Camper Van Diaries | Bracey Bridge Picnic Site Driffield

It was finally time to take Taylor our camper van out on her maiden voyage

If you are new around here you can watch the video when we purchased our van we have converted below

For our first night away in the van we wanted to be off-grid and not too far away from the Lodge just in case something broke down or went wrong (That didn’t happen until the day after thankfully, more on that later)

We scoured park4night for a suitable place to spend the night and came across Bracey Bridge Picnic site.

A large layby with a suitably good-looking walk close by so we could get some fresh air.

The layby is a decent size with enough room for plenty of camper vans and cars. There was just one other camper while we were there.

A couple of HGV lorries came and went and a few cars came throughout the day. Some came for the burger van on site called Grandma’s Kitchen and others looked like they just stopped by on their lunch breaks from work.

It was a quiet place with no bother. As is usually the case with any laybys, one review on park4nights mentioned it was a dogging area.

We didn’t see any of that (thankfully) but we have no idea what other people were up to in any of the cars that came and parked up.

We didn’t take any notice. We were too busy setting up the van and going for a walk (and watching Downton abbey in the van)

You never know if the people who say certain places are a Dogging site were just unfortunate one night or it really is that kind of place. Who knows. We saw nothing but weren’t particularly on the look out for it.

We arrived around lunchtime, unfortunately, the buttie van had just packed up for the day so we missed out on a bacon sandwich.

We had a cup of tea, got the bed made, and then headed out on the circular walk.

The walk goes from the layby, around the back, across fields, past a farm, back onto a walking track, and then back to the layby.

It took around 30 – 40 minutes in total. It was a pleasant walk but very muddy because of all the rain we have been experiencing of late.

Make sure you have your walking boots or wellingtons on.

While we were sitting in the van a large deer ran past in the wooded area, down by the stream. We had only been there a few minutes so it was great to see. On our walk, we saw a swan, a pheasant, and some cows on the farm.

If you like your wildlife then it’s a great little spot.

The layby has a grassed area with picnic tables and a dustbin, handy for getting rid of your trash.

We didn’t get to use the picnic tables as the weather wasn’t right for it.

We had a meal of steak with potato salad and corn on the cob. Nick managed well with the small kitchen.

It’s all about getting used to being in a small space. Sometimes it’s helpful to work together and other times it is better to get out of each other’s way.

We watched some Downton on TV (maybe while others were dogging outside, who knows) and got settled for the night.

It was a very peaceful evening, the odd car came and went but no disturbances and not much traffic noise from the road.

The bed in the van was super comfy and we had a great night’s sleep. The bed was one of the main things we were determined to get right.

We hate not getting a good night’s sleep. With the bed extended it feels just like a normal bed in a house with plenty of room to spread out.

Watch the vlog where we made the extendable bed

The first thing we did the next morning was of course go to the buttie van. We had a sausage buttie and a cup of tea.

Then it was time to try the shower. We really couldn’t be any happier with the shower. It feels like a proper house shower. The water is lovely and warm.

We have to get used to the camper and the way of showering which is turning the water on, getting wet, turning it off, lather up with soap, and have a wash then turn the water back on to rinse down.

It doesn’t take long to get used to it. When you are in a camper van, water becomes so precious, that you are always conscious of how much you are using.

Catching up with Theme Park Bazza whilst making the bed

All in all, it was a successful first-night test. Everything went pretty much how we expected it to.

The internet signal on Vodafone was enough for us to stream TV and even upload a vlog overnight. We do intend to look at getting Starlink at some point in the future (Satellite internet)

The good luck we had at the park up ended when we set off to drive to our next location. Something happened to the electrics and the satnav went off.

The indicators stopped working, windows wouldn’t go down. We could still drive but nothing else worked.

We managed to get back to the lodge and tried to figure out the problem. The Sat nav eventually started working and the problem seemed to fix itself.

We can only guess that some water may have gotten through somewhere the day before when we had pressure-washed the van.

There was a little water inside the van we found. Hopefully, that was the cause and it hasn’t happened again since then (keep your fingers crossed for us)

Things we realised we needed on this first trip out

We returned to the lodge with a list of improvements. Nothing is better than getting out there and staying in the van to find out what we did and didn’t need.

A new stool for the door area. We spent a lot of the time with one of the stools moved over to the side window. It was lovely to sit there looking out. We knew we needed a new stool so we didn’t have to keep moving them around

A smaller Air Fryer. The large air fryer we took from the lodge was far too big and took up way too much space. We have since changed it for the one we had at the apartment as we rarely used it there. It is a much more compact and suitable size
We took too much “stuff”. Although we used a lot of what we took, some of it was unnecessary. Again, it’s about adapting to life in a smaller space and some things you just have to do without. I had a bag for all my electricals which just got in the way. I’ve now got a drawer for all our wires without the need for a bag on the floor which we kept tripping over
A few other bits and bobs we needed were; a bin, a phone holder, a hanging plant, more pillows etc

Hope you enjoyed this first blog in the Camper Van Diaries series. More to come very soon. If you haven’t seen the vlog yet of our first night in the camper then check it out below

Parkup site location on What3words is ///parting.truckload.exits