Malibu Molly

Another quietish night once the party crowd in the seasonal caravans had piped down and gone to sleep. We still had the drivers to visit the loo almost all night.  It seems that the rules, and there are a few, weren't applicable to the guy that needs the loo at 3am and needs to drive 300 yeards. Anyway we set the alarm from 8am. We didn't want breakfast as I had a trip on the way back planned for breakfast! In the end I was up a few times with Reggie for his pee breaks. A guy across the way decided that 6.15am was the right time to empty the garage at the back of his motorhome with all kinds of crap including a gas BBQ complete with grill, metal wheeled stand and 10kg Calor bottle! Then let his spaniel dog run around all over the place without its lead. Once up we set to work doing the packing and I noticed that the motorhome service point had a car parked close up to it.  There's a square marked out and painted with criss-crosses, but it's hard to back into it with a c...

We were up late, or rather we were up early and then late!  Reggie manages to sleep most of the night at home. I generally go to bed around 11pm and I leave him with his bed on the sofa and some treats to "find" before he settles in for the night.  Often when we go down around 8am (we are retired okay!!) he can be found still asleep. So when in the van in a much smaller space he is up around 5.30am and asking to go out. I end up getting up and turning off the alarm to get the sliding door open and he can get out. Then he comes in and repeats the same whine until I get up again or Claire feeds him his breakfast.  Then he wants to go out again! This morning was no exception.  So after all his visits outside, it was light at 6am BTW, we went back to sleep. It was 10am when we both woke up!  The site was still very quiet as it's March. It's Friday morning and only the retired are on site.  Oh. The workforce are out and about in tractors and other noise making e...

An early weekend? What's that?  Well it's a Thursday to Saturday trip that does have one of the weekend days in it! As usual on a Thursday morning I was at the greyhound rescue foster home a few miles from where I live.  More information on the charity from Kent Greyhound Rescue . I had only seven dogs to feed and exercise and left the last one in the care of another team member to keep an eye on so I could get home before 11am. Pack the van and get away for the 11.30am start. We just about managed that. We couldn't get into the site until 3pm according to the paperwork I had printed off after booking. The paperwork actually gives the pitch number as well. We were going to be pitch 59.   On the way up we made easy progress up the M20 to the M25. Even the hazard and road block that it is the Dartford Crossing, it's a tunnel going north, was relatively easy to navigate. Rather than stop as usual at Thurrock Services we carried on until we were on the A12.  We avoi...

This weekend in the UK has two things happening.  Firstly the clocks go forward an hour in the small hours of Sunday, and secondly, Sunday is "Mothering Sunday" or as it is more widely known as "Mothers' Day". I still have my Thursday morning visit to the Greyhound Rescue  to feed and give the dogs a run before we can set off. I am usually back before 11am and so if we get the van loaded up pretty much on Wednesday afternoon, then we can then leave ASAP.   The destination is to Essex again. Waldegraves at Mersea Island again.  We last stayed there back in May 2023 and I thought it would be another opportunity to get away before the kids Easter holidays. We tend to not do a lot at Easter any more. So two nights on a hardstanding pitch with EHU will cost us £25 a night. In March dogs go free and that saves us £4! Going a bit earlier in the week, THursday, might mean we avoid the influx of two years ago.  It was virtually empty and t...

With the last two vans I simply topped up the AdBlue tank every so often from five litre containers. Bought in 5 litre bottles either from Home Bargains or B&M.  The problem we have been told is that it's not easy to know whether it's started to crystallise or not. Crystallising can cause problems when it's injected into the exhaust.  The problem I think is restricted to vehicles that spend a lo of time sitting about.  I might be wrong! What we have had happen is the warning ⚠️ light coming on to say the AdBlue level was getting low.  Rather than let it get too low we dropped into the Shell station on the westbound A14/A12 heading towards the Orwell Bridge in Suffolk. The station has dedicated pumps. The odometer was showing 8899 miles. I put in 12 litres.  I thought it was a bit early as we had only done 1189 miles since collecting it from the dealers. I would have expected it to be full. Since then we have done another 1100 miles and the light is not on ye...

After all the problems last week with the smell of gas and the workshop saying there was a leak that's been fixed, then the smell of gas lingering. I bought one of these. It's a gas sniffer device. My theory at the moment is that the stink "perfume" they add to the gas has permeated the sheets and maybe even the mattresses in the van.   The smell definitely goes away after all the doors and roof vents are left open for a while. I just hope that's the end of this saga and we can get on with enjoying our trips away.  We are only just over two months away from our summer holiday.