(Not) Travelling Nightmare!

Did I say that we were heading 'up north' to explore the coast...

1. Well, a major leak from a split panoramic window in the 'van has grounded us for a while.... That's a major expense that Swift say is not covered by their 10 year body warranty.
2. The Touareg has been off the road for two weeks with an electrical fault that Southend VW can't fix. They've put in around £1000 worth of bits so far to no avail... The software won't let the key out or  allow the car to be locked because it doesn't recognise that the gear selector is in Park. Obviously we can't leave it on the drive unlocked with the key in. Thankfully, at the second attempt, VW Southend were really helpful and locked it in their compound while they attempted to fix it; pity they can't, really.
3. On the day the Touareg malfunctioned the sidewall of our little DS3's rear tyre was destroyed by a screw and it proved impossible to locate another Michelin Sport 3... That meant TWO Pilot Sport 4 tyres for the rear and three days off the road over the weekend.

That's three vehicles effectively off the road at once. 

I heard someone say that these things come in threes. Let's hope so.

Update#1

I've completed a temporary repair on the 'van with sealer and gaffa tape, ready for coastal adventures. The 'van is booked into WKD Caravan Services in October for replacement panoramic window.

Update#2

Looks like the earliest VW can get the required selector unit from VW Germany is at the end of the first week in September. That's 2 months off the road... No caravanning, then. Still doing some limited coastal adventures though.

Update#3

An early return of the Touareg enables us to spend a week or so heading north to add a little more to our coastal adventure from Scarborough up to Whitby. 

Travelling - but not as we know it

 We are, of course, still in the UK. It's been a salutary experience spending the winter here and now it's the second hay fever season that I'm living through. It's good for the soul. 

There's quite a lot to do in our new home as we're extending it so the lack of living in Spain and travelling hasn't been the major issue for us it might of been but we're missing planning adventures and, of course, our Spanish life. New normal. Leigh on Sea's great, though, as are the opportunities for family BBQ's in our new small garden and walks with friends. 

Lunching in nearby Maldon, this chap wanted to share my chips: cheeky young starling! Are the 'lockdown generation' of birds getting more tame?!

Anyway, this is the usual update post in the main blog, logging what we're up to and the adventures that we're planning. Not a lot, you might say,..... but we are filling in gaps in our coastal tour coverage and, this week, we set off  'up North' to spend time exploring the coast north of Scarborough and Whitby. It's proving to be quite difficult because so many people are trying out motorhoming or caravanning for the first time as well as the usual crew..... and they're all in the UK campsites so we can't find places to stay. We've managed to book a couple of weeks and we'll spend longer if we can find more pitches for our faithful outfit. Oh, we're spending a few days in York, too. 

It's all in our coastal tour tab for 2021.

In addition to our coastal mini adventures we hopped on the train from Leigh station to meet up with our daughters in London for Fathers Day. Brilliant time. We ended up eating Spanish tapas with some nice Spanish wine which was a bit of a bonus. The whole thing felt like another mini adventure as such trips do these days. It was interesting to see the scale of building in the city given the economic uncertainty. Someone knows more than I do, that's for sure.

No other plans...yet.

Stay Safe.