Who is behind the wheel?
The reluctant
nomad.
Someone travelling in a van, asking questions, and resisting the suggestion that every difficult day is secretly an adventure.
01 / The short version
Curious.
Mobile.
Uncertain.
I’m Mark: a UK-based traveller, Scout volunteer and habitual question-asker. I travel by van—not because I have solved life, but because changing the view occasionally helps me see the questions differently.
Reluctant Nomad is where I write about what actually happens: the places worth stopping, the people encountered, the machinery that needs attention, and the strange language we use for temporary homes.
Looking for answers—mostly to questions I don’t know yet.
This is not a guide to flawless vanlife. There will be no insistence that a wet lay-by is freedom or that every breakdown is a blessing. There will be honest dispatches from the cab, the campsite, the Scout field and wherever else the road happens to lead.
The van
Part transport.
Part small room.
A Ford Transit that carries the bed, the tools and—on a good day—enough electricity for the fridge. It is a work in progress, which makes two of us.
02 / What is what
The stories
Longer pieces from journeys, events and places I did—or did not—mean to visit.
The observations
Thoughts on vanlife, volunteering, people, practicalities and whatever else needs questioning.
The occasional email
A way to receive new dispatches when they appear. No rigid schedule and no manufactured inspiration.