Dougals Adventures

Quite simply, Dougal is my pride and joy! A 2012 VW Transporter that had lived many lives before I owned him. My partner Melissa and I purchased him in 2021 and he has totally changed our lives since!

In the late spring of 2021, an opportunity arose that quite literally turned out to be a twist of fate, a humble plumbers van turned miniature horse box was soon to be hitting the market! Melissa and I had known the van for many years as the owner was a close family friend and our trusted plumber and it had been maintained by no other than Melissa’s dad as he is a motor mechanic. He had taken ownership of the van a few months prior and it even helped us move into our first home – little did we know it would be sat on our driveway in the not so very distant future!

Melissa and I dreamed of owning him, but never imagined it would become a reality! A deal was struck and we were humbled by the kindness and generosity of Melissa’s dad for keeping the price reasonable, in a market where basic (often ex builders panel vans) were selling for eye watering prices, thanks to Covid-19 of course.. the gift that keeps on giving.

After a great deal of deliberation, research and ideas, we settled on a name. DOUGAL. We’ve always named our vehicles so there was no way the van was going to be any exception to this, I have historically started at the registration plate and worked from there, often finding the required inspiration and of course there wasn’t much to go by… I tried to come up with various things but to no avail, right up until I saw something I couldn’t unsee! With DG being the first letters of the registration plate, a few spent brain cells and it all seamlessly slotted into place – named after a character very close to our hearts, but possibly not the one most folks think! The generational divide becoming ever apparent when we where met with reactions like “oh! like the magic roundabout!” As great a character as he is, the source of our inspiration was a little more sinister and a lot more, well, Scottish.

Named after Dougal MacKenzie, the War Chieftain of Clan MacKenzie, from the hugely popular (and our absolute all time favourite TV series) – Outlander. Dougal was born. Whilst his character portrays sometimes questionable values, he also depicts strong, loyal and brave traits, a capable and strong workhorse that wasn’t afraid to get dirty to get the job done! Attributes we would be looking for within the van, for the adventures and locations we had planned for the future!

So that’s a little round up of our Dougal, we hope you’ll continue to read and enjoy our blog as we continue on with our journey of adventure and all things vanlife! Follow us on Instagram to keep up to date in real time where we end up next!