Buying the camper

Hello there, I was going to do some bits on the van today but it has started to rain so I thought I'd come and update the blog.
The reason we decided to buy a camper van was so that we could get away for the odd weekend wth the dog without going through the grief of have to explain to B and B owners that the dog was well behaved and wouldn't chew their house up. Or having to pay stupid prices for a weekend in a run down cottage with damp running down the walls and no heating just because thats the only place we could rent that would allow dogs.
So we started by having a look around the local campervan sales places, but soon realised that their prices were an awful lot more than we could afford. So the next idea was to buy an older panel van, Transit or LDV, that we could convert but once again we found that the only ones we could afford were either ex builders vans that had taken more beatings than the average ginger step child or were ex courier vans that had done moon miles!
So there we were looking on ebay when we spotted an advert for a 1983 CF Bedford Trailblazer with an elevating roof that looked like the sort of van we could get on with, the main reason for this was the fact that we could afford it!
The advert stated that it had not been used for a couple of years and had a few issues, mainly with the bodywork, and the fact that the roof got a couple of problems at the rear end. So we contacted the seller and made an oppointment to go and see the van on the following Saturday. The seller said that he wouldn't be there but the keys would be left behind the cottage under a brick. When we arrived the van was sitting in the sun looking a bit neglected. After locating the keys, we had a good look round,got the engine running and decided that this was the van for us. We contacted the seller,agreed a price and sent off the cheque.
The next thing was to arrange collection of the van,which was in Suffolk, 110 miles away from us in Bedfordshire.
So we had a look at the various options to get it home, towing it or hiring a trailer or take a chance and drive it home but eventually decided that the best way was to have it collected by a recovery company. So we asked around and were given the number of a local firm, who when asked gave us a price of £165 to bring the old girl home the following thursday.
So Thursday morning arrived and at the alloted time I went up to the recovery firms depot to meet the driver and go get the van. When I got there the recovery driver asked if I knew the way or should we put our faith in the magic of Tom Tom. I replied that I had bought a map and handed it over only to see his face drop. He quickly dissapeared upstairs to his office and returned a couple of minutes later saying that he hadn't realised that it was that far, even though we had given him the postcode when we first contacted him, and the price would now be £350!!!!
Needless to say we parted company soon after with the van still sitting in Suffolk and us no closer to getting it to Bedfordshire.
I then thought that I had better let the seller know that there was a problem only for him to tell me that his local garage did recovery and he would get us a price. He called me back a few minutes later with the price of £170 and said that it could be delivered that evening,.
Well I couldn't say no could I?
So at 7.45 pm we took delivery of our first camper.

Now, we have been told that there is quite a following for the CF Bedford and there is quite a good site devoted to the ownership of said vans, so we soon tracked it down and became members.
http://www.bedfordcf.co.uk/
Well that enough for now, I'll be back soon with further updates.
Cheers ,Derek