Second time lucky?!

We decided that since Jess needed to go back to university in Canterbury we would pack up the motorhome and take her there on Saturday and spend the night in a campsite just out of town.

Packed everything up and just ready to roll when we discover the battery is dead (note to self, ask Roger to check battery more than an hour before we set off!). So once charged (hour later) off we went.

One of the issues we had was taking Belle in the motorhome. She is only happy if she's on my lap and since that isn't really the most comfortable for me we got our hands on a really nice soft sided dog carrier. You know the kind...indestructible! She howled and bounced around in that thing all the way to Canterbury...even managed to just get one of her nails in the webbing to start a nice small hole. I actually knew deep down at that point that we were in for trouble here! However, after a bit of very firm talk she settled for the last 10 minutes of the journey.

We arrived in Canterbury to discover we had a flat tire....here we go...managed to get to a service station to fill it and decided we'd see how that worked and get the tire changed the next day so off to the campsite we headed.

Very nice people running this campsite, friendly and helpful. Next mistake I made was choosing a site right next to the dog run especially with two rather skittish dogs! Shadow managed to break his collar and took off after an owner with her two dogs. Needless to say they were not impressed. No harm done, gathered him up and put on his harness for the rest of the weekend.

Jess stayed with us and helped Roger set up the awning. This was the first time we'd had it open since we bought the motorhome. Not bad, it worked and it will definetly be a bonus when the weather improves!

Although Jess was planning to go to her flat that evening she decided to spend the night. A decision I think she may have regretted the next morning but I was glad she stayed.

We had a good, peaceful and warm night. After breakfast the next morning we packed up to see if we could get the tire looked at, unfortunately there was nothing open on Sunday so we dropped Jess off and headed home with Belle safely but very loudly enclosed in her cage.

Part way home after much howling there was silence. Concerned about this I looked around and no Belle, she'd made the great escape by completely ripping the zipper. Low and behold the cutest little face is staring at me from my feet. I swear she had a grin on her face. So back on my lap for the remainder of the journey. One happy little girl she was...not another peep out of her!!

All in all it was a good weekend. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can actually enjoy spending more time outdoors...but that will be soon.

We've got two more weekends before we head off for a weeks holiday so now we know what needs doing it's time to get cracking!

First time out

Yes after 4 months of primping and preening, waiting for the frost to disappear...we took our motorhome out on Saturday 7th March. Oh where to begin... Lets just say it was interesting and ultimately pretty useful.

I should set the stage for those that don't know....we bought an old well loved motorhome...and to be honest we weren't the smartest when it came down to it...we hadn't done a lot of research before we bought it and we had a tight budget. We also wanted to get a feel for motorhoming and felt that if the whole thing went wrong we wouldn't lose a lot. You know the story.

Although Roger had been tidying up the wiring for the lights etc, we hadn't tested the hot water, the pump, the toilet,...etc..so you get the idea. So with some trepidation we set off to a CL site about 20 mins away. The site was nice enough but the listing was a bit deceptive as it said it was on a stream which sounded idealic...I'm not so sure that a trickle of water covered in wheat in the middle of a field consitutes a stream...but hey ho. Anyway we got on the pitch just fine. When we booked we were told it was £10 per night plus electricity...so not being the swiftest...didn't ask how much the electricity would be. However they gave us a top up card that you put in the machine next to the plug. We put £6 on it, not having a clue how much it would be.

We happily started playing with things and were delighted that the hot water worked, the pump worked, the lights worked (still not sure for how long because we think we have a dodgy leisure battery). Plugged in our tv...set about trying to set up the portable satellite dish but after having received frostbite on my nose (man was it cold!), gave it up and settled for the antennea which worked just fine. After having played for a couple hours we set about have a quick dinner.

As it was getting quite chilly and because we hadn't had a chance to check the gas fire, we plugged in our very small electric heater. This was probably about 6pm. As it started to get very dark we settled in for the night watching some tellie when all of a sudden....boom...out goes the power. Now I know electric heaters are expensive to run...but £6 for 2 hours??? Hard to believe.

Off I trot to the owners (who by the way never said a word to us the entire day, I paid a lady in a little shop.) to tell the lady that I think there must have been a problem with my card because the electricity cut out, no she says it's expensive to run an electric heater and those meters charge the same here as they would at home...bull I say! So I refuse to throw another £10-15 in the pot with no guarantee it would last till morning...so we're off I say. Back to the motorhome, packed it up (love mh's for this...done in 5 mins) and off to the gates to leave we go.

Hmmm...electric gates...no sensors...how do we get out of here...looked all over the place in the dark because obviously electricity is much more expensive in their neck of the woods as they can't afford to illuminate the area with sensored lights...no luck looking for a switch....trot back to the farmhouse...it's on the silver post she says...trot back I do...but can't see a silver post in the dark...now have a flashlight that is almost dead....so what to do....trot back to the farmhouse to be told it's on a silver post by the gate...no it's not I say...yes it is she says...so trot back to the motorhome. Give up and give Roger the flashlight...after about 5 mins I can see someone from the farmhouse jump in their vehicle and head our way just as Roger finds the silver post about 100 yards behind us no where near the gate. And away we went....trotted back home to find that we'd been locked out of the house.

So here we are...no heat...no electricity and no keys for the house. Call one of the girls and she comes to our rescue. Phew...the good news....we tried out our gas heater on Sunday and it works...bad news....ran out of butane 5 mins later so even if we did start it on Saturday we still would have froze! All in all an eventful weekend that hasn't put us off at all...I just really do hope that the next CL we stay at is a bit more reasonable and a whole lot friendlier!

Our new baby!

Time to start anew with our latest passion....our new (to us) motorhome. We bought it in November and only recently had a chance to take her out (more about that soon) It may be old but it's got lots of charm...perhaps charm isn't the right word but it is all we need at the moment.

We've done some work on her since we bought her. Roger has been working on the wiring...according to him there was a spider web of wiring that needed sorting. That's kept him busy the last couple of months. I've changed all the curtains to match the upholstery and a few other odd things.Although we still need to do a few things we're slowly working our way through them.

At long last!

Well I haven't written anything for absolutely ages on this blog. Since Jess has returned from Canada and taken back her room I haven't been doing any scrapping. But that's okay I'd rather have her around if the truth be told! I'll get back into it some day, it's all packed away just waiting for me to get at it when I find the room.