Picture the scene.
It was a dreary, wet February Sunday afternoon in Argyll. We were thinking about the week ahead and what it might bring. The weather was not exactly encouraging us to work on our ongoing landscaping project in the garden, and we had not long returned from a month touring Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. That trip was still very much in our thoughts.
Then the doorbell rang.
Standing on the doorstep was Charlie, a neighbour and friend. We did not know it at the time, but that knock on the door would turn out to be life-changing.
Over coffee, Charlie explained that his company, which was involved in the yachting and boating industry, was exhibiting that week at the SEC in Glasgow at the Camping and Outdoor Show. He had some free tickets and wondered whether we would like to go.
With the weather being what it was, we thought it might make a good day out and break the week up a bit.
Years earlier, when our children were small, we had owned a couple of caravans. Over time we had gradually downsized to tents, although they were not exactly basic tents. They had beds, chairs and even a television. Our last proper camping foray had been in 2016, so we were quite looking forward to having a mooch around and seeing how the camping world had moved on.
Glasgow is a ferry ride and around a 90-minute scenic drive from home, so we had a day out to look forward to. We had saved ourselves the admission fee too, so it was not exactly going to break the bank.
Or so we thought.
Just Going for a Nosey
We decided Tuesday would be the best day, and off we set to Glasgow in the dreary, wet February weather.
It is important to understand our mindset at this point. We were still very much in “just having a nosey around” mode.
We arrived and immediately spotted a food hall selling local and artisan produce, so naturally we made a beeline for that. Five minutes in, we had made our first purchases: a bottle of strawberry liqueur made in Edinburgh and some homemade tablet for our daughter, who had developed a taste for it when we lived in Aberdeenshire some years before.
A couple more purchases followed.
Our house looks over a loch, which is home to dolphins, porpoises and even the odd minke whale and basking shark, so a stop at a binocular stand meant we also acquired a new set for watching the wildlife.
So far, so good.
Into the Main Hall
We moved into the main hall with all the camping equipment, dinghies, campervans and motorhomes.
Still mooching around, we decided to see what modern camping vehicles had to offer compared with the caravans we had owned in the early 2000s.
The first few campervans and motorhomes were very impressive, but we both commented that they did not really suit us. We used to live near the Swift factories, and some of our former employees in our small business had worked there, so we decided to see what Swift had to offer.
Again, nothing really felt right.
Next to their stand was a brand we had never heard of, so we decided to use — or possibly waste — a bit more time seeing what they had.
The banner said Chausson.
Intrigued, we stepped into the first one. The sign said 640.
We got talking to one of the salespeople. He showed us the drop-down bed, explained the solar panel on the roof and talked us through the awning and other features.
We were gobsmacked.
We could not believe how much the industry had moved on. To top it off, the gearbox in the cab was automatic, which mattered to us because we had stopped driving manual cars around 25 years earlier.
It was impressive.
Unbelievable, really.
But it was not for us.
We looked at a few more. They were beautifully finished and had some lovely features, but nothing really took our fancy.
Not that we were looking, of course.
The Eureka Moment
By now it was getting close to the time we needed to start heading home.
We thought we would look at just a couple more before leaving.
Then it happened.
The eureka moment.
The 60 seconds that would change our lives forever.
We stepped into what we thought would be the final motorhome and stopped. Then we looked at each other.
The silence was deafening.
It was perfect.
It had two habitation doors: one in the middle and another in the garage area at the back. The drop-down bed was there. The rep showed us the shower behind a pull-out sink in the bathroom. Amazing.
Then came the pull-up 32-inch television stand, the table that went up and down, the almost horseshoe-shaped sofa, the adaptable stools on magnetic catches and the under-seat storage.
In that moment, we both knew something had changed.
The sign outside said:
Chausson 660 Titanium Ultimate
We walked around the outside. Then back inside. Then outside again. Then back inside.
I took a photograph of the technical details on the board outside. Then we went back inside for another sit down and a final look around.
There were some business cards on the table with the dealership details, so I put one in my wallet.
The Elephant in the Car
We set off home.
Nothing was said in the car.
In fact, nothing was said about anything.
As we were passing Glasgow Airport on the way back to the ferry, I finally said:
“There’s an elephant in this car.”
Not literally, obviously, but as a figure of speech. We would have probably noticed if there was a real elephant in the car furthermore how did it get in?
At that point, I think we both said, almost in unison:
“Let’s go for it.”
So a plan was hatched.
The first question was simple: where would we park it?
We had a section of land in the garden beside the drive that we had cut out with a hired digger — not with scissors, although it sometimes felt like it. If the motorhome would fit there, we would pursue it. If not, we would move on.
We got home around 6.30pm. Being February in western Scotland, it was already dark, so we decided to pick it up again the next day.
The following day, the rain had stopped.
Out came the tape measure.
I checked the photograph I had taken of the technical details. The motorhome needed 6.99 metres overall.
We went down to measure the space.
Back to front, we had 7.4 metres.
It was game on.
HAMISH Arrives
We took delivery in Manchester on 20 March 2023 and christened him HAMISH.
After we brought him home, I went over to see Charlie.
I politely asked him never to offer us free tickets to any more events, as the last ones had cost us nearly £100,000.
And that is how we accidentally bought a motorhome.