All Aboard!

I have chosen a steam train image for this post as we seem to have been watching and riding on them a lot over the last few months and it therefore seemed appropriate somehow. Having spent time with the Flying Scotsman locomotive in May and then visiting the National Railway Museum at York in June, we found out that our friend Mike is visiting the UK from Switzerland and he fancied a steam train ride from Loughborough in August. So that’s why you’re getting a steam train photo 🙂

Now I have mentioned most of the above in last months post so this month I thought I would look back a little on what changes we have made to our campervan since we set off and why. Firstly let me say that the solar panel is excellent and super efficient and does an amazing job of keeping both the leisure batteries and starter battery fully charged.

Now some of you may remember talking to us about why we didn’t install campsite EHU mains when we built the van. The main reason was that we could save some campsite fees by not paying for electrical hook-up as I had installed a suitable 240v inverter to power all our mains devices. Well it turns out that many campsites have decided to install EHU on every pitch so they can charge more money per pitch whether you use it or not.

The obvious response to me therefore was to install an EHU socket in the van and use as much electricity during our stay as possible. A more logical and acceptable approach from site owners might have been to charge per kWh which would encourage a degree of fair usage, and indeed some sites actually do this. However as greed is generally the order of the day with campsites we will continue to avail ourselves of their services to the best of our ability.

Next, water. We installed a fully functional sink in the van before we set off and over the course of three or four months we rarely used it. In fact it was so redundant that we decided that the worktop space it occupied would be better suited to a kitchen prep area or laptop workspace so out came the sink, taps, water bottles and associated wiring. Subsequently we now have a much bigger worktop and the bottle storage is used for storing heaters, cooking items, EHU cables and assorted items.

Moving forward… our original plan was to spend January 2023 in the Canary Islands but that was put on hold because we still had Treacle with us. We miss Tay & Treacle so much on a daily basis but we have to continue our travels and that is why we have now booked the month of January 2024 on a couple of the Canary Islands – it’s likely going to be a touch warmer there than in the UK. The USA road trip may also be back on the table for later in 2024. Stay tuned.