1978 Mk2 Ford Transit Autosleeper Campervan

Still skint and need a new job unfortunately . And my hankering for another mini is rearing its head ....

Nice write up and liked the pictures of France - we go most years (in fact we've stayed at two of the sites pictured I think!) and really miss it when back home. The van looks great but just one thing; are the rear springs OK? It looks a bit low in a couple of the photos that's all.

Been a while, but been using the transit, and just got back from another adventure so will update  this with this trip hopefully get the whole trip on here in over the next few days.

So since the end of the summer we had already decided that like last year we’d go away over easter. We originally decided to go to Ireland, then when we looked at the ferry costs, we thought we’d just go back to Scotland as per our last Easters trip. We then got drunk and thought sod it, we’d just book Ireland mainly because we are just buying a house so won’t have the same level of disposable income when the mortgage payments hit us. This was it we were booked in on Good Friday on a 3am ferry from Liverpool to Dublin with no real plan except to head to the west coast.

Next steps were to ensure the van was good to go as it was a bit neglected. Most my car time over the winter was speant rebuilding the Capri to get it back on the road.  I started by giving Pugwall (the van) a service and we used it for a weekend away in Ramsgate and Broadstairs. Although we stayed in a hotel, not the van as it was February. The van didn’t have any problems and was in good health and we used it for a  breakfast stop on the way down in Ramsgate



With the van working well I purchased some rear springs to level it out at the back and booked it into a garage to fit the springs and give it a proper going over as I didn’t have the time or space (watch this space for when 1 bed flat is upgraded to a house with dbl garage!). Unfortunately the springs didn’t fit so its still riding low at the back, I think because the vans an early mk2 so has lots of mk1 elements to it… like the leaf springs and the windscreen and some other bits i’m sure.  There was also a problem with 1 rear brake (leaking rear cylinders and broken retaining spring for the shoes) and the garage struggled to source the correct spring! Unfortunately the weekend I had planned to clean and prep the van was still in the garage so instead I cleaned and polish the Capri



The garage then still struggled so ended up me doing a drive across to Clacton to see Ralph one midweek evening  who sorted me out with a selection of springs which meant the rear brakes could be reassembled. Hooray! Van returned and braking properly  leads us into the first day of the holiday.

Thursday 29th March:

I originally wasn’t planning on taking the day off but because I’d lost the previous weekend I had to to do the other stuff, like cleaning and sorting the mess:


And replace this runner in the window that had rusted through and jammed the electric window


This was done at my parents as the Garage used was local to them, then I had to drive back from Essex into South London to load up the other stuff and bikes so finally at about 6pm we were good to go.

A very long drive to Liverpool (it took 2.5 hours to get out of London)  in loads of traffic typical for the long weekend meant we arrived at Liverpool circa 1am. A bit of a search round the docks at that time we found the ferry, then proceeded to join all the other lorries and a handful of cars and vans on the ferry. We chose liverpool crossing as the holyhead one we couldn’t get tickets with a room so as this was included in the price for the liverpool crossing and was the same cost as the holyhead crossing the extra 4 hours we gladly accepted and used it to sleep/recover from the hectic day. The crossing also had the added bonus of having 2 bufffet meals included in the price!



Friday 30th March (Good Friday)
View we woke up to:



Can you spot the wonkily reversed van? Also shows how lucky we were as the seas pretty calm.

We arrived in Dublin circa 11am and got off the ferry by 12… the wait was a consequence of the ferrry being full of lorries which had to be unloaded before us. We didn’t hang around in Dublin, the great city that it is we both have been before and is easy to get a flight back for a weekend if we wished. We just got off the Ferry and headed west.



So the only pre-booking that we did involved the first campsite and we chose a place on the connemara penisula on the Wild Atlantic Way.

actonsbeachsidecamping.com/ - Note they rebranded to eco from Acton and that Acton is because the owners ancestors immigrated to Ireland from London in the 1800’s

We were pretty happy with our choice and the weather considering snow/rain in the UK:




Able to chill out after all the driving with one of my favourite beers on the beach:



Stunning sunsets:


We woke up to this view out the back as well while having a cupper in bed… one of the few places… if the only place we’ve stayed where there was a genuine stunning 360degree view.



We stayed here for 2 nights, and spent the full day we had walking, cycling, drinking guiness and eating good food.

It was a fantastic area and could of stayed longer but we wanted to move on and explore so will update more later…

Cheers

Josh

Cheers mate, I agree and am really glad I got it resprayed the original colour as I think it looks the nuts. I’ll update the thread on it at some point and post some more pics. I bloody love it and am so enjoying using it again.

Anyway back to the Transit, firstly Hoorah! I’ve just rid the thread of all photobucket links, so hopefully means you can read it from a mobile now and should be less glitchy.

Apologies the following is mainly scenic pics with the van in some corners… hopefully you enjoy

So after the 2 nights in clifden we ended up on Easter Sunday we left clifden in the morning and followed the wild atlantic way sign posts…

www.wildatlanticway.com/home/

We knew about it prior but was really great and well done. It was essentially a route from North to South that followed the coast and had key areas of interest and viewpoints to stop at. This formed the basis of the rest of the trip and was great as didn’t have to worry about sat nav or navigating a route, it was as simple as following some squiggles on signs and not once did we get lost as it was very clear.

The first point of call was the sky road with views over connemara and the Atlantic


Next we rocked up as a harbour with the wind blowing very hard, a castle and a beach




We then got hungry and stopped at dogs bay for brunch involving a bacon sandwich and a cpl of cups of tea



The beach was amazing with some nutters having a swim (sans wetsuit!)



Not a bad brunch stop. We did a walk and was a stunning place with 2 back to back crescent beaches. This was probably our favourite beach we went to in Ireland

This was all done enroute to Galway...



We had looked at some campsites in Galway but following the advice of the clifden eco campsite owner we just stayed in the marina car park. It was 4 euros to stay overnight, but when we took into account the 2 euro for additional hours either side it ended up costing us 14 euros. Still considerably cheaper than the campsites and meant we also saved on cabs and buses as were right in the centre of the town. We had a drunken night out in Galway - great crack! So waking up on the Monday mornign the only challenge was that in the morning we didn’t have a toilet so had to venture out to the mcdonalds to use the facilities and it would of been rude not to of stocked up on copious hash browns and a sausage and egg mcmuffin meal.



So on Easter monday we headed South:



The route took us past the cliffs of Moher, which would of been rude not to of stopped off at. It was a touch breezy and wet, honestly we were both having a good time and weren’t hungover:


This took us to a place called strand camping at Doonbeg, which was a fantastic campsite and was a shame to just do nothing bar have an early night

strandcampingdoonbeg.com/

Will update again more soon

Cheers

Josh

assuming that its low at the back due to lack of free camber, rather than lack of spring rate (or overladen), what bout some extended shackles ?

Right then, back to the update. After the slightly hungover and damp day on the cliffs we got back on it and were feeling pretty lively especially as the van was in fine health and working well


No real plans but to follow the wild atlantic way and aim for Dingle as per the map:



The route meant we saw some amazing cliffs of Kilkee, arguably just as impressive as moher except not the same tourist trap as we saw the previous day:

Not a bad breakfast stop...


We then did the ring of kilkee, which unfortunately we didn’t get many pics off due to the weather being a bit poor, before getting a ferry across towards the dingle peninsula.

Enroute to dingle is this amazing road that leads pass some amazing beaches and then up and over Conor pass to Dingle. Pugwall struggled up… here having a break:



Views were amazing.



We spent some time in Dingle, and would definitely go back before hitting up another great campsite:



The next day we wanted to head into and onto the ring of kerry:



We got up early and headed off pre-breakfast before stopping at Inch beach… what an amazing place, you could drive onto the beach, and it was so big that it felt pretty empty. We did a walk… which ended up being further than expected then cooked up some bacon and eggs.. Heaven





The weather then got better as we hit the ring of kerry… note still no pugwall issues as well!





We ended up at more cliffs:


And these stunning views



Before getting to the campsite and having these views:




Fantastic

Cheers for reading what is essentially my holiday snaps. I think 1 more Ireland update to go then will back to sorting the van out for the next trio

Thanks

Josh

Next installment is up!

RIght so final update on our Ireland trip…

We ended the last update at this amazing campsite write on the Atlantic Coast off the ring of Kerry. The previous day was fantastic weather and we had an amazing bbq looking out to the Ocean.



It was just stunning. We were stayed for a couple of nights which meant we had a bit more of an explore of the area going on a walk and found this interesting workshop/farmers field which you had to walk through with a cpl of cool old cars and some 90s cars I hadn’t seen for a while.





The walk ended in a bar drinking standard Irish drinks



Then after a good few hours we popped our head out the pub and the wind and rain had picked up significantly. Not called the wild atlantic way for nothing

Anyway we were curse word so still happy.





The wind and rain was a bit of a good combo that it got under the pop top (we left it up) and soaked a couple of the cushions so we retreated right off the front, put the roof down and slept on bin liners under the sheets, First time for a leak, can’t really blame the van for this one.

So I think the next day was the friday so we had to start heading back across Ireland to catch the Ferry on Saturday morning…

We started the day finishing off the ring of Kerry through an inland national park



We headed across country



Some more beaches this time on the South Coast



Via a ferry



This chippy van



To this stunning view


Which was a really small campsite about 30mins from the ferry the back to the Uk the next day



Good times and a great final night in Ireland.

Next day (the Satuday 7th April) we got up early and got the Irish Ferries across to Pembroke Dock.. I have to say I much preffered the P&O ferry from liverpool as the food was rubbish onboard and really expensive.



Still got a ferry photo though;


We arrived back in Wales did some antique browsing and went for a walk, We had another good spot for a campsite although the amount we paid you’d expect it to be good.



It was Saundersfoot nr Tenby. Although a bit muddy…



Although again we were lucky with the weather and was able to give the van a good airing the next morning



Again we got up at a reasonable time then headed home



And that wraps up our trip… and similar to the French trip we didn’t have any issues with the van and shows that if its maintained, used and cared for it still a vehicle designed to get you places and should get you places. Although I’m not sure I should say this I slightly miss the roadside drama of fixing it as you go.


Now its been a few weeks since we went away and also had a bonus that I spotted on a fb group of the same interior being sold for a bargain amound inc, fridge and cooker. So I headed up on the saturday to Stockport from London and the interior had been removed from this cosworth powered beast:



Fitted in


Then headed home:


I got it as the interior is a bit tired in places and having spares will be invaluable either to use as templates to make new or to fit in place of the current set.

I’ve also just exchanged on a house so hoping that when I get the opportunity (after the inevitable initial DIY surge) I should have some more time on the van to tidy it up.

I really want to sort few areas of rust on the panels and appearing after the winter, get some rear springs that fit, then fit a larger fuel tank , fit some opening front quarterlights, fit the original style front end, figure out how to refit the rear end lights… hmm I wonder how much I can do inc moving house before the end of May BH when we next plan to go away,...

Cheers

Josh

I live not too far from the Ring of Kerry, the wild Atlantic way road is amazing. Next time bring something with a bit of power, you wont regret it!

Just got a mention on Soup one of my favourite youtube shows. If you haven't already check out the series.



Cheers

Josh