I quit my job and sold my home to live in a caravan – I save THOUSANDS every month and travel across Europe for peanuts
LANCE Sewter swapped bricks and mortar for a 30-year-old motorhome 12 months ago and the savings ensure he will be staying on the road.
Former warehouse manager Lance, 54, has now spent a year living in his Swift Kon-Tiki campervan and he’s literally loving it.
Lance said: “I just love this life too much. And Wandering Walter, as I call my motorhome, is all I need.
“I really enjoy this life – it’s the best thing that I have ever done. It’s home now and it cost £10,000 all in.”
Lance said he generally stays in places for two or three days and emphasised the importance of leaving no rubbish behind.
“I’ve no problems with hygiene as I’ve got a British Waterways key that gives me access to the showers, so I spend a lot of time staying in scenic spots along the canals,” he continued.
Lance has named some of his favourite spots as Tarleton in Lancashire, and Johnson’s Hillock Locks near Wheelton.
For doing his laundry he uses the Revolution pop up pods found outside supermarkets.
“Morrisons petrol stations are brilliant, they always let you get access to water,” he said.
However, one thing he wasn’t prepared for was how cold it gets in the winter.
“I was up in Cumbria near the coast at Silloth last year and the temperature was -7 outside and -4 inside,” Lance said.
“That was a baptism of fire – only not so hot at all.
“I have a diesel heater, but in the winter you are only getting about four hours of sunlight on the solar panels so the battery is low.
“It does teach you how wasteful you were when living in a house.
“In here if I leave the light on I can see the battery drain, so you make sure you switch everything off that is not needed.”
Lance loves travelling around England and Scotland and is looking forward to more adventures on the continent later this year.
“I suppose when it reaches a point when Walter can no longer wander, then I will look for some land, anywhere north of Birmingham to park up and live on,” he said.
“As Walter won’t be on the road for ever. This will be the closest I could get to self-sufficiency. Some land with a bit of access would be brilliant.
“For now, the travelling is too much fun and I really enjoy it and meeting new people.”
Last September, until mid-November, Lance and Walter went wandering through France and Spain and met a multitude of interesting travellers – he records monologues of his adventures on his Youtube channel WanderingWalter.
Lance, originally from Leyland in Lancashire, explained: “I set up the Youtube channel because my dad and my friend wanted to know how the travels were going and where I was.
“I’ve got 433 subscribers now, so lots of people are taking an interest in Wandering Walter.”
Lance bought his last house in Burnley after a divorce in 2004 for £49,000.
Before selling up, his mortgage and bills were costing £564 a month – while the motorhome costs around £50 – with £40 for fuel and around a tenner a month for gas.
“Though I did used to put £40 a month of diesel in the car when I was in Burnley, so that costs the same now. I buy a bottle of gas for £57 and it lasts six months, so with that and the solar panels on the roof this is such a cheap way of living,” he added.
LANCE'S MONTHLY OVERHEADS
Here are Lance’s monthly household overheads from his Burnley home:
Mortgage £340
Gas/electric £65
Council tax £105
Internet £40
Water £14
In comparison, his transport costs of £40 on diesel and his tax, insurance and MOT work out at £70 a month, the same as before when living in his house.
Another constant is his food bills of around £200 a month, which is the same in the house, or motorhome.
Lance added: “Some people do this going here and there and they are spending a fortune on fuel when they haven’t really got the money to do it.
“You have to be very careful and watch your money. When I was in France and Spain the highest cost was the fuel.
“The French service areas are very good with free electric, though some are charging £5 or £6 and that’s not too bad.
“I remember on the return I was at Marck, near Calais, I had just got out videoing the van and this guy in another van went nuts – you’re not filming me and all that and I wasn’t,” he continued.
Another time in Spain this campervan pulled up about inch away from Walter and then the fella put his TV on full blast in Spanish next to us. The joy of this life is you can just start the engine if you don’t like the neighbours and drive away.
Lance Sewter
“Another time in Spain this campervan pulled up about inch away from Walter and then the fella put his TV on full blast in Spanish next to us. The joy of this life is you can just start the engine if you don’t like the neighbours and drive away.”
When Lance sold his house in 2023 for £71,000 that left him £22,000 more than the purchase price back in 2004.
His decision to take to the roads followed a nasty bike accident that left him hospitalised and with three broken vertebrae – which resulted in an insurance payout of £25,000.
The cost of Walter was just £8,000, but with a further £2,000 spent for the solar installation and fettling the vehicle up for the road, so £10,000 all in.
Lance, who once managed the Poundstretcher in Fleetwood before leaving his last job with Fusion in Grimsby, a commercial laundry business, said: “I’ve just bought an E-bike for £1,350, so I can do more cycling and seeing the sights after I park up.
“I look forward to wandering with Walter for many happy years to come. I do this for the entertainment and I am loving the life.”