¡InvictaMoto!

As the weather had ruined our weekend away to Chatsworth we finally did get out for a run.  With the weather alternating between rain and sun we went locally to the White Cliffs again. Once again we went to the newly created motorhome parking area. This time there was only one space free.  There was a car in the end space, another camping car in another, the other spaces were filled with a huge pile of gravel or a massive puddle. We had a walk up passed the cattle that are on Langdon Cliff to naturally manage the land.  One was quite inquisitive but Reggie ignored them all.   We had taken a flask of coffee so that we didn't need to use the gas to heat water.   So far so good.

Sadly the weather worked against us. Snow in the Midlands and around the site and locally.  This caused a few problems with the power going off and the pipes freezing. In the south we had Storm Bert bringing winds up to 70mph and heavy rain with flooding. https://invictamoto.blogspot.com/2024/11/staycation-2024-chatsworth-christmas.html So we cancelled and had to forfeit the £20 deposit. Bugger.

When we picked up Malibu Molly (MM for short) of Tuesday we had already decided that we needed a trial run trip away to have a shake down.   MM is a 6m campervan based around a Fiat Ducato van . Old Molly was a 7m coachbuilt motorhome.  It's amazing what that extra metre can do!  Size does in fact matter! MM also has a fixed bed with lots of storage space underneath. There's also a removable floor that fits in so that instead of stacking stuff up we can fit storage boxes, if the are 20 litre sized (!),  under the floor and other more accessible stuff on the top.  The floor space is about 7ft by 4ft. All the boxes that used to fit under the bench seats in Molly fit nicely under this flooring.  I was going to take a photo but never got around to it, and oddly, none of the similar vans on the internet at dealers all across Europe actually have the floor and the brackets fitted. There does seem to be a range of Malibu 600 vans.  Ours has the two porth...

We had Slimming World this morning. Possibly the nerves and not sleeping contributed to the 1lb lost this week despite not really trying to lose weight! Anyway, that's not what today's blog is all about. Once back from SW we took the new mattress protector, sheets and pillows/cases across to MM. It's easier than Malibu Molly all the time! Whilst out I took a few more pix. Today's short trip was to the National Trust site at The White Cliffs above Dover. When we were there in the car last week we noticed the car park along the cliff from the visitor centre is now for motorhomes. That's where we aimed for.  When we arrived we were the first there, or rather the only ones...  Instead of using the vans power I made coffee in a flask from the Tassimo. A short walk along the cliffs and then back to the cafe and shop. Claire invested in some "cookies". They are really soft baked biscuits. We ...

  We arrived at Choose Leisure in Canterbury just before 10am ready to have the handover of the new to us 2020 Cathargo Malibu "Charming GT" 6m van based on a Fiat Ducato 2.3 litre diesel van. The handover mileage was 7710 and I drove back the long way via Folkestone to avoid our narrow country lanes.  A trip out later to fill the diesel tank meant Claire got her first go in Molly. We have kept the name but have added "Malibu" to the tags!! To activate the Fuelly app needed a first full tank. It came with a third of a tank of fuel. So filled 7745 taking just over 60 litres.

If this sounds familiar to you, it's because we went in 2023.  We both love a Christmas Market and the one at Chatsworth House is pretty good.  What clinched it for us is that we can stay at the Caravan & Motorhome Club campsite right alongside the Chatsworth Estate.  There's even a private entrance for campers to get into the deer park and walk around to the market. This year we are going later in the run for the event than last year.  Last year there had been a lot of rain and the river that runs past the campsite and the bottom of the estate had been flooded. By the time we arrived it had receded but a lot of the grass parking near the house, for day visitors, was still boggy . Fingers crossed that this year it's not that bad. With global warming on the agenda all the time, maybe it will be 25 degrees centigrade and we can all wear t-shirts and shorts....  ;)

This will be the last staycation or possibly any trip in 2024.  From January 1st "staycation" as a title will be retired and replaced with "trip", after all, that's what they are! This trip  will be to Suffolk to see Claire's family before Christmas. Once again we plan to stay at the Waterpump CL in Badingham. We have booked two nights there. It's still £20 a night with water and EHU.   Sarah and her husband run a really nice 5-pitch site as a certificated location under the banner of the Caravan and Motorhome Club. I expect we'll need to pack warm clothes and make sure the gas bottles are full for the heating and water!!!    We are hoping to get across to the pub for lunch on one of the days we are there. They are dog friendly in one of the bars and so Reggie doesn't have to stay in the van on his own... We were due to go at the end of August and I had to cancel as both sisters decided to have medical/dental problems!  Sarah is very understa...

The first of the new era staycations will be quite local at the Caravan and Motorhome Club site at Densole near Hawkinge in Kent! Just one night and more will be revealed in a report about the trip..... What could it be?

Traditionally, the Illegal Eagles play Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall in February.  This year, or rather 2025, the date has been snaffled by the Marlowe in Canterbury. So instead Folkestone with host them in July.  I have tickets bought early to get a decent central view.  This year we were to the side.

At the moment whilst I think about the "die Burgenstrasse" Awaycation, I have seen a few events/shows/rallies to go to. The first is Vanlove 2025.  It's been on quite a few YouTube videos over the years.  Loads from the 2024 event. It's held on the runway at Elvington Airfield. The airfield is usually the base for land speed record attempts due to the long runway. So that's a weekend in July sorted. P.S. Staycation has been archived and we'll use Trips for 2025...

"The path of my life is strewn with cowpats from the Devil's own satanic herd.” - Edmund Blackadder. Mine is much smoother than that but sometimes the stress of simply making a change to the vehicle you own makes you feel like you are treading through a cowpat minefield. Sorted today.  A total of 134 minutes of phone time! Luckily, my mobile contract has unlimited minutes.... Coming soon....

What a fiasco.  I logged into the insurance company's app that simply takes the user to the internet and their usual website.   One of the options is to amend your policy online, be that change of vehicle or address etc...   I chose vehicle. Then entered the details over several screen about the (possible) update vehicle.  After about 15 minutes.... it can't quote for that vehicle and I need to call them. As I had spent 45 minutes on with them at around 9.30am and was waiting for a call-back, this was the option the often repeated recorded kept telling me as it interrupted the awful "lift muzak" I was being forced to listen to on the line.  If the guy at 10.15am had said that to quote they needed me to specify what tracker device was fitted then I could have saved another few hours of my life getting nowhere. The Malibu campervan we are interested doesn't have a tracker.  It does have a Thatcham Category 1 alarm fitted and that comes with an immob...

The squirrels around here don't bother coming and giving you a choice.  They simply come and bite off the perches that the birds need to they can get the rodenty little faces into the feeders and eat as much food as they can get into their bellies.

Today after some shopping in Canterbury we had a little drive to Choose Leisure the motorhome and campervan (RV) dealers. Over the last few weeks, and maybe months since April, we have lost a lot of faith in Marquis, the motorhome dealers, and Elddis, the manufacturers of Molly the Motorhome. The full story will come out later when we have finally resolved the damp and the water ingress to parts of the body work and roof. We talked about it when we were in Spain. maybe once the damp had been fixed under the 10 year SOLID warranty we'd look to get rid of Molly and by a campervan rather than a coachbuilt. So for the last week or so we have been looking, off and on, on the internet for local dealers with vans for sale. Should we stay with Elddis and go for a van, or move to a different manufacturer? We saw a few different styles and sizes of vans at the Norfolk Campervan and Motorhome Show in July. There were some layouts that appealed to us, and of course we have quite a few differen...