On the Road Again!

Today we drove back up to Burgess FIAT Specialist in Sittingbourne to collect Malibu Molly. I had had a call yesterday to say that it was a battery after all. All the checks we had done concentred the voltage and not the drop in ampage! They tested it in the van, and again bench testing and found that there was a sudden drop in amps until it was unable to start the van. So here we are with a new battery. And another huge bill to cover the work and the new battery.  Of course, she ran perfectly on the way home. At least we can feel more comfortable going to France soon. Old Photo!  

Sunday Why have an overnight stay on the Isle of Sheppey? Malibu Molly was booked into the FIAT specialist garage in Sittingbourne on Monday 14th September. The plan was originally to drive off early from home with Google Maps indicating the journey would be around an hour from home. Although that didn't take into account the roads and traffic. So at the last minute I looked for a Caravan Club CL or Camping & Caravan Club CS.  That's how we ended up at the CL at Rides House Farm CL on the Isle of Sheppey. It was the nearest to Burgess. Again Google Maps was a little off with 11 miles and 22 minutes.   The maths means an average of 30mph. As we didn't know if they would need to keep the van, I drove up with Claire following in the Juke. We made good time. Once at the new Sheppey crossing it was quite amazing! It is quite a steep climb and of course, steep on the way down ... After that it's single carriageway to Eastchurch and beyond. Once through the gates and on th...

It's 25 years since 9/11.  Things haven't changed much.  The War on Terror wasn't a success and still isn't. Everyone alive knows where we were then. Claire and I were in Amboise for a trip on my new Suzuki Bandit 1200. We were in a popular budget hotel. We saw the attack on the the World Trade Centre towers on a tv in an electrical shop's window.  We had no idea it wasn't a movie as there was no sound. France was some six hours ahead of EST and so it was early afternoon. We had visited the Chateau and also Clos Lucé where Leonardo da Vinci had lived. Clos Luc é When we got to the hotel all hell had let loose. American guests were trying to call home to find out what was happening.  It was terrible. I won't post photos of the events. It's simply not done.

After being binned off by Sandaya at the Mont St Michel campsite we decided to go else where. After watching a vlog about the Ile de R é I thought about that, but in the end we decided that we'd try Brittany. It's not somewhere we have explored before. We have cut across to get from the Charente area to Mont St Michel in the past, but we haven't gone too far west. The vloggers who were on the  Ile de R é are the Slaws . We have watched their stuff on YouTube for quite a few years. They stayed at the site we stayed at in 2023 at Flower Camping Les Ilates.  We also stayed at the Flower Camping site at Omaha Beach and at their site St Lambert in Millau also in 2023. When I logged in to Flower our previous stays had been removed from the "past stays" section.  I looked for Brittany and found Flower Camping Le Bois d'Amour. There was a choice of pitches for three nights, the comfort at €66 for three nights ...

Sadly our little man Reggie passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday morning. He was just a few weeks away from his 16th birthday. We had a nice lady come and take him to a pet crematorium. Today, we picked his ashes up and will keep them on the book case until we decide where to scatter or plant them. The house seems so empty without him. We grieve for him. We know we gave him 12 years of love and he couldn't have wished for anything  God bless little man.

Had an email today from the Sandaya site. Due to a management decision they have decided to close the camp earlier than planned. That means they have effectively cancelled our booking but offered to find us an alternative. I have replied to say that I'd rather have the €121.50 refunded to my credit card instead. They came back quickly and have set that in motion. Hopefully credited to my Clarity card before I have to pay the balance!! It means we can look elsewhere and have a bit of freedom. This trip was planned around the dog hence the frequent stops, longer stays in one place and shorter driving days.

I have finally copied the large /iTunes folder from the old laptop and successfully copied it across to the new laptop. It does look as though all the "new" downloads and CD rips are there. As it wasn't charging from the assortment of mains plugs and original Apple cables  I took a gamble on the Ameegomains charger from Amazon.  It works! Phew. Ameego MAINS CHARGERS