Alternator

I decided to look at the alternator today, I did the normal checks and discovered the alternator drive belt was very slack, I might as well  tighten it there and then.
This particular alternator has two bolts holding it in place one is the pivotal bolt and the bottom one is the adjusting bolt, I slackened off the adjusting bolt no problem, but, when I come to slacken the pivotal bolt it was really tight, It was a socket 17mm that fitted the nut, I used brute force but it never shifted, I tried an old trick that has got me out of trouble before although I was taking the risk of snapping the ratchet in my socket wrench.

I found a piece of tube cut it to length and placed it over the handle of the socket wrench and used brute force to undo the stubborn nut, I could see someone had had a go at this nut before as there were some round edges on the nut, as I pushed on the tube I felt the nut crack as it moved, then the whole bolt started moving, I looked in my tool box for an open ended 17mm wrench but I did not own one.
Above you can see stubborn bolt.

I looked up Halfords to see what they had and found what I was looking for, a 17mm ratchet spanner, and a  socket bar to help with stubborn bolts.
Once I had bought these, it was back on the attack to undo this stubborn bolt, I put the ratchet spanner on the bolt and the bar with 17mm socket on the nut, it came undone easily, mind you cracking the nut earlier might have helped.
Now to tighten up the drive belt I lifted the alternator with a piece of tube and done the adjusting bolt then the pivotal bolt. Nice and tight just a little slack in the drive belt.
Next job was to start the engine and see what the Battery charge light does, The motorhome started straight away. I have an alternator tester which I plugged into the cigar lighter, brilliant four lights alight so the alternator was charging but the battery light was still flickering and glowing. I turned the headlights on and the charge lights dropped to two lights and the battery light glowed very bright. I knew I had alternator trouble, I  turned the engine off put voltage meter on battery, it was just over 12.8 volts.

I checked the wiring to make sure no broken wires earthing out everything seemed alright.
I have found an alternator for the motorhome, I shall order it tomorrow, and fit it over the weekend.
I have to pick up Sheilas sister Valery tomorrow from Inverness airport, Valery is staying with us until next Tuesday so I shall not have much time except at the weekend maybe.

Roof top camping

We had an Austrian family come on the site for a day, with a van and a trailer, the trailer was loaded up with bikes, what fascinated me was the tents on top of the van roof and a tent on the trailer.

We are back home now after leaving on Sunday morning and arriving back early afternoon. On the drive home the charging light was glowing bright, and not flickering as it was before, I have checked the voltage and the alternator was pumping 14.8v into the battery, when the engine was switched off I had 12.9 volts in the battery. I did notice that the alternator belt was slack so I might get away with tightening it up.
Otherwise it means a new alternator which I have found on the web.
talking about finding parts on the web I have found a parts specialist for my motorhome so I can order the parts I need for doing my own maintenance.

I have some other checks to do before we set off again, The water heater, and the fridge too, I might get away with using the gas on the fridge until I decide which way to go as regards fitting a new fridge.
The passenger seat like the drivers seat is on a metal box and is a little  high for sheila her legs are an inch or so off the floor, and it makes her a little insecure. so I am going to make a wooden foot rest for her.
Also I am working on an idea for foot boards in the shower tray.
One success, was the bio gel washing liquid in the cassette toilet no chemical smells, just a nice flowery odour and it works a treat on breaking up the solids even after a couple of days.
Now i am planning another trip away a little further this time maybe down to Loch Morlich and Glenmore forest for three or four days back home for three days then off again to Rosemarkie on the Black Isle for dolphin watching, the campsite is right on the beach overlooking the Moray Firth.
the have a resident pod of Bottlenose dolphins that swim past at least once a day.

Rain and more Rain

Once again its raining here, we sure have had some these last few days, it doesnt help with my internet connections.
Quiet a few campers left this morning and a few have come onto the site, there are some very expensive motorhomes here just now, in fact its like being camped at Cape Canaveral at the moment, we have two large Caravans and a Motorhome with Satellite dishes on their roofs pointing towards the sky. I wonder if they can get the internet with them.
I have freeveiw TV on my laptop but I havent watched much since last Monday.

Last night we had lots of rain again plenty of it, When I took Tara for her morning walk the path was flooded with water draining off a field like a river.

Relaxation

We are on holiday, so we like to relax, after the morning chores are done, Sheila will play her games on her pad or on her computer, she communicates with her friends and relations. she also likes to sit and watch whats going on around her.
I like to write, especially this blog,taking photos of my surroundings and when we are near anything historical I enjoy visiting them.
My other passion is hiking with Tara my dog and chilling out with her, she is great fun and a good friend to have around.
Although at this site we do not get much chance to hike just a small walk for dog walking. Google Earth is another medium I use to explore roads and wild camping spots, also I have electronic maps of the areas I am due to explore. my electronic gadgets I use fro relaxation are as follows my iPad, iPhone Sandisk clip mp3 player 8GB, also I have an Archos MP4 tv palyer but the tv was non digital so that died but I have downloaded loads of music on there, mostly Country and relaxation music, depending on my mood, it has stacks of room on there about 74GB, I have used about 6GB so far. also i have my MiFi we use for getting wireless from 3g

Sheila has her main computer at home so she uses her laptop whilst away, she also has her Samsung Galaxy which she uses for games like Angry Birds, which she enjoys playing with, a very dear friend mentioned the game to me I play it and passed the information to Sheila and downloaded it down to her Pad.

Everyday story of camping folk continued

I was chatting to another guy this morning, he was asking about our motorhome and mentioned he used to drive one before buying a caravan, I mentioned that I would consider a caravan but the thought of towing one scares me.
He said that towing didn't worry him, then he told me he was 80 years old and still going strong, I think Sheila would like to have a caravan, but when I asked her where would we park it, as we have a small area allocated to us which we use for her car.
Also I want to wild camp and I think that would be hard with a caravan.
Yesterday late afternoon another autoquest motorhome pitched opposite us. This one was a little longer than ours and about 3 years younger than our one, the lady driver was very good at parking the motorhome considering we don't have the luxury of power steering.
This morning I talked to the lady and her partner, another lady, we compared notes, they asked me if I had any problems with the motorhome, I said so far only with the fridge tripping out electrics. I also mentioned the slight flicker on the battery light on the dash, they told me they have the same on there motorhome, and keep an eye on the zig box which tells you the state of motorhome battery and starter battery. And like ours it's mostly in the green.

Every day life of camping folk

Speyside campsite attracts lots of nationalities. We have German and Danish campers here at the moment. But we all have one thing in common, well some of us do, we like to gossip, swap stories and talk about where we have been and what our plans and dreams are.
On Monday a lady camper van driver turned up and pitched opposite us. And yesterday whilst out walking with Tara the lady was out walking her dog a 14 year old spaniel, we passed the time of day and started talking about our motorhome and camper vans, she had bought her van when she had retired 6 years ago, and loves every minute of it, her ambition is to drive around Scotland and England, she thinks the v camper she drives has been round the clock twice since she has owned it and it's still going strong.
We then turned to places we had been like she had been to Applecross which until a few years ago the only way in was the drovers road over the top of very high hills. I mentioned that is one place we would love to go but I would only go by the new road, she replied the new road was just as bad as the drovers road, you need nerves of steel up there with hairpin bends and a vertical drop on one side, no I said Sheila would not have that, she would be jumping into my lap all the way there, it's bad enough on a narrow road road when a truck comes in the opposite direction, she then said the road is single lane all the way up.
She then asked me had I done the outer Hebrides yet, I said no but I intend to, it's a trip worth doing she said, try and book an island hopping ticket it's much cheaper, and gives you the freedom to travel all the way up and back to the mainland up on the west coast of Scotland, she recommended going from Skye from a place called Uig which has a campsite you can use before getting the small ferry across.
This little bit of information had got me intrigued and I am intending going next spring, when the long days start.

More Problems

Richard suggested I try propane gas to chill the fridge,  I wasn't happy to do this for a couple of reasons one being I could not find where you check the pilot light, also I did not know when the burners had  last been cleaned, this would be another job to check out when we got home along with checking out the mains electric to the fridge.
I was not unduly worried about the fridge, I could get freezer blocks each day from the shop which would help keep milk butter and cheese cool, the main worry I had was meat I had put into fridge frozen, would it go off if the fridge warmed up a little.
The lesson with the fridge had taught me one thing and that was alternative foods like dried powdered milk, tins of meat etc.
I have managed before without a fridge in my last two motorhomes, I had purchased a cold box to keep milk cool, but I wasn't very happy with it.
The transit motorhome had nothing. I used powdered milk and tins of meat in that motorhome.

The cascade water heater runs on gas too, but I didn't think it worth running that as I could boil water in the kettle when on site hooked up to power, but when we are off the grid I shall probably heat water on the gas stove we shall see.
Another job I shall try at home to see if it does work on gas.
Sheila my partner had bought a new topper for the bed at home and wanted to throw the feather topper out, I grabbed it and it fitted my bed above the cab, I have slept very comfortable these last two nights so I am not complaining.
Today has been a mixed day weather wise sunshine and showers plus a thunderstorm too.
We used up the ground beef tonight in a Spaghetti Bolognese  very tasty and very good. No after affects as of yet.

Back at Camp Speyside

We arrived back at Speyside campsite last Sunday afternoon, on a lovely sunny day and hot with it too.
I haven't written in a while as I have been busy working on motorhome.
One of the jobs I have done is prepared for another leisure battery to be installed along with the  the original battery to go under my seat which is sitting on a box.
I purchased a four way fuse box, the snap in fuse type, so I can connect the two 110 Ah batteries together to give me 220 Ah, which would give me adequate power for the 12v I am using at the moment when I am off the grid.
Photos will follow on the work I have done up to now.

I also have completely flushed out the fresh water tank to get the smell and taste of chlorine sanitiser I used to clean out the tank, and pipes to taps.
I am also trying out Bio washing Gel in the toilet tank, I have read in various blogs that this is a highly recommended way to break down waste and leave a fresher smell in the toilet.

Back to the campsite, as I said we arrived Sunday afternoon found a pitch with hookup and parked up there after connecting hookup first job is to put the kettle on for tea. As the kettle boiled I swithched the Fridge onto mains, click kettle went off, oh dear looks like fridge and kettle on had tripped out the power, I went to the power box reset the trip, walked back to motorhome turned fridge on again click tripped out again, I went over to see Richard the site manager to report a dodgy power box, the last time we were here we had no problems with fridge, so it must be the box.
Richard came over with his little tester, he tested the box every thing OK we reconnected hookup  and switched the fridge back on same thing power tripped, we concluded there was a fault on the fridge.

Retirement

As I said before I am enjoying my retirement now, but it was not always l like that, when the time drew close for me to retire I started to panic, how was I going to manage with a huge cut in income with just my private pension and state pension. I would have to change my lifestyle and the everyday things I had got used to.
Worst of all I would have to learn to budget, be more frugal and this I did, I drew up spreadsheets and work to that everyday, that way I can enjoy a lifestyle that I can enjoy. It isn't hard to cut your cloth to suit your means I learnt.
The couple of caravaners we met at Speyside took the plunge and have come out well, they have a lifestyle that I would love to have, but due to circumstances it can never happen in the near future.
But we have the chance to get away maybe for three or four weeks at a time no boss to dictate when I should be back at work, bills are paid automatically, I have set up a motorhome account, which I put in a little each week, and Sheila shares the expenses with me which helps with the lifestyle we have chosen to follow.
We decided to buy another motorhome, after visiting my Sister and Brother in Law down at Granton on Spey campsite, We liked the layout and started looking for something simular, once again I was shocked at the prices, yes my bank manager was willing to give me a loan at favourable interest rates over ten years, but no I didnt want to go down that road, I am 68 why do I want to have a loan until I was 78, when the possibly is I might be to old to drive a large motorhome after 70, plus at 70 you have a medical to prove you are fit to drive a vehicle. Ok I could sell the motorhome and pay back the outstanding loan early, but then the bank would want a certain amount of interest back for settling early.
Hire Purchase no way would I go for that, from past experiences I have learnt about HP.
So we looked around for a cash buy, second hand, I know you take a chance buying that way, but you can also get some good buys too.
We looked at three motorhomes we had short listed, one was OK but needed work on it, the second we would have bought but it meant a small loan, which i decided not to pursue.
We bought our third choice a 1990 Eldiss Autoquest 270, It had a clutch problem, but we offered a price and was accepted.
I booked her into my local Garage in Fochabers Colin  has looked after my previous motorhomes.
I picked  the motorhome up a week later and drove her home, what a difference she drove like a dream.

More Bits and Pieces

This morning its bright and sunny here in Mosstodloch, I wish we were still away, but I agreed with Sheila we will have this next fornight at home, so she can watch the Olympics, which is coming from my home town of Stratford London.
Whilst the olympics are on I have a couple of projects I want to complete. i want to install a solar panel to the motorhome, and fit a second house battery.
this will enable me to camp off the grid, when I am on sites it will give me an extra choice of having hook up or no hook up.
I want to go out wildcamping again and not rely on the grid for electrical supply, I hop to stay out for four or five days then come onto a site for a day and night to service grey tank and water, laundry and showers. this is the lifestyle I want, I want the choice to do what I want to do, go where I want to go and not be chained to a regime that dictates to me when i can go. Ok Sheila has chosen to stay at home, but I have the freedom to go if I wanted too.
I retired from work 3 years ago, and I would not change what I have now for a regular pay packet and the restrictions of working 40 hours plus to earn it.
Back in 2003 we decided to buy our first motorhome, we looked around but most were out of our price range so I decided to go down the self built route, and bought an Ambulance partly converted, I drove it home, and started work on it, I only had time to work on it in the evenings and weekends, so I was restricted by work and other house chores, when winter arrived with short nights I stopped work, and started again in the spring. It was too late the Ambulance died on me I could not start it due to a seized engine, I had to have it scrapped.
My next motor was a VW Trooper caravanette I loved that little camper that took us all over the West Coast of Scotland we drove miles in that van. But once again it was a rush home on Sunday to get ready for work on Monday, and boy I resented that.
Someone who was my boss, the bank manager, the taxman, uncle tom cobbly and all were telling me when I could have a little bit of freedom. Then my boss told me that I would have to work Saturdays to increase sales. why summer time why not winter? It was because it was a soup factory and their biggest sales were in the winter, so they had to build up their stock in the Summer.
The caravanette stayed outside looking sad, and getting the rust bug into her skin, I sold her the following spring. I had bought an awning tent for her so Sheila would have room to sit out under cover.
I bought another motorhome a 1978 vintage Ford transit a year before retirement, I bought her for retirement but Sheila didn't like her and had a job getting in and out due to the high steps. Once again work restricted me again.

The Speyside Campsite

Here are some pics of the site and a couple of scenery ones.

Back home

Back home now with a list of jobs that need doing, we got home late morning, after a cup of tea and a sandwich, I decided to get started.
First job was to flush out the water tank and make sure we have sweet water through the taps, before we left I read up different forums I belong to about flushing out water tanks, I ended up confused, some said use chlorine some said Milton others said just wash out the sour water and and flush water twice it should be ok.
I filled up the water tank turned house battery on, and pumped air out of cold tap, the smell we had the first day had gone, I turned on the hot taps in bathroom and kitchen they smelt terrible at first but gradually cleared then water started pumping through pure cold fresh water, hot and cold taps were running fresh, I turned the taps off. The sinks were full of water not going anywhere, I forgot the grey tank must be full, ok thats fine, I thought, I wanted to test the grey water tap to make sure it was alright. I was going to empty the grey water tank at the site but there were a couple of motorhomes waiting to go on the service area. so I decided to go home and empty the tank into a container I had.
I laid out on the ground to have a look, found the tap and turned the tap, nothing then a drip then another drip. I decided to unscrew the tap and remove it completely to see if it were blocked,  as I reached the end of the thread I thought any moment I am going to get soaked, the tap came off, full of muck and gungy black goo. I poked a piece of stick up the pipe still blocked with gunge.
I got some very stiff wire and poked and pushed my way up into the tank then suddenly water shot out like a mini Niagara at first it was sewerage then rust then clear water, after the deluge had stopped, I took the tap cleaned it up and screwed it back on, turned it off, went into motorhome and started pumping water into the sinks again. I pulled the plugs and watched the water gurgle down the hole to the grey water tank.
I went down to the grey water tank and undone the tap, water gushed out clear water.
I felt good two jobs completed, a few more to do.

Fellow travellers

Around the site there are a few full timers, the site Manager and his wife, manage the site during the summer and when the site closes down in the winter they move off to Spain for the winter yes the UK has its own snowbirds too.
Another couple who come from the next village to us, are here for the season, then they travel to Spain for the winter too. they take the ferry from Portsmouth to Bilboa and have a four hour drive to the campsite they stay on for the full allowed time which is 180 days or just under 6 months.
They have a house, but tried to sell it a few years back, but now rent it out, so they have the income from their house which pays for there lifestyle.
On the site there are a few staying in tents from 1man up to family tents, we have a couple who have a large tunnel tent, and a Volkswagen van fitted out with a large double bed, they use the tent to live in during the day cooking etc, but sleep in the van at night. incidentally they have just married on the back of the van.
The trailer they tow is a cut down Volkswagen car cut in half and the front half of the trailer has a front of steel welded to it.
Also on the site we have a Dutchman a German. 
Most of the campers here are mostly age concession campers, over 55s get a 30% discount.
On our afternoon walk Tara and I heard a Capercailli  a large pheasant bird which is a protected specie in Scotland in fact its a very rare bird. You cannot make a mistake if you hear it, it makes a tic tic toc call. I looked for it but never saw it as they can go to ground and lay still if threatened, I understand that they can fly a long distance for a large bird.
I mentioned about the  Capercailli to the site manager and he asked me to put it in the wildlife book in the information room.
Tomorrow we head home with a list of things we need and chores I have to do on the motorhome such as flushing out the water tanks..

Yesterday was a chill out day, done a couple of chores to the motorhome, the drivers side mirror was a little lose so I checked that out and tightened it up, the dinette cushions kept moving about due to the press studs not clipping in properly, after a bit of head scratching resolved that problem.
The MiFi i bought for connecting to the internet has worked well, I had one dip in reception yesterday hence the lateness of my blog.
Sheila goes on line to get onto Pogo and finds it very good for playing games and bingo, she finds it a little bit slower than the server we have at home, but it does the job, I can check my on line banking OK , and emails are fine too to receive and send. Also I can download books to my kindle too.
I have a built in 3g on my iPad, which changes over to WiFi as soon as the MiFi is switched on. I can run five gadgets off the MiFi, which is very handy.
The MiFi has a 3gb sym card I got when I bought the MiFi and it works of the 3g signal the same as a smartphone does but converts the signal to WiFi.
The original thinking behind this was that most tablets are bought with just WiFi connection, and as these tablets are for mobile use, the MiFi was bought out to enable mobility of Tablets etc.
Tv is something Sheila cannot do without at times, she will kill me for saying this, but I could not see the point of buying a Tv just for a motorhome that is not being used as a TV in the house.
after some research, I bought a USB freeview tuner for a lot cheaper than a freeveiw tv even with built in DVD player. I have a DVD player on my laptop so do not need it.
I am very impressed with the TV on the laptop, I have a built in Tv aerial on th motorhome also with the purchase of the USB tuner I got an antenna that does the same job even better than the aerial.

First Camp

After a false start we arrived at Speyside yesterday at about 1730. why the false start, well I loaded the motorhome home up got Tara my dog on board then got Sheila comfortable, I said after all the rushing about I hope she starts. I turned the key, click, turned again click, "whats up Sheila asked", Flat battery I replied, what are we going to do she asked, I said I will get you and Tara back inside, can you charge it she asked. yes but it could take a long time, so I shall drive to Elgin in the car to buy a new battery, this I did a couple of hours later we were on the road to our shake down camp.
The idea of the shake down camp was to try everything out, I got out our brand new orange hook up cable, no good it didn't fit, lucky I had the previous owners old one which fitted, got connected turned the switches on, ok, right lets get a cup of tea on, went to fill kettle on after switching on water pump, nothing happened pump running just air coming out, then a little trickle of water, with white bits and it stank rotten. Yes I should have known to check the water, before I left, The previous owner had told me the water tanks were full, but I didn't check. Lesson learnt, it will not happen again when we get home on Thursday first job is to flush water tank taps out etc.
Lucky for me I had bought a spare five gallon water jerrycan, why lucky i was going to leave it behind to make space but I changed my mind.
Next job make a cup of tea, filled the electric kettle up with lovely fresh water, turned the kettle on no light, oh no no electric this is getting worse I checked the mains switches yes all on ok did the earth reset button yes ok. Over to see the site manager who got his tool kit and over he came, Sheila was laughing she said we have electricity, I said how, she replied you forgot to turn the plug the kettle was plugged into.
So after a lot of anxiety we had a nice cup of tea.

Bits and Pieces

The Cheque has been paid into the bank, awning ordered off Amazon. MiFi router ordered off 3 mobile should be here tomorrow, once its up and working I shall do a review on it.
The MiFi router  had  two options, a contract between 18 months and 24 months or Pay as you go, I have gone for Pay as you go, i ordered 3 Gb for 3 months, they had a 12Gb over 12 month pay as you go for £134 which I thought was expensive considering I could get 3 Gb sym cards off Amazon for £11.56 and multiplying that by 4 to give me 12 Gb works out cheaper. Although the 3Gb WiFi router cost me £84 start up I am well pleased.
I can run up to 5 gadgets off the one router , My laptop Sheilas laptop my iPad, Sheilas Samsung Galaxy pad, and her iPod too not at all the same time I hasten to add..
We had looked at buying a TV a small flat-screen  one but they are expensive, so I researched some other ideas and bought a freeview tv receiver USB stick, the stick came with a antenna. The motorhome has a built in aerial with a booster I took my laptop outside and tuned the stick receiver and laptop to the motorhome aerial, it took about 20 minutes to complete the job, I was amazed at the quality of the tv and how clear it was. I then disconnected the motorhome aerial and plugged the small antenna into the receiver stick, I could not believe that the small antenna was better than the motorhome aerial. So I shall experiment with that when I am out and about and let you know the results I have achieved.
www.wildcamping.co.uk  is the main forum site I use for researching wildcamping spots, the membership is well worth it, you not only can post on there but you can download POI for GPS. also there is a good directory on the site for most of the UK. Canalsman is a senior member who has set up most of the POIs on the site and he does post random POI of the day. He uses Google Earth which I find useful when looking at the site through Streetview. Go and have a look at the site.

At home, still raining

Heard from Kathy my sister yesterday, the had a few days in Anglesey, although they weren't going at first because of the weather, but went at the last moment, after checking with the site they had originally booked with. They had a wonderful time going to the top of Snowdon by train, and going down into a coppermine,  which they enjoyed, but on the way back home the rain was torrential, and on the M62 the spray from trucks was very scary, Kath did say she was a little frightened but was glad to get home.
also yesterday I composed a wish list for extras for the motorhome, 1st on the list is a drive-away awning so we can keep the wheel chair in and keep it dry, also somewhere for Tara my dog can lay out and watch the world go by, Tara is a people watcher and is very friendly. also it will be good to keep her food bowls out of the van too.
The 2nd choice is a MIFI router which would be handy to get on the net when there is no WiFi nearby, it works of the 3g signal, I have 3g on my iPad and iPhone and i find it very good, i researched my provider and the  have got a highly recommended one, so that is on my wish list.
my 3rd and final choice is for another 110 amp hour leisure battery, to link up with the new one I have got already and a mobile Solar panel to charge them and Engine battery too.
On my old motorhome I had a 20w solar panel that sat in front of my windscreen and that kept me fully charged over a few days. this time i am looking for a 60w or more if i can afford it.
So I will have to start saving.
It must be my lucky day the postman arrived and dropped a letter in my post box, it was from the taxman so opening it fearing the worse, inside was a cheque for overpaid tax.

Wildcamping

I am a great believer in Wildcamping or Boondocking  as it is known in the states. Up here in scotland we have the right of Access, which means you can go anywhere with reason, and at the end of August they are removing No overnight parking from lay byes as these notices are illegal.
I have found Google Earth street view a great help in finding spots off the road, i research an area I am travelling in and then go into Google Earth find the area and the road I intend to travel along at street view and follow the road, looking out for likely spots.

 

Also I find the net a great help, I belong to Motorhome forums and you can get some useful tips from them, one of my favourites is the Wildcamping Forum here in the UK. One of the first wildcamping spots I tried was the Culbin forest up between Forres and Nairn in the northeast of Scotland in my old Motorhome Kaycee a 1978 Ford Transit Mark 2 with a CI on the back.
The dog in the picture is my very good friend and fellow traveler Tara now a 7 year old labradoodle.
We spent four days out there in the forest no hookup only a 110 amp hour battery charged by a 20w solar panel. That old Motorhome taught me so many tricks on maintenance and camping.
We had no running hot water just a couple of hand pumps to pump the water up from a 5 gallon water container, lucky for us there was a toilet block in the forest for visitors that I used to get water from.
   This was way back in 2010 about 3 months before I was struck down by a heart attack, which I have got over now after having 3 Stents put in.
Sheila was away at her Country Music festival with friends that July, all the campsites were full up as it was in the middle of the summer.
We had a couple of motorhomes pull in there for a night, one was a big German motorhome and the other was a Van conversion driven by a lady on her own.

Rainy Days

This last week it has been raining constantly, The hookup Cable, Gas cooker lighter and Fan heater, arrived last Friday from Amazon.
So we are all ready to go, we planned to go to a campsite near us for a couple of days, but on Saturday severe weather warnings were issued for this part of the country with heavy rain and flooding, as Sheila my partner is disabled that meant she would be sat in the van whilst I walked Tara, so no fun there for her. So we are waiting for a break in the weather to go at a moments notice.