9th July 2020 to 14th July 2020
Well Lock-Down has seriously impacted our touring ambitions for this year. Restrictions on visiting family in Wales have just been eased so at long last we are going to visit my Mom in Fairbourne. as our first post lock-down trip. Caravan and Camping sites are still not open, so we will park in Mom’s driveway and use the motorhome to social distance / isolate ourselves as best we can.
As a result of the winter gales, the gates at the side of her house were blown apart. It was not just the high winds, but the gates were rotten having been made of softwood over 10 years ago. The only trace of the gates hanging on the gateposts after the gales were the hinges. The rest of the gates were strewn all over the garden.
The gates were a totally non standard size as they were custom made to fit into the thick welsh slate walls. So I will need to build replacements from scratch to fit the openings. I ordered some pressure treated timber a number of months ago (anticipating a much sooner visit) and it has been sitting on Mom’s driveway ever since.
So we loaded the motorhome with provisions for 4 days, as well as all the tools I would need e.g. chop saw, screws, hammer, etc etc. Most of these were too big to fit through the access door into the garage area under the rear seating, so it had to go inside the motorhome. The dog wasn’t impressed.
As you can see from the photo carosel below the new gates took shape quite nicely and the weather was kind. Job done and Mom was most appreciative.
There wasn’t much time for walking on this trip, but I did take the dog down to the lovely beach a couple of times. Sun shining, light breeze and waves lapping onto the sand at low tide. A great place to be.
Round trip distance 220 miles according to google maps.
Motorhome Niggles
The windscreen was replaced during lock-down, but during the procedure Autoglass informed me that the Lane-Assistance camera may need re-aligning after the new windscreen was fitted. The camera is sited behind the rearview mirror and focusses through the windscreen. Re-alignment can be done by a Peugeot dealer which seemed the easist solution as soon as they opened their businesses again. However, the Stafford and Lichfield Peugeot dealers don’t have a workshop big enough to accomodate the Bailey. After driving to and from Fairbourne without the camara being re-aligned I found that I couldn’t detect any difference in the lane-assist performance. I concluded that the Autoglass engineers did a great job and didn’t disrupt it’s operation.
The grey water waste valve that fell off was just a push fit, so easily repaired. I have since puchased 5m of waste hose that connects directly to the valve for use on fully serviced pitches.
The pull switch in the bathroom broke again. After I repaired it the last time, I took the precaution of buying a replacement and leaving it in the motorhome, just in case. Although I bought it from B&Q it was a like for like replacement so after isolating the electrics it was a simple job to replace.