The original “WHERE" was going to be the more northern parts of Europe, starting with a visit to Dijkie, our Dutch friend and continuing across (and down) Germany into the Czech Republic and then returning via Austria. It hasn’t changed that much we are still going to visit Dijkie and we are planning to go across (and down) Germany and we still hope to reach the Czech Republic then continue to Austria but missing out Vienna before taking the quick way back to catch the return ferry on 30th August 2016.
The “WHEN” is now set. Outward passage has been booked on the MV Stena Brittanica for 26th July and homebound on the MV Stena Hollandica for 30th August. Not the two months plus we had originally thought but 36 days is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
The “WHAT” is still an unknown, we have so little time we will have to see what happens.
The “WHY” has not yet been mentioned. That is “WHY" have we idled away (what will be by the time we cross back into Europe) ten weeks? Well, there were lots of tasks to be completed and the first job was to get the car serviced and that was the easy one. More dificult was the repairs to the bodywork which although small(ish), following a loosing argument with a fence, took a couple of appointments before we were able to get the essential loan car. Still the cost of the repairs was a lot less than at first indicated, and when complete we were very pleased with the result.
When you spend as much time in a caravan as we do things break and, as regular readers will know that, back in March the battery charging system burnt out. We bought a Bosch smart charger as a stop gap while we decided what to do. The decision was to not replace the charger (at least till we sell the van) as the original and any other straight replacement would not be suitable for our current AGM battery so we have had a large solar panel fitted and that has to have a controller etc., etc., which should, at least in theory, keep the battery in tip top condition and if we need to we can still use the Bosch smart charger. While STEVE, THE CARAVAN MAN was here to fit a solar panel system he took details of other things we wanted repaired or replaced and so far some three weeks after the order was placed BAILEY CARAVANS can only come up with the excuse that they are moving the parts department to another site and the parts we require cannot be located at the moment.