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Offgrid Day 1

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I planned to leave around 3.30pm for the three hour drive across the south to Wantage in Oxfordshire. The destination is Off Grid Power Solutions to have work tomorrow to make the van more off grid usable. Over the morning, when I woke with terrible stomach pains, we put all the stuff I need for two days away from home.  So, everything was going far too swimmingly up the motorways and around the M25. As usual, despite the A3 junction work being completed, everything slowed to walking pace.  TomTom was actually working at this point to say that the M4 was blocked in several places. Without a co-pilot I had no idea where and why. Instead the route changed to the M3 and Bracknell to the M3 and Hook near Basingstoke. I stopped at Fleet Services to check everything was working and th n set off again. Across country to Reading on the M4 and then Reading Services where I had planned to stop.  At Reading Services I had avoi...
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First solo trip...

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Today I am driving the van across to Off Grid at Wantage so that they can start work early tomorrow morning. Apart from local driving it's the first time I have gone anywhere solo in the van. Okay, I have driven to the storage quite a few times, and to Canterbury, but this is about three hours. I have emptied the van of everything not needed so that the guys doing the work don't have to do it. It leaves them a pretty much blank canvas to work on. I assume to work under the seats in the van, they will remove them. We'll have to wait and see. Offgrid Power Solutions
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Route 66 Cap

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When I posted this picture on another social media platform, I had people commenting on the cap. Mostly asking if I had ridden it. The answer is no. I haven't ridden any of Route 66 on a motorcycle. Others simply trolling. The truth is. I have driven all of the Route 66 possible in Arizona. From the border with New Mexico to crossing the Colorado River to a section in California. We did it in a Dodge Charger SXT. Photographed near Lake Havasu. The original cap came from the Hackberry Stores. It "went missing" off my desk in 2020. I was lucky to be able to buy the exact same one, same colour, grey, on eBay. The trip was ten years ago. May and June 2016.
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Take the Lead Fundraising

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It's Day 24 of " Take the Lead " where Reggie and I walk to try and raise money for the charity St Mungo's. I put our names down for a mere 26 miles in April, using the Strava app to keep a record of the walks.  But. I keep forgetting to start it. Or worse, turn it off after a walk, then having to delete it, thus losing genuinely acquired miles!!! This was the case last week.  Turned on when I left Arsenal station, and off when I got back there. All good. Then after walking to the train I forgot and it came out at 78 miles!!! The three genuine miles lost. So how about a donation to a good cause? Justgiving will take any currency.... A single £ or $ or € will be appreciated. Paul & Reggie's Fundraising Page . As well as donating you can see updates on our progress.
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Folkestone. On the Bus!

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With the car in the garage for its annual service, we decided to take the bus into Folkestone. The journey takes about 30 minutes. Thanks to being senior citizens we travel free on buses after the time people will be going to work and school. We got the bus around 1030. POSH. Anyone remember that? We live on the South coast of England. Folkestone is only about 5 miles to the east.  So "port out, starboard home" is the order of the day. If you know, you know. Firstly, a stop in Boots for Claire to use up some vouchers, and then down the Old High Street. The Old High Street has lots of blue plaques explaining what businesses occupied each building in the 19th and 20th centuries. It's now very arty now, and the plaques show that it used to be where the working class lived and worked. A stop at a bakery to get a huge cheese scone and a cake that looks like a pork pie.... Our next port of call was the bus stop at the bottom of the hill by the harbour. T...
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Two Buffaloes

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Back to the late 90's. Two buffaloes at Woburn Abbey.....
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The European Pet Password loophole is closed

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I guess we have to be thankful that we got three years use out of this Belgian pet passport. We had a couple of AHC's in 2022 and 2023 before we got this one in Bruges. It saved us around £400 in AHC's over the intervening years. The EU has sealed the loophole that allowed us in Great Britain have one to travel. But they seem to have dropped the usual bollock when it comes to having 27 countries fall into place and publish details properly. For our SP26 trip we already have an AHC and this pet passport will record his rabies jabs. The AHC will need completing by a different vet before we come home.
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