Dwti Draig

Imagine a festival in Shrewsbury full of like minded people who love to come together for a weekend to celebrate ways of travelling. This was the pitch Lyn gave me to try to convince me that this should be our unfinished Dwti’s maiden voyage.

If truth be told, I had no real inclination to go to the Vanlife Festival in Shrewsbury. We were still nowhere near finished with building Dwti, so I could foresee a bleak time living out of bags as we still had no wardrobe, feeling grungy as we had no shower, no heating, living in the dark as we had limited lighting installed as well as no waste water tank -(we had to install my dad’s tiny caravan waste barrel, which caused no end of hilarity when others saw it!). Lyn had been breaking his back in getting Dwti ready but there was still so much to do. I also envisaged myself sitting lonely in a corner whilst Lyn talked geeky lorry stuff with fellow lorry geeks, whilst I reminisced fondly to myself about the comfy old days with the motorhome. 

Still, after some persuasive chats from my better half, (and a few bribes yet to be cashed in!) I pulled up my big girl pants and started to cart all the stuff we needed into Dwti. Lyn cleared  his tools out, but we knew and dreaded that we would have to clear it all back out again after the trip so his tools could go back in and work could recommence. 

We set off to Shrewsbury, and I must admit I was a little excited to take our first trip out. Embracing the true slow travel ethos of lorry life we stopped about 30 mins outside of Shrewsbury and climbed (inelegantly) through the crawl through to take a nap on the spare double mattress we had pinched off our spare bed, (note to self, order king sized mattress soon!). 

Once we successfully navigated the way into the festival, taking care to avoid the low bridge (now that would have been a first trip to remember!) we drove into the field and our allocated spot in the Truck Zone. Plenty of vans were queuing and getting stuck in the mud but we fast tracked through across the muddy field. It was a shame to get our tyres muddy after the pre festival wash given to us by our local MAN dealership, WG Davies. We drove confidently into the Truck Zone, yes, we were finally there with the Big Boys. We were invited there as a show truck, meaning that people were free to come and look at and in our truck and ask questions about our build. 

We had seriously underestimated the sheer number of visitors we had; we must have had over a hundred through the truck altogether. We quickly fell into a routine of me dealing with the interior, and Lyn the exterior. I didn’t even recognise myself at times, talking about our 2 x 250 litre water tanks, and how the MAN TGM shares a lot of common parts with the military HX60. Who is this Trucker Girl? Everybody was really complimentary about Dwti, and especially loved the colour. I also revelled in the whole Ta Dah moment when I pulled back the cushion to show the steam washer dryer behind it, like a trucker Debbie McGee. 

Showing our truck took up so much time that we didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy the music and stalls at the festival, but I did manage to eat some well deserved churros, do a yoga class and join a drumming circle with our bongo drum. I enjoyed that so much I have now bought my own djembe drum so I can be ready for any random drumming circle I happen upon. Lyn is less than enthusiastic about that!

The absolute best part of the festival was looking at the other awesome vehicles. We felt like we were amongst the stars of Youtube, TV and Overlander folklore. We met up again with John, in his 6 wheeler. We had met him (@ooostanding) in the Overlander festival last September and he was so kind to us, showing us his build. Actually, we fell in love with his steps and ordered identical ones. How lovely it was to see the trucks parked next to each other, steps touching. We also managed to catch up with the fabulous @orkneyoverlanders who were coming to stay with us a few days later to work on the truck.

Our evenings were the best, spending time with new Overlanding besties, and hearing all about their exciting plans. Sometimes life just throws you another Lorry Sister just when you didn’t expect one, and meeting Julie of @Jamjourney was the highlight of my trip. Lyn had been messaging her husband Mark for months and they had built up a friendship, but in Julie I immediately found my Gin Buddy. I can’t wait to follow their trip to the Americas when they ship their beautiful truck Shaun to Canada at the end of the month. I hope our paths cross again in reality; I know they will virtually. They were not the only truck with exciting plans; India, Nick and Freddie of @stormingtheglobe will be travelling overland to Australia next year, and Richard and Clair of @daft244adventure are converting a prison truck!

I very much had to eat humble pie and admit I was totally wrong about the festival; I honestly had the best time and met so many wonderful people and vehicles. The festival was so well organised I can’t recommend it enough; everybody there, whether they were in a car, tent, campervan, bus, motorhome or truck was there for the same reason, a love of travel and a respect for others on the same path. We came home exhausted and reinvigorated and ready to start emptying the truck out ready for the influx of tools again. We will be ready for our big trip……won’t we??