us down with food Wednesday night there wasn’t any so I rang my son who is only 2 miles away and we were rescued with fish and chips first this year and they were marvellous looking forward to Deepdale now

PS the world is definitely our winkle

I like good news threads like this.  You'll soon be an expert.  On the food front, when we go away be transfer any perishables from the house to the motorhome and then stop at a supermarket on the way to our site to buy what we need.  We restock at a supermarket when we move from one site to the next.  Google is great for finding supermarkets en route.

Well done I hope you have many years enjoying your van.

Well done. I thought life began at forty, yours it seems is Eighty. Good luck to you both and travel safely

new job today i am fitting a rear view camara easy bluetooth connection and i have made 2 lithium 12v batteries in boxes with low voltage cut off they should last the summer before charge needed but it has made it so easy to fit with no cables hanging

Bad Penny wrote:Well done. I thought life began at forty, yours it seems is Eighty. Good luck to you both and travel safely

thankyou good penny i think first time round i missed it too busy working

Glad you're getting out and about! The furthest we have been from home (apart from collection, which was 188 miles...steep learning curve!) is 67 miles, to Dingwall. Currently in Wick, about 57 miles from home. BUT....it feels like a world away. Sometimes we just go up the road a few miles and have a different view at dinner.

A motorhome is for life, not just for holidays!