i've set off on a road trip in a very special vehicle, this is cecil the camper van. that's really putting cecil to the test, driving him and his rusty chassis all the way back to his spiritual birthplace in central germany. was first mass—produced. in the 1960s. that's a good omen, isn't it?

yeah! plant in the world. and along the way, we've got some people to meet. the engineers with big ideas for the future of motorhomes. good noises, good noises. we have power again! and we're overnighting at the dutch hotel that thinks it's a campsite. got a swing here and a tree. ..with floor heating. 0h! _ you don't get that in many campsites, bob.

saying bye to cecil? he'll be back before you know it, simon. yeah. in the little town of gweek and coming with us on an adventure. strap in, everyone. bye! see ya! horn honks love you loads! to his spiritual birthplace in central germany, biggest car plant. i've got that niggle, you know that, i've got my passport.

you got yours? yes, i do. steve and i wanted to mark the 75th anniversary of the vw camper. it started as a commercial utility vehicle, the that's a good omen, isn't it? yeah! oh, it's right over the road. oh, wow. for its longest journey in years. but 20 miles down the road, there seems to be something wrong with cecil�*s spirit of adventure. uh—oh. uh—oh. we're going to have we're going to have to pull over. to pull over. it's got a bit of steam going on. so the engine has overheated somewhat. so the engine has overheated somewhat. yeah, we're up on 105 degrees or something. yeah. yeah. just going to have a look? yeah. woo! woo! so the radiator has so the radiator has overheated somewhat here. overheated somewhat here.

what do you think, steve? i think the cooling fan is not working. aha. it's not the first time, if i'm honest. this might have happened once or twice in the past. yeah. 0k. i mean, the gauge was creeping up, wasn't it, rob? it was. we were seeing the gauge up around the red zone. yeah. luckily for us, steve's got an instinctive feel for cecil�*s peculiarities. cecil�*s a type 2 camper van made in 1972. he's the kind that was typically seen on family campsites in the �*70s and �*80s. steve bought him in australia in 1998, and the two have been inseparable ever since. spent a year touring around oz. and then, yeah, the plan was to sell him in sydney. in fact, he was booked in to be auctioned a few days before my flight back, but ijust couldn't bring myself to do it, you know? and just down the hill from the auction house

was the docks, and i was looking at these containers and ships and ijust thought, i wonder how much that is? in the years since, steve's converted cecil to run on waste cooking oil and has put him to work for his charity, which was set up to keep cornwall�*s beaches free of plastic waste. oh, dear, cecil. this is hamburger hill, officially the worst hill. cecil�*s worst hill. he hates it. officially the worst hill? fast, busy road, and it's the steepest one on the a30. it's called hamburger hill because there's a mcdonald's at the bottom of it. so we'll get a run—up. all right, down we go. 0h, is that smoky? yeah, it is a bit, isn't it? what's in there? that's a new one. that smells more like oil than... yeah. we have worked it hard. maybe there's. .. yeah, i shouldn't have been giving him full beans on those last hills, maybe.

cautiously saying... so is the diagnosis...? yeah, go on. ..we don't have a problem. there's no problem? hmm. it's just... as we're standing here, like, completely covered in sweat! "nothing's wrong, honest!" nothing's wrong! a bit of excess oil and heat. i will buy that, steve. i'll buy it. oh, dear. that doesn't sound good. 0h... bleep. no, that's really not good. so what's not happening there? back to the back of the car. this time, the ignition won't start. and the way the engine is turning over, it doesn't sound like it's got any compression. we haven't got any water. which would indicate a head gasket. bleep. yeah.

we're currently desperately trying to ring round all of the motorfactors... just to fill you in... ..and car parts specialists to try and find a head gasket because the head gasket is blowing the engine, which is quite a big deal. but we're nearing closing time. um... massive shame, but we've not found a way to be able to make

to sleep tonight. in the not—too—distant future. japanese and a bit less romantic. a few heads. hello, chaps. hey! rob. good to meet you, boys. 0h, here we go. it's the grand reveal.

they're part of a team of designers and engineers that yeah. and from the battery, we drive. still drive, but, when we park it, well, not in the garage, but, when we park it outside, then it can charge while we are having lunch or doing other things. so how many kilometres can it go, maximum? charging while driving, but you can say roughly, yeah, it's a bit tight in here. i don't mind it.

a bit like being in a fishbowl. yeah. oh, it's tight, isn't it? it is a bit tight here, yeah. woo! so what is it like to drive? quite nice, actually. it accelerates quickly. 0k~ _ steering is sometimes... yeah, it's a bit... into account when you are... ..when you're coming ina corner. the speed limit, yeah. aha. emergency lights on. i'm just going to restart it. so we've had a minor malfunction. we've lost power. i'd say about 99% of the power, but we've got the boys

have you tried turning it off and back on again? turning it on and off, yeah. even for this type of vehicle, that's still the case, yeah. we have power again. we've got power! yeah, yeah. well done, timur. well done, mate. yes, exactly. 0k, we're moving on to the grass now. oh, god. that's our parking space. i reckon that is the outside. yeah, i think this is the back side, so... but there is no zipper here. oh! - that's it. i don't mind

the work that you need to do in order to then put the kettle on and be comfortable. it's almost that much more rewarding because of it. timur, is that a toilet under there? that's the toilet, and you're sitting on the shower. come on! what? yeah, right now you're sitting on the shower. how does that work? i will show you. we'll put this one off as well. yeah — attach it to the roof, and... got all the home comforts around you. yeah. yeah, that's what we've tried to create. like, a self—sustaining house on wheels, really. everything is with you. for people about camper vans?

you really need a road and you need a camper van and i think this helps that even more. self—reliant and, um... ..and just a more efficient way of travelling. to make a nice cup of tea. i've got a long drive to central germany ahead of me, so i'm breaking the journey in amsterdam.

hello! hi, i'm bob. hello, bob. i'm rob! welcome... thank you very much. how far does it go around here? does it keep going around? it's caravans for as far as i can see. there is, isn't there? there's a kind of nostalgia, do you think? yeah. that people want to come and experience? well, in the uk as well, actually, bob.

can i have a little look? yeah, of course. man, this takes me back. this is grand. this is so good. yeah, i'd be well happy in here. and so time for bed. mm. thank you very much. goodnight! oh, well. this is still a lovely, cosy little den.

check it out! nice! this is deutschland. guys, look at this! straight roads, grid system, almost as if it and it was, at a very dark time. the city was built in 1938 by hitler's nazi dictatorship decades on, wolfsburg still largely serves

what is now the biggest car plant in the world. korean. volkswagen. itjust goes on and on and on and on. the autostadt. hello! hello and welcome to the autostadt. thank you very much. do you come on your own? are you with cecil? 0h, cecil. yes, of course. this is not the vehicle you were expecting. no, not at all. m _ i'm dieter. dieter. nice to meet you. i'm susie.

right back to the beginning. this very one? yeah. recognisable from what we know as the camper van now. then, in some ways is the great—granddad yes, of course. this is where it all began. but i want to see more. somewhere around here.

now the fun part starts. 0k! _ please come in. thank you. oh—ho—ho! here we go. absolutely. 0h! and of europe, yeah, there was a demand for craftsmen to transport their stuff. yes _ camping box.

yes. they were economic, and so the image started changing. absolutely. so you would buy it as you see it. it was delivered as you can see it here. in the bus with four people easily. or with your family. let's put that right. come on, steve. hey! all good? steve!

hello. hello! steve. . . you in person. what went wrong? yeah, we had a fairly- major overheat and blew the cylinder head gasket. he didn't want to doi it without my family. um...we have... bless him. - but it would... no, we would be absolutely

we will make it one day. this enormous love people have for being in a camper van. to one thing... . . nostalgia. it's all very evocative. without its challenges and pitfalls — personally, i wouldn't have it any other way.

look relatively quiet. it won't be sunny all the time, a fair bit of cloud, particularly disruptive. now on the satellite picture, you can see plenty of cloud out to the west of us. we do have this rain—bearing weather system, but it is so that will slow the progress of this weather front — will lift and clear and, certainly across england and wales, some places will get to see some sunshine.

south—east are likely to see some spells of sunshine. 10 degrees in plymouth — wales, parts of northern england again likely as our weather front approaches, we will see quite a brisk wind, as well, up to the north—west, this rain band does work its way slowly eastwards — it turns wet for a time in northern ireland, the western side of scotland. a bit of patchy rain running ahead of that. with a flow of winds off the near continent, our weather front just tends to weaken and break apart, with high pressure building in behind it. so, here is ourfront — yes, a band of cloud for sunday, some bits and pieces of rain, but this will be weakening all the while.

into the afternoon. temperatures at best nine or 10 degrees. another front pushes in from the west —

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