The Ham Nomads

18 Nov 2014. <GB-ENG> Gloucester (Orchard Hotel), Glos —

Woke up in the van, ready to go searching for a place to stay. Warren went into the Orchard Hotel to ask for advice, only to find that last night's closure was due to "a misunderstanding", and that they were still open for business. So we booked in for the next six days, with an option to extend if we need to.

The place is rather low key, but very comfortable. One big bonus — a big bathtub! The Hams took full advantage of it to have their first real soak in seven months! Walking distance to Huilin's, when we finally leave the van there, and plenty of local shopping. The buses in to central Gloucester are only about 100 yards from the door. We think we can manage!

We went down to the local Boots (the huge British pharmacy chain) to find out which doctors we could visit to get prescriptions for our medications — we are approaching the end of our current supply. They put us on to the Quedgley Medical Centre (in the same road), but they couldn't help us — they pointed us towards the GHAC (The Gloucester Health Access Clinic) in central Gloucester, where we will go tomorrow.

After this, we had a day of hedonism, going into the hotel, having long baths, getting onto the internet, and doing a bit of sorting of files. Sheer luxury, after 7 months in the van! We are still eating dinner in the van — the Hotel only provides breakfast, and we are well used to cooking and eating in the van.

Distance driven — today, 1 miles ( 2 km ); to date, 9,800 miles ( 15,772 km )