Ups and downs

Well it had to happen with all this keep fit malarkey, on Monday my old problem of an Osteophyte (Bone spur) that I have in the shoulder kicked in with a stab of agonising pain, of all things as I tried to change into a T shirt to go do my weekly keep fit in the gym. 

Kay in her usual mothering mode said “that’s it, rest and no more physical activity for the rest of the week” and dosed me up with anti-inflammatory tablets. 

So I’ve had to pass the reins of leading the cycle group today onto another chap called Nick, my twice weekly gym sessions with Anita’s fitness class have been cancelled plus swimming is now off the menu. But I am allowed to go to the Spa to use the Sauna and steam rooms as apparently the heat will help with the healing process.

Andy the mechanic from AA Auto’s called as promised on Monday and fitted the new rubber bushes onto the exhaust, so now I can feel more assured when we have to leave the site for Santander that the rear tail pipes will not slip off and drag allong the road.

New rubber mounting

Two people from our group (Christine & Pete) are leaving soon, so on Sunday we all went over to the village of Catral to a small restaurant called Long’s Bar to have lunch together and to wish them a safe bon-voyage. 

The meal was excellent and really good value and I have a feeling we will be going there again.

Tony another of our group at the lunch was feeling pretty awful as he was full of man-flue (or in Spain I suppose it would be called Manuel-flue) a bug that has literally laid everyone on the site low at one time or another Kay and I included.

The group at Long's Bar

Ditto

Me & Tony

Kay with Christine & Peter

This information will be of use to those who intend to go course fishing while in Spain, you have to have a license and that is supplied by the local area you are in as no one licence covers all of Spain so beware. Even after all the rigmarole Tony and Nigel (our next-door neighbour) went through to obtain the correct licence (and that can take some running around to achieve) you then have to find good locations to fish. To date their tally has been one small carp and two plastic shopping bags, but you have to give them credit for perseverance.

The weather at last has started to pick up sunny and with temperatures soon to be back in the twenties. We have discovered from this visit that when we next come back to Spain in September we need to load up with…Baked beans, lem-sips, ibuprophen, clothes, electrical goods i.e. toaster, art materials, things that we have found hard to find or are expensive.

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And one year on

Well the anniversary of our one year on the road came and went on the 7^th of February, we were going to celebrate it then but unfortunately fate decreed that Kay would go down with flu. 

So we postponed the celebrations until the 14^th (Valentine’s Day) when we celebrated both events that night. We indulged in a special night with candles, crooners, dancers and a special meal in the Marjal restaurant.

On Saturday the 4th of February we visited the medieval market at Oriheula which takes place from the 3rd to the 5th and what a fantastic day we had. We sat and ate a freshly cooked pork baguettes and drank warm vino tinto that tasted like sweet Gluh wine. Watched the medieval knights on horseback and the parades of musicians and actors.

knights

Quasimodo

Elf

What's in this wine?

Over the past two months the weather has been a mixture of dry sunny days with intermittent cold winds and temperatures that dropped to below zero at night. 

Strangely as we sat eating and drinking on the 14^th we looked out the window to see that the heavens had opened up and rain poured down, something we’d not seen for quite a few weeks. 

But as usual, the following day it was bright and sunny. Slowly the temperatures have started to climb and we look forward to the dizzy heights of it getting back into the twenties before we have to head back home.

Planning has already started to be foremost in our thoughts as we prepare the RV for the return journey. While checking under the RV for any signs of potential problems I discovered to my horror that the previous owner had undertaken yet more DIY jobs. 

From my past posts you will no doubt remember the horror of this gentleman’s handiwork on the LPG Gas tanks that could have easily cost us our lives. 

This time it was the exhaust system, he had converted the old iron pipes to stainless steel. That in itself was not a bad thing; it’s just a pity that the guy has no knowledge of stresses in motion. The supports he had jury rigged for part of the exhaust pipes had failed on both sides (see photo).

Exposed rubber bush

Torn rubber

With bracket

Even I know that a rubber mount needs to have a tubular shimmy to spread the weight or a broad enough bolt to spread the load and as you can see in the photo the vibration had caused the thin post in the clamp to chew its way out of the rubber support. 

So we’d been traveling all the way down through Spain with effectively the both rear exhaust pipes only being supported by the muffler boxes.

Fortunately here in Catral we found an English mechanic (Andy from AA Auto’s) who came, took one look and confirmed that he could refabricate the two new mounts for us, so we await his return to fix the problem. It will then be a quick drive to the Repsol Garage near Alicante Airport to fill the road and domestic LPG tanks for the trip home.

Having the RV resting for such a long time does make us wonder if all will go well when we fire up the engine and move off site to get the fuel. We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed that there aren’t any other problems awaiting us.

I’ve now sorted the problem with the trailers electrical plug that became damaged on the way down thanks to the narrow location of the Albacete’s LPG pump.

Apart from Kay’s flu which laid her low for a week we have managed to keep our fitness regime going with cycling swimming and gym work. Our achievements have been to regularly swim 50 lengths of the pool and to cycle 50 km to the old Guardamar site and back. In the mean time I’ve managed to get two punctures and work my way through two tyres and three inner tubes.

The cycle group keeps going from strength to strength but it is worrying with it becoming so large. I had thought that the cold winds would have laid most of them low, but it is still surprising how many turn up saying how they look forward to the Wednesday jaunts.

 We continue to visit the local markets for fresh vegetables and fruit each week as it’s really inexpensive here. 

Clothes and electrical goods are expensive whereas wine from the bodegas is ridiculously cheap at €2.45 for two litres.

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