December 2016

7th December

We discovered this morning that The Beast has a flat battery and we don’t own any jump leads – must get some.  Called the AA and a ‘man with a van’ came out and started her up very quickly. After leaving the engine running for an hour and a half there was enough power put into the battery to be confident and switch off.  Then we plugged in to charge up fully overnight to make sure we could start her engine again.  Next day, off to Warminster to get an evaluation on the state of the battery for our peace of mind.  Within a few minutes the mechanic was back, we had two duff batteries – the leisure battery was shot too.  An expensive little trip this turned into.

Sure that everything was now fine we returned home and upon switching off the engine, an alarm sounded.  Oh no, the new leisure battery had no power in it.  We plugged into the mains overnight and in the morning – no power in the leisure battery.  We ended up driving a 50 mile round trip back to Warminster to discover that the battery was a ‘dead’ battery and had mistakenly put with ‘live’ batteries.  The mechanic who had helped us out initially was so apologetic as he has assumed they were both new batteries.  Anyway, we are now sorted on the battery front and waiting for the next problem to surface ……

15th December

Post arrived this morning containing a demand for our Road Tax.  What!  Why we were not advised it was due to run out less than three weeks after we collected it, goodness only knows.  May be it was our fault but you would think they might have mentioned it. Another lesson learned, now she is taxed and legal AND the batteries still work!

23rd December

Busy planning our getaway to Spain at the beginning of February.

Going to dodge France and grab a ferry straight to Bilbao so we can motor on down to the warmer south coast. Getting close to sorting out a route and searching online for campsites or Aires that will do for a one night stopover.

Sick of this weather and longing for some sunshine.

It’s 19C and sunny in Almeria today and 11C here with yucky dull grey, wet and windy conditions, and more forecast …….