After Lockdown

Weather is glorious.
Spring tomorrow.

Travel in the motorhome is not allowed
because of Lockdown.
Good news.
We will soon be able to use our motorhome to visit places.

Campsite in Devon

 When I was travelling about
 the south of England last summer 

I discovered a couple of faults:-

• my fridge was smelling oddly
  
• one of the trims on a wheel arch was loose
• a hinge on the habitation door had snapped

With winter approaching and a lockdown imminent 
I decided to wait until the January to deal with this.

As I discovered the repairs were rather expensive.
However I do now have a new fridge.
Although it has a black generic door 
it still blends in with the décor.

 

The replacement hinge was ridiculously expensive
£100.00
Yes £100.00 just for a hinge.

With the van having to go back
to the rustproofing workshop
for the annual check up
I asked if they could weld the hinge
(they are expert welders).
They kindly agreed.
The van goes into the workshop middle of March.
Again I have to empty it as much as possible
so that it won't be too heavy for the ramp.

When it comes back it will need cleaning and polishing.
Not my favourite job.
(I am going to clean the inside before it goes to the workshop).

Just to loose wheel arch trim to sort.
Hope this will be done next week.

Then Pearl and I can think about going away.

Pearl  would drive it
to her favourite places
if she could 

Freedom and My Motorhome

Being a member of several Facebook motorhoming groups
has been illuminating.
It appears the default position is the facility motorhomes
give owners to wild camp; to pull off the road at any convenient place to spend the night.

It also seems to me they travel long distance to get to places
but I am not sure what they do when they get there. 

For me 

My motorhome

    I love my motorhome,

    But I like using campsites with some facilities
    (electric hook up, toilets and showers)

This gives me freedom.

The freedom 

• So my dog can come with me
• To explore interesting and different places to walk
• To mitigate the constrictions of my diet (I can cook on the motorhome)
• To be able to make the best of British weather
• To arrange things to suit me
• To be able to travel with or without company (human)

Swiss Alps 

    

As with everything there are constraints:

• The need to empty waste water and toilet
• The need to fill with clean fresh water
• Ensure safety of people and belongings
• It is difficult to drive and look around
• Using toilets and showers is unusual
• Washing up is a novel activity 
• Finally the unique drawback;
  using the motorhome for day trips requires packing everything away.
  
  

I like to stay in one place for a few days and
explore the surrounding area on foot
with my trusty four-legged companion.

Me and my companion

It seems the default for motorhomers is to wild camp.
This is not for me because being a solo traveller

• Safety is a concern
• Unease due to mechanical breakdown
• Keeping supplied off grid is too demanding for me.
   

I can see that there are
 different freedoms for different people.

My only caveat is the "Country Code" mantra

Leave No Trace

Photo of the Month (Feb 2021)

It is really cold.
Many of the plants are wilting.
Even so some small shoots are peeping through
A few have even flowered.
These are mostly snowdrops.
The daffodils are not far behind.

Snowdrops braving the cold.

 

Snowdrops in the churchyard

A profusion of snowdrops

Daffodils in the woods

Stick and Flick

 This post is going to be a bit of a rant.

Why?  

Because of this.

What idiot thinks it is ok to do this?

• Good; to pick up your dog mess
• Bad; not to bin it.  

WHY YOU SHOULD NOT DO THIS

1. Who is going to collect this and bin it?
   (The fairies?)
2. It is unsightly.
    (Spoils the countryside for everyone else.)
3. It is dangerous for wildlife.
    (The plastic is bad for all animals)
4. It takes years to decompose.
   (If not bagged the contents decompose in months)

So what to do.

Various organizations responsible for outdoor spaces such as the National Trust and Forestry Commission are now promoting a new approach;

STICK AND FLICK

When your dog messes
Find a stick and
flick it into the bottom of a hedge. 

Doing this also helps to reduce the time need for the mess to decompose;
weeks rather than months. 

Over the past few months I have seen so many full poo bags.

Please everyone stop this disgusting habit and 

STICK AND FLICK

Read of the Month (Feb 2021)

Over the years I have travelled all over Europe in my motorhome.

Initially I required many maps
and frequent stops
to ensure
I was going in the right direction. 

Nowadays I still use maps (often on the laptop)
but when actually on the road a SatNav is essential

Finding the way has always been a challenge
from earliest times.

To help lines were drawn on maps and sketches.
These we now call 
Longitude
Latitude

Using Latitude was easy because;-

• They were all parallel
• Star patterns were unique to each line. 
  

This is how Columbus first sailed the Atlantic

Longitude was totally different.
For centuries being unable to calculate longitude
hampered travel especially by ship.

The Read of the Month for February is
the resolution of this problem
which is the beginning of the

invention of the SatNav

Longitude 

by

Dava Sobel

This is a fascinating account
In the process explaining
why 0 degrees goes through Greenwich.

I was also reminded of the "Watch" episode of 
Only Fools and Horses.
The watch they had in the garage was sold for £millions