Awaycation Autumn 2023 - France

I saw last year on a forum that there is an overlay for Google Maps that shows where there are veterinary clinics across Europe that can handle the need for animals coming to the UK to have their paperwork stamped and also administer their worming tablet.

It has to be done between 120 hours and 24 hours before travel.  The grey area seems to be whether that 24 hours in before they get on the ferry or train to the UK, or before landing in the UK. No one seems to answer this question with any authority.

So we have always done it around 48 hours before travel. That means that I have been looking at Day 14 or the 16 day trip for a vet.  One that appears to be popular (and too popular if you read the reviews on Search4sites!), is the clinic at Buchy in Normandy - Clinique des Cateliers. I have the co-ords in the Ohrex satnav already.

It's on the east side of the Seine in Seine-Maritime. Department 76..  I emailed them as their online booking wasn't working properly,  I have booked us in at 5pm.  This gives us plenty of time to make our way to the area.

Many of the "regular" Moho travellers recommend staying in the free aire in Buchy itself. As I am expecting to stay in a few Camping-Car Park (CCP) aires  on the way across from the Ile de Ré. CCP aires in general have no loos or washing facilities other than in the van itself, I'd rather have a campsite.  I have found one in nearby Neufchatel en Bray - Camping Sainte-Claire! Reasonably priced and so I have reserved a pitch. It should work out at about €22 with electric hook-up.

So where to go when we leave the Ile de Ré?  It will be the morning of Day 9 and that will give us 5 overnights to look at before we have to be in Buchy.

We have talked about the Loire Valley. So many places and chateaux to see!

I read on a forum (!) that it is possible to stay in the parking area at the Chateau de Chambord. We have been in the car before, with Reggie, and walked around some of the grounds and I thought that this might make a nice stop. It will be off-grid though!  

There are CCP aires at Saumur, Bléré, Chenonceaux, Montrichard and Amboise and all of them on or near the River Loire. Some might get crossed off if there are fewer EHU's that pitches.  It avoids the rush to get on that pitch!  It's tantamount to rushing down in the morning to put your towels on the sunbeds...

I need to have the map books out to see where everything is and decide later.  Nothing to be booked!!

Awaycation Autumn 2023 - France

I know. I know. I said that maybe this holiday would be less booked and more impromptu, but then again in the popular areas a booking is essential. 

We decided that after Normandy we would start to move south to hunt for the weather.  I was looking at the west coast again with maybe a few nights on one of the islands this time.

Once again I was on Search4sites and came across some Flower Camping sites on the Ile de Re.

The one at La Flotte couldn't do the dates I was after but the other at Loix fits the bill. With Reggie and our loyalty card discount it's €77 for three nights. At the current exchange rate that's around £66 or £22 a night.  The site has EHU on every pitch as well as bar/snack bar etc should we want them.

From there I am thinking about maybe a little further south before looping back up through the Limousin and the Loire Valley.  We still have to book Reggie in for his worming and Pet Passport.

Staycation - Afternoon Out

We only had Molly back since Wednesday and we have had a few things to sort out like the TV and the Amazon Fire Stick!

A quick run out was needed. We had only had one run and that was to the BP at Dover to fill the lpg tanks. It's cheaper in France but I wanted to use the setup I can actually work!

So today we decided to have a run out to Dungeness to give the van a run. As it is the Sunday of August Bank Holiday and it was rammed. With nowhere to park a 7m van we made our exit and headed to Camber Sands and then Rye. Camber was packed and although there is a sign for coach parking there's a height barrier. No coach could sneak under that!

So we made our way to Winchelsea Beach. There were loads of cars along the way and we eventually found a space.

Whilst we had a cup of tea I tuned the TV into preview. The sound quality isn't that wonderful. It did find 166 channels. Many are the HD or +1 versions of other channels.

Then we had a walk on the beach. The tide was way out and Reggie enjoyed the water and dipped down a few times. As he was on the lead it was difficult for him run free.

Whilst on the beach we were treated to an acrobatic display from a lone Spitfire. Swooping below the cloud, the evocative sound of the Merlin engine....

Not easy to photograph with a phone. Claire did well to see it ...

Once back in the van we headed towards Hastings and made the turn round by the Red Pig food van.  We have been here a few times in the past.

As a run out to get used to things it was a good run out.

We now have TV!

RCA 22" 12v/230v 1080P TV

We have finally gone and done it. Matt our neighbour bought our old van and he has been spending money to get it as he wants it.  

One of  hs first jobs was to get a TV for when he's away and takes his Mum with him.  I had been looking at these for a while and on Amazon they are priced at £99.99. A penny under the spread the payments threshold of £100!

As I had bought the Maypole Wheel Clamp a week or so ago, Claire bough the TV and the bracket to go on the wall.  Matt did the fitting yesterday!  All we were missing was the aerial cable!  He brought along his one to get the TV working.

The freeview element found 160 TV channels!  I have no idea that there would be that many free ones! Then he said he had bought an Amazon Firestick.  

As it happens another friend has a 4K Fire Stick spare as his new massive TV does all that. So I connected that today and after some messing about it's connected and we have gone from nothing to loads of channels. We came to a deal and £25 it's ours. Tonight on Amazon they have cut the new price from £60 to £39!

For the money the TV is superb quality in picture. The sound isn't too good although not useless, but connecting my Betron Wireless Portable Bluetooth Speaker with a 3.5mm jack plug enhances it greatly.

I ordered an aerial cable from Amazon and it came today. We estimated that a .5m (50cm) would be good and unobtrusive. Sadly not. It's about 3cm too short! We were going to Tesco shopping and so I bought a 1m cable at Curry's and it works perfectly. Luckily, I was able to get on Amazon and return the .5m cable and get a refund.  Oddly, they don't want it back. I am supposed to get an email.... I took a screen shot though and saved it to the laptop!

I can now watch Bosch when we are away!  ;)

Molly is back!

YAY!

We went over to Rye today to pick her up. All the minor warranty work has been done.

I wound out the awning to check that the squeak had gone and also to see that they had fixed the rafter mount. Both done.

The Remis blind is fixed and so is the missing hinge bolt.

What is confusing is the situation with the Heki rooflight.  We had water come in once, and that seemed to be because the rubber seal looked to have come away. There is evidence that there has been a leak in the past as the ceiling looks a little stained. The habitation check showed there was no damp in March.

When we reported it when we came back from France they said they'd look at it. Initially they said that there was a crack and they needed to put in a warranty claim to replace it. Last week it seemed that the crack wasn't in the unit itself but in the seal.  They have done a fix and we have the van back and see how it goes. I would like the stained roof board to be replaced though.  It won't look good.

The odd thing is that it didn't leak at all during the heavy rainstorms we endured in the Auvergne and Belgium.