Land's End to John O'Groats on foot - with Elddis campervan support!

Last night, Emma and Rachel – Erwin Hymer Group UK’s Marketing team – planned a surprise celebration for members of the CV Owners Group.

The group, set up by owners of Elddis and Compass campervans, now has over 1,400 members. We all like to keep in contact with each other, sharing travel stories – but better still, meeting up whenever we can.

Two members of the group, Julie and Ken, have just completed an epic adventure and we wanted to surprise them and hear all about their trip!

Julie and Ken are based in Southampton, but are actually full-time #vanlifers, Julie with a dealer special edition version of our Elddis Autoquest CV20 – a beautiful black Envy, from Dolphin Motorhomes – and Ken with an A-Class motorhome from Dethleffs, also part of Erwin Hymer Group.

Ken has – quite literally – just completed the epic walk from Land’s End to John O’Groats, with Julie driving their campervan ‘Vincent’ alongside, for moral and practical support.

Overnighting in Durham, on their way back south to Southampton, we met up with the intrepid couple, with fellow friends and CV Owners George and Rose, for what was a fantastic evening.

Over dinner we grilled Ken for the LEJOG lowdown!

“Having (unbelievably!) turned 60 last year, I wanted to mark the event, and for some stupid reason thought that walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats would be a good idea.

“But being old and wise, and not young and daft, I didn’t want to carry a back-pack, and pre-booking accommodation struck me as very inflexible, so what better way than to take Julie and her CV20, ‘Vincent’.

“So it was that the 3 of us found ourselves at Land’s End on Wednesday 30th March… and on Tuesday 28th June we arrived at John O’Groats!

“As the walking warrior, I completed 1,144 miles over 74 walking days, (plus 15 rest days, well I am 60!), climbed the equivalent height of Mount Everest 5 times, and walked almost 3 million steps. All that and I only had one blister, although it was a beauty!

“Julie actually drove over 6000 miles, which includes starting and returning to our base in Southampton, and a mid-tour trip back there to housesit for some friends, too.

“Not only that, but I’m so thankful for Julie making my lunch, driving to the next camp site, and never failing to have the kettle on when I appeared at the end of the day.

“One of the joys of doing the trip in Vincent the CV was being able to finish each stage where we wanted, rather than having to march on to that night’s accommodation.

“As the third member of our group, Vincent the campervan performed faultlessly. He ate up the mileage, only needing a regular drink of diesel, and the occasional chaser of ad blu. Julie even managed to fit in his first service back in Southampton at Fiat Professional.

“The highlight of the trip? That’s easy: seeing the signpost at John O’Groats!”

Whilst waving them off on their journey back to Southampton, we’ve all agreed to meet up again – sooner, rather than later, and to keep sharing all our adventures!