Serendipity. Happy Happenstance. Destiny … however you describe it, here is the story of how two like-minded Elddis campervanners met, discovered they have identical Retailer Special Elddis CV models, forged a firm friendship, own (almost) matching Border Terriers and encountered a chance crossing of paths atop a Wainwright walk.

June 2023. Val and Bod, long-time Elddis owners and CV fans, were winding down after a long hot day hill-walking in The Lakes. Outside The Wainwright pub were two Border Terriers, Stanley (aged 2) and Charles (an older chap at 15 years of age).

At this point, Val and Bod’s destiny changed dramatically.

It transpires that the owners of Stanley and Charles are also owners of an Elddis Campervan – and as if that wasn’t coincidence enough – Karen and Colin own the same special edition: the Explorer by Scottish retailer, Knowepark, built by Elddis.

As conversation flowed, the two couples found common ground. Although Bod and Val live in Fife and Colin and Karen near Sunderland, there were several weekend meet-ups over the Summer, getting to know each other, sharing stories of campervan adventures and enjoying drinks together.

As friendship flourished, Stanley and Charles clearly worked their canine charm on Val and Bod, and Colin put the pair in touch with a lovely Border Terrier family in the North East, near Sunderland, from whom he had received his gorgeous boy, Stanley less than 2 years previously.

One week later Val and Bod were the very happy and proud owners of Bella (a wee cousin of Stanley’s), due to these amazingly lucky circumstances.

Their ‘handover’ of Bella happened at a dog show held at Ingleston Show Ground, near Edinburgh, and the following weekend, Bella, at just 12 weeks old, had her first road trip in the couple’s Elddis CV40 Explorer, lovingly called Dougal.

A Friday night stay in Dougal at the Kirkstane Pass, high up in the Lakes led to Val and Bod walking the next day up onto Caudale Moor, whilst carrying wee Bella in her shoulder papoose, introducing her to the mountains.

A miracle happened! Whom did they meet up on the summit? Incredibly, it was Colin, Karen, Stanley and Charles. By pure chance, they were approaching from the opposite direction, climbing up from Hartsop, down near Ullswater!

Not only did they meet at the same time, by the summit cairn of Stony Cove Pike on Caudale Moor, but they had completely randomly chosen the same Wainwright walk for the day. People in the know will realise that there are 214 different tops to explore, so destiny had obviously brought the four - plus dogs! - back together so quickly.

Stanley and Bella were ecstatic to meet and fell immediately in love. A catch-up is planned at Christmas-time and 2024 brings walks big and small, and many new adventures.

So, Dear Reader, there ends the first chapter of a Tail of Two CVs, a delightful story of how a chance meeting and series of coincidences, created a bond between buddies.