I seem to have spent this week travelling without always leaving the house. Scotland came back through the drone photographs, Europe unrolled itself across the screen and Route 66 reopened somewhere between the kitchen and the next cup of tea. Meanwhile, Vanilla acquired a more convincing winter power story, the breadmaker demanded a scientific investigation and I decided cheese needed its own chutney department. A quiet week, then.
What ties it together is the urge to look again. At a photograph I thought I knew. At the machinery quietly making life easier. At an ordinary weekend that turns out to contain rather more than a field and an awning. This edition covers the stories published from 11 to 18 October. The journeys reach further back; the discoveries belong to this week.
CHAPTERDroning On gets to the reason this site exists. The aircraft is useful because it gives the camera somewhere else to stand. A familiar place rearranges itself: roads become shapes, shadows gain importance and the photograph appears where there was no viewpoint a moment before. That feeling still beats a specification sheet.
The companion Drone Photos story opens the album out into an aerial diary, from home territory to Scotland. I like the continuity in that. The machines have changed, but the little question before a flight has survived: what am I missing from down here?
[READ THE FULL STORY → why I still love looking from above](/blog/droning-on)
[READ THE FULL STORY → the places and photographs behind the drone album](/blog/drone-photos)
Then the older Milford flight log makes a different sort of return. Flight Archaeology reconstructs a forgotten 2017 afternoon from telemetry, right down to camera events and battery behaviour. It is a historical account, not a route or flight profile to reproduce today. The lovely part is that a file full of numbers can bring back the person holding the controller.
[READ THE FULL STORY → the Milford flight hiding inside an old CSV](/blog/nix-flight-archaeology-milford-27-august-2017)
CHAPTERThe new NC500 archive story is full of the things a route line cannot hold: a mug of tea, a harbour meal, a change in the light, a van made tiny by an enormous landscape. Its newly published account draws on an album of 980 photographs, with 948 geotags. Those numbers matter because they let the journey become more specific, not because I need a photographic league table.
Kyle of Tongue is the perfect example. From the drone, Vanilla becomes a small part of a very large world. Down on the ground she is home. Both views are true, and putting them together explains campervan travel rather better than another paragraph about freedom.
[READ THE FULL STORY → the NC500 through the newly explored photo archive](/blog/nc500-vanilla-scotland-september-2025)
There were several Scottish companion pieces this week, and they revisit the same September 2025 journey rather than representing several fresh trips. The route-led [My NC500](/blog/nc500) follows the wider expedition, while [NC 500’s road account](/blog/nc-500) lingers on the anti-clockwise loop and the pleasure of refusing to hurry. [MY NC500’s photographic retelling](/blog/my-nc500) asks what the images reveal afterwards. The longer [history-rich NC500 story](/blog/y-1-357-9-vanilla-went-north-and-everything-got-bigger) digs into the layers underneath the scenery.
The repeated lesson is useful: a road can be famous and still fail to tell you where the best memory will happen. Sometimes that is a beach. Sometimes a mermaid. Sometimes it is the day you barely move at all.
CHAPTEREuropean Drift received its fullest new telling with the archive-led account of the month away. The article records 6 May to 4 June 2026, twelve countries and 3,850.6 miles on Vanilla’s trip computer. More than the totals, I enjoyed the way familiar names become personal places: the Alps are somewhere I drove, the Adriatic somewhere I reached, and the next border gradually stops feeling like a dramatic event.
That is what a long trip changes. Distance loses some of its intimidation. A country stops being an idea and becomes the place where I made breakfast or wondered whether I really wanted that road.
[READ THE FULL STORY → the complete European Drift: thirty days across twelve countries](/blog/european-drift-2026-30-days-12-countries-vanilla)
The [Flickr European Drift companion](/blog/my-flickr-european-drift) offers another pass through the same journey, using the photographs to stitch together the small stops between the landmarks. I’m treating the different archive totals in the published versions as snapshots of those articles, not adding them together into an imaginary larger expedition.
Route 66 takes the week’s rediscovery across the Atlantic. The September 2024 journey with John Rouse and Gary Kirkwood returns as a story of accumulation: another town, another diner, another roadside oddity, until a celebrated American road becomes our own. The album is substantial, but the people and the little interruptions are what give it weight.
[READ THE FULL STORY → Route 66 with John, John and Gary](/blog/flickr-route-66)
CHAPTERThe charger conversation has moved on. Earlier pieces in this window investigated the 30A IP22 and the 25A IP65 as ways to recover energy faster. The newer Little Blue Box story records buying the Blue Smart IP65 12V/25A; the winter-system article then describes that 25A charger alongside solar, the Orion and the SmartShunt. That is the progression to follow, rather than reading every enthusiastic candidate as something separately installed.
[READ THE FULL STORY → the 25A Blue Smart and the bridge from Forge to Fogstar](/blog/the-little-blue-box-that-might-finally-cure-my-battery-anxiety)
The interesting change is confidence in recovery. The Fogstar remains the van’s central 12V store, the roof contributes when it can, driving offers another charging route and the separate Jackery reserves provide options. The winter article explains how those pieces fit my actual use of Vanilla. Professor Sparks’ verdict reviews the charging architecture and its settings. Neither is a substitute for measured results from the proposed next experiment.
[READ THE FULL STORY → the winter-ready Vanilla power system](/blog/vanilla-powered-the-winter-i-stopped-worrying-about-electricity)
[READ THE FULL STORY → Professor Sparks’ verdict on the charging setup](/blog/professor-sparks-verdict-vanilla-s-charging-system-is-now-a-proper-littl)
For the route into that conclusion, [Three Times the Current](/blog/three-times-the-current-vanilla-s-blue-smart-charger-upgrade) is the earlier 30A investigation, while [Professor Spark’s Blue Box Theory](/blog/professor-spark-s-blue-box-theory) explores the 25A alternative. Together they show the question changing from “How much can I store?” to “How usefully can I refill it?” A larger number only earns its place when it improves the day away.
The separate Vanilla 170 idea addresses a different sort of power. It is a proposal to make a loaded 110 PS campervan feel less hard-worked, with attention to the way torque arrives. It does not announce a completed remap. After a week of electrical amps, it is reassuring that I can still get distracted by the engine.
[READ THE FULL STORY → why I’m considering Vanilla 170](/blog/vanilla-170-why-i-want-more-power-from-my-campervan)
CHAPTERThe Cropredy Weekend puts Fiona and her family into the centre of the story. It looks back at 9–11 October: Caroline on the campsite supply, Vanilla independent, the Faros extending the living space and a trip out to Millets. Ordinary ingredients, very good weekend. The new account is about what we did with the setup once it was working.
[READ THE FULL STORY → the Cropredy weekend with Fiona and family](/blog/the-cropredy-weekend)
Vanilla & Caroline uses a photograph to explain the two different pleasures of travelling: being ready to leave and being comfortable enough to stay. The earlier Old Dairy Farm piece supplies the practical detail, including the warm canvas room between the vehicles. The drone-photo post supplies the wider view. These are different angles on the same little world.
[READ THE FULL STORY → Vanilla and Caroline, side by side](/blog/vanilla-caroline)
[READ THE FULL STORY → how the Old Dairy Farm camp worked](/blog/old-dairy-farm-cropredy-caroline-vanilla-and-a-little-world-of-our-own)
[SEE THE PHOTOGRAPHS → Cropredy from above](/blog/some-drone-photos-from-cropredy)
The short Fiona piece is quieter than all of that. Around eleven years of friendship, the ability to be myself and the way someone becomes part of so many memories. It belongs in this week’s story precisely because no amount of clever kit explains that part.
[READ THE FULL STORY → Fiona and the good bits woven through the years](/blog/fiona)
CHAPTERThe PN100 did more than produce bread this week; it became something to understand. The stage-by-stage guide explains why pressing Start does not immediately produce a kneading performance. The yeast investigation follows what happens inside the dough. Together they encourage the most difficult kitchen skill I possess: measuring carefully and then leaving a machine alone.
[READ THE FULL STORY → what the PN100 is doing during rest, knead, rise and bake](/blog/panasonic-pn100-what-on-earth-is-it-doing-in-there)
[READ THE FULL STORY → the tiny living engine behind the loaf](/blog/yeast-the-tiny-living-engine-inside-every-loaf)
The Soft Toastie Loaf brings that curiosity back to breakfast, with a 250g-flour recipe aimed at a soft loaf that earns its keep in the toaster. It is a pleasingly practical end to all the science.
[READ THE FULL STORY → the PN100 Soft Toastie Loaf](/blog/pn100-soft-toastie-loaf)
Then came the upgrade temptation. The PN100-versus-PMC100 comparison is research from an owner who enjoys the machine he already has, not a side-by-side bake test. More programmes and dessert possibilities are interesting; they do not automatically make the current breadmaker redundant. The useful question is whether the extra functions fit my kitchen, rather than whether I can invent another excuse to buy buttons.
[READ THE FULL STORY → the breadmaker comparison and the case for another slice](/blog/panasonic-pn100-vs-pmc100-do-i-need-an-upgrade-or-just-another-slice)
For the other published versions of that same comparison, there is [Bread Making](/blog/bread-making) and [the companion PN100-versus-PMC100 page](/blog/panasonic-pn100-vs-pmc100-do-i-need-an-upgrade-or-just-another-slice-2). One research thread, several published doors into it.
NIX Chutneys takes the experimenting somewhere new: small test batches, a tasting panel of me, Mum and Fiona, and a first Proper Ploughman’s idea to develop. This is an early venture built around feedback, not a claim that shelves are already groaning with finished products. Given the amount of cheese involved in my life, it feels remarkably inevitable.
[READ THE FULL STORY → the beginning of NIX Chutneys](/blog/nix-chutneys)
CHAPTERThe two STORIES pieces explain the week’s other change: giving words and photographs a more useful relationship. The longer introduction describes the modular magazine direction; the shorter update makes the personal purpose clear. Maps, images, galleries and text need room to tell different parts of the same story.
This week’s travel archive is a good reason to bother. A photograph should help me remember a place, not merely fill the gap before the next heading. The presentation matters when it makes the story easier to enter.
[READ THE FULL STORY → the new NIX STORIES layout explained](/blog/nix-stories-this-is-what-the-new-nix-looks-like)
[READ THE FULL STORY → why STORIES is becoming NIX’s editorial heart](/blog/nix-stories-has-changed)
CHAPTERThe new European Drift account takes it. Not because it contains the most countries, but because it turns a large, slightly unbelievable journey back into something human and specific. The trip computer, the photographs and the remembered stops support each other. I can see the adventure again without pretending it happened this week.
There is a lovely consequence to doing that properly: the next map looks a little less daunting. I have already driven to places that once felt impossibly far away. That is a useful thing to remember when Vanilla is sitting outside waiting for another direction.
[READ THE FULL STORY → this week’s highlight: European Drift, properly remembered](/blog/european-drift-2026-30-days-12-countries-vanilla)
CHAPTERThe kitchen also escaped the bread department. [Orange-Pot Cantonese Chicken Noodles](/blog/nix-kitchen-orange-pot-cantonese-chicken-noodles) turns a straightforward wok meal into several future dinners, while [Dark Ninja Ragù](/blog/ninja-ragu) gives the soup maker a role alongside a frying pan, rather than pretending one gadget must do everything. Both are very much about useful food I actually want to eat.
[The Furthest from the Sea](/blog/the-furthest-from-the-sea-coton-in-the-elms-v-milford-v-daventry) takes an innocent comparison between Coton in the Elms, Milford and Daventry and follows it into coastline geometry and the difference between a line on a map and a road journey. A wonderfully inland diversion in a week full of coastlines.
[Egg](/blog/egg) gives the working road its turn: 164,280 eggs, roughly 275 working miles and the human rhythm of a night run. It is a reminder that my relationship with roads includes loading bays and fuel stops as well as mountains.
[Project Orange](/blog/vanilla-s-next-orange-obsession-the-vee-dub-caliper-cover-project) remains the cosmetic temptation behind Vanilla’s gold spokes. The caliper-cover idea still needs its physical clearance check; wanting the orange is not proof of fit.
And [NIX Jurassic’s east-to-west coastal plan](/blog/nix-jurassic-three-nights-three-pubs-and-185-million-years) is a published itinerary, not a completed expedition. Its cliffs and pub-stop theme remain a separate idea from the specifically dated Peak District plan. I’m not combining two proposed journeys into one impossible next week.
CHAPTERThe dated plan is Stone, Sky & Fire: 19–21 October in the Peak District, with Vanilla, Torque, the camera and two proposed pub nights. It runs from White Peak scenery towards the reservoirs and higher horizons, with riding woven into the idea. As I write, that is still ahead of me. The published itinerary is the plan to follow, not evidence that every stop has already happened or permission has been freshly reconfirmed.
[READ THE FULL STORY → the Stone, Sky & Fire plan for 19–21 October](/blog/vanilla-stone-sky-fire)
Power Lab has a concrete question waiting too. The Little Blue Box article proposes a Forge-to-Fogstar 1kWh transfer test: how much leaves the Jackery, how much reaches the leisure battery and how long it takes. That is the logical next measurement, not a result I can announce early. Chutney tasting and further photo-archive discoveries are continuing threads rather than a promised release timetable.
Until then, follow an older road through the archive, find a photograph worth stopping at and put the kettle on. I’ll be back next Sunday with what actually happened.
NIX
