Time to level up
It's been a few days since I put finger to keyboard to update you all on our progress.
We travelled from Gnosall into Wales (by about 200 metres but definitely in Wales) and spent a couple of nights there at a small Fishery. We just have to take their word for it that it was a fishery because we never saw anyone actually catching any fish. There were plenty of people with more kit that the GB Olympic team put together. But I never saw a fish. Plenty of claims to have caught some earlier when the weather was brighter/duller/warmer/cooler take your pick. Fishermen spin the best yarns. Judging by the amount of kit on show these guys are either (a) not married or (b) their wives are glad to buy the stuff to get them out of the house for a while.
From there we made our way to Chester where I had a gig at the Raven Folk Club. We arrived early on the Sunday morning and had a chance to wander round Chester for a bit. Wow, Chester is a really nice place. If you have never been, I recommend it.
We were parked in a huge carpark that allows overnight stops and there were a few other motorhomes. We looked round for a space in the huge expanse of parking and selected the best available. I guess that other people also like Chester because by mid afternoon there was hardly a space to be had in the whole car park.
After the gig we headed back to the van and on Monday morning headed northwards once more.
We had an appointment in Preston so we found another "Ery" to stay at. The proper name is a Fish-ery but once again it seemed to be somewhat lacking on the fish front. And again though, there was no lack of "ermen" trying to catch them. I wonder how long you could run an ery before the ermen realise that there are no fish? Anyway our appointment was to have self levelling jacks and a refillable gas system fitted to the motorhome. Lots of money but lots of convenience. If you want to travel by motorhome to many countries in Europe you will find that each has a different gas bottle and you cannot simply change one for the other. Nor can you bite the bullet and just buy the kind you need because your regulator won't fit. The best solution is to have refillable bottles fitted. So that is what we did. We now have a selection of connection nozzles so that we can fill up in all European destinations so we should be good for a gas supply wherever we get to. The jacks are another touch of sheer luxury. If you use motorhome aires (as we do) they are often not totally level and sometimes finding a level spot is impossible. You can monkey around with ramps and shout at each other through the window and try to get the thing as level as possible, or, you can press button B and smugly let the machine do it's thing. Voi-bloody-la, there we have it, as level as a spirit level with the bubble slap bang in the middle. Money well spent, albeit quite a lot of money.
While the work was being done we decided to walk into Preston some four and a half miles away. We decided we'd walk in, spend the day there and then get a taxi back. It was a really pleasant walk on a really pleasant day. The sun shone and the miles were soon behind us. On arrival in Preston we found a town that was not nearly as nice as Chester had been. It was OK but nothing special. We walked around the shops for a while and had a coffee. Some more walking and we were getting (a) a little tired, (b) a little hungry and (c) a little concerned as to what we would do with the next four hours. There was clearly not enough to keep us occupied in Preston for four hours so we decided to have lunch and walk back. Although it was four and a half miles on the way TO Preston it is much more than that on the way back. It was the same route but it is way, way further on the way back!! Still despite our wee legs beginning to complain a little we made it back and the guy at the motorhome installation place offered us a seat in his lounge to wait until the work was completed. It took about another hour and a half but since we slept most of that it only seemed like ten minutes!
Next night, we decided to stay relatively close by until we had tested the expensive self levelling so we stopped at Garstang. This time is was a farm not an Ery. In our rush to get somewhere to stay for the night we had not restocked the fridge and had nothing for tea! After our more than 10 mile walk (including trailing round the shops) we had to walk another mile into the town to eat followed by the one and a half miles back. We slept last night, I can tell you.
OK we are now in Gretna in the best little country in the world and you are up to speed.
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