Motorhome Show

The Motorhome Show was on at the Royal Bath and West Show Ground, Shepton Mallet last weekend and we decided that this would be a bit of a diversion for us. It would also give us an idea of what being self-sufficient would be like since there was no electric or water on site.

Tank dumping on the Thursday was the first saga in the comedy of errors because when we opened the manhole cover at the dump point it was full of water. This was reported to a member of staff who said that it was probably ground water from the rains and we could use the chemical waste disposal manhole. The problem with that was that we couldn't get close enough to the drain to use the gravity method so had to break out the macerator pump. Bit of a palaver and more time consuming than the normal method.

On Friday we packed up the van and set off for Shepton Mallet via Dorchester to get some LPG. Things were going well, too well perhaps, until we were travelling down a hill on the A37 on the way to Yeovil. The van started pulling to the left and then there was an almighty bang. The front nearside tyre had blown out right under my seat, nearly gave me a heart attack! Stopping a few yards further on without trouble I ran back up the road and put up our warning triangle and then phoned the recovery people.

The road was one of those that has two lanes up the hill and one down so cars were going over the double white lines to pass us. After about an hour or so of waiting the Dorset Police turned up and were very helpful. They spoke to the insurance and the recovery people to get us moved, which worked, and we were taken to a lay-by where the guy spent about half an hour removing a half-shaft before we could continue our journey to their depot, which was in Chard. The tyre changing went smoothly and we left Chard at about 19:00 and finally arrived at Shepton Mallet at 21:00. We had dinner and went to check out the entertainment, which turned out to be pretty good so we stayed till the bar shut.

On Saturday we hit the show which was bit sparse it not really being the time of year for motorhome dealers.  In the evening we checked out the entertainment again and again it was pretty good. During the day we had been running on batteries and running the genny for a while to top up the batteries.

In the the morning I tried to start the genny but it would hardly turn over and didn't start. I thought I had better try the engine and that wouldn't start either even with the emergency start button pressed (the emergency start button connects the leisure and chassis batteries together to give a boost). There was a bit of sunshine so I looked at the solar panel control and it was producing 1.5 Amps so I thought if we left it for a while it might just give us enough to get going. We had decided that we would have another look round the show and see if we could pick up some bargains and then hit the road. So, returning to the van with our purchases it was with great relief that the van actually started. The solar panel had done the trick and thank goodness for a sunny morning.

We were very glad to arrive back at Wareham Forest later in the afternoon and get back onto our pitch. We have learned that if we are going to free-camp we have to be really frugal with the battery power and to disconnect the chassis battery to enable the engine to be started.

Back in Dorset

Before we left Tanner Farm we picked up a stowaway in the form of a mouse. We were watching TV one evening when it appeared from behind the dashboard and sat watching us for a few seconds before bolting back again. The next day we found nibble marks in packets and boxes that we had to throw out. I realised we would have to catch Mickey before he chewed his way through the vehicle wiring so we fed him up oats (we had found that he liked oats) to keep him from gnawing at other things. It didn't stop him eating some Holly berries from Tricia's Christmas arrangement though. I eventually caught him using a tin tray and a Pyrex casserole dish using instructions for a humane trap that I found on the Internet. We kept him captive in a storage box and fed him on oats until we were due to leave when Tricia took him down to the end of the park and let him go. We then took off before he could track us down again and headed back to Dorset to take up residence at Wareham Forest Tourist Park, which is located near Cold Harbour between Wareham and Bere Regis. We spent a lovely Christmas with some friends in Poole and I managed to catch up with some ex-work colleagues on Christmas Eve.

Last Thursday we took the bikes off the trailer for the first time since the beginning of November. Yesterday I charged the bike batteries, which had been indoors during the cold spell, and today I fitted them and we took a ride into Poole. It felt really good to be mobile again after the enforced incarceration of the wintry weather.

This weekend we are going to the Motorhome Show at Shepton Mallet with Harvey and hopefully we will meet up with some other RVers and partake of the entertainment.

Finally for this post, we would like to wish all our blog followers a happy and prosperous New Year.