Starting the motor home trip 23 June - 30 June 2023

 Friday 23 - Sunday 25 June.    In the three weeks we've been back in the UK we have caught up with friends, sorted six months' of post, had the windows cleaned, and tried to bring the garden under control (three visits to the tip with massive bags of hedge clippings, grass cuttings, sticky weed, brambles etc). I've done my 2022-23 tax return and bought a door mat.

John has been bringing the mo-ho (motor home) up to scratch.  We had bought the 2019 mo-ho as an ex rental from a dealer and John keeps finding issues which shows the poor quality of their workshop - the solar panel wasn't connected properly so wasn't charging the batteries, sliding doors to the bedroom not attached and old beer cans under one of the seats.  However he's drilled a hole in the roof, put in an aerial and installed a router.  So even if we go off grid we'll have power and connectivity.

Busy all this weekend to get the house tidied , the motor home packed and catch up with friends and family.  

Marie is moving into the house for the next six months, so we have to decide what clothes to take and get our boxes and suitcases back into the two rooms designated for storage.

The mo-ho has two wardrobes, thirteen cupboards and under bed storage. Ten of the cupboards have a shelf.  And there's a boot (in mo-ho language a 'garage').   Have to pack, and be able to find things, and make sure things don't rattle and move as we travel….. 😳  Suffice to say that the Amazon delivery companies have been beating a path to our door with storage solutions.  As I said to my nephew, Jonathan, it's a lot easier packing for a backpacking trip than a mo-ho expedition.

Spent Friday evening at the Half Moon pub, catching up with Angie and Richard, then over the road to meet with Sapna and Colm at the Balcombe Club.    Saturday evening - our 17th wedding anniversary  - we visit the Greyhound pub on the outskirts of Crawley for a delicious Indian meal with Sandy, Bill, Michelle and Neil.   On Sunday my family, John & Mandy and daughters, and Charlie & Ini, come for a BBQ lunch.  Our nieces, Ruby and Millie, have just finished A level and GCSE exams respectively so are pleased to have their lives back again.  Fab weather.

We pack some more and do more laundry then to bed in the mo-ho. 

Monday 26 June. Up at 6.30 am and back to packing, clearing, tidying and stowing, including putting our brand new bikes on the back of the mo-ho and water in the on-board tank.   The plan was to depart at 9.30 am but time slips away and it's 10.45 am by the time we leave and we already know that there's slow traffic and delays on the M25.

So, an hour and a half late, we arrive in Milton Keynes for lunch with the Nixons - John had worked on a project with Chris Stoff some years ago and then completely by chance we met them in Myanmar in 2019  in several locations.  Good to catch up and hear their travel plans - we encourage their planned trip to South America!

Driving north we realise that neither of us had emptied the kitchen fridge (only the spare fridge) so text Marie to ask her to help herself to what's there i.e. several of our meals for the next few days!   

Travel along the M1, M6 and some A roads to the village of Calverhall where, after just over a 200 miles drive, we're staying the night in the car park of The Old Jack Inn. 

 

Free to park and sleep, but, by the time you've bought a couple of rounds of drinks, it becomes as expensive as a camp ground!   Their loo is inside the pub so, out of pub hours, I have to christen the on board mo-ho toilet.

Tuesday 27 June wake to the sound of rain on the roof.  Couple of glitches with the mo-ho - we failed to connect the waste pipe of the kitchen sink to the ‘grey waste’  tank so the washing up water goes all over the car park.  Oops.  The windows of the mo-ho 'click' open but don't 'click' shut even after we YouTube the solution.  But John somehow gets them closed.

Get away around 9.00 am and I'm driving this morning. The first 2.5 miles is a single track winding country road, which is nerve wracking, but fortunately we meet only one vehicle coming the other way and that's by a farm where the road is wider.

Onto the A41 and then A49 - in this vehicle we're high up, so have great visibility, but even going at 45 mph feels fast.  Am still getting the measure of the width of the mo-ho, and its wing mirrors, and there's a bit of flinching from the passenger seat.

Stop at Tebay Services for lunch - we're in the Lake District but it's still raining, and there's limited visibility, so no point in going off the motorway to find a scenic spot.

Get to the Scottish border and hang a left onto the A75 to travel West, through the rain, towards Stranraer.  Arrive at the Aird Donald campsite about 4.00 pm, park the mo-ho (hard standing and electric hook up (EHU)) and have a cup of tea.  And the rain stops.  

Walk the 20 minutes into town and go to the Custom House pub and have a couple of drinks and dinner, which is ok but not haute cuisine.  They don't have the pie that John wants.  And have no chips only skinny chips - so it's a steak and skinny chips for John.

Walk back through the town centre which is looking a bit sad.  Lots of shops empty, signs for leases available, a closing down sale.  Pause to take a couple of photos of St John Castle and stroll back to base.

Wednesday 28 June Up and have a '50 pence for eight minutes' shower, and breakfast of toast, and coffee courtesy of one of the new toys, a percolator.

According to everything we've researched you can't take meat into Northern Ireland…. but the internet is silent on taking cooked leftovers (e.g. sausages) from a BBQ three days ago.  So, being honest folk, we bin the leftovers and the fresh sausages.

Make the seven mile trip along the coast of Loch Ryan to the Stena Line terminal at Cairnryan.   

Bit of a queue at the security check in and we watch as several passengers and bits of luggage are taken off a coach and scanned/ searched.  After waiting patiently for ten or fifteen minutes…we're waved through without being stopped, so we could have taken the cooked meat (status unknown) along with us.  

Onto the ship and off we go for the two and a quarter hour sailing to Belfast - very calm sea and we arrive on time.  

Driving through Belfast is slow;  stop at the Falls Road Sainsbury's to stock up on groceries. Parking is a bit of a challenge but we manage by taking up two parking slots.

Only another 40 minutes then to the camp site we've booked for three nights at Kinnego Marina on the south east shore of Lough Neagh.  There are 18 hard standing places for caravans and motorhomes - and we can take our pick as we're the only people here.  Each  has an EHU and a water tap and plenty of room to get the awning out and set up the chairs, tables and small BBQ.   

Go for a walk around the marina and then make dinner and relax.

Thursday 29 June  a bit grey today and we have a quiet time.  John rides his bike into the nearby town of Lurgan to visit a Halfords and buy a few things.  I try to add our new bicycles to our home insurance policy but am told I'll have to wait until I've spoken to the underwriter.  Which seems unnecessarily complicated. The underwriter will call me…. some time.  

Do some research and planning of places to visit while we're in Northern Ireland and book a different campsite, 20 miles away, for three nights from Saturday - got to spread the love.

The camping area here (just us last night) is filling up in the afternoon with a caravan, a tent and half a dozen camper vans/ mobile homes.

Friday 30 June  another misly day - it brightens up and then it's light rain.  Cycle the mile and a half to the Oxford Island Nature Reserve and go for a walk (leaving the as yet uninsured bikes thoroughly locked up) and then cycle back.  Have a sandwich lunch at the marina cafe and retreat to the mo-ho.  The camp site is almost full by the evening.