I am very proud to announce that I have now met the quintessential pre-requisite for joining my continental cousins; perhaps doesn’t satisfy the british cycling ‘cool’, but already gave up on that long ago and more recently with a pannier rack, and non-mountain bike tyres on my mountain bike:
For the many, many bemused non-British readers, our bikes don’t come with such a helpful thing.
A placeholder for valuing explicitly in nor particular order my :
Lagun table mount, attached to this teak table top – perhaps on balance abit too heavy for this purpose, but very nice pieces of wood, and fitted by my good self. Love the mount’s design – swivelability, removeability, dismountability (getting silly now with words but gives me a simple chuckle), which I did for fridge repair, and hence versatility:
Using this alternative table location means that I can have my ‘living room sofa’ using the rear driver’s side single bed position for this seat, enabling good gazing through the side sliding door opening, so don’t need to swivel the passenger seat round unless I have company, or want to watch something on my tablet, which I need to keep plugged into the 12-volt socket above. I can also use the seat underneath the normal place for the table as a storage area when in residence and don’t have four people staying or travelling.
Aeropress coffee maker
Butter (soap) dish which closes and has rubber feet , so stays put
Family photos done via the Mixtiles app – moveable and non-marking
Solar panel – been keeping the same battery topped up since the van was acquired back in 2014, running the minimum electricity demand – primarly LED lights, TV when necessary via 12 volt, and keeping the tech charged, also by 12 volt
Route finding & navigation – can be love/hate – but use the Mercedes SatNav, in conjunction with Google maps, as well as the good old trusty paper versions which I love; but google maps on the phone is invaluable when exploring – A-Zs are a poor alternative for this purpose
Site/Overnight Location Finding – use fantastic peer platform Park4Night app, together with CamperStop, and the ACSI Camping scheme
Trusty Steed – fantastic to use the bike to go further afield, and cover more exploring ground; decided to take my mountain bike, fitting it with a rack, and more hybrid tyres, given its gears, more upright position etc; right choice and have really enjoyed riding in the warm sun and beautiful settings
At last – more than 3 months of travel, and several times feeling like a recliner would be a good thing to have along – am now proud owner of a Lafuma recliner
Previous one lasted several years, and really taken for granted as somewhat of a gimmick; however it’s fair to say that when it would work no more, its indispensability became apparent, and a new updated version was acquired
Amazingly ended up on our selected Porto visit campsite and indeed the only pitch remaining, next to a Dutch couple I had met a month earlier standing at a campsite bus stop to travel into Granada. This coincidence was further compounded when we found them also occupying the table adjacent to the one we unknowingly took at a cafe in the middle of Porto. So I now know their names, Ans and Piet, and have enjoyed spending abit of time with them, including my first test ride on one of their electric bikes. Piet has put a Brooks classic saddle on his bike, and has the same on his non-folding bike at home. 🙂 Have to say that their Hercules folding e-bike was fantastic and particularly against a very strong northerly wind. Can definitely see the benefits …….. folding certainly, but am I ready for electric?
This is their rig – unfortunately, the camera hasn’t quite overcome the sun and/or shade, (just can’t get a good photographer) but they love their Westfalia VW conversion.
Having had the fridge repaired before leaving the UK – the ignition for the gas operation was not working costing a significant price due to the need for the fridge to be taken out – following successful operation for several days, this time it would ignite, but then not stay lit. Decided that, as temperature now getting hotter, and wanting to use gas to save 3 – 4 eu per day electricity costs, particularly given solar panel happily running any other electricity needs, I should try and get it fixed as relatively near Malaga. Also wanted to finally remove and dump the electric step, a major cause of stress, which have not used for almost the last year, due to the damage it’s incurred when the vehicle has grounded given its low height, and not wanting to end up in the situation where it’s out, and will not retract. The grounding is now regularly occurring given the steepness of ramps/access to sites, and just non-primary road layouts.
So contacted Dometic Spain from the number in the manual, and was given the number of a caravan repair centre on their books in Malaga. To cut a long story short, I spent some 7 hours in the non-confidence-inspiring garage setting using google to try and convey the correct information while the owner and his seeming apprentice, who only spoke Spanish, very slowly throughout the day extracted the fridge, tweaked everything, removed the step – yaay, and responded finally positively to my google-enabled Spanish question as to whether they’d managed to fix it. Not able to take payment by card, I was duly dispatched with the apprentice in his car, into Malaga past several banks, until we reached the bank he had obviously targeted, so that I could get the necessary cash. Another of those experiences where faith,trust and mind-control was required. The fridge is indeed igniting and continuing to work successfully on gas – still remains to be tested on electric!!, as when trying to confirm that the electric function was ok following the re-installation, I was told that they hadn’t repaired the electrical side of things – and I couldn’t face trying to explain that I knew that, but it needed to be tested to ensure all the necessary cables where correctly hooked up! Will have to be pay for an electric hook-up at the next place 🙂