Off To Brighton

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Now that the van has been given a clean bill of health, it was time to D & A to put a few more klicks on it. They headed south to Southampton to do some camping supply shopping at TOWSURE, a place they'd found the previous year. Among the valuable items purchased were a pair of Wellies (They call them gumboots at home) for each of them and a satellite dish for the TV. Towsure didn't have any more battery powered satellite receivers. So, that item had to go back on the shopping list.

In the previous year, one evening found them stranded in Southampton camping in an empty Toys R Us parking lot with drunks climbing onto the bikes during the night. Consequently, they made sure to get out of Dodge (Southampton) heading east before sundown this year. They made it to Chichester, West Sussex by evening.

The next morning, they checked out a Caravan & Motorhome storage facility nearby that D had found on the web. It would only cost a bit more than they had paid for storage in Essex and the van would be in a big barn under cover. D asked if They should reserve it by putting money down or would space still be available a couple of months later. They were told that there we lots of spaces available and not to worry. It should be no problem arranging storage later.

Next stop was Brighton, East Sussex to visit friends Louise & Dennis, camp at The Caravan Club Campground at SHEEPCOTE VALLEY which is just a fifteen minute walk from Louise & Dennis. However, A still wasn't walking so well due to her sore hip. Consequently, they used taxis to get back and forth to places in Brighton for the time being.

They still had the folding tandem bike in their 2 large suitcases cluttering up the van which required a fair bit of choreography for the two of them when setting up camp and making and breaking the bed everyday. They also had some rolled up carpet stowed in the bed over the cab that they had never used the previous year and were sure that they wouldn't need until they decided to resell the van some time in the future. They contemplated how to better store these items while on the road.

So, on a drizzly day D opened the canopy, laid out some plastic sheets and proceeded to assemble the bike. The manual that came with the bike suggested that one should assemble and disassemble the bike several times before taking it on a trip. Well, D & A had only just received the bike a couple of days before their flight to the UK. There had been only enough time for to assemble it once and make several desperate trips to the bike shop, pleading for help with the tricky dual drive gear shifter connection on the rear wheel hub. So, you may remember that one of the suitcases had been smashed in transit and it was yet to be determined whether anything had been damaged. Wait no more! Indeed, the screw upon which the gear shifting cable connects to the dual drive hub had been bent. D straightened it out as best he could and hoped for the best.

Once the bike was together, the gear shifting connection was, at least, as troublesome as it had been in Vancouver. Still, after a considerable amount of fiddling, D managed to get it working. He also managed to get the tandem to mount on the rear bike rack of the van in a semi-folded configuration.

Brighton has been D & A's motorhome base of operation for the past two years. They had learned how to get aound on the bus system to a degree and they knew how to get back and forth to Halford's (a car supplies, hardware, biking supplies type of store), B & Q (a big box Home Depot type of store) and Sainsbury (a big grocery store). They would have frequent need to shop at these types of stores for sustenance and just keeping things working. D had also noticed that there was a large self storage warehouse across from Halford's. D conceived a plan to put the tandem suitcases, spare carpets and a few other unnecessary items into storage while they were on the road and then collect them again before putting the van back into storage and preparing to fly home. The only problem was that Brighton, being a university town had no room at the bin or should I say storage facility. D found another place in Tunbridge Wells that their Sat Nav told them was only 30 miles away that had room for their stuff.

They headed out early, or so they thought, the day they drove to Tunbridge Wells. However, D had set the Sat Nav to use motorways. Consequently, it took them all the way north up to D's favourite, the M25, before taking us east at a snail's pace and then south again. By the time they put their things into a storage unit it looked like they were going to be late for their dinner date back in Brighton. They had booked a restaurant for 6 pm to treat Louise, her sister and Dennis to a nice meal. D decided to continue south west on smaller roads using maps in order to avoid heavy traffic and the dreaded M25. A phoned Louise and explained that we would be late. We eventually got to the restaurant after some harried driving in the dark in the rain, fuel running low (right hand drive, left side of the road, large , wide vehicle) and white knuckling it much of the way. Fortunately, Louise had had the good sense to phone the restaurant and change the reservation to 7:30.

The meal was good and things worked out in the end.

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Photos

Blustery Brighton
Brighton must have its share of lovely calm days but it certainly has some blustery ones. I gather they have some pretty good racing sailors in these parts.

A Nearly Getting Blown Away
Holding on for dear life.

Just Around the Corner From Louise & Dennis
They saw an actor from one of their favourite Irish TV series unloading his groceries here.

Their Bike Friday Two'sDay Tandem
The front and rear sections fold into the middle. It can be stuffed in a large bag and slung over the shoulder. Many have toured thousands of miles on these. D & A find it works well for them while touring in a motorhome.