On the Road Again!

AdBlue?

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Sun, 08 Nov 2026 17:22:02 +0000

I filled the Adblue tank a week before we set off for France in September. I guess it was technically overfilled as it was right up the filler pipe.

I have been wondering why the low level light hasn't appeared on the dash.

Rather than wait for it I put the four litres of Adblue I had been carrying in the boot in case it needed it.

When we were in Spain earlier in the year the light came on twice. Both times I filled with 5 litre containers bought in fuel stations.

Hence why I was a little concerned that the light hadn't lit up.

Checking the odometer with 22153 on the clock or 1469 miles since it was full in September.

Brighton Club Site

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Sun, 08 Nov 2026 00:36:37 +0000

At the end of September I had an email from the Camping & Motorhome Club reminding me that I was entitled to a free night stay at a Club site.

The proviso being it had to be booked before the 30th September and for two nights. One of which would be free.

I checked the calendar and site in easy travelling distance and there's only one still open! Brighton -https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-sites/england/south-east-england/east-sussex/brighton-club-campsite/

So I booked it. It's a weekend when the darned "international break" is on again in European football! Good for a weekend away!!

The Rider...

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 19:34:40 +0000

AI photo...

It does look a bit like me.

Interesting Parking Spot - Update

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 18:21:52 +0000

Update!

There was a dog on the M20.

When I got home I got a whatsapp from the kennel mum where I had been in the morning, and go twice a week to feed the dogs, to say the dog was OURS!

It's a small lurcher recently on arrived from the dog wardens up in North Kent. She's a stray and very frightened.

I sat with her on Monday to calm her down and she went from a heart beat at almost constant to much calmer sitting on my lap.

So much so that when I took my hands away she stayed there.

Unfortunately, she bit through one of the window safety cords and escaped. She found her way about half a mile to the M20. Luckily, traffic stopped and the police cornered her and took her back to the foster.

Interesting Parking Spot!

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 17:30:23 +0000

I know when I set off from Canterbury, and came back via Hawkinge to the M20, I should have switched the dash cam on! I forgot to plug in the power lead!

If I had had it might have captured the over head sign saying "animals on carriageway" and "50" speed limit.

After J12 the whole lot ground to a halt. We were stuck for 25 minutes or so. I got home at 3 15pm.

The screenshot of the Google page says.... 2.25pm!

The M20 is a motorway with no parking!!!

No one mentions the animals but an accident somewhere towards J11. Either side of the road. Who knows!

Bloody Van Again - AIRBAG Again!!!

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 21:23:36 +0000

We took Molly to Choose Leisure again this morning. I had booked it in for today last week. The airbag problem isn't uncommon for Ducato vans and the other derivatives.

Of course we were hoping that it was going to be something simple and not the very expensive airbag module itself. We dropped it off just after 9am.

They asked us if we wanted to wait for it. We said no. Good job as it was around 3.30pm when they called to say it was fixed.

We collect it tomorrow.

The Great Remembrance Convoy - The Camper Club

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 15:24:12 +0000

Sadly cancelled for us with the airbag module failure.

SP27 - Route Planning

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:15:53 +0000

I used ChatGPT to suggest a route from Dieppe to Calahonda right to the door of the apartment. I set a daily driving limit, in hours and/or miles. It came up with two alternatives.

As well as a daily mileage limit I also said that we had to:

Avoid Paris
Avoid toll roads as much as possible
Avoid areas most likely to need winter or all season tyre

The route is decided on, of the original two, was basically to go as far west as possible to avoid the mountainous centre of France. Then to swing south-east to the Mediterranean coast into Spain.

It has come up with a breakdown for eight travelling days and seven possible overnights. What is good is that it also was able to create actual .gpx files I could download and then edit in MyRouteApp.

I have downloaded the .gpx files into a folder on the laptop. What it hasn't done is suggest aires, it's basically checked towns and that's it. What I need to do is to cross reference the suggested stops against the various apps like Search4Sites and the Camping-Car Park app to find overnights.

On the way down I think the no tolls "avoid" will be relaxed to get us through France. We are going to be more time conscious going to Spain and less so coming back.

The choice of the ferry to Dieppe also changed the dynamic as we usually travel through Calais or for Spain we have gone on the long ferry occasionally.

Once in Spain, the A7 is toll free as are sections of the AP7.

The AI was quite rigid at sticking to the daily limit but given that many of the routes will be on motorways when I edit the gpx files I can change the daily distances to suit the roads we are using.

Bloody Van Again - AIRBAG!!!

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 15:21:52 +0000

Set off today to get the tap looked at by ARC and I had gone 200 yards when the airbag light came on.

I carried on as it's only a few miles. ARC fixed the tap but couldn't do the airbag module as they don't have the special equipment.

When I came home I got a fair way and it had magically fixed itself... then it started up again.

It's booked into Choose Leisure on Wednesday the 4th.

It means our trip to the NMA is scuppered. I had to email the campsites. Bollocks.

SP27 - Another Early Booking

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 13:48:19 +0000

On a roll now. Counting backwards to the third night before the timeshare week in Calahonda.

Spain being the place that "snowbirds" flock to from Northern Europe it's quite difficult to get a campsite on the Mediterranean coast with vacancies.

Many of the sites in the more popular places were full. I have lost track of the number of websites I have been onto looking for one night each way.

I used pitchup.com this time and found two the other day. With pitchup.com you can specify the travel date and then it only shows sites with vacancies. Some of the "search" sites show you what's in the area you have chosen but not if there are any pitches.

I had a look again and found a few sites around the right sort of daily distances.

This time I found Camping Peñiscola and Camping Alegria de Mar.

We have stayed at Alegria twice before and whilst it's a friendly site I wanted to try somewhere else. Alegria has a bar restaurant and that's a big tick in its favour.

The site at Peñiscola is a little further down the coast and has all the usual facilities. It's February, and that has to be remembered.

So that's another small deposit paid. The "silver" pitch looks quite large and has water on the pitch. We are only there for one night!

SP27 - Early Bookings

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 23:46:27 +0000

I have been working on the trip down to the Malága/Marbella area for quite some time.

The problem of travelling across France and into Spain in February will always be the weather.

I used ChatGPT to suggest a route taking about a week to arrive at the timeshare apartment in time to check-in on the right day.

A criteria was to use non-toll roads in France as much as possible and another to avoid areas where winter or all season tyres are necessary.

As I have already booked the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry (return) the route takes us along the western, Atlantic, side of France before cutting across to the Mediterranean coast.

I have plotted the route in MyRouteApp and can refine it over the coming months.

I have also started to look at all season tyres! It makes sense not to tempt the devil in the weather.

The Mediterranean coast especially the more south you go is very popular with northern European travellers. Many of the sites and camper parks are full already, or at least fully booked up. Places like Benidorm don't do too much for me.

So I decided to bite the bullet and book a couple of camper parks near Murcia and another at Cabo de Gata. So far just the deposit amounting to €8. The balances on arrival.

These are for the last two nights before the timeshare week starts.

Bloody Van Again 3?

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 18:44:32 +0000

Sadly. The tap wasn't fixed at all.

Hopefully, our local accredited workshop can fix it. It's booked in tomorrow afternoon.

They fitted the new taps in the spring before we went away to Spain 🇪🇸 for the SP26 trip.

The Great Remembrance Convoy - The Camper Club

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 21:18:30 +0000

A week before the UK has the Remembrance Day, The Camper Club has our own run to the National Memorial Arboretum.

We have two nights away in the van at aires alongside canal marinas.

The convoy sets off from a meeting place at 0905, so we need to be away from the campsite at around 0800 to make sure we are there in good time.

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/journal/s/8222d80e860f7f5876b468987e34d80f

Bloody Van Again 2?

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 18:55:42 +0000

Wednesday.

The van service was on Thursday. The MoT was Friday morning.

So we took Molly up to Choose Leisure on Wednesday afternoon so they could get to work on Thursday first thing.

I mentioned the tap and flyscreen and they were added to the worksheet.

We left after Claire got chatting to one of the salesmen and he showed us around a few Ace and Swift vans.

Like the rain, it was all like water off a duck's back as we have spent too much on upgrades to Molly to sell her. As well as money on the tap and shower tap replacement.

They were expensive as they have the microswitch that turns on the pump rather than manually having a pump switch.

In a couple of weeks we will have had her two years.

Once we have paid for our last holiday I am going to look at Falken All Season tyres before we head to France and Spain in February. Currently that'd be about £145 per wheel including fitting.

Friday.

A call just before lunch to say Molly was ready. We got ready and loaded our short term foster dog, Sammy, into the car and set off.

They had fixed the tap but could do nothing about the flyscreen. So we will have to see what we can do. Maybe find the ends and tie them together?

The MoT was passed. No "advisories" at all. Advisories are where the tester has found something that may need looking at or fixing in future.

We drove home in convoy. When I started the engine and pulled away it felt a little smoother. It might be imaginary or it could be the Excellium diesel.

On the drive home on mostly dual carriageway A2 and M20 it felt smoother.

Time will tell. At the weekend we have a longish run up to the Midlands in England for the Great Camper Convoy. It's organised by The Camper Club.

Blog elsewhere.

Boundary Park

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 21:22:13 +0000

A poster I created. In the style of the railway posters produced in the mid 20th Century.

Back when I started going the stand on the right was open terracing. I used to stand with my Aunt Linda to the left of the goal.

Where the new Joe Royle Stand is on the left, there was an old wooden stand. My dad and his supporters club cronies sat there!!!

Since then there was another stand that was built with the Ford Sporting League money.

Samsung Galaxy A11 Tablet & Navigation

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 18:09:50 +0000

Claire wanted a replacement for the aged and very slow Microsoft Surface tablet.

Why choose Android? Our phones are Samsung Android and we have been Android since the iPhone 5S went out of date.

We read a few reviews and although there are literally hundreds of Chinese no-name tablets around, we opted for the Samsung.

This model comes with 5G compatibility as well as WiFi. Up to now we haven't put a sim card in it.

A plan I had, and haven't yet followed through on, using it in the van as an alternative to the TomTom.

Today I took it out to see if it will fit in the dashboard holder. It looks pretty good.

In the photo it's displaying Google Maps.

On my Samsung Galaxy phone I have MyRouteApp. I use it to plan routes, there is also an add-on to Navigate. I have that too.

We tested it on the short journey to the Shuttle from the Camping-Car Park aire in Calais, and it worked perfectly. That's with my phone connection to the 4 or 5G mobile network.

Then I saw that it also works with offline maps! No Internet needed unless updating the maps or the app.

This is a whole new ball game!!!

I have installed MyRouteApp onto the A11, logged in as me, and downloaded and installed UK maps. If it works, I can also download the France and Spain offline maps. I also downloaded the UK to my phone.

Next weekend we are away on the Camper Convoy to the National Memorial Arboretum or the new name of the Royal British Legion National Remembrance Gardens.

I have a couple of routes there and back already in the "routes library'. They were synced to the TomTom already, but now we have the option of the tablet.

Sammy the Bull Lurcher

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 22:23:16 +0000

We have Sammy as a foster dog for a few days. He's a bull lurcher that's been in the rescue for quite a while.

In his past he has had a few bad experiences, but with all that he likes a cuddle.

Settled in easily....

Reggie - Oldham Athletic Supporter.

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 13:08:31 +0000

Malibu Molly to Choose Leisure

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 17:02:27 +0000

We took Molly to Choose Leisure at Canterbury for the bi-annual service and MoT this afternoon. It was actually booked in tomorrow, but getting there for 8.30am isn't easy.

As well as the service we have asked them to take a look at the kitchen tap (faucet?) that seems to have moved so we can't choose cold water....

And to have a look at the broken string in the habitation door fly screen. I don't expect them to be able to fix it. To replace is around £450 plus fitting!

Timothy O'Leary RIP - 112th Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 07:00:00 +0000

Timothy O'Leary. Thank you for your service and sacrifice. Timothy was Claire's Granny's eldest brother.

To read more about Timothy's story you can click on the tags with his name or the battle at le Pilly.

https://invictamoto.blogspot.com/2021/10/timothy-oleary-107th-anniversary.html

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/the-battle-of-le-pilly-1.1962035

https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/85800/le-touret-memorial/

Relay Riders UK 2027

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 20:53:17 +0000

Hopefully I can do it again this time. We were in France this year and I couldn't make it.

We don't have much planned at the moment.

Kilometerfresser 2027 - September Table

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 14:21:24 +0000

Despite only a short time riding in August and September I have managed a mere 195 kms. It would be higher but we have been away in France for three weeks.

FR26 - The Last Day

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 11:48:55 +0000

The booked Shuttle from Calais was supposed to be 9.46am. Check-in closes an hour before departure.

To make sure we were there well in advance after getting up at 7am. We did the jobs and got ready to leave, then Claire remembered the EHU was still plugged in. We did the waste dumps and set off.

I had retired the TomTom and set up the route on my phone to test the navigation that I pay for through MyRouteApp. I have the ferry and Shuttle in and out gps points as "favorites". It worked perfectly. It also has vehicle dimensions programmed in. Maybe I'll use it again on the next trip to the National Memorial Arboretum in a fortnight.

When we checked in it gave us the option to go an hour early. I took it. We had just enough time to nip into Starbuck's for a coffee. Never again! It was almost as expensive for two coffees and two croissants as yesterday's lunch, €17.25!

There weren't many vehicles in front and we were quickly through both borders and customs.

A short wait in lane 4 and we were loaded. All very civilised. Plus the train left on time.

After a lack of sleep I was a bit ratty. But a rest on the bed as we went through the tunnel helped. We were home and unpacking the van before 9.45am.

I took only one photo of the view from the van on the train. Not the best!

Oh. I took one of Trip B on the drive. I had reset it whilst we waited to be called at the start of the trip as I forgot before leaving home.

And that's it......

Update.

Around an hour after getting settled home.

The house suffered a power cut. I had to get the Pathway 4G out to get internet, using the small power bank to provide the power. UK Power Networks are saying it will be back on around 4pm. I went off at 11am.

Bloody Van Again?

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 16:32:05 +0000

Now what's happened?

Two things.

The kitchen tap seems to have moved on the work surface. With the lever fully towards cold it hits the side of the fridge and doesn't get to cold!
More seriously. One of the strings in the fly screen has snapped! Rendering it unusable. It looks as though the strings maintain the tension of the net part of the screen....

The van goes into Choose Leisure next week for the MoT and service.

We can see if they can take a look and see what the damage will be to our bank account.

FR26 - Day 22

noreply@blogger.com (On the Road Again) — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 15:56:34 +0000

The last full day of the trip. A chance to do nothing but have a leisurely day.

We had a bit of a lie in. Breakfast. I decided rather than wash with soap and water I would use a Fresh Wipe instead - https://www.freshwipes.co.uk/.

It's amazing. They are big enough to do all over from head to toe inc unmentionable bits. The pack we have with us are coconut 🥥 smelling. Nice and refreshing.

Unlike some YouTubers we get nothing for free.

We aren't sponsored. We buy everything mentioned in blogs!!!!

Anyway, the plan was a leisurely walk to the beach.

Then along to where they house the Calais Dragon.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Compagnie_du_Dragon

Sadly. The Dragon was in its cave until Saturday 17th October undergoing maintenance. Its little buddy that looks like a giant monitor lizard was also grounded.

We did have lunch at the Friterie des Nations. There were two and this one had the longest queue.

We both went for "savoyard". Half a baguette with salad and steak with bacon on top. We shouldn't have ordered frites!!

Once finished, we retraced our steps back to the aire and the van.

The ferries were coming in and out of the port and were so close...

The weather has been good today. Sunny but with the occasional chill in the wind.

Tomorrow? The Shuttle train is 9.46am and check-in is an hour earlier.

I am probably going to retire TomTom and give MyRouteApp Navigation a chance. Let's see what it can do. It surely can't be as diabolical as the TomTom has been!!!

We need to be away from here to empty the grey and black waste in good time to get to Le Shuttle in good time. About 8am.

There have been some posts on the Le Shuttle Users FB page of horrendous delays at Calais!!!

If all goes to timetable we should be home by around 10am.