Speak to Me

Just a very quick note to keep things complete on here as I did a couple of jobs over the weekend.

The plastic wheel trims were very brittle and fairly grotty and the radio speakers were useless so replacements for both have been on the shopping list for a little while. As I was out and about anyway I resolved to finally get them sorted.

I'd have liked to dispense with the trims and go back to having the wheels visible but realistically to do that they'd have needed full refurbishment and that's not viable. Wheel trims are easy enough to get, but I have a dislike of ones with dummy wheel nuts. I did track some down in an independent shop in Wellingborough though. Unfortunately he had 4" speakers and 6" speakers but not the 5.25" ones that would be a direct fit. A quick check and I decided the larger ones would be OK.

The wheel trims took a few minutes to fit but I managed to crack two of them so not sure how long they'll last. It was entirely my own fault, at least they're so tight there's little chance of them falling off! Cutting the door cards for the larger speakers took a while but they're on and working - I'll find out today just how much of an improvement they are but a quick loud volume test suggested they're very good.

New Valves

Just a quick note to keep things complete. After a brief phone call to ETyres the fitter arrived within the hour and 20 minutes later I had 3 new valves with never a suggestion of a charge. He confirmed anther valve was showing signs of cracking so it's a good job I did ask for all to be replaced.

It's clear that when I had the new tyres fitted the valves weren't replaced. It wasn't the usual fitter on that occasion. I could push for a refund on the earlier repair but to be honest it wasn't very much and I accept these things happen.

Wythall Away

The end of the weekend was reasonably swift, after a not too early start, bacon and egg rolls were soon eaten and I packed up. As I anticipated the new fan heater takes up more room in the seat locker than the old one so I can't get the mains cable in there. It's not a problem, it can live in the other locker and if necessary travel on the floor between sites.

I set the sat nav on "Avoid Motorways" for the journey home partly because of having the spare wheel on and because I felt like it. It was still a reasonably quick and smooth journey back.

Not many conclusions really from the weekend. Having a thermostatic heater is a big gain, even though it was warmer last night it still fired up occasionally. Dropping the roof overnight also helped with the temperature (and the light coming in from an adjacent street light) so I'll look to continue that. Next trip is to Slimbridge and Devon in a month or so - hopefully it'll be warmer by then!

Nice and toastie, but...

The new fan heater made a huge difference overnight. I left it on with the thermostat down lowish, it cut in a couple of times that I noticed (and probably a few that I didn't). Having showered and breakfasted I was contemplating another coffee when one of the "neighbours" came to tell me I'd got a flat tyre. He kindly brought his electric compressor over but it was immediately clear that another valve has failed. The spare is now on and I'll be contacting ETyres on Tuesday - 2 failures in a matter of weeks when they were new tyres less than 2 years ago is unacceptable. 

Having sorted that and cleaned up I walked round to the Transport Museum, expecting Steve to join me. Instead he phoned, the engine warning had come on in his car and it was making horrible noises so he was awaiting the breakdown service. Unfortunately the technical term for the fault was k*******d so all he could do was wait to be recovered. The signs are it might well be terminal as the car may not be with the repair cost. It definitely put a damper on the day and I'd have appreciated the company.

There are a lot of busses, plus some other stuff in the collection. It's mainly Midland Red and its predecessors and successors with a few others.  Overheard early on from a Clippie, "I've lost a bus!" I felt like replying, "Well there are plenty to choose from!"

They also have a small electric vehicle collection, mainly milk floats and vans. We tend to forget that battery propulsion is nothing new, although the technology has improved considerably. I do have a problem these days with commercial vehicles, I automatically eye up the campervan conversion potential! Trouble is I need something that can do more than 30 miles on a charge.

The local engineering society runs a miniature railway around part of the site, as I can't resist a train ride I paid my 60p to be hauled round by a model Black 5. With the weather deteriorating I went and had a pork pie and sandwich, looked round the shop and felt I'd done enough. There wasn't a lot else to do except have a lazy afternoon reading in the campervan.

I was in two minds about just sitting tight for the evening but, with the weather largely holding off, I decided to get a bit more exercise and walk the couple of miles to the pub. I'd left it open as to whether I'd just have a couple of pints or eat dinner as well. It's a Chef and Brewer pub but the menu, including a new British menu for this month is fantastic. It took me two pints to decide what to have! The Hog Roast Burger was badly presented (I.e. it came on a board with the chips in a flower pot) but by Jove it tasted good.

Incidentally, I apologise for the lack of pictures, the software I use doesn't seem to like posting them. They'll go up on the website after I get home.

Blooming Weather

The day started very early and badly. I generally only use a thin sleeping bag in the campervan, it's all I need, but this time I'm regretting not bringing the thicker one. I woke in the early hours feeling chilly so reached over and put the fan heater on for a bit. I may have dozed off, but some time after there was a clunk and the heater went off. I survived the rest of the night and getting up in the cold (it wasn't that bad really) but only really for warmed up when I walked down to Wythall Station. It subsequently transpired that the trips in the 'van and on the supply post had tripped but even if the heater did come back to life I wouldn't trust it.

The locals seem friendly - good mornings and chats seem to be the norm, or at least that's what I found on the walk and at the station  It's a quick run up to Moor Street and I then wandered through the Bull Ring and round the markets. I'd got a couple of destinations programmed in to the sat nav, the Ian Allen book and model shop and a couple of walking shops do I use those as the basis for my meandering. I did get accosted by a local "character" walking through one of the squares, I don't know why I attract them but we had a bit chat.

After a mid morning coffee and cake, and a visit to the Cathedral, I headed down to the canal and Gas Street Basin. It's changed a bit in the years since I was last there, and not entirely in a good way. The James Brindley, which was a newly opened fancy bar, is now derelict and boarded up but the Tap and Spile has been tarted up and is now a gastro-pub. I had a couple of pints anyway, timing it nicely to avoid the first rain of the day.

That generally turned out to be the story of the weather, I always seemed to be under cover when it rained and outdoors when it was sunny. I'd located an Argos near the station so called there for a new fan heater before returning to the station. I had time for a coffee and sandwich before my train, once again it started tipping it down and I stayed dry, although it was chilly and I put my sweater back on! The light drizzle when I got off the train only lasted a couple of minutes, it wasn't heavy enough for me to get the umbrella out, and by the time I'd walked up I was getting warm.

There's a farm shop just up from the site so I called in and got a pie for tea and, after a couple of pics of Carillon House I got an ice cream from the site office as I was definitely too hot. 20 minutes or so after I got back to Dai it was hailing and I was unpacking the new heater (that's when I found out about the trips as it wouldn't work at first).

Short Day

Well it's short from the point of view of the blog as I didn't leave work until 14:30! I'm spending the weekend at Wythall, south of Birmingham. I've been to the site before and fancied a return trip as there's a transport museum right next door.

As I'd anticipated the M40 and M42 were busy, that's why I'd arranged an early finish from work, but I was on site and sorted before 5. Not too bad a drive up if a bit breezy. The non-awning pitches here aren't great, it's just tarmac with no delineation between pitches, just the peg to park on. I'd reckon the site must be about full and there's been a lot of traffic.

As there's no pub handy (it's about a mile and not that easy to get to) I had a chips of beers and indulged in some people watching. There's one fancy caravan where one of the two male occupants actual changed the water and emptied the waste wearing a designer suit! They went out later slightly more casually dressed. Next door to them is a tatty Transit campervan, one of the occupants came racing back in on his bike - I'm guessing he'd been working somewhere local.

I did consider parking next to one huge motorhome - one of those ones where the side slides out to give more space. It would have made a good picture!

Tomorrow I'm off to Birmingham by train so want a reasonably early start. It's only about a mile to the station so I'll walk up. It's not exactly a warm evening, the fan heater has been on and off, but it'll be fine once I settle down in the sleeping bag.

MOT Time

That time of year has come around again, which means it's about 2 years since I bought Dai. It's always a bit of a worry that they'll find something major wrong but in the end there weren't even any advisories this year so I'm very happy about that. Although not advised on the MOT they did pick up that the front brake pads are about 75% worn. They should be fine for another year but I might get them changed at the end of the summer anyway just in case as the disks themselves are OK so I'd prefer not to damage them.

The MOT and service came to just over £170 which I reckon isn't too bad. The garage were canny this year, like most they generally order parts on the day but she ordered the service kit in advance this time, common parts for the Daihatsu are easy enough to get but sometimes need a bit more hunting out than they would for a UK model.