Malibu Molly

I booked three nights at the Chatsworth Caravan Club site way back in February. Originally I have only managed to get one night there and one at the Lickpenny site not too far away.   Then when I checked the actual dates with Chatsworth House I saw the event was on for longer than the last time we went in 2023.  SO I booked the new dates and once sorted, cancelled the old dates. We are there for three nights. It's not the cheapest break, but around £42.50 a night. It's where it is that counts.  As we won't have the awning out, just the electric to disconnect there's no reason why one day we can't take a drive out to Bakewell or Ashbourne or even Buxton.

Tickets went on sale on November 1st and we decided to go again. We went in 2023 in old Molly. It's gone up a few pounds and is £160 for four days of the show with an electric connection. It includes all entertainment except for the Saturday night in the main hall. We did that at Malvern this year and it was okay. We only stayed for the Luke Combs tribute.

After the disappointment of the September rally being cancelled due to the terrible weather and flooding, there is another chance to meet up. It's the pre-Christmas meet at the Lifeboat Visitor Centre in Hastings.  All proceeds go to the RNLI. Tickets went on sale on October 1st and we were in France. As there is limited space on The Stade There would be a restricted number of tickets.  I got online when we were at the aire in Formerie and was lucky to get one of the last tickets. Hastings is actually only about 30 miles away and it actually on the same road, the A259, that goes behind my house. Fingers crossed for better weather. We need to look out some Christmas lights for the van!

Yesterday I filled the fresh water tank and added 120ml of Puri Sol. Leaving it overnight to clean any impurities in the tank. I ran some through the pipes to both sinks as well. This morning I pulled the van back on my neighbour's drive so I could hook up to the house mains electric with a drop lead I bought years ago abd never used. It kept the batteries topped up whilst I ran the taps to move water from the fresh tank to the grey. Then I could fill the fresh again to rinse out the remaining Puri Sol. It worked well and I then drove to Canterbury New Dover Road P+R where there's a motorhome aire and also a service area.  In total we were carrying 190kgs of unnecessary weight.  Dumping the grey was easy enough as the grid is easy accessible and our drain is amidships. Whilst it was draining I had the tank filling up again, and the taps open. It's essential to clean out all the Puri Sol.   To empty the fresh tank I had to park acro...

At the start of the France and Spain vacation I reset Trip B to zero. I reset Trip A each time I fill the diesel tank. So this morning before driving anywhere I took a photo and then reset Trip B to zero again. A door to door total of 2212.8 miles. It may well have been higher had we come back on the originally planned route.

October 22nd Today was Reggie's trip to the vet for his worming pill and passport signed up. But first we had to get away from Veuzain sur Loire to head up towards Chartres and then Rouen. The choice was to go to Blois and then north or diagonally north-west to Vendôme and onto the N10. TomTom chose the Vendôme route. It was a little frustrating again as this section of the N10 chops and changes from single lane 80kph to the 90kph two lane "overtaking" sections that are so short it's still hard to overtake anything. Still, we arrived in Buchy for the 4pm vet appointment at just after 2pm.  We parked in the Carrefour Market. It's not far to the vets from there. We did a little shopping and then had lunch before a rest up. Then go the vets. Fifteen minutes and €36.80 later we were back at the van.  We decided to go to the Camping-Car Park aire at Incheville for the night. I had toyed with going straight to Calais Camping-Car Park but Google Maps showed it was around...