Costa Del Brean

A bit of sun works wonders! We have been so lucky this weekend and had our second weekend away and a bit of beach time.

After the "shake down" trip last weekend with a promising weather forecast we decided to go for our second weekend on the coast. With bikes packed and being more organised this Friday I had even got some food on board!  We arrived at Unity in beautiful sunshine and were quickly settled in the Yellow Field backing onto the golf course. We had taken the bikes so did a quick trip around the camping fields which were remarkably full. The telly tuned in with no problems and a pleasant evening quickly passed.

Saturday morning dawned with a beautiful cloud free sky. A bit windy but sunny, we decided to give the bikes a good try out on the beach and see if we could ride from Berrow to Brean Down. Fine for the young and hearty a marathon for us! The beach was really like the Costas without the crowds, warm, sunny, a bit windy but beautiful!

We even spotted another Bailey on the beach! Brave person!!

It was a lonnnng, ride but we made it, cycling into the headwind on the way down the beach was "challenging" riding back was fun. We had a quick coffee in the cafe at Brean Down but enjoyed the sunshine and even got the sun! I got a new picture for my facebook page!

 

Yes it is England in June! The tide is out but the sand is golden and clean, not sure if I would want to try the water out though!

 

We rode back to camp after a nice lunch in a local watering hole.

 

 

A very successful weekend!!

First of the Season

After a very long , cold miserable and soggy winter, we have finally caught up with summer.

Billie has had a wash, buff and service and we are ready for the sun!!

The winter passed fairly uneventfully for us, a silver screen on the front and an oil filled radiator inside, kept Billie warm and cosy. We put a solar panel on the roof and that works well when the sun shines and saves us plugging in the electric in the summer. A first service and habitation check got Billie in the "summer mood".

We did the usual "start of the season" tank sterilisation saga, a bit of light hoovering and dusting and we were ready for the off. The major body clean was completed and a good polish with the dry wash, worked really well and was a lot quicker to do than Mer! We will wait to see how effective it is! The new bikes were loaded and as they are so much lighter and easier to put up, hopefully we will make more use of them. Not to mention the exercise. Weight reduction takes on a new meaning here!

We did a short first weekend away last week and hope to do another trip this week.

Strange, but after the winter we did need to think about how to do certain things again. Tuning in the telly was fun, but we think we have it sorted. We had a brief play with the Wi-fi Booster and may have another go this weekend. We have a ferry booked for France this summer but need to do a few little jobs on Smartie's trailer first and take him out for a run! We are still thinking around innovative new ideas to do with chairs and trailers, watch this space for further developments.

We are still considering an  A-Frame for Smartie's stablemate Heidi the Hyundai and we did investigate a few more types last weekend. For the moment, the jury's out on the best system. Electronic, brake buddy, heavy or light, everyone you speak to is convinced their system is the best, so we will rely on the trailer and Smartie on tow for now! New European regulations come out in 2014, so that may make up our minds for us.

All in all, the last weekend away reminded us how pleased we are with Billie! A great nights sleep too and a perfectly dry and un soggy comfy and cosy bed to sleep in. Too much food, too much drink, a bit of biking ( round the campsite once ) a bit of walking and a bit of sun. Perfect!

A Visit to "The Sheppy Show!"

This weekend we decided a trip to the motorhome show at Shepton Mallet was called for. Armed with our reduced admission ticket from the Caravan Club mag ( 2 for a tenner) we set out. We decided Billie would stay at home, as we have had wet and horrible experiences at the show in the past.

In order to rest our "little grey cells" we took a shopping list.

• Find out about Wifi for Billie. We wondered if Sophie and Adam  ( Motorhome Wifi) would be at the show?
• Find out about "solar panels", Vanbitz?
• Look at cab carpets.
• A new updated, colour co-ordinated easy clean tablecloth (  we can't only look at expensive things can we?)
• A new travel kettle ( possibly)
• A storage bag for the silver screens.
• Anything else "exciting."

The day was beautiful as we set off for Shepton, a good day for a motor show. As we arrived, the first thing that struck us was how quiet it all seemed. The car parking field was not as full as we have seen it. Even the camping area was not as full as usual. We quickly got into show mode, Den setting off at full speed, me lagging behind and looking at things! The sun beamed down. We looked at all the jolly campers and were glad we weren't joining them. We love going away in our motorhome, but for peace and tranquility, not display! Still, horses for courses.

As we worked our way down the first row of stalls we spotted Adam and Sophie and "Motorhome Wifi"   http://www.motorhomewifi.com/ perfect!  We spent a few minutes talking about our needs. We want to be able to pick up Wifi in the van usually when we are on campsites. We usually take our ipads and don't bother with the laptop as it's so big to store. We decided on the "I Boost" system with a larger booster, so we could pick up signals that were further away. Paid our money and ordered the system.

Sophie also explained about the "Fon " system so we could pick up more signals, for £36 it seemed a brilliant idea. http://www.btfon.com/  We'll update the blog with the outcomes after playing with the new setup, which hopefully will arrive later this week. First item on the list sorted!

Solar panels next. We found the "Vanbitz" stall and spent a worthwhile ten minutes going over the possibilities of "solar panels". We were given all the info we needed. The outcome is that we need to decide exactly when and how we want extra power. Solar panels will not provide unending energy for free but will supplement our existing system. All we need to do now is work out whether we want to spend the cash. The next step for us ,is to have a second battery fitted and we will probably get Chipping Sodbury Caravans to do that first. Still Vanbitz as usual were most helpful. Further developments will be reported on in due course.

Following on a liquid lunch in the local bar, well a glass of wine and half of lager, we bought the tablecloth and the bag for the silver screens. The travel kettle we decided we would buy in John Lewis. The show was still relatively quiet, our feet were killing us, so we set off for home. All in all a pleasant interlude.

Was the trip to Sheppy worthwhile? Well it passed a sunny afternoon and we got the wifi sorted. In terms of vans, lots of the bigger dealers were not around and we fancied there were fewer stalls than usual. We are still pleased with our Billie and can't see ourselves changing him for a few years. All we need to do now is get out and about in him a bit more. Job for next week, book a ferry crossing for July 2013!

Now where shall we go next week??