The search is over
After months of searching across the UK, Facebook Marketplace, eBay and Autotrader, we finally managed to find the van.
After a few false starts, nearly choosing a van without AC or Cruise Control (Oops), we settled on a lovely T6 sold to us by Avondale Motorpark Ltd, located in Cwmbran just outside of Cardiff in Wales.
How did we find the van?
Anyone who has been on the lookout for their van has, like us, spent considerable time trawling the interwebs. In the search, there are so many to choose from. In the end, we decided to go for a Transporter 2.0 TDI T28 Highline Panel Van. This allows us to carry out the conversation based on our own specifications. This is what we will document on our blog.
Below is a selection of images of the van in its current state.
The Collection
Avondale Motorpark Ltd was the dealership from which we purchased the van. Dan was our point of contact and a fantastic help through the process. We flew over from Dublin to Cardiff the night before and stayed in a hotel at the Airport. On the Friday morning at 10 am, we got picked up by Avondale Motorpark Ltd to complete the sale.
The Trip
Once we finished up the sale at Avondale Motorpark Ltd, who had once again been fantastic from start to finish, in particular Dan, who gave us some fantastic tips on must-see locations on our way back to the ferry port of Fishguard, we hit the road in our new van.
Our first stopwas for fish and chips in Abergavenny (which had been so good I forgot to get a snap). Abergavenny also has a number of brilliant second-hand shops and cool pubs. We stopped into The Vaults pub for a pint of local ale, which certainly did not disappoint.
Next Stop Tenby
Back on the road, we travelled the next part of the journey to the seaside town of Tenby. The drive out of the Abergavenny valleys was spectacular. We arrived in Tenby, a seaside resort in Pembrokeshire, Wales, at around 6.30 pm; parking was a little tricky, but we managed to find a spot just a short walk from town that was handy and had plenty of space. We headed up the hill into Tenby, and once we reached the top, we had an amazing view out to sea and down towards the beach.
Right away, we noticed what Tenby is known for: incredible beaches, amazing scenery, and colourful houses, all beautifully presented. Our short time exploring Tenby felt like we were abroad, as you can see from some of the snaps below; we will 100% defo be back.
Next Stop Fishguard
As much as we wanted to spend more time in Tenby, it was time to get back on the road and make our way across to the port of Fishguard for our ferry crossing to Rosslare. We arrived in Fishguard just before 9 pm and managed to get a table in Hot Chilli Indian Restaurant. The food was delicious, great value for money, and there was a great choice of dishes. I went for my usual lamb madras, which was very tasty. We ended up ordering too much and could not finish it all.
Right beside the Hot Chilli Indian Restaurant was a Co-Op supermarket, where we got some snacks for the ferry crossing. We then headed down to the port to get in line and visit the duty-free before boarding the Stena ferry.
The Crossing
It has been years since either of us was on a Ferry. We boarded the ferry at 12.30 am ahead of the 1.30 am departure. When we made the ferry booking, we tried to book a cabin for the crossing but were unable to secure one. We decided, as soon as we got on board, to visit guest services to see if there was any availability; thankfully, we got speaking to a very helpful staff member who managed to sort us out with a cabin for the crossing – the cabins on the Stena ferry are extremely comfortable, and we managed some much-needed sleep ahead of the 3 hour drive up the road once we docked in Rosslare.
Apologies for the messy cabin above we slept through the crossing and woke up to find the ship docked in Rosslare and us the last off so we had to make a quick dash for the van 🙂
We hope you continue to follow our journey as we document it. This is the first of many posts so come along for the craic.
