On Monday we left the RV at Motor Home Medics who are just up the
road from Briairfields and we headed back home in the toad to sort out the usual
things like the dentist and doctor before our real journey of adventure begins with
our trip down to Plymouth and then across Spain for the winter.
The RV was left with the lads at Motor Home Medics for them to change
all the ignition plugs and to check out the air filter (to make sure it’s clean
to go) and to fit two air extension hoses to the front air assist bags.
We had arranged with the owners at Briarfield for the MHM
lads to park the RV back on their site for us leaving the keys with them while we
toddled off back home to Port Talbot.
Before too long we were back at Kristina’s and Gav’s
checking out all the revamping work they had done to the granny flat.
The
living room looked totally different with the newly plastered walls gleaming in
fresh paint. The floors had all been laid with laminate boards and the hallway
and stairs in a light fawn carpet.
We didn’t see either of them till late that evening as both
had been very busy work wise so the following morning after they had gone off
to work it was a quick visit to the dentist. As we had expected all was clear and
after a quick dental polish we both now have nice shining gnashers.
Next we popped over to DVLA in Swansea to get the toads Road
Tax re-dated so that we would not have to worry about it running out before we
returned to the UK.
The girl at the kiosk was very helpful and all the staff
were very friendly, in fact the manager came over and commented on how nice it
was to see very attractive customers (as there was Kay and a young blond in the
next kiosk). Until I popped my head from around a post that hid me from view
and thanked him for the compliment (Oh I’m a sod at times)
We managed to tidy up a few things like dropping stuff off
into storage that we wouldn’t need in Spain and to collect a couple of things
we would. We also contacted ADAC to top up some insurance on breakdown and
health cover (best to be on the safe side) and checked with another insurance
firm to get a quote on cover that will cover us until we return as our present one
will run out while we are in Spain.
We had a nice couple of nights feasting with Kristina &
Gav as well as with Samantha and Rhys who by now had recovered from his
seventeen days stuck with us (he must be scarred for life poor mite).
The
doctor’s visit was scheduled for the Friday morning and once that was out of
the way it was time for us to get back to Briarfield to collect the RV.
We found the RV jacked up on its legs, the slide outs put out and
the electric connected to keep the food in the fridge from spoiling, the boys
from MHM had done a good job.
Thanking Ross and Joe at Briarfields for being good hosts we
set off for our first stop on our way to Plymouth our old haunt of Home farm at
Burnham.
We had only planned to stay until Sunday but as usual not
everything went to plan as we found out that our next stop at Riverside (Plymouth) would not be available
till Wednesday so we booked in at Home Farm for two more nights.
This gave us the chance to nip down the road in the RV to
fill up with LPG as the indicator informed us that we were down to just one tank of
gas. We haven’t done a mileage consumption check before due to the messing
about we had with the auto change over problem. Well now we could, as I’d last filled
at Newport when the work had been done and I’d made a note of the mileage so
this was our first complete refill and boy was I in for a shock!!!
I’d thought we were doing at least ten miles to the gallon
but on completion of our calculations it worked out that we were only getting half
of that at 5.21 miles to the gallon (ouch).
But if you compare the cost of LPG to petrol our costs would
equate to 10 miles to the gallon, LPG being half that of petrol.
So it’s win some lose some, as my calculations for our drive
down through Spain will mean at least two stops to refill the LPG tanks and not one
as planned, so its heads down to check the planned route once more to locate places to fill up.
No comments:
Post a Comment