On the Road Again!

I am looking at a couple of days at the rally. The campsite is almost next to where the balloon festival is held. I am don't think we'd be there for the entire weekend that the festival will be on for, but maybe get there on the 5th or 6th before the balloon goes up.... I have no idea how big the rally field is and hopefully there will be more information in the club's magazine nearer the time. It's a shame it's a no booking rally.

Paul's fundraising page - https://takethelead.mungos.org/fundraising/pauls-fundraising-page3979?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=dssb-EM&utm_content=MPC

If I was a YouTuber i would use my new AI skills, such as they are, to create a dramatic thumbnail. But it's quite mundane and she has gone to ARC for the taps to be replaced. She'll be gone a few days to get the work done.

I had barely driven half way to Hythe when I started to get the flashing lights in my left eye. It's the introduction to a migraine. Of course, I was travelling light and my man-bag with my meds was at home! So after parking up in the Waitrose carpark the first stop the chemist in the high street to exchange £9 for 12 Migraleve pills. They have gone up in price dramatically over the last few years. The plan was for Claire to go to Pilates whilst Reggie and I would walk up the high street and then around the canal over a couple of bridges. Whilst Claire would be occupied for an hour we could whip round. By the time we had got to the Lady's Walk bridge the migraine had past. It took the best part of three quarters of an hour to get round to the car again. Another nice walk to make the most of the sunny day 

Yesterday, we had a run to our favourite place (locally) to fill up with diesel and have a walk in the March sunshine. With Mr Trump's war with Iran going badly and the oil tankers unable to get through to bring us the oil we need, fuel prices are steadily going up. With a couple of trips planned I decided to fill up. The Petrolprices app on my phone said the Murco station on the Canterbury road was cheapest. It's gone from £1.419 to £1.629 since the bombing started. Thanks.  From there we went to the National Trust White Cliffs of Dover. Plenty of space in the dedicated parking.  The good weather brought out the crowds. Boy, was it busy. We had a coffee. Claire wanted a sausage roll but it seems they only had cake!  We took a walk on the loop up to the top of the first path and then back through the fields to the top car park. I took a few photos on the walk. It was quite hazy over the sea and over Dover Castle.

What the absolute bollocks is this?  The old guy is Me FFS.

Even gingerbread  Easter bunnies' lives matter!!! How could they condone this level of cruelty and not reduce the price!!! Yeah. The Easter Chick has got away unharmed!!! NOTE: THE THUMBNAIL WAS CREATED BY AI AND NO REAL BUNNY WAS HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THE THUMBNAIL.

I have been having a few problems with the Nikon D50 of late.  Due to firmware limits I have only been using 1gb and 2gb SD cards. The camera is fitted with a Nikkor 28-100mm lens. The problem is that the shutter won't operate and in viewfinder display it shows an r07 error. Googling gives the following:  The "r07" message on Nikon cameras (commonly D70/D80) is usually not an error, but an indicator that 7 shots remain in the memory buffer. If it flashes or prevents shooting, it indicates a full buffer, communication error, or power issue. Reset by turning the camera off, removing the battery/memory card for 15 minutes, or cleaning lens contacts.  If there are 7 shots in the memory buffer why does it do it as soon as you turn it on after weeks of no use?  I know this is an information display, but it shouldn't be 🔒 locking the shutter release before any images have been taken and saved. If anyone knows, then please comment. I took...

This will have been taken by my Dad.  It looks to be in Trafalgar Square, but in reality it could be anywhere with pigeons! I guess I was maybe 10yo? Yes. It's me around 60 years ago!!!

The things that were outstanding on the trip after the decision to put id back 4 weeks. The two nights at Oyambre after we dock. Irish Ferries return ferry journey. The AHC date change. The first two are sorted. I needed to call them, yes, I had to speak to another person! That was done today. Admin fees and changes to the pitch rates and ferry fares mean another £40 has evaporated. The AHC remains the problem. Everything is done online to order one and their website says that as a small vet's they handle these things, including replying to emails, are part of their jobs and they action them in the order they arrive. So that's the one we are waiting to sort out.

The last chance I will get to see Latics this season happens to be away at Colchester United.  I have been before on the bike(s) but this time as the game is a 3pm kick-off on Good Friday, I had a look for a camping site or club certificated location/site. Claire and I went a few years ago and we visited Beth Chatto's gardens nearby and then attended le foot. Who says men can't wear pink? What jumped out was the Colchester Country Park site.  I checked on Google Maps and it shows a walking distance of over an hour and driving of a mere 11 minutes.   Before booking either the game or the site, I dropped them an email to see if they had a recommended taxi firm. Sites often have a taxi firm they are happy with. Never having ever used an Uber I like someone that is "known". Although Uber might be a consideration.... The lady at the site came back and suggested two they use, along with their phone numbers. So I booked the seat in the ground.  The last few times we ha...

There has been a lot of talk online on Facebook and other social media channels about the slight change to the European Pet Passport scheme. It's suggested than the EU will crack down on the policing of the use of the PP's after April 21st 2026.  The directive came into force when the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016 and only applied in reality when we left in 2021. The wording was open to interpretation and vet's in some EU countries were happy to vaccinate UK pets and issue a PP. We have a Belgian issued PP for Reggie.  It seems the clamp down is being interpreted several ways.  One is that only EU citizens can have one, or that the animal or owners have to reside in an EU country. The latter seems discriminatory as Claire is an Irish Citizen and passport holder. She lives in the UK with me though. Not unusual as we are married. In the end we have decided for our next trip to get an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) and travel on that. We still have Reggie's PP and as h...

These are the offending taps.  In the days since the hab check and the leaks being detected I have been on the internet looking for a Cathargo Malibu dealer to get replacements. ARC that did the hab check were onto it, and I tried a number of Cathargo dealers across the country. Our own dealer, Choose Leisure, was able to order the taps but they would have to come from Germany. The lead time would be 6 to 8 weeks. However, the couldn't fit them as the workshop was booked out until July! We are, or rather were, booked on the ferry to Spain in 9 weeks and two days from today. I posted on the Malibu Van owners group on Facebook and got a couple of recommendations. As this was over the weekend I didn't expect anyone to get back until today. Both of them are Malibu dealers. One hasn't replied yet. It's Monday and almost 7pm. Not even the blanket "got your email" reply. The other, "Go European", very quick this morning. They asked for photos of the offendi...

Anyone know how this breaks any rules? It's a photo of the place I was reviewing....  Reggie and I were having a walk and Maps came up with places I had been. One of them that day was the Leas Cliff Hall.  This is a photo of it from the outside.  My review, that can't be read or edited, was based on the café that's open everyday and in the evening when there's a concert on.

Back ib December I was looking at a few days before the Christmas season to go away in the van.  With Chatsworth House Caravan Club site closing in the summer, that ruled out the Christmas Market there. Then I saw some vanlife vloggers had been to Sandringham Estate for the Luminate Show. 💡 Luminate also have special nights during the run where people can take their dogs. It's only one night a week. That's six nights where there are no dogs!!! Based on the dates for 2025 on their website, I made a guess on when it would be on in 2026 and booked a couple of nights at the Caravan Club site. The deposit was only £5.  I blogged on it before: https://invictamoto.blogspot.com/2026/01/sandringham-camc-site.html However, Luminate bookings opened this week and I was two days out with my guess.  I was thinking the dog friendly days would be the same but they aren't. Dog day is now Monday.  So I booked the Caravan Club site to get up there earlier on Monday and leave on Wednes...

My Mum when she was a student nurse in 1950. She trained at St Mary's Hospital in Portsmouth.

This was one of the first records I bought with my own money. It's also why I called the blog "On the Road Again".

Failed!  It was a clean sweep. Gas all works and is safe. Electrics all safe. Heating on gas works, water heater too. The check costs £269 and the engineer comes to the house. So what did it fail on. TAPS! Taps (or faucets) all failed.  Each of them leaking. We had drained the water out of the boiler and both fresh and waste water tanks back in early December. But the engineer said that the problem was most likely to have been caused by frost damage. So ARC are looking for compatible taps for two sinks and the shower. Then we can book it in. Apart from when I was hospitalised we have been taking the van out regularly to keep the batteries charged. The picture created on ChatGPT as a YouTube vlog thumbnail merging two photos and manipulating my picture to fit the "angry" look.

When you have too much time on your hands and easy access to the MyRouteApp app on the phone and on the laptop! By the time we are in Spain, we should have the full "off grid" system up and working. This will enable us to choose sites and aires that won't need electrical hook-up (EHU) for overnights. We can truly be free to stop where we like, when we like, the law permitting. So I have been using MyRouteApp  and a couple of apps on the phone, Search4Sites, Park4Night and TripStop, to plan a different route back. One with fewer miles and fewer stops but for longer each time. I have removed the Douro section and have built into a loop taking in Roman and Moorish sites across Spain before heading north. 

A date! It took a few days for the bank to clear our deposit and the date has been set for April 27th.  I didn't want it any later as we will need time for any teething problems to arise and get fixed before we go to Spain in late May. It will be a solo trip. Apart from drives to the dealer's and the MoT garage, both in Canterbury, and to and from storage, I haven't had a solo trip. What will I do without my co-driver to give advice on the road?  Gulp.

I have been looking for an awning light for the van for some time.  Both the motorhomes had one built in that could be switched on from inside the van. It means at night, stepping out, whether the roll-out awning was deployed or not, was into a lighted space. With a van's large opening and sliding door it doesn't leave many places to fit one.  I didn't want anymore holes drilled! Holes in the bodywork lead eventually to leaks! I concentrated on magnetic fixing, eventually finding this one on Amazon. It was £18. It fits snuggly above the driver's door and can be angled down. It comes with a remote control. The little dome at the bottom is where the remote has to be pointed. So far I have only managed to get it to turn on and off. The sensor bit has eluded me!

This morning we picked up Edmond from the foster home to take bin the the Vets for Pets surgery in the Pets at Home store in Whitfield near Dover. He had been there in the week to have his "bits" removed.  It's essential that when rehoming dogs their ability to breed is removed. In the end once he got over the initial excitement in meeting us, mainly Claire, as I met and fed him and played with him on Thursday, he was quiet as a mouse in the car. We had a few minutes to hang around as on a Sunday stores don't open until 10am. We were in and out in a short time. The vet happy with his progress. Needs to stay on the pain killers and not lick the wound... Once out the vet's room the receptionists both made a fuss of him. The run back to the foster home was very quiet. He is very well behaved in the car.  He will make a very good dog for the right owners.  Kent Greyhound Rescue

Things have moved on a little since the last post.  I went through the invoice for the job and then googled all the parts and what they are for. Still have no idea what I would do with them. We decided to go ahead and I transferred the £500 deposit across via bank transfer to get the date set in concrete. As mentioned before it will be a solo trip as Claire doesn't want to drive three hours across country.  We will have had to find something to do on the day they do the work, and with an ageing dog, it was a challenge.  Currently, the estimated time for the job is a full day. I can stay overnight the night before onsite rather than find a campsite or pub stop. Once the company comes back to confirm the job is booked I can say who it is. In the meantime Claire has thought about some extra power points being fitted. Malibu were a little tight/stingy on the points around the van.  It's almost as if Cathargo had a socket shortage! Only one above the hob/sink and another ...

It's something I have been thinking about for a while; off grid or wild camping abity. Currently Molly is fitted with a single 100 watt solar panel on the roof between the front window and the first (and largest) roof light. It's connected up so that it can charge the leisure battery and contribute to the engine battery.  After a few weeks of non use both were showing on the battery levels at around 12 volts. The sun came out for a few days and the leisure battery went up to the max on the Malibu display, equating to about 13.5 volts. The engine battery pretty much unchanged. The problem we find is, that even with the power banks, we simply don't have enough power to stay in aires that don't have access to electricity for more than a day or two. We have just about managed when away on rallies with our motor caravanners' club. All the full time vanlifers have gone over to lithium batteries and far more solar. Plus the addition of an inverter to make 240 volts from th...

Should we have used this one for our decal to swap with other vanlifers?