Now that HAMISH was home, we needed a plan.
We had the basics: an electric hook-up lead, a hose for filling the water tank and the enthusiasm of people who had just bought a motorhome without really meaning to.
It is worth remembering that a month earlier we had absolutely no intention of buying a motorhome. We had no idea how the inner workings of such a thing really operated. We had owned caravans years before, but this was different. HAMISH was not just somewhere to sleep. He had tanks, pumps, batteries, gas, solar, a boiler, a drop-down bed and all sorts of other things that apparently mattered.
So we hatched a cunning plan.
We would book a couple of days at a local campsite and use it as a trial run. Close enough to home if it all went wrong, but far enough away to feel like a proper test.
Our dealer had given us a video explaining some of the important bits and bobs, but it did not go into the kind of detail we needed as complete beginners. So we did what most people do now.
We went to YouTube.
In fact, we probably watched nearer twenty videos than a few.
What We Learned Before We Went Anywhere
After a few evenings of motorhome education, we discovered several important things.
The fresh water and waste water are in separate tanks.
One of them you fill. The other one you empty.
To empty the waste water, you pull a lever underneath at a designated point on the campsite.
If you want to use gas, you need a gas bottle, preferably with gas in it.
To get level, you need ramps. Pumping the tyres up more is not the answer.
Bikes and helmets make life easier if you do not want to walk everywhere.
To make water come out of the taps, you need to switch the pump on.
If you want hot water to come out of the taps, you also need to switch the boiler on.
So, it looked like we were starting to get to grips with things.
As the saying goes, if all else fails, read the instructions.
The Gas Bottle Mission
A quick look on Facebook Marketplace revealed a lady with three empty gas bottles for sale.
Google told me she was only thirty minutes away as the crow flies.
Not being a crow, but a car driver, it took ninety minutes each way.
Still, we had made a start.
A trip to the local garage, which was also a Calor stockist, turned three empty bottles into full ones. We now had gas. That felt like progress.
The Water Tank Mystery
Next came the practice session on the drive.
The job was simple enough: fill HAMISH with water.
How difficult could that be?
We brought the arm out for filling the tank, unscrewed the cap, introduced the tank to the hose and turned the water on.
All was going well for the first ten seconds.
Then water started pouring out of the bottom of the tank.
Clearly, we thought, it must have a hole in it.
So we called the dealer.
After much discussion, the question came back:
“Is the small lever next to the tank vertical or flat?”
It was vertical.
“It needs to be flat.”
Solved.
No hole.
Just operator error.
Now we had clean water in the clean water tank, which was progress. The next job was to get clean water into the waste tank so we could practise emptying it.
Once we had mastered that, emptying the waste tank turned out to be a doddle.
Just pull the lever.
At least, that was the theory.
Ramps, Tools and Preparing for Everything
The ramps arrived next.
Big Milenco ramps. Proper rufty-tufty beasts in a bag.
In the meantime, I began assembling what I thought we might need for our first campsite trip.
Spare bulbs.
Fuses.
Enough tools to build a house.
And everything else I could think of in case a tornado arrived in Argyll while we were on the campsite.
Just in case of a power cut on site, I also added an EcoFlow River 2 and a portable folding solar panel to charge it.
Were we overprepared?
Possibly.
Did it make us feel better?
Definitely.
The BBQ Problem
We decided our trial run should include some BBQ food.
HAMISH has an external BBQ point, which is great. The orange hose connected to the BBQ, but the other end was blank and could not connect to HAMISH.
Another small lesson.
A quick call to the dealer confirmed that we needed the proper hose connector to plug into the motorhome’s external gas point. Apparently it was available online, so one was duly ordered.
We were now, in theory, ready for a proper trial run.
What This First Stage Taught Us
Looking back, those first few days with HAMISH were not really about going anywhere.
They were about learning.
Learning what filled up, what emptied, what switched on, what needed gas, what needed electricity and what made life easier.
Most of it was common sense once we knew it. But that is the point. With a motorhome, there are lots of things that only become obvious after someone tells you, or after you get it wrong yourself.
That is why a local trial run made sense.
It gave us the chance to make small mistakes close to home rather than discover them hundreds of miles away.
What We Would Tell Beginners
If you are new to motorhome life, do not feel daft for not knowing how everything works.
Everyone starts somewhere.
Watch the videos, read the manual, ask questions, practise on the drive and do a short local trip before heading off on anything ambitious.
Learn how to fill the fresh water.
Learn how to empty the waste.
Learn how the gas works.
Learn how to get level.
Learn what needs switching on and what does not.
And, most importantly, learn all of that before you are tired, it is dark, the rain is coming sideways and you are trying to look like you know what you are doing.
Final Thought
Bringing HAMISH home was exciting, but it was also the start of a very steep learning curve.
We had bought a motorhome almost by accident. Now we had to learn how to live with it.
The good news is that every small mistake taught us something, and every lesson made the next trip easier.
That, really, is what this whole journey became about.
Not knowing everything from the start.
Just learning, changing and improving as we went.