Travel can be unpredictable. Even when you, or someone on your behalf, plans carefully, it can only take a moment for things to unwind. Quickly you can find yourself somewhere you didn’t expect.
Those that travel embrace this uncertainty as it can lead to those chance encounters and magical moments that we do this for.
When this unpredictability lands us in trickier spots, it’s important to keep a positive view and remember that these moments will be the ones you tell stories about in the future.
Of course, keeping hold of that positive view isn’t easy and is something you have to work at…. even for seasoned motorhomers it would appear.
Leaving France
We’re parked up for our last night in France. Somewhat randomly decided to check the status of the Starter battery.
For those that aren’t aware we have a battery bank for the living area called Habitation batteries and a normal vehicle Starter battery.
To my surprise I found our solar panels were charitably adding 40 volts into our starter battery. Given it’s a standard 12 volt battery this sudden surge is bad. Disconnecting the charging system stopped the issue but the damage had been done.
Everytime Beatrix started there would be a delay between the key turning and the engine turning over. Normally this would be pretty instantaneous but now there was a delay of one second, then two or three seconds.
Those felt like loooooong seconds.
I found my positive travel energy was being inversely affected by the time of delay. This was, in part, because I knew we were due to board the Eurostar in ‘four engine starts’ time and I didn’t have much confidence that we’d be able to leave the Eurostar on the fifth engine start.
I found myself thinking that this sort of thing must happen to Eurostar all the time. There’s bound to be an easy way of towing a 7 ton motorhome out of the train…… and the queue of passengers trapped behind us would doubtless be sympathetic to our plight. Right?
Luckily, Sally’s positivity saw us through the dark tunnel and as the sun crept across the carriage with the opening doors, Beatrix started on the button. Phew.
Family visits and some running repairs
Routinely our first visit was to the Canterbury Park and Ride which accompanied the now equally routine visit to The Old Gate Inn pub. Food’s ok more importantly there’s Ghost Ship on tap so……
Our plan was a quick visit to see family in Essex and then head north to Scotland.
Springfields Campsite seems to have become our second home and is a chance to catch up with family and friends. It’s also the first point where we get our post.
As we’ve been away for three months, there’s always a decent list of ‘stuff that broke’. Sally’s poor Mum had a Christmas sized stash of parcels waiting for us. So many in-fact we had to borrow the car to get them all back to Beatrix.
Top of our list was to fix the leak on the rear tyre. Then we need to replace Sally’s bike tyre, plug a couple of small leaks in the roof, sort the new internet router to work with Starlink and finally to give Beatrix a bloody good wash as it had been 4 months since her last bath. We added replacing the Starter battery to the list.
A busy 10 days working was made easier with the fantastic spring sunshine, spending some time with Sally’s Mum and a lovely Easter breakfast with all of Sally’s brothers family’s.
Before we knew it, Friday had come around. After a last dash to the doctors and a visit from the tyre repair chap, we were ready for the off.
It’s always sunny in Sheffield
With the outline of a travel plan, we make our way to the A1 and The North.
This year we’re aiming for Orkney but our first stop on the way is Sheffield for the weekend to catch up with my sister and her family.
I remembered to pay for our permit to get through the clean air zone and we cross the city to our usual haunt at Wymingbrook Farm.
We’re told it’s not true, but every time we visit Sheffield, the weather seems to roll out the red carpet and the sun shines for us. Alright, maybe it’s more accurate to say we get lucky with a brilliant day or two—but who’s counting? With the UK basking in its warmest spring on record, this weekend promises to keep our streak going.
Saturday night unfolds as it always does catching up with laughter and world-fixing conversation that stretch into the early hours. Somehow, Sally and I charm a local taxi into ferrying us and Merlin home, and, in a minor miracle, we even remember the gate code for Wymingbrook.
Sunday arrives with grand-ish ambitions of a walk around the reservoirs by the campsite but the combination of glorious weather, an empty campsite, and last night’s late finish lead us to put a pin in that idea. Instead we break out chairs and make a big pot of tea. Soaking up the sunshine, the adults are subbed in and out of a game of football which is followed by ice cream from the Blue Moon Cafe.
We do eventually manage a short walk before it’s time to say goodbye.
Where next?
We snake our way through a busy Sheffield city centre on Monday morning and reach the A1. Before we head north, I found the motorhome dealer that originally supplied Beatrix into the UK. Premium Motorhomes is just across the way and we pull in to see if they can do some service work. It turns out we’re arriving on the last day of their open weekend and as well as complementary coffees we also get a free fish and chip lunch! Bonus.
We check out the amazing Morello motorhomes they have. Some have sides that slide out and full on car garages. Alas at over £600,000 they’re a bit out of our price range.
Happily back to our Beatrix we head on to our next stop at Melgoats near Bedale. Always a lovely place to be, we’ve planned a week or so.
Catching up with friends on the phone quickly makes one thing clear—our original ideas for May and June are looking less likely by the minute.
Time to rethink those plans.
Spreading the maps out across the table, we home in on Northumbria—a place we’ve only ever passed through and never really explored. It’s packed with history, rugged coastlines, and possibilities. Perfect.
Of course there’s only one sensible way to embrace our new adventure…. With a G&T. Cheers.
Love Sally, Toby and Merlin
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