Friday 5th January 2018

Having survived once again the eating & drinking fest that is Christmas & New Year, I’ve spent this week sorting out things for the next phase of our tour.

First on the list was to sort out once and for all the solar panel install that the caravan dealer butchered. On delivery it was cross connected to a lighting loom behind the microwave and, obviously, didn’t work at all.

I reversed their connection so that it worked but that started over voltage alarms when the van was connected to the car.

I then rewired it so that the controller was connected direct to the battery, with 15 amp rated cable, and that worked well except it’s output didn’t show on the control panel. I have now wired it through the Sargent controller & it finally works as it should.

All it needs now is some proper sun 🌞

Next on the list was book the ferry to Santander. The ferries from Portsmouth were surprisingly busy but I found one, for £512, on the 16th January and duly booked it.

Our car insurance has been with Privilege for many years but they required us to buy a green card for each overseas trip. This was proving expensive. I had seen on other blogs that Saga offer 365 days european usage as standard so switched insurance to them, saving over £100 in the process, a bonus.

Travel insurance was next, Insure & Go supplying an annual multi trip policy for £116. Unfortunately we will have to return to the UK every 90 days to satisfy conditions, but as I still get my BA staff travel benefits that’s not too much of a problem.

We are returning to Bognor tomorrow for a couple of days to give the van a good clean & general lubrication of the things that should move and I want to adjust the brakes, ready for the off.

I can’t wait 😊

Happy New Year to you all,

Ray & Kim