New windows

New windows are on their way from a company who make them to size. This time they will be black framed and the sliding door one will be as big as the other side. Both will have a sliding pane. The camper is drying at the moment to remove any trapped moisture before I do any cutting. I've had a heater and dehumidifier in their for 3 nights at a steady 35c. At the same time I'll cut out for the water filler point, Saturday if all goes well and the windows arrive. Has to be a dry day to so I can etch prime and spray the cut out. The camper we scrapped obviously didn't have this done by devon conversions as there was basically only filler underneath both side windows!

The New Forest

We've been down to the new forest for a weekend. Succeeded in making cassoulet but had a few to many at the pub so over did the confit du canard that takes 2 days to prepare, and spilt some hot oil on the carpet which melted it :-( (new flooring for the kitchen coming from ebay if we win!)
Stayed 1st night in Fritham car park, only found out you're not allowed to the next day!
2nd night was in Hamptworth.
No problems with the van, nice and warm even though we had some very low temperatures.
Another trip is in order but this time with our mountain bikes.

Some bits and bobs

Sorted a fuel gauge and sender for the fuel tank the heater runs off. Guessing isn't really good enough it in the winter months. The heater has a new directional output. The heater intake has been replaced with a spare VW badge.
The table fixings have been replaced with stronger ones.
A voltage sensing relay has been added. This allows the leisure batteries to charge, and the fridge to come on, when the van battery is at 13.5v or over, i.e charging. The fridge pulls 6A so you can't run it all the time on 12v as it wouldn't take long to flatten the batteries.
New side windows are being made and should be in next week end. At the same time I will move the water filling point.
After that we need some dry weather to see to some rust spot bubbling through and re-spray the roof.

MOT

Sorted. MOT guy said it was MINT!
Mind you he did sing "I just called to say I love you"?!?!?!
Slight play in front nearside wheel bearing and that's it!
Bring on the Beer festivals..............

Electrical Problem, what electrical problem

Finally sorted the problem with the lack of rear nearside light, number plate light and fog light. Turned out to be a combination of knackered wiring and a dodgy number plate light. All ready for the MOT which ran out 2 days ago. Hopefully emissions are ok as everything else has been taken care of.

The Big Trip

Well bigish. 1200 miles. We started off on Friday night and made it to services in Lancaster where there was a spot for caravans to park up. I think this may become a regular spot to break up the drive to Glasgow. Saturday we arrived and spent the weekend with Brother, Sister in law and Niece. Monday evening we left heading for Dumfries and Galloway. We eventually foung a spot to park up for the night;
The next day we went into Portpatrick which we were only a mile away from (blue blob to right of lighthouse);
It wasn't far to our next stop at a campsite in Gatehouse-of-Fleet. A site called Mossyard. We turned up in time for sunset over the beech we were parked in front of and got the sunrise in the morning too. Also the location where we lost our chemical toilet emptying virginity!


Then we traveled on towards the Lake district (we did have a look at Dumfries, but apart from providing us with gloves was a bit crappy. Gloves needed as it started to snow in the morning and the view across to Northern Ireland showed thay had snow, glad the eberspacher heater works so well!)
We stopped off at Hadrians Wall to learn a bit of history that poor secondary school education didn't teach us, Humanities!!!! What a waste of time, where was History!!!!

On arrival in Keswick we found out that the site with 250 spaces had been flooded leaving the only remaining site full. The only option was a site 25 mins walk out of town and the website stated some rules that were rediculous. No friends in seperate vehicles allowed at the same time as there is a potential for making noise, what a bunch of tits. We didn't like the sound of that so checked out the town carpark. As we were reading the carpark noticeboard a head popped out of a camper and shouted don't pay! The man, named Pat the posh gypsy, pointed out we could park all night till 8:30am for free and ther was nothing stating campers weren't allowed. He was on his way to France in a £50k camper having sold his house with the aim of spending his 70th birthday in Toulouse with a view to renting a house eventually.
The hills here had snow on them too.
We pushed on south through the lakes and ended up joining the Caravan club near Kendal as this was a source of good sites and joining saved £7 a night. The site was amazing and the facilites were equally amazing, still doesn't excuse those buggers with caravan holding everyone up!
As you can see we had quite a nice pitch.
We now had a map with all the club sites on and decided a quick visit to the Peak district was in order.
Next stop Buxton.
A weird site housed in an old quarry. This shot was taken on the lane leading into the quarry.
We than headed to Telford and Blists Hill Victorian Town for their Halloween celebrations. We found a good spot to park up in an overflow carpark.
We had an excellent evening, especially me as the mask I had terrified the adults, let alone the kids. I spent the whole evening creeping right up to people and waiting for them to turn around and basically crap themselves.
The next day was spent visiting the various museums based around the iron bridge.
Then the shortish trip home.
It was a nice way to break up an otherwise horrible drive down from Glasgow and also gave us some ideas where to head next summer.
The van didn't have any problems excpect no left tail light, rear fog light and rear number plate light. This was a problem the circuit they were on and happened 2 days before leaving. It blows the fuse straight away so I'll have to track doen the short next weekend.
Oh yeah, there has also been quite a knocking from the engine/ gearbox since about 2 miles out of Bath on the way up! It seems to quieten when the engine is hot so I figure the tappit gaps need adjusting and just one it overely large. 1200 miles later the van is still going so can't be too big an issue but still something to sort next weekend.
Now we just need to figure out where to go next!

Brakes

The brakes have had an overhaul before our big trip. New Rear wheel cylinders, shoes, all fitting springs, hoses, front calipers, hoses, master cylinder and some of the brake pipes. Now it actually stops properly! Turns out one of the rear beakes wasn't even working before!!!!