Planning the “Big” Holiday

Published on by Paul Hickman

The “BIG” holiday is our main 2 week break far away from our normal lives, and when I say far I mean Far! A little over 1000 miles away.

This will be our 3rd trip to the south coast of France to Argeles Sur Mer in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. It’s only a 10 minute drive to the Spanish boarder.

We have known about this trip since August last year when we booked the day after our return. In fact we would have booked while we were there last year but we didn’t have the details of Halys’ holidays with us. So it’s been booked for ages and you would think we have it all sorted? Well not quite. Continue reading “Planning the “Big” Holiday” →

New Category – Nerd Central For Caravanners.

Published on by Paul Hickman

I have just added a new category to publish posts under.

Trip Planning

I “Plan” to take you on the journey of planning our trips with me.(did you see what I did? “Plan”? – suit yourself! I thought it was funny.) Continue reading “New Category – Nerd Central For Caravanners.” →

Van fixed & Solar Panel install

Published on by Paul Hickman

I am so relieved, managed to piece together all of the wires that I destroyed.

Continue reading “Van fixed & Solar Panel install” →

Solar Panel Disaster!

Published on by Paul Hickman

So today was solar panel installation day and I know I promised a blog post of the installation but I had a major disaster!

I cleaned the roof, drilled the brackets and solar panel ready for mounting. Got everything on the roof ready. Was working out where to drill the holes for the cables to come out in the wardrobe and I had the bright idea, “I know I’ll drill from the inside so I know exactly where I’ll come out.” i.e. inside the wardrobe not outside which knowing me would be almost certain.

So I drilled 2 holes in my caravan roof and all my 12V electrics went off! After a lot of swearing i realised that there must be wiring in the roof and yes I managed to drill 2 perfect holes straight through the wiring loom!

I had to cut a section out of the roof board to gain access to the loom which I will now have to piece back together.

So the solar panel and cable entry are stuck in place and the van is watertight again but I have plenty more work to rewire my mess. On the plus side we did make sure the fridge was working properly on gas as last time I’m not sure it was.

Back to The Caravan

Published on by Paul Hickman

Jobs at home are almost done for this round, Halys still has plenty more on her list, but the shed is now up and stocked with crap, I mean Harriet’s treasures…..lol. Just need to sort the last bits at the container and run the crap to the tip then the next project is installing our new Solar Panel on the roof of the van.

Everything should be arriving in the next week to complete the installation so watch this space as I tntend to make a blog post on the installation process.

TTFN

Update

Published on by Paul Hickman

So we’re getting closer.

The new shed arrived on Friday instead of Tuesday, so we managed to get all the rubbish moved, prepared the base on Saturday and the shed is now up!

It still needs bolting to the floor and a floor creating but the major part of the excercise is now complete. As usual it rained so we could do with some warm weather to dry everything out and we can move everything in.

What’s Next?

Published on by Paul Hickman

Well there is no caravanning for a few weeks as we have a couple of big projects underway at home.

We have removed and rehomed the greenhouse from the garden, we didn’t use it and it was in good shape, so that has gone to a local allotment where it will be more useful.

Next the old rotting she’d had to go. The greenhouse moved so that the shed had room to come down. Then the back fence needed replacing.

We now need to prepare the base for a new metal shed so that we can finally transfer all our crap out of the expensive storage unit that we rent currently.

The State Of Play At The Moment

So the plan is to have all that done before Easter. We wouldn’t want to waste any bank holiday weekend opportunity now would we?

Couple of items to buy and fit to the caravan also but I’ll tell you about those later.

TTFN

Les Brunelles – Longeville Sur Mer, Vendee, France

Published on by Paul Hickman

Date Of Visit: August 2013, 2012 & 2010 (3 Visits)
website: https://www.ms-vacances.com/location-camping-club-vacances/camping-longeville-sur-mer-les-brunelles/

What can we say? We love this site!
This was our first site in France and we think we found an absolute gem! The site was owned by Camp Atlantique who owned 3 sites in the Vendee, Les Brunelles being the “Flagship” There is an amazing pool complex which they upgraded with a new slide between our first and second visits.

When most UK campers venture to the Vendee they seem to gravitate to St. Jean De Monts. Its not surprising as there are loads of large campsites there and a well developed promanade/beach area. Many of the campsites deal with the likes of Eurocamp, Siblu & Canvas Holidays etc… which lots of first timers use to make the whole process easier. In fact booking direct with a French campsite is usually cheaper and is very easy. Just book and then find a channel crossing to suit your needs. We usually use the tunnel or Dover Calais as they are considerably cheaper than the longer crossings. Continue reading “Les Brunelles – Longeville Sur Mer, Vendee, France” →

Riverside Holiday Park,

Published on by Paul Hickman

Date Of Visit: March 2017 Unit: Caravan
Southport New Road, Banks
Southport, PR9 8DF
Tel: 01704 228886
Email: reception@riversideholidaypark.co.uk
Web: www.riversideholidaypark.co.uk

Riverside Touring and holiday Home Park

Date Of Visit: March 2017 Unit Caravan

WiFi on pitch : NO

Cost was OK not too excessive for what was offered on the website. We arrived in the dark and needed to phone the park warden who was a pleasent chap on the phone, told us to stay where we were and he would come to us. He arrived quickly and wasjust as pleasent in person. He gave us a map to our pitch and the other usual bumf about the site.

We had a Super Pitch, Electric, water and drainage on pitch. Pitch size is OK for us but they are not the largest I have seen. In the site info it tells you that you should pitch with the hitch facing the road and your awning should also be only on the hard standing. Your car should also be on your pitch in front of your unit. I can see why. The road is quite narrow which meant that reversing your van onto the pitch was not easy even for an experienced driver like me…. (I do it for a living).

Continue reading “Riverside Holiday Park,” →

Cliff Top Caravan Park, Skirlington, East Yorkshire

Published on by Paul Hickman

Date Of Visit: May 2010     Unit: Tent

Cliff Road, Atwick, Near Hornsea, East Yorkshire YO25 8DF

Telephone: 01964 530404

Cliff Top is a basic site on the North East coast, and when I say “On The Coast” I mean it! Its called Cliff Top For a reason! The camping field is slowly eroding and a little bit more falls onto the beach below every year.

During our stay we survived a fairly big storm which destroyed quite a few tents and caravan awnings.

This is a busy little site. Facilities are limited to the usual toilet and shower block and that’s about it. However site patrons can use the facilities at the sister site down the road, Skirlington Leisure, which has a pool and club etc…

Continue reading “Cliff Top Caravan Park, Skirlington, East Yorkshire” →