With her daughters grown up and house prices beyond reach for buying Kath Cross decided it was time to sell her possessions and follow her dreams. With her partner Stuart Hall she bought a campervan, left her rented house in Cardiff, and started travelling the world.
Four years on the couple live full time in their 7.5m Mercedes Sprinter camper van and have driven as far as the Sahara.
Their adventures have taken them thousands of miles to two continents and 14 countries with many adventures along the way.
“For years we’ve watched the cost of living rise and wages stagnate as rent, standing charges, and bills trap us in a routine we aren’t even happy in,” said Kath.
“Everything revolved around staying afloat and we no longer wanted a life where we were just existing. We wanted more than that.”
The couple now live and work on the road full-time under the name Vanavigation.
They create and write travel content as they journey across Europe and beyond on a budget of just £30-£40 a day – less than living in a house used to cost them.
Rising petrol prices caused by the Iran war haven’t stopped the couple either even though their diesel van costs £25 to the gallon – they are just driving slower, said Kath.
In the Atlas Mountains of Morocco Kath, 49, and Stu, 47, were welcomed by a man’s family and his village when they rescued him broken down in the snow.
Closer to home they have been stuck for days by roads impassable to avalanches in Europe. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.
Single mum Kath raised her two daughters, now 22 and 30, in a rented house working as a digital content creator and freelance blog writer.
When they left home she realised she could work from anywhere and no longer needed to be tied down.
“I was renting and just keeping my head above water,” said Kath. “I was living pay cheque to pay cheque so I thought I might as well work while I was doing something fun.
“Renting property my money was dead money and we could not raise the deposit to buy a house so we bought a campervan.
“We come back to see family but we don’t own property and stay in the van when we come back.”
Kath said she had come to a crossroads and wanted to see the world.
“My youngest had just left home an the oldest had left so I was an empty-nester in a large rental house. I sold everything I owned in a month on Facebook Marketplace.
“I kept 1,000 books and 30 piecs of art in a container in west Wales and that’s it. Selling everything was cathartic.
“I was really attached to my things but the more I sold the more freeing it got. I was so attached to things it felt like they owned me. We tend to cling on to things and it can become a trap.”
Kath and Stu, who met through a walking club, had only been together a year when they bought the campervan and trialled life on the road by “pottering” around the UK and Scotland in 2022.
Soon they were bitten with the travel bug and have since journeyed through France, Belgium, Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy , Albania, Greece, North Maecdonia, Kosovo, and Montenegro accompanied by their lurcher dog Nala.
Travelling for four months at a time they come back briefly, partly because of visa restrictions, but would now like to travel further and for longer.
“My daughter Stephanie, 30 and Jessica 22, are in Cardiff. They were very supportive . They have always known I am a bit offbeat,” said Kath.
“I had wanted to travel for a while. I did not want to be an empty nest mum. I wanted to show them you can make your own life. I had been on holidays but not travelled like this before.”
The couple agreed Morocco tops the list as their favourite destination.
“In Morocco we went to the edge of the Sahara. We were sitting looking over the edge on the sand dunes drinking coffee from a mug from home – it was huge,” said Kath.
“Then we had snow in the Atlas mountains in January 2024 when we rescued Mohammed, ‘MouMou’, who was stuck 3,000m up in the snow in his car. We took him out with our snow chains and lent our snow chains to him.
“We were on a 26km dirt track on a tight pass hovering over a deep gorge. They did not have anything in his village really – just 66 houses and a mosque . His mum made us a tagine, nuts, honey, and bread. They spoke no English so we used lots of Google Translate.
“MouMou is in his late 20s and a really nice guy. We were just heading over the Atlas mountains when we saw him. People were just driving past him worrying he was a bandit when he just couldn’t drive on.
“It was a magical experiece meeting him and his family in the village. We are still in touch with him and he follows us on TikTok.”
More recently Kath and Stu, who is originally from Southampton, have been to Albania which they found a lot wilder than they expected.
Driving to scenic mountain village of Thet the couple were halted in their tracks by an avalanche across the road.
“We heard a noise and wild horses were running through the village. We couldn’t get past the avalance,” said Kath.
They had to wait a week for the avalanche snow pile to melt from the road before heading on to Kosovo.
“We are a two-wheel drive vehicle and it took six hours to drive 40 miles there because there were landslips and snow and it was snowy and dark.”
The couple share the driving but Stu is a professional truck driver which helps as he was used to long stints behind the wheel from the start.
“It is a small space to live in and there is no room for a bad mood or arguing,” said Kath. “There is nowhere to storm off to. You have to communicate and you have to put your ego outside. You have to take one another’s points of view on board.”
Looking forward the couple would like to head deeper in Africa.
“We love Albania too. Denmark was very clean and well-organised and whimsical and Kosovo was a surprise,” said Kath.
“I am of an age remembering war there but it is beautiful here and reminds me of the Alps with its snowy peaks.”
The couple, who are keen hikers, go walking but are yet to see any wildlife on their travels though Kath said the night skies in remote places are a revelation.
“There is no light pollution and I never knew whart true dark was before this,” she said.
But however hard they try to escape the world they have, like the rest of us, been hit by the effect of the Iran conflict. Rising petrol prices mean the couple are driving a bit slower now.
“We are now going slow because of petrol prices but we like the challenge of trying to live cheaply,” said Kath.
“We have a diesel van so it is really bad with 25 miles to the gallon.”
But the savings and joy of living on the road and exploring in a campervan outweight even rising prices.
They have had only one slightly tricky moment when Stu was attacked by a cat in Morocco and had to get expensive rabies jabs. Rabies is still endemic in Morocco.
“We washed the wound and next day went to Marrakesh to pay for rabies jabs. If a wild animal breaks the skin you need to get post-exposure rabies jabs and Stu had four in total.
“The healthcare in Morocco was very good but it was a bit scary because two people in the UK died of rabies and it was both from bites in Morocco.”
Stuart, a former prison guard as well as a truck driver, joked he has traded down on vehicles but not on his dreams.
“I have always been a petrolhead,” he said. “I went from that to a van going slowly up hills. I drove 40-tonne trucks but this Mercedes Sprinter camper van is easier.
“Doing a job like being a prison officer you see the worst of people and society so to be able to travel and see people are good is great.”
He admitted he “came out of the prison service quite racist” but saidtravelling and meeting people from other cultures and nations had changed that.
“To travel to Morocco I realised Muslim people will kill you with kindness. They are the nicest, friendliest people,” he said.
“Travelling you realise most people are good and just want and need the same things. Doing a job like I had affects you.”
Now the couple are thinking about trading up to a 4×4 campervan and driving as far as South Africa.
Coming back in between their travels Stu works for a few weeks to raise funds for the next adventure while Kath said she is lucky to be able to take her work wherever she goes – provided she can get an internet connection and petrol prices don’t rise much more.
And if fuel costs more they’ll just drive a bit slower.
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