What are you all up to

Ouch Richard!  At least it should be good for a couple more years now after that work.   We are in the same boat re car changing. Our Sorento is now 7 years old and it’s been, and still is, a great car.  We no longer need it for towing but it’s going very well and not costing us anything (hope that was safe to say !??) apart from the usual expenses so very reluctant to part with it just yet.  What to change it to would be a bit of a nightmare at the moment as we haven’t a clue which way to go with a new one.  Think that decision will wait a year or two.  

Good (and amazing) news today - our 20 year old Landrover passed it’s MOT. No faults !

Good news Goldie re your Landrover, OH thinking of a change of vehicle and must be a 4x4 he has started looking around so far not happy with some of the technology on some and he is an ex IT bod oh well , our Landcruiser is 19 years old this November and still going well and he not one for change and he has never had a new vehicle.

It was 21.4C here today and seemed very warm after all the rain we have had and it loks like we will have more rain in the next  week.

Did a skip run this afternoon after doing a couple of things in Cahors am  but did get some lunch and stopped at St Gery not far from the river Lot and it is flowing very high at the moment so had a quick picnic lunch  in the sunshine and hardly anybody around and 1 lonely motorhome parked up, watched a black kite flying around and trying to get away from a lot of jackdaws playing around it but it did fly away from them.

Glad to read that both Francis's and Goldie's vehicles have passed their MOTs

Glad to read that both Francis's and Goldie's vehicles have passed their MOTs

Nice photos, M, Rutland Water does provide lots of decent walks. Hope You get to spot an Osprey of two, as there are at least 3 around as Maya and 33's next had a visit today from Blue25.

Tda, I thought we had done well with our cost for the site but taking to another caravanner he had paid just £66 for a full week on a H/S non awning pitch with EHU!!

Today has been the poorest of this trip, with rain for most of the time. We did go for a drive to Budle Bay but as the tide was fully out all of the waders were too far away to see clearly.

Fabulous price for a week Nellie. Not sure if you know about the Ad Gefrin Museum in Wooler? Might be open, not sure. There’s a very scenic drive across to Wooler from A1 over tops, skirting Chillingham Estate. We parked up in Hepburn Wood pull in, some nice walks. You end up coming out near LilburnTower. Decent circular drive, lots of interesting stuff. If you enjoy ice cream, there’s a great ice cream parlour on outskirts of Wooler😋

You get off A1 at North Charleton turning, and head West over tops towards Rhos Castle, just follow moorland road. Not suitable for big Motorhomes🤣

What I didn't say above about the MOT - was that, once again, it got through without needing new brake pads.  That's almost 50k miles since they were last changed which I find incredible - especially towing the van, although I do tend to use the gearbox in manual mode for long descents.

There was an 'advisory' on the front pads - to be done before next service so I think I'll get them all done in a few weeks time to be on the safe side.

Hearing about Goldie's LR and RK's Landcruiser makes me think mine's still a spring chicken - so why fix what ain't broke!

MGB is 53

Motorhome is 23

Mini is 14

Wrangler is 10

MG doesn’t need an MOT any more, but OH does get it tested, as it’s a safety check. Other three sailed through their MOTs last time thankfully. The newer our vehicles are, the more problematic they can be. Stuff you can easily take apart, bang with a hammer, and put back together again, (if you have the know how like OH) is fairly easy to maintain. It’s all the electronic, computerised modern stuff that’s a nightmare. Cars have become as consumable almost the same as white goods nowadays. Trade off between more comfort, safety, high tech motoring and any kind of longevity. Our MG is moving into its “3rd era” at the moment, wings are off, windscreen off, undergoing a partial resto, and OH is replacing dash. Jeep had been giving us some grief around Xmas. Battery seemed to be draining overnight, even after a longish run. Auto electricians couldn’t pin point issue, but it clicks and whirrs for ages after you park up, computer doing its stuff, so OH a bit baffled. Nothing draining it on tests. OH looked at it a different way….bingo, it wasn’t draining, the alternator wasn’t putting the drive power back into the battery. He got this confirmed by AE. They wanted £600 to replace. OH got a new Wrangler alternator delivered for £200, fitted it himself, couple of afternoons, one to take old off, one to put new on. Bit of an old fashioned fix. He doesn’t touch auto electrics, nightmare.

Glad you got through your Mot richard as you say service Mot's are expensive now and even here although CT(Mot) is only every two years, OH used to design brake testers and the headlamp aligners many years ago when he was working for Crypton i Bridgwater, this year the French are introducing CT's on some motorbikes and scooters which has not gone down well with the locals and in UK they have had them for years and OH did the design for brake testers for motorbikes then.

Ttda we have friends in Wooler and visited them a few years ago and love Northumberland and would to go again a lot more to see and they did take around a few places in our short stay.

Not sure if folks have been to Great Witley church in Worcestershire  it is a baroque church and amazing inside we might try and go again whilst over there later this Spring.

Have a good day folks.

We keep thinking of our Touareg as "new", but it will be 8 in September.  Not a high mileage so will "see us out" as MIL used to say.

DD has OH's old  Volvo V40, now that is getting on a bit, will be 22 come September, and various small things are failing.  This week it is the tailgate lock, she now cannot open it , which is very inconvenient.  We have suggested it may be time to order a new car before something major fails, but she is resisting.  The car is so old that getting new parts is becoming difficult and expensive.

Another grey and wet day here, temperatures have been very variable.  Very busy with GP duties as other grandparents have had a "day off" to enjoy a trip to Gleneagles Hotel, a 70th birthday treat from their 3 children.

 This afternoon I will be on Guide Hall duties as there are some storage brackets to be installed in the basement for stuff that needs to be relocated to allow insulation to be installed in the floor above, plus some other small jobs.  Then over the weekend there is the caravan to prepare for going to be serviced.

It is 2 weeks since my operation, so now allowed to get water over the presumably healed wound.  I say presumably healed as it is  covered by 2 strips of some sort of white tape, so I cannot see what is happening with it.  And there were no instructions given as to how I should remove it, or when.

Can anyone tell me whether this  white tape will fall off when wet, bit worried about pulling it off!    May need to enquire at the GP surgery.