On the Road Again!

Monday We had to be off site no later than midday and so we had started packing away the night before.  Reggie was up and out several times from before 7am and I was feeling tired by the time I got up and joined Claire for breakfast.   I took him out as she was washing and getting ready. As we were in a large field with fences all round, I let him wander off lead.  The van next to us had a young small cockapoo that was a little timid. Behind them was a nice couple with a very friendly, and again young, poodle.  Reggie and it got on, sniffing etc.  As we were talking one of the marshals came over to say there was an accident on the M4 and no one could get off the site.  In the end that was later amended to a person jumping from a bridge onto the road. Under cover of all this Reggie went and ate the poodles breakfast out of its bowl! Whilst I was apologising he went next doo...

This is the setup we have inside the gas locker at the rear left of the van.  Because the right side bottle is easier to access, it's the one I use the most.  After the fill up on Wednesday they should both be showing full.  That means the gauges should have the black line right around on the thickest green area.  I took these pictures today after we got back from Choose Leisure. Right bottle - full Left bottle - not full! Very odd.  All I can assume is that it was one of the connections to the left bottle that was leaking gas into the van. It's heavier than air and under the bottles there are vents to allow the gas to drop through and into the open air. I have used the left bottle in the past for the hob but when filling it's supposed to fill both bottles without any manual intervention. As we usually have electric hook-up on sites and aires, we generally only use gas for the hob to cook on.   I couldn't smell gas when I oppened the back doors and the...

Up early and off to Choose Leisure again.  Overnight I had left the front and rear Heki rooflights open, not ideal for insurance purposes. The alarm is set so that might have been useful. Of course. With all that fresh air there was no gas smell.  When we arrived we opened to rear doors where the locker is, we could all smell it.  So off it went to the workshop.   Some two and a half hours later it came back. They couldn't find any problems and they did a gas check all around including the hob.  I couldn't smell it after that. After we have become paranoid I have ordered a gas sniffer from Amazon to arrive tomorrow!   At the moment Brooklands with the Caravan Club is on!

After last weekend away when it was freezing we had the heating on for most of the day and night.  It was on low when Reggie was left on his own, he has a fur coast already, and off when we were away from the van completely. It seems we used up nearly  whole 11kg bottle of LPG!  The gauge goes from thick green around the a thinner green to red to give an idea of how much gas in in the bottle. Ours was deep into the red! So yesterday we went to Dover BP to fill the bottles.  The other bottle was slightly used and still in the green. We filled up with 14.55 litres. According to Gaslow the 11kg bottle should hold 21 litres. When we had finished to fill both bottles they should show were full on the gauges. By the time we had finished there was a pretty horrible smell. They pit a scent into the gas so that you can smell it! It didn't go away.  We have not had this problem before when filling the other vans we used to own. By the time we got home it was worse. I rang...

As we are away for a few nights for Claire's birthday from Friday I wanted to top up the water and check that the heating and water heating was working on gas.  For the first time, I used the left bottle. Previously I have always used the right one. So this one has gas that we filled up with in April last year. Does LPG/GPL have an expiry date like cheese???  I filled the clean water only watering can three times to put some in the freshwater tank. Remembering to turn the water heater drain to closed before starting the water pump... This is where I had to move fast as I heard the tap in the bathroom coughing and spurting seconds before the kitchen. The bathroom is okay but the kitchen tap wasn't over the sink. Luckily Claire's new drainer was there ... Flooding avoided. Next to put the heating to gas. A few seconds and the electric fan started followed by the "which" of the gas. I gave it a few seconds before turning on the water heater. The same satisfying ...

We have been watching too many vlogs on YouTube and they has made us want to get away again in the new van.  So far we have only been out to Tesco to fill with diesel and then to Sissinghurst Castle Garden for a run out to see how it handles. "Molly", as we have named her, went straight into the storage site and has been there a week or so. I had a day trip on the bike with my brother Neill and a friend, Phil, on Sunday. We went to the memorial service at the Canadian National Monument at Vimy Ridge in France.  I have written this up in another blog on Travellerspoint . We were lucky that the weather was good. Sunny and around 18C once the fog in the Channel had worn off. So this one will be in a couple of days to Back of Beyond in Dorset. The weather has been horrendous around here since Sunday evening. The forecast for Friday to Sunday looks okay, at least not raining! As I write this it is lashing down.   We stayed there last year on the way to the week we had in Devo...