If you could pick the best weekend in the year to try out a brand new motorhome, this weekend at the end of April was not the one. However, I guess it meant we really put Billi through his paces and test the waterproofness ( is that a word?) of the body.
We set out on a Friday afternoon to Glastonbury, to the Old Oaks Campsite http://www.theoldoaks.co.uk/ We had booked there for two nights to try everything out before moving off to Cornish Farm and Vanbitz to have the alarm fitted. The journey to Glastonbury was fairly uneventful on the motorway. Den is now getting used to Billi and his little ways and they both performed well! As we got off the motorway, the rain and wind got seriously worse, infact the rain was torrential and we were so pleased we had booked a hard standing.
Arriving at Glastonbury, a dry spell broke though and we safely settled onto our hardstanding and connected everything up, which all worked! How pleased we were that we had heating! As night came on, we tried out the oven, microwave, shower, hob and fridge, everything performed well. Then came the great moment when we tried out the TV. I was expecting much fiddling, tutting and a picture which seemed like a snow storm. What a surprise! Perfect picture, no messing, just turned it on and it worked. A peaceful evening enjoyed, wine , food, telly and heating, we could have been at home!
The next morning, having had the best night's sleep ever, in our van we got up to shower and found no water. The first little mishap, or Bailey messup. After a bit of fiddling about and checking water, it turned out we did have water, it was just that Billi's magic panel ( control box) thought we didn't! Fortunately, there is a good facilities block at the Old Oaks, so we would still smell sweet. As far we could see everything else worked fine, 9/10 to Bailey's. We rang and booked a service visit to get it fixed and felt really smug to know the dealers were only just down the road.
Following a second peaceful but freezing night, we knew we had made the right choice of van, as Billie was warm, comfortable and very easy to live with. Heating on a low tick, fed and wined, we were very content as we watched or fuzz free TV. A trek across the fields for a shower was a bit of a pain, but we knew it would be fixed. The following morning off to Cornish Farm http://www.cornishfarm.com/ at Taunton to Vanbitz. Through wind, rain hail with tree branches crashing around us ( slight exaggeration,here ) we forged on to Taunton, through rain, rain and more rain!
The next morning all was calm. Billi put up with a wiring job, while we went off to Taunton for what turned out to be a dry and mildly nice, day. By the time we returned at 4.00pm, Billi had, had the operation and was in recovery. Flashing brightly when his fob was pressed to show he had a swanky new and very expensive alarm fitted, he could now also wink on command. Just to keep his tummy happy, he was also the glowing owner of a Gaslow LPG system, complete with two bottles and a filler. Hopefully we had all the extras we would need. One last drama , on the way home a stone hit Billi in the windscreen and caused a minor crack fixable.... just, the next day would mean a trip to Autoglass. Enough stress for one weekend I think, but well done Bailey's ,quality of motorhome, more than passable!
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