Denbigshire 5 - Another hill fort Moel Arthur

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It's been easy settling into semi-retirement. Instead of dreading work on Sunday nights it's a lovely feeling to realise that there are still more days without work. Things have been moving on apace with Suzy as we have gradually filled the fridge up with food to take with us on our trip, items have been moved from cupboard to cupboard as we try to find the optimum use of space and everything bar the kitchen sink has been taken into the van. We have produced a shake down list with all the items we need to take with us and we keep coming back to it as we realise we have forgotten to list something. The list seems to grow by the day as we think of something new. . A new atlas of Europe has been purchased as our existing one was well passed its sell by date. And I bought a Rough Guide to Switzerland to add to other guides we possess . Over the next week or so all of these will need to be moved into Suzy. We are on the countdown and it is only 19 days until we start our month long holiday and our plans get visited, re-visited and changed as we realise that perhaps we are being too ambitious on our first trip abroad in a motor home.

Our van is 6.47 long and with the satellite dish on the top is 2.950. Her width is 2.24. Because of height and width we no longer use just the TomTom sat nav but have purchased a Snooper which records the size of the van and hopefully avoids narrow roads and low bridges. Suzy is built on Fiat Ducato base and has a 2.3 ltr turbo engine with Euro5 spec which means we don't have to worry about low emission zones. She is predominantly white with a silver and grey cab. She is embellished with red and silver flashings which we feel add to her charm and we have fixed Welsh red dragons to denote our Welshness

Last years model had one captains seat for the passenger - this was one of the features I really liked but much to my disappointment this year this has been replaced by a fixed rigid seat. We have added a Strikeback alarm system and a Trackstar tracker. The wet locker now has its sensor in place after a quick trip to Warrington. All doors and windows are covered with stickers warning in different languages that the alarm is fitted. Hopefully it will keep us safe on our travels. Diesel consumption is not as good as advertised and we are averaging at the moment 25 mpg. Perhaps this will improve over time. She is fitted with cruise control which definately comes into its own when travelling through road works controlled by specs speed traps. She has factory fitted reversing cameras and we have added solar panels for future wild camping. The performance of the solar panel is regulated by a Morningstar unit. Numbers appear and whilst I am sure they must mean something we are still on a long learning curve trying to decipher and understand them. Suffice it to say that even over the last few weeks here when the weather has been dull and rain falling we have still achieved an input from the sun into the two leisure batteries we have had fitted. It seems to be working. We have also fitted a Gaslow system which runs from two tandem gasbottles and we filled these for the first time for a little over £22. We chose this system as it seems easier to find LPG garages in Europe rather than mess about with Calor which isn't sold abroad.

Behind the driver is the toilet and shower cubicle. We have mastered the art of filling and emptying the cassette. How much we use the shower remains to be seen as on camping sites it will make sense to use their facilities and save our precious water. Decor is predominately straw/magnolia coloured. The furniture fabric is mainly cream, brown and with some red which matches the curtains. We found cream coloured throws in Tesco last week and will use these to keep the upholstery clean and tidy. All windows have fly screens and blinds. The layout is nearer to a caravan with a lounge area to the back and the habitation door part way down the van. We find this arrangement much nicer than some of the others we have seen. We fitted an Avtek 14" tv which fitted neatly into its unit and added a Kathrein satellite dish. This is motorised and locks on automatically to the satellites and up to now seems to have worked even in the deepest forest in Wales. Along the side walls are the sink, the fridge and the gas/electric fire. The carpets are straw coloured. We have added fire blankets and fire extinguishers and plan to fit a water purifying system before we leave in May. We no longer find ourselves panicking when things don't work but stop, think and check and check again.

Swift refused to repair the wet door locker. Since then though a further new crack has appeared on the locker door to the toilet cassette. As this was never touched when we fitted the alarm system it suggests that there is a fault with the locker doors and we have sent new photographs to Lowdhams explaining what we think the problem is and we await their response. We purchased a Geotagging device but it seems not to work with my laptop. That is going back and its back to research to try to find something that will work.

Just to pass the time away today we drove up to Moel Arthur a hillfort along the Clwydian Range in Denbighshire. We had already climbed the highest peak Moel Fammau and Voel Fenlli but today it was the turn of Moel Arthur. The hillfort on Moel Arthur was built around 2,500 years ago and nestles between Penycloddiau across the valley and Moel Fammau to the other side .On a good day it has fine views towards Snowdon,the sea, Liverpool and the Dee Estuary, across the Cheshire Plan to Beeston and the south Pennines beyond. Whilst today was a clearer day than the one we spent on Moel Fammau it was still too hazy to see much in the distance. I could pick out Liverpool cathedral and the docks at Seacombe but little beyond that unfortunately. Car parking is easy and free although the road to the site is narrow and full of pot holes. We were the only ones there and the peace and solitude was wonderful. Occaisionally the sound of birds broke the silence. We even saw the Beluga plane taking off from the factory in Broughton taking the Airbus wings to Toulouse.

It is a stiff climb to the top but one that is worthwhile and would be even more beauful in Autumn when the heather is blossoming.

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Photos

Moel Arthur
The view towards Snowdon over the Vale of Clwyd

Moel Arthur
The view towards Moel Fammau

Moel Arthur
A hazy view toward Liverpool

Moel Arthur
At the top and the sun just got in the way