On the Road Again!

Still waiting for two NHS appointments. 1) After the last trip up to SDEC, where they took more blood,  I was told that things would continue after the ultrasound appointment. And that's what I am waiting for. Although when we were at the hospital they weren't sure what the problem was/is.  So it was a surprise to login to my NHS account and see that the doctor entered "Suspected Hepatitis"! How? 2) Audiology.  Had a visit to them to tell me that the aid I had been given was totally useless. That was June 3rd.  Still waiting for an appointment. happyearshearing.com

We have thought about it a few times.  Of course, we have been on cruises to the fjords twice in the past. Once with Saga and once with P&O. You only get a snapshot of the fjord country. The more excursions you go on obviously mean you get away from the tourist hot spots.  Most ports only give you limited time as well. So going further afield under your own power risks the ship departing without you. Olden Old Church  Each time I have begun to plan something, it's been thwarted by some external force. With an ageing dog as a major restriction, we will need to wait until we are dog-free.  Norway driving tips Norway Cruise 2013 Norway Cruise 2018 Norway Posts

Or rather they don't. Their algorithms seem to have nothing to do with my interests. They offer me chick-lit all the time when suggesting books for my Kindle.  Despite showing no interest in fishing, or angling as it's often called in England, since I was about 14yo, they suggested this: WTF?

I didn't ask it to do anything too complex. 

The usual start time of 10am. I left home around 9.40am and arrived just after 10am. Quite a few bikes on the recently concreted "motorcycles only" parking strip. I was at the end nearest the café . Cal already there with a tea. We went in and ordered.  Neil turned up and we ate, drank more tea/coffee and it rained. We've barely had anything for around 5 weeks! The problem we have, and no doubt other countries also have, is "summer ice". It's the rubber build up on the road surface that becomes slippery when wet. Just like the Bon Jovi song!!! Luckily, it wasn't too bad apart from the roundabout at Brenzett. More due to a diesel spill. You could smell it. We waited for the rain to pass and the sun came out again. Then left. So that's another 30 miles on the odometer.  July total 46!

With the weather being the unpredictable factor this summer, I have been looking at further north.  How about the Baltic? Germany? Denmark? It's an area that neither of us have been to before.  I started to look at the area where the "Riddle of the Sands" was staged around the German East Frisian Islands. For years I have thought about a trip to Peenemunde , where the Germans designed and tested the V1. It's on the German Baltic coast. Then I thought about Denmark, or a toe dip into Poland?  I discounted Norway and Sweden!! I tried to get ChatGPT to come up with a sensible idea but it seemed unable to come up with a plan that wasn't a rush there and back. The basic text I gave it was quite specific regarding some places to include but still it planned a whistlestop tour.... So back to the drawing board? Claire would prefer France, Normandy and Brittany.  All that's set in stone are the Eurotunnel dates. As I mentioned in a previous AT26 post, it pr...

Back in the top league again after a few years in the second tier. A win at home to Sparta Prague. What a great start to the new season. Zpátky v nejvyšší soutěži po několika letech ve druhé lize. Vítězství doma nad Spartou Praha. Jak skvělý začátek nové sezóny.

The last Yes album I bought was back in 2014 with "Heaven and Earth". I had pretty much given up on them after the clowns from the Buggles came and completely f*cked up one of the best bands ever. When Jon Anderson was sacked interest waned more. So why buy this? I heard a couple of minutes played on the radio. At least it sounded like we had turned back the clock. Aurora Tracklisting: Aurora (07:27) Turnaround Situation (05:50) Love Lies Dreaming (06:24) Countermovement (13:48) Ariadne (06:18) All Hands on Deck (03:04) Outside the Box (04:20) Emotional Intelligence (03:30) Jambustin’ (Bonus Track) (04:24) Watching the River Roll (Bonus Track) (04:42) It's a good album. Even those of us that go back to 1969 have been impressed.  Speaking about myself of course. My brother and I went to see Yes at the Royal Albert Hall in 2016. More classic stuff and pretty much the same lineup as today. We Are YES Other Yes blogs: Tales from Topographic Oceans Yessongs Close t...

.... it must be another bloodtest day! This is the third Friday out of four where I have had a blood test visit  This time my quarterly one for prostate cancer and another for diabetes.  At least only one hole this time.

I bought this t-shirt a while back from Steelhorse UK. It's XL but when it was a little tight. So today I tried it on, and miracle. It fits. Okay, I am not good at smiling....

I cancelled the appointment with Hidden Hearing a few weeks ago. When I was there the last time, the hearing test pretty much proved that my right ear is almost useless.  Their idea was a cross over system that would mean an aid in my right ear would connect by Bluetooth to another in my left ear and trick my brain into thinking I was hearing through both ears.   At £3500 it's a lot of money when my right ear would still be useless. On June 3rd I had an audiology appointment at the William Harvey. I last had an NHS test in 2021.  The audiologist showed me the graphs for both ears. The right showed the same drop off as Hidden Hearing. She also said that the aid I had was a waste of time and shouldn't have been prescribed at all. Imagine a line on the graph that looks like a side view of a ski jump.... Only certain frequencies make it through. When I listen music with my pods or full over ear cans, barely anything can be heard through the right, although it...

With the van now at the storage for two weeks, I was able to get Vera out of the garage. Firstly, check tyre pressures; 18psi in the front, 26psi in the rear. They should be 36 and 42 respectively. The "pocket sized" pump has already pumped the four wheels on the van, twice, and now the bike's two. It's really good and quick. There is a review elsewhere. After that I togged up and had a ride to Cheriton Motorcycles to book at MoT . The current one runs out on August 1st.  Unfortunately, I can only book it for noon on the 5th as the earliest.  As long as it is booked with the MoT garage you are legally allowed to ride/drive there from your home,.or where the bike/car/van is parked. That's a Wednesday so I'll have to miss fat club. The mileage when I got back. Not very far but it's a start. Okay. Sixteen miles!!!  On the positive side, it is 16 miles towards next year's Kilometerfresser competition! It actually starts on August 1...

We took Malibu Molly to ARC. By 11am they rang to say they had taken it apart. Nothing wrong with it. The cleaned out some leaves etc out of the channels but the gearbox for the winding mechanism is in good condition.  I am flumoxed.  The winding lever wouldn't move at all. They think it was the extreme heat that caused the problem.  We had to endure over a week in 35°C plus heat because it was stuck!!! No ventilation!!

When we were away and in the middle of the heatwave we had a problem with the winding mechanism for the main over dining area rooflight. The handle simply wouldn't turn. I couldn't open it. After a few days I decided that as it was closed at least we wouldn't have a problem with it. https://invictamoto.blogspot.com/2026/06/remis-rooflight.html I tried it a couple of times. I didn't want to force it and end up with it not shut properly.  And we still had 12 days of the holiday to go... I contacted ARC to see if they could fix it once we got home. After a few back and forth emails they said they could do the job. I sent them photos of the rooflight and the Remis stickers. Today, I gave it a try. It worked.  Still stiff but started to open the rooflight. It's been stiff to wind since we've owned the van, that's almost 20 months. I didn't think it was a problem until now. It's still going to ARC on Tuesday to check it over. If we ...

After the thuggery and cheating during the game in the week when England lost to Argentina in the World Cup, let's hope that Spain win tonight. Y VIVA ESPAÑA!! On a positive note. England rugby beat the Argies at the weekend. They were as inspiring as a turd in a teacup then as well.

The van has been on the drive since we got home from holiday. With the Norfolk Motorhome Show trip cancelled due to the weather and a ageing dog, we've not been anywhere.  So we decided to leave a bit earlier and get a good parking place at Sissinghurst.  We decided to leave Reggie at home. He was asleep on the upstairs landing in the cool. We were first to park in the area they use for campers.  No dog means we could both go in the garden. There wasn't much to see. It did seem a bit overgrown.  I like finding these old gates and doorways, often hidden by foliage. This one behind a huge fig tree  We had a coffee, and the chocolate brownie was sublime. The drive home was pretty quiet apart from the A28 from Great Great towards Tenterden.   This section of road must be the worst in Kent.

I bought this atlas a few months ago to replace the 2020 version I have been using for quite a few years. One thing that has irritated me is the colour of the autoroutes. For many years toll autoroutes were shown as a purple line on the map. Non toll autoroutes in blue. This was also the case for non toll Route National roads that were dialled. This edition shows all autoroutes whether toll or not as purple.  When planning a route, the difference between the two is essential. It seems the AA or the Austrian mapping company have failed to make the distinction or simply didn't care. I have emailed feedback at the AA. An example is here: The A16 between Calais and Dunkerque is toll free and therefore should be blue.  The A26 on the left is a toll motorway only from where it meets the A16. The spur above to the ferry port is non toll. Let's see what they have to say.

I am looking at France. We are away for around three weeks at the moment. I thought I could change the dates and it would only cost us £20 if done online.   WRONG! I went onto the Le Shuttle website.  To snip a week off the trip will cost the £20 amendment fee. Then despite all that they want £103 to go a week later! What bloody load of shysters this company are.  All I wanted to do was change the start date a week later. The return date would be the same and it would be before any UK school holidays. Part of the problem planning is that French campsites seem allergic to staying open after September 30th. Don't the French use their vans and caravans during the Autumn? They seem to spend a lot of time whinging when they have pay for aires. We could use Camping-Car Park aires, but as the name suggests, most are exactly that.  Short term stays rather than somewhere to "holiday". Sometimes it's nice to have a shower and use a proper toilet that a campsite affords. W...

Time will tell if this is a good idea or not.  We need someway of keeping the van cooled when we are away. We have several fans that I have blogged about before. They work brilliantly in the van and in the home. https://invictamoto.blogspot.com/2026/07/portable-standing-pedestal-fan.html Evaporative coolers using water aren't new and we already have a small one that we use to point at Reggie in the van. To be honest, it works really well. We saw this one tested by several vloggers and it seems to work. So we took the plunge and ordered one. Full review once it arrives on Monday!!

It has to be sixty years since I last wore sandals.  With the heatwave, my feet have been roasting in trainers and ankle socks.  So Claire suggested I get sandals. I wasn't going to be seen dead wearing "Jesus" sandals or anything with my toes on view. So as usual I went to the Internet.  Sports Direct and other shops i can actually visit.  None appealed.  So it was back to Amazon!  These look a lot chunkier and have "closed toe". Did I say I don't like toes.... They are weird to get used to. Don't think they look too bad? I opted for tan colour although the light blue ones looked really cool too. As long as any sandals are cool.

It's 110 years since our relative William Devall succumbed to wounds on July 16th 1916. Roll of Honour

We cancelled the trip that would have taken us to the Cathargo Malibu factory at Aulendorf mostly due to the possible weather and that we have a 16yo dog.  He was really not coping with the overly hot weather in June. No one expected to be 1300m above aea level and it being 36°C!! The email to Eurotunnel wasn't as productive as I had hoped.  We could change the date of travel but... the year you can book in is from when the ticket was bought not from when you are booked to travel. I booked the crossing on January 16th. So if we change the date we'd have to travel before then. It's not that great a deal. Hopefully, the weather will start to revert to normal and we can still go in September.  To cancel would lose us over £300. We will have to source breakdown cover for the van and travel insurance for us and of course, repatriation for Reggie. Where to go? Germany still? Or stay more local in France. I had thought of maybe Alcossebre again!!!! Let'...

So. Monday and back to SDEC at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford Kent. Some of the bloods from Friday aren't back from the lab. The blood culture, where they add your blood to two bottles containing something, came back normal.  The indicator about my liver came back lower than Friday. The numbers mean nothing apart from Friday's 500 something is now Monday's 250. The same indicator was 173 in France and 153 two Fridays ago.... They let me go pending further tests including an ultrasound.  Once that's done it's high tail to SDEC. So we are no nearer to knowing what is happening and how to cure it. As a result we cancelled the trip to Norfolk this weekend.

This sets up another World Cup clash with Argentina.  England will now have to contend with the eleven on pitch opponents and the referee and VAR.

It's over for another year.  Another year where I have struggled to get any miles under the wheels on both bikes.  Another year of one sickness after another.  Another year of seeing myself being less of a biker and more of a vanlifer. Here I am in 124th place. Hopefully they will remove all the zero miles entrants from the spreadsheet.

A week ago we left the hospital and told to come back Tuesday.  On Monday, we got a call to say instead of Tuesday the appointment was changed to 9am at A&E Reception. Up early we arrived in good time. A bit of a walk around and we ended up in the "SDEC Hot Clinic". After three different blood takings and sitting about we were told we could go. The problem seems to circulate around some indicators in the blood and my liver.  I have akso been told to drop three of my nightly pill regime.  And now we move to next Monday and back to SDEC.

After six hours on the charger yesterday and another four today, I went into the garage to remove the Bluetti. The powerbank was down to 42%. Once disconnected from the charger I thought I'd give it a go.... It's  alive!!   Tomorrow will be another go to get the battery strength and then we will see.

Shirt arrived today.

It looks like weeks of neglect have led to Vera Strom's battery dying. When I say that, I mean not riding. I started and ran the engine a couple of times. Not enough. It seems to coincide with my dbPower jumper pack also giving up. It shows 100% charged but when connected to the bike nothing happens. No output. Maybe time for a new one? I have the battery on charge with the power provided by the Bluetti AC70. I'll keep a check on it during the evening and see how it goes. It could be a new battery and if it is, I'll look at another Motobatt. It looks as though the MBTZ14S is the fitment.

We bought one of these a few days before we went on our three week holiday to Spain and France last month. Of course, we hadn't expected the unusually high temperatures across the mountains that we were headed for. As a result, the fan was used everyday, with our lithium setup in the van we could run the fan all night plugged into the 230v system. And we did.  It's probably the best buy we have made.  So much so I ordered another from France and it arrived on Saturday at home. With another "heatwave" this week the two have been heavensent. 

After a few days of being back and the van stationary on the drive I had a look to see the mileage we did.  Unfortunately I reset Trip B at Plymouth just before we got on the ferry. I'd forgotten it at home before the trip. So the mileage for the trip comes out at 1610.6 miles. Plus 281 miles from home to the dockside. So a total of 1891.6. Before setting off I withdrew €200 from the foreign exchange office in Folkestone.  That went into the wallet with the €5 note from last time. I had €8 in 50c to €2 coins.  From that starting point we have come back with €85 in notes. The largest cash payments were to the vets and totalled €105. On top of that we spent £955.85 on the Clarity card. We use it for everything.  I don't think that's bad given we were away for 21 days in total. On top of that the bill for autoroutes from Emovis comes to our invoice total for £119.95.

Following the advice of the doctor in France when we left the hospital in Calais, I tried the e-Consult service.  After typing in all the details it said I had to call them instead. As it was after hours on Thursday it meant calling Friday morning.  I got through and it was phone back time. Spoke to the doc twice between 1200 and about 1240. We were told to go to the Same Day Emergency Care at the William Harvey in Ashford.  Off we went.  Around five hours later we finally saw the doctor. They'd taken blood. I'd given urine.  Then I went down to get a chest x-ray. The doc looked at the French paperwork and there were some of the indicators that were too high, that two days later were still high. They've let me go and I am supposed to go back to SDEC on Friday morning at 9am. Let's see.

That Leisure Shop came back quite quickly and have refunded the money.  It's a shame that they weren't up to the job. They are a really good idea but needed to be a little more robust.

After getting back from three weeks in Spain and France where the weather was abnormally hot we decided we can't put our old dog through that anymore. As he has got older he is less happy travelling in the car and in the van. He doesn't settle like he used to and it's unfair on him. Once I can get through to Eurotunnel I can cancel the booking. In the past they haven't refunded the fare but have deferred it as a credit to be used within 12 months. We shall see. It will save us some money as our travel insurance for us and the van ends on August 28th, and we would have needed to renew that. The dog comes before holiday travel. Let's see what the future brings.

What a couple of days these turned out to be!! The rough plan was to leave Bernay and with only 60 miles to the vets in Buchy, to call in somewhere on the way.  I had toyed with the idea of Monet's Garden at Giverny, but it doubled the mileage to Buchy. On top of that we had a long drive to Calais and the CCP after the vet. Instead I saw the Le Bec Hellouin was en route. So we set off.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Bec-Hellouin A few miles short I began to shiver and feel really cold.  By the time we had followed the signs to the campervan parking it was much worse. It's a long wa...