Bye, Bye, Billie!

Well the deed has been done and Billie will be going to a new and loving home! Currently he is with a dealer and we are sure he will soon be happily parked with a new family.


We were really sorry to see him go and surprised ourselves how quickly it all happened, once we had made the decision to move on. While we were in France this year we had a long hard think about how we were using our motorhome and decided that we were really using Billie more as a caravan. With Smartie on tow, we found we had to think and plan ahead much. We did love Billie and were very pleased with the service we got from the dealers, which made our lives so much simpler. Billie had all the extras on him that we would ever need and more! The bed was as comfy as ours at home, there was mountains of storage and the shower was fabulous. By the time our holiday in France was over, we were already making plans about what van we would go for next. Billie will be a fabulous buy for someone, with all the extras and only 5000 miles on the clock, a great buy. Things we would change?


Nothing really, the only thing we probably would not have bothered with was the aircon, which we hardly used. Everything else was perfect and we loved the layout. Loads of lounging space, great kitchen with full oven and microwave, huge fridge, central heating, gaslow, awning, bike rack and sink big enough to wash a pan in! Billie towed Smartie easily on the trailer, we have just decided to downsize our whole lives and eventually our house. Buying a house without the need for a 25 foot drive will we hope, be easier! Things turn full circle, we started with a camper van and that's what we are going for next. I guess it's more about back to basics for us.


Our first thoughts were we wanted to buy something easy to drive around and park, that we could also use as a second vehicle. I have also been very wimpish about driving a big coachbuilt, but would probably be able to manage a panel van !  Having had 3 coach built motorhomes we have decided on a panel van conversion, with some luxury. We narrowed our choices down to  Murvi, Vantage, IH and the Autosleepers Kingham. I expect there are loads more vans we could have looked at but we also decided that for us Part Exchange was the option we would go for. Our new van would be probably 6.3m, so not so long.


The Malvern Show provided a good opportunity to test the water and much to our surprise we got a good part exchange deal and put a deposit down on our new IH van. The Shepton Mallett Show, saw Billie back on the market and no doubt it won't be long before he is rehomed.


As this blog did begin as "Bailey About" and we did think he would be with us for at least 10 years, this will be our last blog about Billie. We have however started another blog called "4 Wheel Camping" so the saga of us and our vans will continue. Did we regret buying Billie? Not at all, it was a great experience we hope someone else will get as much enjoyment from him as we have done. Life moves on a new set of 4 wheels awaits...........www.4wheelcamping.blogspot.co.uk 


We will be posting very soon!! Another adventure in store planning and finding our new van.