On the Road Again!

The first game of the new season and it was an 8pm kick-off at the Emirates Stadium. With the trains as they are I was on the 4.57pm train from Folkestone West.  As it is still school holidays I has expected the train to be a little busy, but it was quite packed. It seems the trippers to Folkestone go home much earlier than in the past.   I got a seat as I stood where I used to for a decade on the train when I went to work. The doors open right in front of me.  I won't give away my secret.... I met Helen by Marks & Spencer in St Pancras and we voyaged to Arsenal on the Piccadilly Line.  There were rumours of delays but we got on the second train that came along. My brother Neill was already there but we didn't get the table we usually have as Phil wasn't there tonight! Instead we had to stand. It was Neill's turn for the drinks and we opted for Diet Sprite.   There's a new system in place. Barriers rather a queue. Barriers that take £10 off your ca...

Over 61? Then the government doesn't give a fuck if you might have prostate cancer... Or so it seems... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0pvxe5jgzo

I signed up for this. Not for the free t-shirt but because prostate cancer and me have a relationship that is ongoing for the last three years. The original ad photo.. I have seeded the Justgiving page with £10 plus the tax amounting to a further £2.50. The ChatGPT version with my face added  Hopefully I will get some more donations. 

A winning start for Latics at home to Port Vale in League Two.  A very satisfactory start to the season. BBC Sport Sky Sports Highlights

This weekend, August 15th and 16th, is the Biddenden Tractorfest.  I have not been before and so when Kent Greyhound Rescue, where I volunteer, asked for people to work on a stand at the Fest, I said I would go. The job was simple as I only had to wrangle the dogs. We had four. Two bull lurchers, Frank and Peaches, and two greyhounds, Reef and Otto. The stand... Reef taking a rest after a walk As the day got hotter we kept alternating the dogs on the stand and into the car with the air conditioning on. We were on the main route for the tractor rides. I had a few walks with the dogs, one at a time, firstly to the classic car display.  There were bikes too. The old Lambretta is 65 years old in unrestored "patina". Later Peaches and I had a turn around another area where there we scaled down versions of full scale vehicles.  Around 1pm, it was g...

I have a habit of booking the first and last nights away on our trips to cement them in place.  This time I have booked the first only online. It's a place where we have stayed before and it's about two hours down the coast at Cayeux-sur-Mer.  There are now three Camping-Car Park aires in the area and I have chosen the one closest to the ville.  We stayed there the last time in 2024. These get cleared away at the end of summer!! At the moment it's just for the one night. I booked us from 12 noon so we have plenty of time to get there and know we have a space. We actually have three nights to work our way across the the central Normandy coast and the D-Day beaches.

After the heat and hassles of the last long trip to Spain and France, we had fallen out of love with motorhoming, just a little. Apart from a short trip, without Reggie, to Sissinghurst, we have done no trips at all in Malibu Molly. Some vloggers we watch on YouTube expressed the same sentiments about travelling in these heatwaves that western Europe has been having since around mid June. When you have a dog you are often restricted anyway to where you can go and take it/them with you. When you have an old dog, or one that has a few health problems, you have to be even more thoughtful.  The mountains in Spain have been pretty reasonable on the two previous occasions when we have "done" the Picos and Pyrenees . This year one day temperatures came up at 41C. The rest of the time they hovered around 35C to 38C. So this week we saw there was an offer at the Camping and Caravanning Club for £17.50 a night for a grass non eh...

I bought one of these around this time in 2025. So why buy another?  We still only have one dog.  Well, someone at Camping Alegria  in Benicarlo (Spain) got a free one! It was lashing down and the site was flooding a little and we drove off, leaving the anchor plate in the mud. So I bought a new one. Must remember not to drive off and leave this one behind.

Today the miles to empty was down to 80 and so before we go away for a few days, I decided to fill the tank. The bill?  £130.62!!! It's £1.809 per litre.  Looking at the last few fill-ups using the Fuelly app, we can see that in June, in Spain we paid £1.165!!! Rip off Britain added to by Trump's War with Iran.

We don't need these people at our club. Following reports of unsavoury incidents during Saturday’s match, OASF would like to issue this statement.

Yes. I know. I shouldn't have... £22.50...

With it now being 47 days since we had a very light sprinkle of rain, and after the MoT I decided to ride to Dogs. Quite pleasant but still a lot traffic considering it's school holidays. The miles to empty was showing 14 miles. I detoured a little via Tesco and it look 18.12 litres to fill to the top of the tank where the baffle is below the filler cap. It worked out at 52.7 mpg. Down 2.5 on the last fill in November 2025!!!! Once at dog's I parked up. Only five newcomers had arrived this morning. Took no pix. Then as I was getting ready I found this cheeky little fellow.... Even Mr Baloo had turned his back.

143rd!!!

300th!!!! Oh my dear God. Must do better. 15565 kms in total for all the years. 555 for 2025.

Gave the old girl the quick once over. All the lights work and the puny horn peeps... A quick go over with Muk Junkie and the sheepskin glove, and then rinsed off with a low pressure hose. Tyres have plenty of tread and are pumped to the right psi. Brakes work. The waiting whilst it's in the bike shop is always the worse bit.... I went across the road to a hairdressers that has an attached coffee shop.  A nervous wait.  I  would see Vera wheeled into the workshop, then out again..... Finishing my coffee I crossed the road... Pass. It can't just be me that is nervous until they say "pass" and hand you the paper copy. I had a look at a big scooter they have. As well as Peugeot they now have a few different Chinese marques. This is the Zontes ZT368T-G   and it is pretty heavily specified for £5000 or so! From there I went back through Folkestone and along the coastal A259 home. And home.

Continuing with the longer stays idea, I was looking for another site to follow the Cote de Nacre week along the D-Day coast. Our wedding anniversary is in the week after Nacre. The plan to keep days on the road short for the dog's sake means I was looking at nearby Normandy and across into Brittany. I alighted on another Sandaya site.   Sandaya Mont Saint Michel Campsite . Another campsite that is actually open. The reviews on their site and again on Tripadvisor were very good. I waited for Claire to give it a once over and we booked it. What was different is that this is a premium pitch that comes with a private sanitary unit. It's marginally cheaper than Nacre too. I have allowed for two overnights between the two sites. There are only 80 miles between the two though. There are places on the way I'd like to divert to along the way. Places like the Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mere-Eglise and the other D-Day museums along the way. There are options such as Camping-Car Parks ...

With all the health problems we have decided that France, Normandy and Brittany, is the limit. We also have to take into consideration that the heatwaves that have brought incredibly hot weather to parts of Europe, that travelling with a dog who will be 16yo by the time we depart is not enjoying spending too long in the van. So I began to work my way across the English Channel coast from Calais where we will arrive towards Brittany. The idea is to keep the daily mileages quite low so that we arrive early enough to enjoy where we are. The first booking is for a week. I decided to check out Sandaya Côte de Nacre . We have had a few stays with them and they have been okay. What's more importantly they are open!  It seems that France closes down, in the main, at the end of September! Saying that, they also close some of their sites! Why a week?  This stay is around five days into the trip. I am looking for aires on the way down and a week means we have a base and a chance to chill...

So here I am posting again. This is my third one. The first one stopped working when the dial to select modes stopped working. The next one came from eBay and was an exceptional purchase. So why replace it? I lost it. I have searched high and low and not found it.  The small size, decent battery life and viewfinder means it's perfect for slipping into a pocket or handbag.  I am coming around the thinking it was easy to slip out of a pocket as well. It arrived today. Another low price eBay purchase.  It works. Came fully charged and needed only a Sony memory stick to go in the adapter. I have a couple of spares to hand. First photo just a snap of the back garden to see that it worked. Then a couple of the van post Dazzle and Shine.