Suffolk Jan/Feb 2025 - D1

The original plan was for a midweek pub stop at the Beach Head near the white cliffs of the same name.

With one storm after another popping up we decided that a park up near a cliff edge in 75mph winds might not be too clever.

Instead we decided that if the storms abated we'd go up to Suffolk and stay at our favourite site and visit some places on our "to do" list and also see Claire's sister.

The weather improved in one way. No wind. But the forecast was for cold. Very cold. We were confident that Malibu Molly would cope with that.

Loaded and ready to go.

So on Friday after I had a telephone appointment with the hospital about a lung cancer check, we set off. It was around 1140.

We made good progress upto Dartford and surprisingly were were only delayed for about 5 minutes. The problems on the M25 started as we approached a few junctions before the A12. For some reason the traffic slowed to almost walking pace and then sped up again. 

There's work going on around the A12 junction resulting in a mile and a half tail back. Rather than sit in that I chose to go on the M11 and then go across to Ipswich. 

It was longer but we were going at a decent rate on dual carriageways. We stopped for lunch at Birchanger Green and for Reggie to have a break. This is a oddity as dogs are allowed inside. 

We decided to go straight to the Waterpump CL and get setup. On the way stopped to fill up with diesel as it was cheaper than at home. Claire too a picture of the pump for my Fuelly app.

We arrived about 4pm. Once the electric was connected I turned the heating on and filled the water tank with about 45 litres from the tap on the pitch.  By now the air temperature was hovering around 3°C. I had reset the Truma water heater dump valve the day before and had run up the gas.

With the temperature low and the fresh water being very low temperature the valve opened. It's there to save the system from damage if water freezes in the pipework.

Everything seemed okay until we wanted water. The tank was empty. Checking underneath showed water coming out of the dump valve!  I had to remove the flooring and the storage to get to the valve to reset it. 

Once done we part filled the tank. By now the van was up to 20° inside. Then.... Again!  No water. It was dumping again!

Repeat the stripping of the floor and storage boxes. This time I attached the hose rather than using the watering can. 

This time success. No dump and we had some water for the loo flushing and the sinks.

Everything was now rosy. Dinner was crustless quiche and baked beans washed down with a perky Italian cider.