Blue Skies...

Been doing the same ol, work Mon, to Fri, and taking it easy on the weekends.
The weathers been really settled and warm with 18 - 19 Celsius a couple of Sundays ago.
Saying that and the last to days have been cold with some showers and tonight of all things the forecast is for light snow between 10pm an midnight....
Driving home tonight there was crap weather and slushy snow was falling for a short time....

Two Saturdays ago we moved the boat, first time since 1st November. Out of our berth to the other side of the canal then reverse 75yds to the diesel pump for a fill up. 157 litres later we moved back to moor up, exhilarating. It did feel good to actually steer the NB and counting down till we get back continuos cruising, about 4 weeks....

Have down the regular maintenance things on the hull and engine departments
I'll be doing some painting on the hull when the boat is out of the water for hull blackening here at Walker Services, Aynho.....



Moving for diesel.....

Leonie holds the bow from the opposite tow path as it's a tight spot to turn in....

After filling up.....

Reversing back to our mooring...


Next day, Sunday there were some Chore to do....

Cleaning the chimney.... Don't actually know why I put my hand down to clear the joiner/collar on the roof top as the upper section lifts off....


Next was......

The chimney brush.... plenty of soot... Look at the blue skies.....


Nice days can be.......

 

Preceeded with a heavy fog and we had 3 days of driving to work with limited vizz.....
Leonies work place ..... 5 stories shrouded in fog...when she gets out of the car I just point and say... that way....

One of Leonies work colleagues was moving to another division within the company so....

Making chocolate eclairs was in order....

The Cheltenem jumps racing carnival took place over 4 days, Tuesday to Friday and was on free tv so...

Dave brought along a telly to work and placed on the wheel balancing machine.... first the study of form....

And then.....

The Winner is confirmed.... Hohoho... Money for Jam......


A couple of weeks ago I went with Spence to the auction at Measham, north of and between Birmingham and Leicester.
There was a large listing of reposed  caravans, 60 -75, and motor homes, about 25- 30.
We bid on a couple of caravans with the thought of sending them back to NZ to make a dollar, Spence already has, but weren't successful.
The motor homes were newer models, up to 2012, and better condition than I expected. Some only had 5 - 8 thousand miles on the clock.


Cars go through the sales rostrum one about every 30 seconds so you gotta be on the ball if one takes your fancy...

The sales drive through....

When I stepped forward to take this photo the auctioneer actually stopped takeing bids, stopped the whole show, and Bellowed Out.... "No Photos Right Here".... everyone starred. Talk about feeling "Stink"....

Spence brought a Nissan double cab ute and a ford Focus and we drove one each back to Oxford..

A selection of some of the motor homes up for sale......

The top price for one of these was about 26,000 quid.... I reckon most went for 8 -12 thousand below retail...

I was working at the panel shop last week for a couple of days. Next door is a guy who does rust repairs, welding etc. Some dude who had been in that workshop, he was riding a 90cc step through motor bike and was an old bastard about 50 something, sees me and bowls into the panel shop just as I'm about to change a sandpaper sheet on an inline air sander. There's no "Gidday, kiss my arse" or any of that he just says
" How long does that paper last  and what make is it?". Then he reaches out and grabs the used paper from my hand..
I'm thinking, What The.....
"Bout a week this paper" I answer and tell him the make of paper.
"I'm gonna get some" he says and turns and walks out.. Suppose he could have stabbed  me or something as well...
( the paper lasted a week because it sat on the shelf all week. Last about 3 minutes on the machine... Dohhh.)


Passed this on the A34 the other day...

Returning to base after a service??... the Options are endless....

Continuos Cruising on Wheels....

When we've finished cruising the canals of Britain we intend to buy a motor home and have a "Geeko" around Scotland and Europe.

When that will happen we Dunno because we don't have a definite time schedule. But the chance to visit a motor home show at the Birmingham NEC was too good to pass up so last Saturday we made an early start, 8.15am, and had coffee'd up before the doors opened at 10am plus there were no traffic, not one,  hold ups  enroute  right to the car park.

The show run until 6pm and we were heading out the doors at 5.50pm so we'd checked out most every make on display inside and out..

We went back twice to a couple of models and pretty well settled on a model that ticked most all the boxes, quality, layout and décor being most important. Many of the different makes  are based on the Fiat Ducato chassis and motor so only HP rating to chose on there.

With "show specials" there's the opportunity to get 2 - 5 thousand pounds combined upgrades and discount packages..

First viewed were some camper vans and it was hard to believe they were priced at up to 10 - 15 thousand pounds more than say a 7.4 metre motor home...


Only 2 berth but....

This "Lime Green Machine" was well presented...

Looking toward....

The rear and the lounge that makes up the bed....

And toward......

The front with swivel seats.....


Next viewed was.....

A VW van with a pop up roof....


The rear end...

With electrical and gas fittings to enable the "Barby" to operate....


And the rear seat / bed....

rolls forward for more space....

And you can buy a....

Brand new VW bay window camper...... "Old School"....


First of the motor home type.....

This featured a "Push Out" lounge area... space giving but Woah... Expensive....


The interior...

Was a nice touch.....

Many makes now feature....

A "drop down" double bed... the underside of the bed has the hood lining look and when they're in the up position it's very hard to tell if there's a bed there....


Another bed....

Not fully down.... they have screening curtains attached and are very weel balanced and quite easy to lower and raise..
This interior was in a...

Chic... c-Line... motor home... in the 82,000 quid bracket....

It even had....

A double bed..... with electric adjustment to raise the matress....


As in the narrow boat construction the Polish have gotten into motor homes......

Adria being the make....  probably fitted into about  4th - 5th on our list....

Plenty of......

Dining table when extended....


But the so called....

Fixed double bed in the rear was a bit odd with two singles or a double to be made up....and a "Stairway to Heaven"....

Another make to check out was.....

 

Burstner.....some good ideas and up there in the top group of choice...

A top job.....

 

 

Of finishing the interior.....

And this.....

Swivel basin makes for more room in the shower... or more room on the "Crapper".....


Bessacarr, from the same factory as Swift motor homes had....

This model, 2013,  that caught the eye.... Has the must have fixed double......

Across the rear of the vehicle was....

 

The bathroom......

Then through the door to....

A good size toilet with basin....


Looking toward the front...

Seats that convert to a double.... but no fixed table... you get it out from under the bed....Also with a flat floor throughout, no raised bed, there was very limited storage underneath.....

 

And so on to the model that we liked most.....

The 'Pilote".... French built on the Fiat gear... the layout made it easy to move around... comfy as to sit, and we fair tested it out... and the quality of finish was tops...

It also featured a.....

"Pull down" bed... this one being the only electrically operated one seen... with the dinette converting to a double and the pull down it's actually a six berth...

The toilet and shower area...

Were two separate rooms..... not the typical "Wet room"...

An advertising board....

 

Summed up our thoughts.... it's the "Reference 716" model...

And last year it was the....

"Motor Home of the Year" at the show.... Place an order.. 3 month build time with spec's to order...

and at 53,000 quid one of the best value for money motor homes we checked out...

 

We left the show and walked to the car park passing....

 

 

A living wall....The sun had gone but the colours stand out...

 

The paneling....

 

In stainless steel made a nice contrast.....

Across the road you could...

 

Mistake it for being in Dubai... tower cranes everywhere... well 5 anyway... more expansion at an already large NEC..... 

 

All in all a bloody good days motorhoming.....

 

 

 

What Warranty ??.....

Lasts 5 years....
Yep dealing with the public can be trying especially when they have bought a Used Second Hand car with maybe 60 -80 thousand miles on the clock. Parts do wear out....
So where I've  been helping out and where 35 - 50 cars can change hands a month problems both real and Imaginary can arise.
Most are an easy fix...... some may never be fixed....

And here are a few examples of why... These all relate to vehicles purchased from the above..

A lady returns in her car saying there's a knocking noise in the rear end mechanicals. It's serious...
The mechanic jumps into the driers seat with the lady beside and heads off for a test drive to hear the noise...
First, second, third gears nothing, sounds sweet.
She says it only does it in 5th gear so faster, faster and then sure enough the bang, bang, bang there's the noise, self diagnosed as the diff about to depart from the car.
You have to remember when most of these people return with a problem it's a nearly the end of the world, I want my money back situation, being fuelled by some friend / mate who has a degree in "sh-t stirring"...
Anyway the mechanic stops the car having already in his mind 99% solved the problem. And there it was, the nice little ball the husband had put on the roof aerial for a decoration. Probably in his Footy club colours.
Once 5th gear and enough speed was achieved the wind force banged the ball on the roof..... Easy fix, remove the ball and the customer gets to keep the car...

Lady comes in with a "Exhaust Blow By", it'll need replacing at no cost to her.
Mechanic takes the steering and off they go.
Through the gears, nothing, turn the radio off to hear, nothing. Hmmm, it sounds alright to me says the mechanic.
Well it only does it when there's "snow on the bonnet" says the owner.
Doohhh...
Obviously the weight of the snow caused a "deadening" and maybe a "drumming" effect but there was no issue with the exhaust.
Easy fix.... do nothing..... Ohh and advised owner to remove snow off bonnet before driving...

Last week, young lady, proud owner of her just purchased very tidy car heads off, Bye, have a nice day.... and all that.
About 10 mins, later phone goes. That car you sold me, well there's something wrong with the tyre, it's gone down.
Off goes the mechanic armed with some rescue gear and finds her parked on the edge of a 70mph road and close to the approach to a large intersection.
As described the tyres flat and in damaged condition, more than just a puncture.
A quick look around and the cause is discovered. A large wooden pallet lying on the road had been run over by the young lady driving her new car.
When it was explained that it wasn't a "Warranty" issue but here's the phone number for a call out tyre repair fella the driver replied with..
See that concrete post over there, that's where I ended up, upside down in my last car, wrote it off.
"Spookey" Eh she says....
Easy fix... get as far away as quick as possible....

A tale from a little while ago..
An elderly later returns in her car with the  complaint that it runs "Rough" when the motor gets warmed up and is then very hard to drive.
Same old, mechanic jumps in the drivers seat, owner beside.
Cars is idling beautiful, select first move off, still sweet. Second gear, bit more accelerator, no problems so far, about to select third when the owner reaches out, pulls out the "choke Knob" and hangs her hand bag up.
On with the brakes. Do you do that often....
Oh yes I don't like my hand bag on the floor.
Easy fix... screw a Coat hook through the hood lining into the roof panel...

Finally, A Man phones, problems with car. Exhaust banging... door something... light something.. wheel bearing something... etc, etc...
Bring the car back for the mechanic to take a look..
Returns a day or two later and goes through the routine again of all the problems then adds to the sales person, I know because I'm a "Professional Driver".
Wow that's impressive Nobody thought.
Anyway it was discussed what sort of "Professional Driver" he may be or have been.
Could have driven in say the Dakar Rally... 24hr Spa... maybe delivered Arms to the Sudan in a camouflaged transit van, or  even chauffeured the Queen....
No not Even, after a bit of investigation we found out he...
Drives a Freak,n  truck delivering "Bread and Bagels". And it's only a 7 toner which means a bloody car license is near enough and any "Sheila" could manage to park it in any high street.
So his "Professional" credentials qualified him for no "Diagnostic Diagnosis" and true to form the problems simply disappeared.

I got a problem of my own... It's no wonder I suffer from " Repetitive Selective Syndrome"...
From NB to work via dropping Leonie at work I change gear in the race tuned F/focus......
196 times... Yep counted them all today.  Thought that an achievement on its own. When asked Leonie said, "after 100 just pretend your starting again, and could you count to yourself.... quietly.....quieter... please.... idiot...
And then we gotta drive home, not as many changes as there's less traffic normally so less down changing.
But five days a week, average say....1780 motions... that's  shifting gears...then a days work as well..
Just bring on Continuous  Cruising....

Sunny Sunday.....

Last Sunday was a spring type day with blue skies and a mild temperature.
After doing the routine things like, eating, washing some clothes, sweeping the floor, emptying the log fire ash try, getting some wood stacked inside we done the supermarket thing. After returning  to the boat and off loading the tucker we headed to the outskirts of Oxford city for a touch of getting back to nature.

Heading up a walking track that leads to a wooded area known as The Shotover we walked up an area where once there was  rail tracks....

 

We came to this Blocked Up railway tunnel, 524yrds in length.... Since 2002 it's been an official "Bat Hibernaculum..... Be Spooky in there.....

 

Looking back down the valley...

One can see the line off the once railway.... Tracks were lifted in 1969...


Near the summit of the hill, 557 feet high....

Families were catch,n the "rays".....

Hundreds of trees large and small......

Surround the walking paths.... Chuck in a "hut", there's also a large natural sandpit and mountain bike tracks with jumps. Ryan knows it's a "cool" place...


In the Spring and through the summer....

With all the foliage the walking tracks would be special..... The Bluebells were just starting to break the ground cover....

Back down the hill and...

The village of Horspath appears......


Leaving the walking tracks and following the road......

This large "thatch" is enroute.....


To a place to quench the thirst....

The "Queens Head" pub.... The upward glance is to keep track on Spencers team.... Arsenal playing Liverpool...... and they gave them a "Whupping"...


On the Saturday Leonie and me went on a fire wood replenishing drive. On my daily "Tiki Tours", work related of course I'd spied some logs laying on the road side.
So.....

Stop, pick them up.... the traffic passes at 70mph, no one seems to slow down...... the odd "tosser" blasts the horn......The cars off the road, 2 wheels anyay...


But into.....

The back of the "race tuned" focus goes the wood..... 7 -8 logs by the end .... a good drives work.....

One log was 2 inches to long to allow the tail door to lock shut so we headed off with the tail door down resting on the log. It was only open 2 - 3 inches until we'd travelled 300 yds and joined the "70" club then it blew up vertical. Oh well no use stopping. Gave the "Poms" another lame reason to blow there horns......