Escape to the woods

The school holidays are on us and It’s nigh on impossible to find a camping pitch at the weekends and if I could it was horribly expensive.

My searching for a camp pitch to escape to for a couple of nights proved fruitful as a small site just 30 miles away from home looked promising, but we would have to visit on a weekday.

Monday morning and the camper was packed with way to much stuff for 2 nights camping.

Pulling of the drive highlighted a problem. There was no way I could select first gear. Being an old slogger of a diesel engine she pulled away in second gear, but obviously there was a fault.

It’s quite a common fault on the VW T4 for the gear linkage bushes to wear with age. A quick check under the bonnet and the linkage was flopping about.

As we were only travelling 30 miles and I had booked the campsite. A joint decision was made to carry on. (Hey who needs first gear anyway)?

We arrived at Eriba Glade which is a 10 pitch site just off the Fosse way 10 miles north of Leamington spa. It is set in a woodland glade.

Eriba Glade

It costs £15 per night with electric hook-up.

The small toilet / shower block consists of two toilets one with a shower. These were immaculately clean.

The shower is coin operated taking 20 pence coins.

As we were staying for two nights we decided not to bother showering as we didn’t smell too bad.

The new Sunncamp awning was erected without the usual disagreement, so that in itself was a plus.

The mifi was switched on and low and behold we had wifi, just a tad slow, but still wifi.

I knew that there was a branch of TPS in Coventry that was only about five miles from the campsite were I could get a set of new gear linkage bushes.

My Google search showed that the branch was now shut down.

Ok, no problem I contacted Just Kampers and ordered a set of bushes that would hopefully arrive at the house before we got back. This meant we would be staying on the campsite as driving about would be a pain.

http://www.justkampers.com/

We had our usual previously prepared meatballs in a home made tomato sauce for our first camping night supper. I not sure if this turning into a tradition or are we taking the easy route as it’s a one pot heat up dish. Tastes good though, so who cares.

This is the closest to home we have ever camped. It seems strange that only two days ago we were at the dog show just three miles away from here.

 

Winner, Winner, Chicken dinner

I’ve won, I can’t believe it. I know everybody says the same thing “I never win anything”, but I don’t.

Our prize is a Cadac Grillo Chef BBQ.  I won it by entering a competition run by MMM Motor home Magazine.

MMM Motor Home Magazine

 

We are just waiting for it to arrive from Cadac, and then I’ll do a review using my amazing cooking skills.

Cadac

Well, if I can cook something on it without it burning to a cinder it will be amazing.

Ruby has had a miserable week. Last Thursday she visited the vet to be neutered/spayed. We have waited 4 years because she always seemed too small (2.7kg) for the procedure, but we know it had to be done for her own good or so we are advised. It was not a decision we had taken lightly.

This was the second attempt for her surgery. She arrived at the vets the week before to have it done and she was rejected as she had an upset tummy.

We dropped her off at the “Your Vets” surgery at Wythall at 8.30am and we picked her up in the afternoon.

Your Vets

We have been going to Your Vets for many years and can’t fault their skills and service.

Thankfully everything went as planned. She was obviously shook up and feeling sorry for herself.

She had to take things easy and not lick her wound. Trying to stop a dog from licking is impossible. She hated the plastic cone supplied by the vet, so we bought an inflatable neck collar, which she also hated.

The solution was a baby vest that she wore for a few days until she healed.

It’s always amazing how animals recover so quickly when humans would be playing on the sympathy vote and milking it for what it’s worth.

Not that I would do that obviously.

 

Homeward Bound

We woke early at the Glen Capel tea room car park and in the daylight found that we were parked in the nature reserve with a large sailing boat moored on the quayside.

The community of Glen Capel allow campers to stay overnight on the quayside. There is an honesty box to put a donation towards the upkeep of the site.

Places like this are precious and the village generosity shouldn’t be abused.

When we woke up Ruby was missing. Then she popped head out from under the pillows where she had sneaked into while we slept.

Unfortunately the tea room wasn’t open or I would have opted for a full Scottish Breakfast.

The journey home from Scotland is always strange as the further we go down the country, the busier it gets until we lose that calm, well being feeling and start to experience those stresses we left behind.

I’m thinking we might be living in the wrong place.

Return to Arran

It dawned on us that we were running short of time and needed to start our journey home. We had only visited the Mull of Kintyre for one day and a night, so a grand tour would have to wait for another day. It’s getting difficult to get going in the mornings; life seems to have taken a much slower pace. One of the pleasures of our trips is that we stop worrying about what we eat, so that means I get bacon sarnies for breakfast after we take Ruby for another walk on the beach.

Carradale Campsite

We had a plan that involved reaching Dumfries later today. With two ferry crossings, one island in the way and a quite few hours driving, what could possibly go wrong on Friday the thirteenth?

The road back up to Claonaig was still steep and twisty, but a least it was mostly down hill on the return.

Something I have noticed as we drove through remote villages was that people waved to us. Walking along the road or standing in their gardens they waved with a genuine greeting. It’s quite contagious and we started waving to everybody. In England if you waved to a total stranger you would more than likely get a punch on the nose

There were only three cars in front of us on the ferry slipway and we could see the ferry making its way back across to us. The wind had picked up making the sea a little choppy and the small ferry rocked and rolled a little.

Back on to Arran at the Lochranza slipway, we headed towards Brodick to catch a ferry to Ardrossan on the main land. The road to Brodick was so like driving in the Highlands and we eventually reach the ferry terminal.

With a spring in my step I entered the ticket office. At this point I remember that I’m a marked man as far as Cal Mac ticket attendants are concerned and approached the desk and said “Have you got a ?” then nothing. I’m struggling to find the words to complete the sentence for what seems an age until the ticket lady helpfully prompts me and says “boat”.

“That’s it” I say “for the next sailing”.

“No” she says.

At this point the life blood starts to drain from my body.

“Ok, when can you fit us in” I ask.

“I might be able to squeeze you on the 19.20 this evening”. She answers. “Anything tomorrow” I plead.

“No, It’s fully booked” she said.

The outcome was that I booked the “might get on” 19.20 crossing and we parked up on the sea front at Brodick for 4 hours.

I was disappointed she didn’t ask how my fictitious brother was. I also recall being told that you need to book your tickets well in advance because it gets busy.

The bonus was that the extreme knitter did some more shopping and bought me a Scotch pie. Now, I’ve eaten some pies in my time and I consider myself a pie connoisseur. I have to say this was one of the best pies I have ever tasted. The E/Knitter promised that she would try to replicate it on our return home. I do hope so.

Later in the day we moved back to the ferry terminal and parked in the boarding lane. Up comes yet another Cal Mac ticket attendant who started chatting to the E/Knitter and tried to convince her that Ruby needed another dog as a companion. I sense a conspiracy because the E/Knitter is always trying to convince me the same thing.

The ferry was running late and some foot passengers were getting worried because they had connections to make.

We also realised that it was going to be too late to book a campsite for tonight and we would need to wild camp.

After leaving the ferry and a further two hour drive we reached Glen Capel tea room car park at 11pm. We parked up with three motor homes and collapsed on the bed.

Glen Capel Tea Room

Scotland the brave and the Aristocracy

Yet another hot sunny day as we left the campsite and drove up the west coast of Arran as far as the Old Byre visitor centre at Machrie. It was getting obvious that the E/Knitter was suffering from a lack of crafty type things and knitting. We thought the Old Byre would be the place to visit, but it was a little disappointing. It lacked atmosphere and consisted of a café and an expensive shop.

On the way I had noticed that some places like Blackwater have chemical toilet emptying facilities attached to the pubic convenience which is really useful for campervan wild campers. We were now back tracking to just past Sliddery where we turned on to the single track road that cuts across the island to Lamlash called the Ross road.

The Scottish single track roads are a joy to drive on and this one led us through some stunning landscapes.

We stopped at a Forestry Commission picnic area for lunch.

One of the reasons for our trip to Arran was so The Lady Elizabeth of Largybey (the Extreme knitter) could visit her country estate to check that the peasants weren’t revolting.

Here she is stalking with her favourite gundog whilst stood in her 1 foot by 1 foot piece of Arran.

The Lady Elizabeth of Largybey

It’s amazing how power can go to someone’s head, as soon as she stepped onto the land she changed into a power crazed land owner shouting “get orf my land” and calling me an oik.

The other reason for our trip was to visit the place that my father had trained as a commando in 1940. Being part of the 11^th Scottish commando they were billeted with the locals at a coastal village called Lamlash on the Isle of Arran.

The whole of the Island was taken over by the military at the time and was split into three sections with Lochranza in the north being occupied by the 7th commando. Lamlash in the middle was used by the 11^th Scottish Commando and Whiting Bay in the southern area was allocated to the 9th Commando.

This must have been a tremendous upheaval for the islander being occupied by 1000 troops

The troops were left to their own devises as far as finding accommodation was concerned and the residents of Arran came forward offering a billet for many soldiers

Accounts of their stay mentioned that one solder shot the weather vane off the Lamlash church tower. Apparently it still bears the scars.

After training, the Commandos were shipped out of Glasgow on the three Glen ships and transported to fight in the North Africa campaign. My father joined the Long Range Desert Group carrying out attacks on the German supply routes by travelling across the Sahara desert to attack them from behind their lines.

The 11^th Scottish Commando

Remember when we boarded the ferry in Ardrossan and the strange comment about visiting my brother from the ticket attendant. Well after I told the extreme knitter the story of my fathers wartime training, she decided that as he was young and unmarried during his time on Arran that he may have produced my half brother without knowing it. During our walk around Lamlash she was studying 75 year old local men to see if there were any family resemblances. I swear she is watching too many wartime dramas on the television.

 

 

 

Propex Heater revisited

As our friend Debs enjoyed the last post about the Propex heater so much, this follow up is especially for her.

I sent our faulty heater back to Propex to be inspected and repaired as it made sense to have it checked for the first time in its 21 year faultless life. They received it on Friday afternoon. On the Monday afternoon I received a call to say that the heater was repaired and being returned. If the weekend wasn’t in the way this would have been a next day turn around. The heater is a simple design and utterly reliable. There aren’t many manufacturing companies that are prepared to work on equipment of this age.

The faulty Ignition system was replaced. The Spark assembly was replaced at the same time due to its age.

Although given the time and access to the appropriate parts I could have carried out the repairs myself. Knowing that the unit has been bench tested and returned to the manufacturer’s specification was worth a lot, as obviously the combustion area of the casing needs to be sealed correctly to stop any carbon monoxide leakage.

Refitting the heater back into Puffin was a pain (quite literally) having to work in a compact cupboard.

It’s always one step forward and two back with most jobs.

The flexible flue tubing that supplies fresh air to the burner disintegrated when I was refitting it. It is a twin wall construction that is spiral wound. Pushing the tube back on to the spigot seems to separate the inner spiral. Luckily the exhaust tubing was fine.

I ordered a metre of Stainless steel tubing from Propex and with a bank holiday in the way meant it probably wouldn’t arrive until Tuesday.

 

If you own a VW T4 Trident Autosleeper and you want to remove the Propex heater you need to unscrew the rear support wooden batten. The heater will never come out or go back in with it in place. ( a lesson learnt the hard way).

 

Are still with us Deb? I’ll be asking questions later.

However I was able to try out the heater in its temporally fixed position.

I hate that moment when you press that switch for the first time and hope it fires up.

Well it didn’t. Try again, nothing. Third time lucky and it burst into life. The gas just needed time to reach the burner. Turned it on and off several times and it fired each time.

The flexible tubing arrived Tuesday and I was straight out to fit it. I ordered it with an end cap which keeps the tubing spirals together. The replacement tubing was a far superior quality to the original and fitted with out any swearing.

With the heater now in place I tested again and it fired up. In fact seems to give out more heat than before.

Job done

Kettle on and then I sat in a lovely cosy Campervan drinking tea and nibbling biscuits

Having a paranoid nature means I shall be firing it up over the next few days just to check.

You still awake Deb ??

Lady Extreme Knitter

One of the gifts I bought the Extreme knitter for Christmas was her own Scottish country estate. Well it’s a small country estate. Ok it’s a piece of nature reserve land on the Isle of Arran off the coast of Scotland measuring 30cm x 30cm (12inch x 12 inch).

Along with the deeds to the plot came the right to use the title “Lady Elizabeth of Largybey” As yet I haven’t heard her berate any local peasants with “ Do you know who I am” or expect to be seated at the best table in McDonalds. Obviously I bought it for the humorous effect, but it does help support the wild life. I may in future refer to her as Lady extreme knitter. I wonder if this gives her the right to vote on any future Scottish independence referendums.

The up side of this is that we can visit her Scottish estate and take it in turns to stand on it. I feel another Scottish trip coming on for 2016.

 

The extreme knitters bezzie mate bought her a cool VW cushion which now takes pride of place in Puffin.

The Motor home & Caravan show

I won some complementary tickets to the Motor home and Caravan show held at The NEC Birmingham.

Sunday morning and after a 20 minute drive to the NEC we boarded the shuttle bus heading for the exhibition hall. I had actually made a list of things we needed to look at (a first for me).

Puffin’s upholstery is in good condition, but is a dated design. The flowery curtains and cut moquette seating speaks volumes about the 90’s.

Dated design very 90’s

We started to collect estimates to transform our camper into something a little more up to date, but would we agree on the fabrics.

Surprisingly we had similar ideas of what we wanted. The estimates varied by as much as £500 difference.

We had discussed whether it was worth spending a substantial sum on our aging campervan purely on a cosmetic change. I think the clincher was that we could replace the foam in the rock and roll bed for something softer and easier on our aging bones.

We would never get the cost back if we ever sold, but this adventure isn’t about investment. It’s about enjoying ourselves and feeling comfortable.

We have narrowed our chosen upholsterer down to Careavan based fairly nearby in Birmingham. We will be taking Puffin to their showrooms and make our fabric choices and check out their quality next month.

After our decision to make Poland our touring trip for next year I was hoping that there would be Polish camping info at the show, but alas nothing.

Having seen everything we wanted to and purchasing a few odds & ends we headed home.

A fairly new fish & chip restaurant just outside Henley in Arden called Finest Catch was our next stop and very enjoyable it was.

The big day has arrived

Today was the big day. We collected our VW camper today and we’re bustin with excitement.

After an uneventful trip we arrived at the dealership by midday and there it was, all clean and sparkling.

We spent the next hour being show how all the various bits and bobs work. The handover was thorough and covered everything.

I’m so surprised by the service from South Hereford Motorhomes. They have actually done everything they promised to do and more. We were treated as though we were buying a brand new camper not the cheapest one on the lot.

It’s sad that we have come to expect to be treated badly and we are taken a back when we receive first class service.

They have given it a full vehicle service, habitation service, replaced the cam belt, replaced all the tyres and cleaned it thoroughly.

I can highly recommend South Hereford Motorhomes based at Ross on Wye.

http://www.motorcaravancentre.co.uk/

Homeward bound I put a CD in the player and we sang along to old sixties hits including the Beach boys. We were there, transported back to our teenage years.

Where we were going to camp for our shakedown trip, what modifications to make, should we change the curtains were the topics of conversation on the way back home.

The start of another chapter in our travelling story.

Another Escape Pod

We have been talking for some time about selling our Pennine folding camper.

We have had many fantastic trips with our folder, but it does restrict our way of camping a little.

It’s never been an on the spur of the moment, lets pack a bag and just go type of trip.

It has to be planned and with it taking an hour to set up not something I want to do on a dark damp Friday night after a days work.

Initially we intended to convert the Peugeot partner into an overnight sleeper, but our travel dreams started to wander and I realised that for longer trips it would be a strain.

Like all oldies we’ve harked back to our youth and the old days of frame tents and VW campervans.

Why not just look at a few VW campers just for old time sake, I mean what harm could it do.

The air-cooled VWs are fetching mega bucks and lets face it I remember driving a split screen van with side barn doors as a delivery van in my younger days. The engine used to be in and out like a fiddlers elbow.

Nice, but keeping them running is an adventure on it’s own.

I saw an advert for a late type T4 campervan which was older, had more miles under it’s wheels and was more expensive than I wanted pay, but hey let’s have a look, so off we went this morning to look at it in a dealership based in Ross on Wye.

We thought that we would just look at it to see if the rock & roll bed type layout suited us.

For an hour we kicked the tyres, sat in it, lay down in it, opened cupboard doors and poked and prodded it, then set off on our trip back home.

The conversation on that homeward trip started with all the negatives and how it would never be right for us.

By the time we were nearly home we decided it was the camper for us.

A day later I went back to the dealers took a test drive checked it over some more (I’d forgotten to kick the spare tyre the first time) and handed over a deposit.

It’s now ours; well it will be when we collect it on the 10^th February.