Overnight stop

On 25th June I went to the USA for a week to take part in a Buddhist retreat in upstate New York.  I was delighted to be able to fly from Bristol Airport and not have to cope with the vastness of Heathrow, as I was travelling alone.

I had to be at the airport for check-in at around 7.30am, so we decided to drive over the evening before and have a relaxing evening in the van and a slightly less early start next morning.  We did not fancy dashing down the M4 at 6am, worrying whether we were going to get caught in traffic.

We found Brook Lodge Farm campsite most pleasant and convenient.  It is literally 5 minutes drive from Bristol Airport and yet a haven of peace, tranquility and beautiful surroundings.  The shower and washroom facilities were clean and well appointed, and there was a separate washing up area with hot water supplied from solar panels.  The proprietors of Brook Lodge are interested in environmental issues and hence it is a site that is run with the ecology in mind.  They have been awarded a bronze standard by Green Tourism.   This organisation assesses businesses wishing to join the scheme "against a rigorous set of criteria, covering a range of areas, like energy and water efficiency, waste management, biodiversity and more."

This was really our first real stopover on a campsite since we have owned the van – the first part of this summer has been rather busy.  We are most satisfied with the comfort Pema the Peugeot offers.  The seats are easy to organise into beds, the van feels roomy with the lid popped up, and it was convenient cooking a meal on the hob.

Our next trip is to Whitley Bay near Newcastle upon Tyne and we are going to have a stopover on the way up and on the way back.  We are looking forward to this.

Birthday delights

The van was finally returned to us on Friday.  Yesterday we did a lot of DIY shop trips to pick up all sorts of things we have not been able to collect without a van, such as pea shingle for the ground preparation for the summerhouse, boarding to floor the loft eves and storage boxes.

Today was my birthday.  Having been grounded for five weeks I really felt the need to get out into the hills and experience an expanse of sky and landscape.  Llangynidr is one of my favourite near-to-home views.  It is only 35 miles from Cardiff.  We parked at the highest point and headed off across the hills to take in the view.  It was windy and exhilarating and most definitely satisified my need for expansiveness.

Pema the Peugeot is lovely to drive - as this was our first real expedition since we had bought the van.  It is great to have a larger engine that pulls better on the hills.  Both Bertie the Talbot Express and Sky the Corsa were rather sluggish on hills.

After our walk we drove down into Brecon via Talybont-on-Usk.  The canal is very pretty here and the towpath is pleasant for walking.  Brecon was a little disappointing as hardly anything was open and there was a dearth of tearooms.

This part of Wales does seem to have very few places other than pubs for snacks and light meals - and in my opinion a pub does not hit the spot in quite the same way as a tearoom.  The atmosphere of a pub is quite different to a tearoom and does not appeal to me so much.

Eventually in Brecon we came across a gallery called Ardent Gallery in the High Street that served drinks and cake.  This was most pleasant with a delightful young lady running the place, although the pictures were rather expensive.

We then headed back to Cardiff via Briwnant Riding Stables to see our horses.  It had been a fun ride today, which we had decided not to join this time, as we have had so little opportunity to ride recently.  Then I picked up my mother and it was home for a delightful dinner prepared by my son which had been slow cooking all day, followed by cake made by my 93 year old mother.  I am now sipping sparkling wine and thinking what a most pleasant birthday it has been.

No transport

There has not been anything to blog about the new van because it has been in the garage for nearly three weeks.  Sigh...  I have only driven it about 5 times.  Pema the Peugeot began to become increasingly difficult to start with confused displays coming up on the dashboard.  Eventually it was diagnosed that the ECU was water contaminated and the cradle in which it rested was totally corroded – both would have to be replaced.

This is both good news and bad news – bad, because we've only just bought the van and it is frustrating to not have a functional vehicle, having part-exchanged a totally reliable car for it; good, because it is in the warranty period.  Knight Motorcaravans have authorised the repair and will be paying for it.

So is delight possible without transport?  In fact it has been quite an enjoyable few weeks.  The weather has been bright and sunny and I have been enjoying walking and cycling more than usual.  It has been lovely to notice and appreciate things I would not have seen in a car – such as the tulips in front gardens, magnolia blossom; and also enjoying haphazard meetings with people while out on foot.  It has also been frustrating of course, and there have been a number of commitments I have had to let go.  There is also the extra expense of taxis.

First Auto Engineers have promised that the parts will arrive this week – assuming there is no more volcanic ash in the sky, we don't suffer a Welsh earthquake, or a giant cockroach doesn't appear from a crack in the universe and consume the suppliers of Peugeot parts.

Bye-bye Bertie... hello Pema!

The news from the Caravan Hospital was not good.  Poor Bertie... all his appliances were too old to repair and all of them had something wrong with them.  You may notice the past tense of that sentence, because we did decide that we had to give up on Bertie the bus.  The final straw that prompted the decision was the need to have a lot of welding done to sills and wheel arches to get him through the MOT.  We lack the time or the skills to take him on as a project, so we had to let him go.

So now on to the good news.  Bertie had a good engine and from this aspect he passed the MOT without any problem, which meant that he was saleable.  We had a lot of fun in Bertie so we knew we wanted to replace him rather than give up on the idea of owning a motorhome.  On a recommendation from a friend, we contacted Knight Motorcaravans in Kidderminster and they agreed to take Bertie in part exchange without an MOT.  So on Saturday 6th March we drove up to Kidderminster in our car and had a look at their stock of motorcaravans.  The vehicle that we initially went up to look at was an S reg Mercedes Vito.  The idea was that this vehicle would be compact enough to replace both Bertie and the car.  However I felt rather uncertain about replacing my beloved and totally reliable Corsa, with an unknown vehicle five years its senior and with four times the mileage on the clock.

We took our time and had a really good look around their selection of motorcaravans.  The place is quite small, but they pack in a lot of vehicles which range in size, shape and price.  Eventually our interest settled on the vehicle that we have now bought.  It is a Peugeot Expert conversion, registered in 2003 on a 52 number plate - so pretty much the same age as our Corsa.   It has a small kitchen at the back, an elevating roof, two passenger seats with seatbelts, two swivelling front seats, and a table.  Knight Motorcaravans also agreed to take our Corsa in part exchange at a price we were happy with.  Having agreed our terms we left, with delivery arranged for a week later after the Peugeot had received a caravan and vehicle service and been MOT'd.

On Monday, two gentlemen arrived in the Peugeot Expert and drove away with Bertie the Bus (on trade plates) and Sky, the sky-blue Corsa.  I am still mourning the Corsa a little - it was such a lovely little car.  I know it is silly to get sentimental about vehicles, but I do believe that even supposedly inanimate objects respond to being cared for.  Unfortunately I have been ill all week, so I have not had the chance to bond with the van - which 'ö-Dzin has named Pema the Peugeot.  I have driven it once and it is nice to drive and surprisingly lively, being used to a 1 ltr Corsa and an ancient bus.  I must remember... I really MUST remember... that Pema the Peugeot is a sophisticated beast and drinks diesel, not petrol.

So our transport of delight continues with a new vehicle providing the transport, and our delights are quite possibly going to be more frequent.

Triage

We had a great drive out to the Caravan Hospital.  It was about an half hour drive and was the best drive I've had in Bertie so far.  I don't know whether the loud backfire he erupted the other day cleared something out, but the engine was pulling the best ever.  There was no pinking or sluggishness.  We sailed up the hill out of Culverhouse Cross in 4th gear with no problem at all.  Previously he would have struggled and stuttered and I'd have had to go down the gears.

There was quite a queue at the Caravan Hospital and we had to wait a while.  I think Bertie looks pretty good for a veteran, waiting in the queue.

As well as sorting out the little problems mentioned in the last post, we are hoping that they will be able to put on a replacement strip above the sliding door so that we have something on which to clip the awning.  This would be really good, because up till now we have been having to throw the guy ropes over him to secure them, and that is a little inconvenient if you want to head off and leave the awning standing.  I'll let you know how that goes...

Caravan hospital

Bertie is going to hospital on Saturday – no nothing serious!  He is going to the Caravan Hospital to have all his interior fittings serviced.  This will assure us that the electrics and the gas pipes are in good condition.  We'll also have a few other minor defects mended, such as the leaky tap and the fridge that only works from the mains.

We decided to tax Bertie for the whole year, so we have been taking him out for little trips every other week over the winter to keep the batteries charged and everything lubricated.  We have been most impressed at how easy it has been to start him every time.  It must be a good Peugeot engine under the bonnet – it is a shame they have no interest in supporting his longevity.  They were totally disinterested when I contacted them.  Bertie started at the fourth attempt even after standing covered in snow for two weeks.  It does smell pretty damp inside though, but I don't know what we can do about that.

I feel that he is struggling a bit with unleaded petrol and am looking into a petrol additive.  We are experiencing what my Dad used to call 'pinking' and even the occasional backfire.  It will be his longest run for a while out to the Caravan hospital at St Hilary, so it will be interesting to see how he performs.

A convenient vehicle

We have not had any opportunity recently to take a leisure trip in Bertie.  Life is rather full at the moment and weekends are tending to be taken up with commitments.  However through our busy time we have discovered many unexpected benefits to owning a motorhome.

One of the reasons we are so busy is that we have been doing up a house.  Bertie has been invaluable for the convenience of moving furniture out and moving other furniture in.  We have been able to transport items even as large as wardrobes.  It really is quite extraordinary how much can be packed into our bus.  We have saved a fortune in hiring removal vans and avoiding delivery charges.

Bertie has been having some problems with his windscreen wipers.  They do not return to the proper resting position which means that they overshoot in the other direction on each wipe, and this gradually gets worse.  We have been told that it is just a matter of adjusting and tightening the fitting to repair it – I hope this is true.  This is one of the problems of buying an older vehicle – there tend to be little things going wrong all the time.  Some of the curtain fittings are also coming adrift.  We are hoping that Bertie will stay basically sound through the rest of the warmer months, and then we shall work on some of the rust and other problems over the colder months.  I am looking forward to making new curtains.