Final Preparations

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.

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