London, late July. It is hotter than it has ever been, or so they keep telling us. No rain in weeks.

For a decade we have planned our travels to avoid the worst of both heat and cold, but the timetable this past year was adjusted to cater to the Southern Hemisphere loop, New Zealand’s tax rules, family commitments in Australia and our slight lack of self-control that saw our “weekend” stopover in South Korea blow out into a month. So we find ourselves dropping beads of sweat on the floor as we sift tentatively through the odd blend of familiarity and difference moving between the New Zealand and European vans, preparing for an upside down drive (south in summer) to Turkey.

Down under we had been travelling in a converted concrete cutter’s van. Dented and scratched by hard work, the signwriting had left legible silhouettes where it had been peeled off, and the hard-to-reach parts still advertised a handful of heavy duty services. But it was bright yellow, and rounded at the corners just enough to create a hippy dissonance against the industrial leftovers. Inside it was very basic, but all warm wood tones and soft furniture.

Here in the northern hemisphere, our van is far more utilitarian. Deliberately white-van-man in styling, complete with a missing hubcap, red and white reflectors and a pair of recovery tracks affixed to the rear doors. There are strategic rust patches (some of them now actual holes, I notice) and a high-vis jacket draped over the middle seat. In place of New Zealand’s underpowered petrol, this one is the heaviest diesel in Ford’s line, with optional all-wheel drive and plenty of pull on the hills. Inside is all hard surfaces, built for abuse and tuned for the arrival of wet and muddy hikers. It is a completely different living environment. Perfectly adapted to our love of the outdoors, but very considerably less comfortable than we had become used to. I wonder if we’ve gone soft!

And it is hot. So hot. But the MOT passed with just a few bulbs to change and no warnings, so before long we were pulling out from SS and CLP’s parking space (where it had lived for almost a year!) and hitting the road. We crossed the Channel on 6 August, making a beeline for our friend KG’s house in Munich. August means holiday in Europe, and we are looking forward to meeting her sister and nephew who were visiting from Berlin.

The van had other ideas, though. Hearing a whine I didn’t like I pulled into a garage on the German border. Not safe even to drive around town they said, so it was four days, a new wheel bearing, and £1,500 later that we pulled out again. Not sure I’ll use the same MOT garage again! But we made it to Munich in time for a very nice visit, and even a day in the mountains together. A breakdown that felt catastrophic in the moment is forgotten within days.

The road stretches out in front of us - North Macedonia is the next planned slowdown, then across Turkey for as long as we can and into Georgia when the Turkish visa runs out.