On the Road Again!

Need to think positively... At the ground I met my brother Neill and Helen who I go with to all the games since the club moved to Emirates Stadium. We also met our friend Ashley who had flown from Singapore. Unfortunately the ladies didn't match the dress code.

Pilton Compact Chair Modelled by some old vagrant that was wandering by. They pack up very small and will take up to his weight and far more.  In the van, they two of them will take up less than half the space one of the current huge chairs take up. (Of course you knew the model was actually me. I can be contacted for modelling jobs in the comments)

My Fuelly Dashboard. It has many of the vehicles we have owned. Not all as I archived some and have no idea how to get them back. The mpg's are calculated in the app and are based on UK gallons.

Reggie has one. Tyrone at Kent Greyhound Rescue has one... When It's hot it is essential not to walk dogs in the heat of the day. Not only is it too hot for their feet on the pavements, but too hot in their fur coats.

Whilst it would have been nice to have been there, in Budapest, to go to the game, the ticket cost and the travel would have made it almost impossible to have done it. Instead we are going to go up to the Emirates and watch it on the big screens. My brother Neill booked the tickets on the first round that was pretty much for season ticket (Gold) holders. It means that Phil, who goes when I can't, is unable to join us. The ticket price was £15 and Club Level tickets £20. We decided to see what Club Level seats are like. You never know. I might win the lottery tonight and buy us all a seat up there instead of Block 11 in the Lower seating area. Tickets are as usual in the Google wallet but are blue instead of the usual Arsenal red.  What shirt to were? My collection of Arsenal shirts goes back many years. I'll decide tomorrow. Plus, we also need to check out the weather forecast. All week it has been hot and muggy at home. Shorts and t-shirts. Tomorrow though? Hopefully my new be...

I do like a Tim-Tam, they are very much like Penguin bars but coming from Australia means they are expensive. UK made Penguins though... 7 for a quid. 

With the distance from home in Kent to the overnight at Dawlish Warren, it looks to be about 260 miles and nearly five hours on the road with no stops.  The distances I have plotted in Spain and France are far lower than this. The plan is to arrive somewhere early enough to find space in the aire or on the campsite, and then be able to sit and take in the view or explore the town. I wanted somewhere around halfway to break the journey, allow some stops on the way. On Search4sites I found Wyndham Farm . It's close enough to the A303 and also near to Stourhead National Trust.

The Pro-Plates have been fitted to both sides of the van, on driver and passenger doors. At least it gives us some peace of mind.  Inside the door there's another plate that stops anyone getting around the outer plate and that covers the locking mechanism.

It seems that I have been at this for a while now. Refining. Then having doubts about the miles to be driven. The hours in the van for us, and more importantly for a dog that's approaching his sixteenth birthday. From loving going out in the car or the van, he is now more reticent. So I have begun to look at shorter days on the road, fewer miles between stops, and chances for him to get out and stretch his legs. So far Plan G only gets us from Caravanning Oyambre on the Biscay coast to Port Vendres on the Mediterranean. Eight days to work our way across the north of Spain via Potes in the Picos de Europa.  We have been before, twice actually, but both were fleeting visits. The first in 2014 on the Triumph Explorer and again in 2024, this time in Molly our motorhome. This time I am hoping to get into the paid aire just outside the town. It's €15 a night with an additional €4 if you want electric ...

Is there anyone that doesn't like roses in the garden? All taken today, May 27th 2026, in our back garden, with the Nikon D50.

Yes, it's wrinkled a bit, but in my defence it was windy. It barely fits the Ducato windscreen.  The top has two small flaps that are trapped in the door. They are too short. The elastics in the mirrors are better. 

Lunch today.  Not really Slimming World friendly at 11½ swips each.  They were on offer at Tesco. Down to £3.85. So I bought two. Anyway. Easy to cook. Tasted really nice.

I had an email from Sandaya to remind me that I had some loyalty points to use when making a next booking. I was thinking more about the midpoint of the trip when we started to move north or at least east to get away from Spain and into France.  I looked on the site and some of them allowed the use of the points and others didn't. In the end I wanted a good few days where after travelling we could have a longer stay to sit and do nothing.  I found a site near the Mediterranean that allowed me four free nights using my loyalty points. It's called Blue Bayou . I decided on five nights. We can't get in until 3pm on the first day and so it gives us time to come up from Spain and across the border. We have a week to come across from Oyambre and we can take in a few historical sites as well as a run through the Picos.... ...

It's late May and the Garden roses, especially the climbing (or rambling) rose is heavy with flowers and buds. These were taken this morning before the sun was too high. These were taken with the Canon 1100D with the kit 18-55mm lens. A quick change of camera to the Nikon D50. There's about a decade between their manufacture.  The Nikon D50 is using the Nikkor AF 28-100mm lens. For a twenty year old camera it still takes decent enough photos.

This is an AI manipulated photo. Can you guess which part? It looks like the lamb Samosa.

The YouTube video I referred to in the Pro-Plates blog is this one from Amanda & Mark from earlier this year in Spain. It doesn't matter if you are in the van, the scumbags will try and get in. You can skim through if you like to about 13.09 minutes. Amanda & Mark Broken Into Vlog.

After seeing posts on too many forums and on YouTube, I have decided to fit these. It seems that over the water in the "safe" European Union that thefts of vans and from vans is on the increase. To avoid adding to the statistics I am having these Pro-Plates fitted to the van next week before we go on holiday to Spain and France. It's one less thing to worry about when away on a site or on an aire. I always lock the doors using the button on the dash but this doesn't activate the alarm. Our alarm is armed from either the locking button on the ignition key fob, or from the fob that Claire has with the spare keys.  Using the fob sets the alarm both outside, i.e. the doors and inside.  When we leave Reggie in the van, we have to turn off the inside alarm. That's done from the fob as well. I have been doing the same at night when we are going to bed. The alarm beeps a bit but that can't be helped. This should give us an additional level of door security and stop th...

Whilst full of the euphoria from winning the Premier League... Have I mentioned it before? Anyway, I ordered a t-shirt for my upcoming holiday to Spain and France. It's not a Champion's shirt, but a 26/27 shirt. Hopefully it will arrive in time for the trip up the Emirates to watch the Champions League final on the big screens. It's an official Adidas Arsenal product.

We have a few camping chairs that we have bought over the years. They seem to have got bigger and heavier each time. One packs up and we buy another one.  What we don't need after downsizing to a campervan from a much larger motorhome, is a lot of space taken up that could be freed up. Enter the Pilton chair.  It packs up much smaller than anything we currently have and hopefully as it's got a weight limit of 150kg!   I am not that fat! I guess they'll arrive any day soon and we can work out how they put together and even more importantly how they go back in te little bag.

Quite rare for use to get the goldfinch on the feeder. This was taken through the kitchen window on the Nikon D50 at full 100mm.zoom. With a longer lens it may have been so much better.

We are booked on the Irish Ferries service from Calais at 1235pm on the last day of the trip.  When we came back from France last October, we stayed in the Camping-Car Park aire in Calais . It's a large area with 102 pitches. It's perfectly placed for a walk along the seafront after arrival and close to the ferry port. I have pre-booked it. It's a long way off but it will be July and aires get quite full.  Including local tourist taxes it is €17.50 for the night. When you book they expect you to enter an arrival time. In the past they didn't have to.  So as we need to be at the ferry port around 1100am at the latest, I have booked for an arrival time the day before at 1200.  And to cover our butts, a leaving time of 1100am. So that's another booking sorted.

Did I mention that Arsenal are the Premier League Champions 2025/26 with a game to spare? Perhaps I am too humble... I have bought an official t-shirt on pre-order from the Official Arsenal site, but wanted something a little quicker, at least before I go on holiday. So, I bought this. It's from a company called Teerific..... Unofficial Champions t-shirt. Hopefully this will arrive before we go away.  It's been 9 days since the order and the air is very quiet...

I thought I would invest in a t-shirt to mark the occasion. Proper Adidas football shirts (they are NOT jerseys!) are eye wateringly expensive. This one, an official product is £22.50.... They are all on pre-order and so I expect it will arrive when I am on holiday! Offical Product!

Pathway 4G and Mobile WIFI For a while we have struggled with wifi whilst away in the van.  It seems to have got worse more recently, and this may coincide with trading the motorhome for a campervan. Whilst the motorhome was also a big box on wheels, it was generally wood and fibreglass. Where the campervan is a metal box with a few holes for windows and doors. It's effectively a Faraday Cage that blocks the signal to the phone.  A few years ago when still at work and we had company mobile phones, there was a worry that they could be hacked and we were given phone cases that were Faraday Cages.  They worked. Phone inside and there was no signal and so it didn't ring. It worked very well. The idea of the Pathway 4G is that it uses a SIM card and is a router.  I ordered a Lebara SIM for the router. Lebara use the Vodafone network in the UK. I have my doubts about that as we had Vodafone before and it was terrible at home. Photo from Belmont Leisure linked website Am...

Earlier today I went for a free hearing test at Hidden Hearing at the NHS Clinic in Hythe. I have had a hearing aid in my right ear for around ten years. I tend not to wear it as I find it's useless. All it seems to do is make my ear sweat. So after talking to other sufferers and my brother, who now wears two, I got around to trying an alternative solution. The current aid was replaced in 2024 on the NHS. It is as useless as the first one but has Bluetooth to my phone.  From all the tests where I press a button when I hear a beep, it shows my right ear is pretty much had it. It's not the small perforation in the ear drum, but the inner ear, the cochlea. A hearing aid will be useless. The left ear is not 100%. Then again I am over 70 years old. The audiologist suggested I try a solution where the aid in the right ear, Bluetooth to another in the left ear. The cost will be about £3000!!  Claire basically pushed me into going back to have a demo. I'd rather give the NHS a chan...