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Published: June 28th 2017
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Hi Dot
So here we are on a wet Wednesday afternoon in June, must be the English summer and so time to blog.
When we left you last time we were about to head to Carcassonne and then up through mid France to Caen for the ferry on 11
th May, which is exactly what we did.
Carcassonne was on Jane’s must visit list and while being inhabited for pretty much ever, or at least the Neolithic period, it’s the restored city everyone visits. While Carcassonne’s original strategic importance was as a hill fort on a Romans supply route, what we see today was started around the 11
th century and enhanced when it became a French border fortress in the 13
th. It was at this time, when the city was needed for military purposes; they expelled the local residence and started the new town across the river, thus the old city and new town. Well spotted Dot, Carcassonne is not on the border but was until the 1600s after which it became less important, less maintained and fell into ruin. As is the way of these things the government suggested that it be pulled down in the mid 1800s
which triggered a huge restoration project and that’s what we see today, so basically it’s mostly built in the 19
th century to look like it did in the 13
th.
Although now very much operating as a tourist attraction it is well worth a visit but beware of Americans saying “Wow, how quaint, where are we?” I sure they would have believed it was part of Disney World!
We stayed outside Carcassonne at Trebes municipal site, which will be fine once they open the new facilities. We walked into the village, along the Canal du Midi and watched the pleasure barges coming through the locks, one in particular caught our eye as it had a dining room laid up for dinner. We chatted to an English crew member who, while she was dealing with ropes etc., explained that it was for hire with four ensuite cabins, a chef, stewards and the crew for a mere $20k to $26k per week! On the way back way we stopped for two beers costing €10, now we knew had left Spain.
Following an overnight lakeside stop at St Germain-les-Belles, a great little village, we had two nights just north of Poitiers
at St George- les-Baillargeaux, again a lovely village, (thank you Michelle and Gary for the recommendation) to have Pippin checked by the vet and her passport completed ready for the ferry. We arrived at Ouistreham (Caen) on 10
th May. We stayed right next to the canal and only five minutes from the ferry which was just as well as we had to be there for 6am!
And so here we are back at home and while it is great to see the children, grandson, friends etc. all too soon we miss the simplicity of being away. But of course there is the garden to tame, house repairs needed and an endless list of other projects left over from last year or possibly the year before but who’s counting? We have had one trip away to Beer (Devon) to catch up with my family which was great, but besides that our life feels a bit on hold awaiting the arrival of Otto.
OK Dot, so who or what is Otto? Otto is a Burstner motor home, to be precise it’s a 2012 Ixeo Plus. We first saw it on the internet in February and assumed there was an error
as it had only done 1,900 miles in just under five years, but apparently having spent months deciding on a model and specifying various upgrades and extras the previous owner used it for one trip to France, a couple in the UK and little else except to reverse it into their garage wall! It’s like new, the shower has never been used and the grill pan is still in the plastic wrapping it came in. For those who like the details, the upgrades include the 150bhp engine and 4.5 tonne chassis while the extras include memory foam mattresses, reversing camera, a safe etc.
So you ask “When do we get it?” and therein lies the problem. The sequence of events went like this:
Monday – caravan in for service and warranty repair on aircon.
Wednesday – went to look at motorhome
Thursday – test drove motorhome
Friday morning 9.00 am – call from caravan service centre to say it is ready for collection, they confirm aircon is OK
Friday morning 10.00 am – agree price for motorhome including part exchange for caravan and the beast (pickup truck) and pay deposit. All ready for collection
in four weeks (about 26
th June) after the rear corner is repaired from the garage incident
Friday afternoon – collect caravan and informed that there was nothing wrong with aircon (!?) and that the caravan has damp again!
The damp in the caravan has already been repaired once, about three years ago, but has come back and while it will be repaired again under warranty the parts won’t arrive until next week and then it needs to wait for space in the workshop. The trade-in prices are agreed until the end of July so fingers cross it is completed before then, otherwise we have bought a motorhome but don’t know the final cost!
On a rare sunny day in Manchester we tested the aircon and after two hours of running, the temperature had gone up, not down and then made the humming noise when turned off, so it was back to the service centre who now agreed it was not working! We finally had a replacement unit fitted on Monday, only taking six weeks from when it was booked in for repair!
On a far more positive note we have bought a three wheel scooter, an
ex-demonstrator Peugeot Metropolis with 350 miles on the clock, which we have now had for a couple of weeks, just awaiting a trailer and that’s us ready for whenever Otto arrives.
Not much other news from us, we are both fine as is Pippin, and so until next time take care Dot.
Terry and Jane (long suffering editor)
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