Advertisement
Published: April 28th 2013
Bergues
The BelltowerSuzy is still sitting comfortably on our drive hooked up to recharge her batteries . She is being prepared for the trip to Croatia and back. Sion has worked out it's 8 more sleeps until we get to France. We have started to load up the van. Books and maps put in the cupboards, clothes packed, last minute just in case foods put into the fridge and the cupboards - it's a lovely feeling to know that at last we are almost on the road again .
Kathrein has worked OK the last few days but today she refused to go up again. We have spoken to Solar Solutions who fitted her and they have been deep in conversation with RoadPro who provided the dish. The offer is to take the dish off and send it back to Germany for testing. We have three choices - take it off before we go and do without TV for the month whilst we are away. This is something we probably wont have time to do nor do we want to be without a TV for those rainy miserable nights. We could call in at Daventry on the way home and take it
Bergues
The canal around the town off or we could wait until the end of the season in October. It will take a whole month at least to send Kathrein off, package her up,send her to the factory, test her , package her back up again and get her back to us. What will happen if there is nothing wrong with her when they test her -who will pay for her to be put back together again? . We have gone back and demanded a replacement under consumer law. The company should replace which they refuse to do, repair which they had tried twice or refund us the cost of the dish minus any usage for the last year.
The weather is improving and the sun actually shone today. Perhaps Spring is finally in the air. Leaves are starting to open on the Hawthorn bushes and hedges. Blossom is opening on the cherry trees. And the roundabouts and hedgerows are full of bright yellow nodding daffodils. A sure bringer of good news - Spring is just around the corner
Hair cut, dentist appointments made, feet pampered and all other small jobs done. But still so much to do.
7 more sleeps and another
Bergues
Gateway to the town day and the last of the vignettes for Slovenia have arrived. It is always good to take last years off and replace them with the new ones. Why do they make them so sticky? The go box arrived. As usual the service was excellent and it came in five days which included the weekend. The down side is the 21 days free use started five days ago and will count down. It is a fine line between ordering the box too early as we seem to have done but know that it will arrive in time or to leave it to last minute and worry it might not turn up in time.
We received a message again today about Kathrein and it seems the company we bought it from went bankrupt last September, six months after we bought Kathrein. This probably explains why they did not do the repair and sent us to RoadPro. We need to do some more homework to find out what position that leaves us in. In the middle of nowhere by the sound of it with a dish that has a mind of its own. Emails fly back and forward as the company is
still advertising on the internet both under CMC which supposedly does not exist any more and under Solar Solutions. It makes you wonder who is telling the truth. We have booked Suzy and Katherine in for a preliminary look at when we return home from our holiday and we keep fingers crossed nothing goes wrong whilst we are on holiday. To be fair it went up OK today.
6 sleeps to go - we had to go over to Chesterfield without Suzy and called in a local garden centre. Beneath the hedgerows the golden yellow celandines shine like little jewels in the sunlight. The dainty white wood anemone is blown gently by the wind. But just round the corner rain again. It never stays feeling like Spring for long. Another shower comes along and it isnt always the April shower types we used to know and love. Today Kathrein worked OK and we had planned to clean the awning but the wind has come up and it's another job that will have to wait until tomorrow. We are both excited and worried about the trip. Excitement because of all the new places we will visit, the sights we will
see but at the back of your mind is always the worry you will forget something or that something will go wrong. Last year we felt more organised which is strange as we were new to this motorhoming lark. This year should feel easier but even with our lists and lists of lists we feel we will forget something. Not that it would be a major catastrophe. It's not as if there arent shops in Europe. There is always the worry about being away from home, hopefully the house will be OK. It is easy to overworry in this current economic climate but we are determined it wont spoil our excitement of being in Suzy. Sion has his new scarf ready for the trip - thanks to his friend Woolly for telling him he needed one. And smart he looks in it too.
The last few days before the trip - grass cut. Will it last whilst we are away. That will all depend on how much rain and sun we get whilst we are away. It will probably look like a unmown meadow. The forecast for the next few days is mixed with some sun and a bit
of rain. We wanted to take the awning out and give it a clean but Sods law every time we try the rain comes down or the wind rises its ugly head . Spring seems just that little bit elusive . The crimson flowering currant has brought a hint of cheerfulness to the corner of the garden and with it the sounds of the bumble bees which come to feast upon it. The ground is covered with that deep shade of blue of the forget me nots and glory of the snow. That blue is such a glorious colour.
Two days, two sleeps the holiday is almost upon us. Suzy is filled with water. That elephants trunk of plastic has been attached to the tap and her tanks are now full. The toilet cassette checked and filled and the flush part full of nice smelly stuff. It is looking good to go.
And off we went .
At last the big day has arrived. It was one of those nights when you cannot sleep waiting for the next morning to arrive. Woke up early. We had planned to get up around 5 and leave the home by
Bergues
Along the canal and the walls 6 which would give us plenty of time to get over to the Tunnel for the crossing. In the end we woke at 3.15 and gave up trying to get back to sleep. Instead we got up earlier than planned and ended up leaving home by 4.35. Ruthin was well asleep and the only life was a lonely hedgehog wandering across the road snuffling his way back to his bed for the day.
Our journey is pretty uneventful to start through countryside we know very well. We travelled through Wales into England and our first county Shropshire, on to Warwickshire and around Birmingham which was for once due to the earlier hour quiet. The road works and the cones are still there. It’s been six month since our last visit and the work does not seem to have progressed much. Still the same old mess .
Our next stop Warwick services. We have never stopped here before for breakfast. There was plenty of parking and the service café/restaurants were empty. We ordered bacon breakfast baps, huge dinner plates of baps filled with what looked like a whole pig. It was a touch expensive at £15.48 for two baps
Bergues
A wall inside the gatehouse to the town and two cappacinos which were not particularly good ones. Bring on continental coffees - cannot wait. But enjoyable nevertheless. Bacon butties made by someone else are always better than the ones you make yourself.
It was sunny around Oxford as the inky black sky had given over to that silver and pink of the dawn. Another county Warwickshire this time and then Oxfordshire And then we arrived at the biggest car park in Britain the M25 which at 9 was heaving. We hadn’t quite timed that one right however the traffic eventually moved and we headed onwards for our diesel. Our second expenditure of the day we have covered 292 miles since leaving home and filled Suzy’s tank with 72.78 litres at an extortionate price of £1.44.9 which was 7p a litre more expensive than back home. We also bought two bottle of pop which cost £3.90 Lucozade perfect for that pick me up you sometimes need. Sally Sat Nav went flat and we had to resort to Snoopy. What we hadn’t realised was that one of the cigarette lighters wasn’t charging.
By 11.00 we had arrived at the Channel Tunnel and booked in. Vehicle recognition is a
Bergues
An interesting assortment of signs wonderful thing and the ticket machine churped up Hello Mr Jones would you like to go on an earlier train? The next one at 11.20 was already boarding, the one after that at 11.50 would cost us a further rather hefty £95 so that was discounted very quickly. Our trip had only cost £88 so it was going to cost more than double to go on that earlier train. The later train at 12.20 was cancelled and we picked the first free one which cost nothing extra travelling at 12.50 . This left us with an hour and a half wait with nothing to do but people watch. The couple next to us in an AutoSleeper ignored us despite my cheery smile and attempt at a greeting. Ah well you can but try. We went into the shops but there is very little there. There is some attempt to upgrade and improve but its got a long way to go.
And then on our way. Security was tight this year. We were directed over to a security officer who checked our gas was switched off. Our passports given a cursory glance over but there were several armed police with
Folkestone
Sion liked the idea of this machine guns and hand guns. We were directed to our next stop and made to line up in lane 14 where we stayed for about 10 minutes by which time the red lights had changed to green and we were on our way to load on to the train. This too took a little longer than normal but the journey was as usual quick, efficient and not very eventful.
When we reached France we thought as usual the area around the train looked like England with chalky soil and it felt like England with its dull European weather however as we travelled towards the Belgium border the sun came out and it felt more like Spring. Our stop for the night was Camping Vauban at Bergues a small town surrounded by water, gates and the ramparts of the Vauban fort. Many French towns have ramparts built by Vauban and they all take the same shape, star like with moats around and in the town which lies within the fortifications. The campsite isn’t easy to find even putting the co-ordinates in to Snoopy. She took us to the wrong place and we had to backtrack through the town which luckily
Folkestone
something to do while you while away the time waiting for the train was motor home friendly wide and fairly empty of traffic . Eventually we found the campsite with its gates firmly shut. A hunt found Madame smoking and reading in her caravan. A cat tied up outside. She spoke no English and I have virtually no French. Sign language and mime are wonderful things. Du Personnes, camping car por un nuit - that’s all I needed with just a touch of french mutilation . She took the money in advance 17 euro 14 made up of the person charge, the electricity of 4 euros and a local tax. Rather expensive compared to an ACSI site. We were directed to our plot which was rather skinny with hedges on three sides. The site was full of statics some in better repair than others, a few sheds and lean to buildings most of which were full of families eating outside,enjoying the sun and playing with their families. They reminded me of beach huts on the south coast of England We settled in and took a look around the facilities. No pool but then that was not expected nor was there any restaurant. Not a problem the town was within walking distance and we
Folkestone
On my way had seen a couple of possibilities on the internet. Ducks swam in the water that surrounded the camp. Church bells chimed the quarters. A pretty carillion. We sat down to a cup of tea - what else do the Brits do when they want to chill out and I went for a look at some interesting buildings on the site. One housed a rather scruffy games room full of tables, dart boards and freezers - not particularly interesting . The second four dingy wash rooms with dilapidated wash basins and one shower for which a jetons were required. Drinking water taps required jetons too. Three rather worn out and tired sinks were available for washing pots and there were a number of clean Turkish toilets. We felt we had paid a lot of money for a poor site. Ah well doubt we will come this way again and it served a purpose. A rest over before the drive to our next destination.
The town however was quaint and very agreeable. The riverside made a pleasant place to passiagiata on a warm spring evening. The restaurants were all closed until later in the evening and were rather expensive. I had fancied the local stew but in the end we gave up and decided to eat in the van later. We walked round typically French squares with tables spilling out into the streets. Some interesting shops and gateways to the turn at every turn. A lovely place and a delightful detour.
Tomorrow we head for Trier via Luxemburg. ,
Advertisement
Tot: 0.081s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 17; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0487s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Love the countdown!
And the description of spring flowers...reminds us of our springs in England, which was just a hop across the channel from Brussels. I've been looking forward to your departure almost as much as you have...eagerly anticipating your blogs of places we loved to visit, and in the case of Croatia, where we want to visit.