¡InvictaMoto!

After the lovely day we had yesterday at Sissinghurst Castle Garden instead of the weekend away in Norfolk, we decided to get up early today and go out again. The plan was to go to Bodiam Castle . It's not that far away and I planned a motorhome friendly route on MyRouteApp and imported it to  https://plan.tomtom.com/ . Somewhere along the way the "motorhome" route part gets lost in translation and it opens a car route.  It then has to be re-edited to get it back into motorhome format. Once it is "synced" automatically from Plans to Max (the Go Camper Max satnav)  it seems that despite both products being TomTom products, Max then decides to go a different way to the one planned.... So for most of the journey today we were being told to turn off where we didn't want to go, and to turn around. Unlike my TomTom Rider 410, Max doesn't seem to bother with u-turns.  It simply routes around a huge loop to get back to where it wants to go. Anyway we...

 

As we were unable to go to Nelson's Patch (blog elsewhere) we decided to have a run out locally to give Molly the Moho some miles and have the engine running!  I am paranoid that the engine battery will drop too low and we'll have the dreaded air bag ECU failure. Our visit today it to an old favourite at Sissinghurst Castle Garden . We were up early and out before 9.30am. The estate opens at 10am and the house and gardens at 11am. There is parking for motorhomes and camper vans that can accommodate 7 vans. There is also a coach parking area that can take 3 or maybe 4 large coaches. We arrived first and parked backed into the fence with easy access for us, and to get out again. Reggie was on the long lead as we went down to the café and found ourselves a table in the shade of an apple tree.  They look like cooking apples. Coming early means we get a parking place and a table.  It soon fills up.  It's the last Friday of the last weekend of the school summer holidays. Y...

We had to cancel the trip to Norfolk as at the beginning of the week Claire had a tooth ache that developed into an abscess in her front upper jaw. As well as the pain, her face swelled on one side.  After two emergency visits to the dentist this week, we thought it better not to go 180 miles from home. I emailed Nelson's Patch and hoped as the park wasn't full that they could let us delay the trip a few weeks. No reply. I checked on the website and pitch 9 is shown as being vacant.  They also have only ten of the twenty pitches booked tonight for the weekend. So it's not as though they were turning people away!   I guess they got my email. It would have been nice to have got an acknowledgement from them.  Next time I won't bother with this place. It shows a lack of respect when not bothering to reply. I have checked my spam folder as well. Nothing.

A little more planning this evening for the second day we are in France.  We will overnight at the CCP aire at Formerie and the plan is to head almost due south to the CCP aire at Beaulieu-sur-Loire. Leaving it to Google Maps and TomTom of course come up with several different routes. One that goes into Paris and on the  périphérique (shudder the thought!) and others that bypass Paris to the east and the west.   I decided that as we have "done" the east side so many times, maybe the east ought to be given a chance.   Ticking the boxes in both apps to "avoid tolls" came to one route!  No doubt when it gets onto "Max" it will all change. So the attached screenshot is the proposed route for Day 2.

The job is done. Thanks again to Invicta Caravans mobile engineer who came and did the fitting. It needed the internal gas line inside the wardrobe and next to the gas locker to be disconnected. It has its own tap to turn off the supply. The bottles are also off when not using gas.  Plus. There's another tap in the external bit too!! You can never be too careful with gas! It took awhile and I doubt whether I had the tools nor the skills to do the job. Hopefully, this one will last longer than 5 years. We never use it anyway! I did stick the 30 mbar sticker on... Whilst he was here I got him to sort the fresh water drain tap out.  That's done. We now have the bracket secured with two longer screws. Not the 1/2 inch ones used by Elddis. Or rather the one they actually used. The bracket needs a bit of scrubbing with a wire brush, some rust cure and a spot of black paint.  So we are all systems go for the next two weekends away!

After five years the flap has failed.  Plastic gets brittle over time so it seems doubly amazing that Truma make this part without any metal pins for the hinges.  I saw it flapping about and when stopped pressed the bottom to kick it and it fell off. The "locking" part at the bottom was worn away. We never use it..... My solution would be to super glue it and forget it... But it needs to work if we come to sell Molly. We don't have a gas BBQ nor a Cadac of other eternal gas equipment and probably never will. So today Invicta Caravans mobile service guy is here. The whole unit needs replacing. Aarrghh.

Okay. It's probably not a gadget but I couldn't think of what to call it. In the van we have two EHU cables. A longer 15m one and one 10m.  Sometimes we need both together to reach the bollard to connect up. They are designed to plug together but it means the connection is open to the elements.  So this is a solution to using two in wet conditions.  Nice and red to stop anyone falling over it ..

It arrived in the post in the week.  The box didn't look all that large. When opened the cover, in its bag, was folded in half.  Wow! It's huge. At least it seems more foldable and lighter than the old Optima. Of which is no longer with us. The neighbours had a skip to clear their house and let us dump it in there. The skip was taken away on Friday... Of course, since it arrived we have had Storm Lillian come over the Atlantic from our former colonies. High winds and lashing rain. Neither optimal conditions for testing it. Maybe one day this week we can de-bag it when it's not blowing a hoolie or wet!!!

Once again our motorhoming travels takes us to Norfolk. We must be gluttons for punishment going north all the time, but when you live pretty near the very south-east of the UK, north is pretty much anywhere! With it being a football free weekend we decided to get away. It seems months, or maybe longer, since we were away in Molly!   The need to get away is strong.  We are away the weekend after the UK's August Bank Holiday and it is still school holidays. Usually kids are back in school in the first few days of September on England at least. After looking about I chose Nelson's Patch again. When we went earlier in the year  I don't think we really did it justice.  Reggie is a very reluctant road side walker and hates traffic. The road in front of the site isn't too bad for noise but cars are in the "national speed limit" zone, i.e. 60mph. Last time we were on the pitch named " Dreadnought " after the ship that was at the Battle of Trafalgar . This t...

During a Premiership lull Oldham are away in the South again, this time in Surrey and Woking FC.  We went last year as it was the date of  another lull with Arsenal away! Last year saw Oldham win 1-0  and the cost for an over-65 was £15. Scandalously it has gone up to £16 this year. Tickets bought.   It's Neill's turn to drive again. We'll park at our Aunt's in Maidstone and go in one car. I might go on the bike and lock it up at her's. It's a 3pm kickoff and Google Maps reckons about 75 minutes. I might take the camera 📸 with me this time. The photos I took the last time were pretty crap. The blog deserves better!😉

Yesterday as my second event working on the Guide Dogs UK stand was at the bi-annual Venetian Fete in Hythe. The even usually starts around 4pm and goes on until around 10pm.  Local charities and organisations are given (they pay!) for a raft on the Royal Military Canal and the build a display on it. It's a sort of carnival on water! This year Claire and I volunteered to work on the stand from 5.30pm until 7.30pm.   It's a little disappointing to find that registered charities such as Guide Dogs and the Pilgrims Hospice had to pay for a small space to erect a marquee or gazebo. On top of that they were only allocated 2 wristbands to get people to work on the stands.  Anyone else was charged the £15 entry.  Scalping charitable organisations is pretty despicable. Between stints in the gazebo to work on the tombola we had a look at what was going on along the canal.  Had I known then that my wristband cost £15 I might have got the charity's value for money and...