First Campervan - "The Big Wumman"

I think that the first time I saw a campervan of any description close up would have been in the late 1960's.  My Uncle Bob and Aunt Jenny owned a "Dormobile" and I remember sitting in the van on a visit one summer (they lived in the wonderfully named village of Nomansland in the New Forest) and my Uncle Bob would no doubt have told us great stories of where they had travelled to and what they had seen.  They were considered "adventurers" in my family and the van no doubt cemented that image.

I have always thought that Dormobile was a much better descriptor of the vehicle type than "campervan" or "motorhome" and in those days it was used to describe any van that you could picnic in or sleep in.  Martin Walter, the original Dormobile company went out of business in 1994, but the name survives following purchase from the receivers by a company supplying spare parts to the original Dormobile vehicle market and I think may also now be making VW conversions again. https://www.dormobile.co.uk/

Fast forward many years and whilst I had slept under canvas a few times and stayed in a family friend's caravan, 1991 was the first time I took the plunge and rented a motorhome.  I had previously visited some of the Western Isles of Scotland, but Mrs B hadn't ventured to Skye or Mull before.  So we took two weeks in the summer, bought a few maps and a Caledonian MacBrayne hopper ticket and headed north to see what all the fuss was about.

The van was an Autohomes Travelhome with a handy over-cab bed and plenty of wood-effect plastic and swirly-pattern orange and brown velour.  Lovely!  We drove to Skye (still a ferry trip in 1991 and before any film location hysteria or tick-box tourism), Mull, Ardnamurchan, and Arran.  That last stop on Arran was where I had planned to propose, but in a story that my family are now probably tired of us reciting, things didn't go to plan due to a slight excess of multiple types of alcohol.  Maybe one for a future blog.

Holiday picture or audition to be knitting pattern models? 
The Broon's first motorhome trip.

We had a really good holiday and despite the size and general wobbliness of the van, we managed to get down some tiny tracks and parked it in quiet spots away from the road.  We cooked on the shore, swam in lochs and sea and other than the occasional campsite trip to top-up and empty things or visits to Iona, Dunvegan etc., we had just our own company for two weeks.  It was a fantastic adventure.

We talked a fair bit about what name you might give a motorhome and landed on "The Big Wumman".  There is a bit of a convoluted tale as to why we chose that name, but it remains as a description of any campervan or motorhome we have borrowed or hired ever since.

The name originates from a whisky that I had tasted quite a few years before.  I worked in the oil industry in Aberdeen at the time and shared a flat with a guy called Iain Taylor who subsequently moved to the Isle of Skye to become Director of the newly founded Gaelic College, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig  It was based in Kilbeg, in the south of the island and when I visited Iain early one summer we went to his favourite nearby watering hole, the bar of the Isle Ornsay Hotel or Hotel Eilean Iarmain.  This was where I had my first taste of a new whisky.

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig early days

The hotel and Gaelic college were part of Sir Iain Noble's organisation and at the time a new whisky venture was also being launched. The first product was called Té Bheag Nan Eilean, which literally translates as "Little Lady of the Isles", but is also a colloquial expression for a wee dram.  The image on the bottle's label was of fishing boat, no doubt sharing the name.  The business is still going strong and can be found here -  https://www.gaelicwhisky.com/#story 

How does that have anything to do with naming a van in 1991?  When we discussed naming options I described the Gaelic whisky business and we talked about the fact that fishing boats or small vessels always seemed to be called things like "Little Lady of the Isles" so we should have something similar for the van.  Figuring that the van was hardly a "little lady", we landed on "Big Wumman", which seemed more appropriate.

So whilst others may say that they are going to buy or hire a campervan, a motorhome or a dormobile, we have always said "do you fancy hiring a Big Wumman this summer?"  Now I have written the phrase down it does seem like a pretty odd thing to want to do for your holidays, but within families I am sure there are equally odd expressions, aren't there?  It was the start of not only a naming convention, but a love of driving to remote places in a van that had room inside to sleep and eat.