the
Campervan Chronicles
“The most important thing is to enjoy your life-to be happy-it’s all that matters” -Steve Jobs
‘Alphie’
Toyota Alphard X13 BFC
After owning “the SUNLIT HOUR” narrowboat for more than 15 years and spending in excess of £150,000 to basically stand still, we decided to throw the towel in with canal boats, and buy a camper van!
With the state of the UK waterways dramatically declining during our ownership, due to a massive lack of investment and an autocratic management system, which put a huge damper on our overall enjoyment, it was really a no brainer and would maybe help us to avoid bankruptcy!
How much are you prepared to spend?
We set a budget before we started looking for our ideal van, of £20k, which was pretty low in the grand scheme of things, especially when you can pay upwards of £70,000 for a new VW camper. We had initially set our sights on a VW but the prices they command soon put us off
Toyota
Alphard
The more I looked at these, the more convinced I was that this was the van to go for.
In terms of value for money they knocked the VW into a cocked hat (Only my opinion)
Waiting until after the summer to buy a van was the initial thought, but this idea soon went out the window!
Travelled up to Liverpool to view this Toyota Alphard on 03rd June 2025.
Had no real intention of buying the vehicle at the time, but by 3 o’clock that afternoon “Alphie” was outside our house in Rugby!
Disaster was soon to strike though, and after only a week of ownership!
Some total arse smacked into the back of the van causing over £1k of damage!
They didn’t stop and leave there details, the Barstewards!!
