What are you all up to
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Another dry warm day but not as sunny as previous ones. We had a walk in Tunstall Forest this morning on our way to Orford where we visited the Castle before a walk down to the Quay. Called in at Tesco in Saxmundham on the way back to the site. Discovered that I have a low puncture from nail in one of my front tyres. Will have to get that sorted tomorrow. Strange that it should happen while we are here as I had to get a new one because of a ripped tyre last time we stayed in the area.
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Went down to Kirkcaldy caravans yesterday afternoon and got some new water pipe, so have replaced the complete length in that area, removing 2 joints. Seems to be ok now, but willbe turning off pump while out today!
Off today to visit some old friends in Aberdour for lunch and a catch up.
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When I was at Wharfedale a few years ago in the M/H, it was such a lovely day that I decided to visit Bolton Abbey on my way home, via the B5160. Not a good idea as it is very narrow in places, especially for a M/H and I nearly had a heart attack when I arrived at the car park, next to the Bolton Abbey CMHC site and saw the parking fee charge. It is a far better idea to stay at the Bolton Abbey CMHC site overnight. which I have done since then on a couple of occasions - a very pleasant site.
Your visit to the steam railway sounds good, somewhere where I have always wanted to visit and may try next year.
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Lucky you getting inside Orford Nellie. It was closed when we were there last year, looking good now though. Hope you get the tyre fixed.
Nothing much occurring here, just various vehicle MOTs, some house related work, some hobbies. We have got tickets to see Eddie Izzard at Sheffield City Hall in November.
Bolton Abbey is a very expensive day trip, but the Club Site is lovely. Some great walks, but you do need to be fairly agile on your feet to walk from the Site to the Cavendish Pavilion. Used to be one of our favourite pre Xmas places to visit with MH. We use a CL now. Lots to do and see around Skipton and Bolton Abbey.
I once had a job interview in Kirkcaldy K, long, long time ago now. I wasn’t that enamoured by the town at the time. Very strange interview. All very elderly men, not a smile from them throughout.
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Web feet here in North Wales. Even the ducks are complaining.
At least I've been able to sort out inside jobs and paperwork.
Message for Rufs. I know you've been wondering how much extra you may have to pay for insurance for next year if you go to Spain due to your wife's stroke. Thought I'd let you know I've just talked to my own insurers, through Nationwide account, and was surprised (pleasantly) at how much of a loading was placed on for my own stroke. I already have surcharges for kidney problems so would have to pay for that. The extra amounted to about £80 for a yearly extension. Don't know how much it would have gone up by without the stroke but that increase seemed reasonable to me. Hope you have luck with yours.
Booked a ferry for a short break to France to see my brother. Will be staying at a Gite for a few days. Hope to be there for his birthday.
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Lucky you getting inside Orford Nellie. It was closed when we were there last year, looking good now though.
I think that it just reopen this year, tda, but it is certainly looking good now. EH think that it was originally rendered over the stonework, and this new covering will allow the walls to breathe while protecting them from the weather and the salt in the air. Well worth a visit but not if one has difficulty climbing stairs!!😊
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We had planned to visit Framlingham Castle and Church today so it was not out of our way to initially go to Fram Tyres to get our tyre repaired. They were able to repair the tyre so thankfully no need for another new one. Then we continued with our plans visiting both the castle and church. Called in at The Woodland Trust's Pound Wood reserve for a walk on the way back to the van. The morning had started of misty but brightened up during the day but with rain forecast we decided to take down the canopy, thankfully so as we have caught the rain that proceeded the thunderstorms that were experienced by OP, but thankfully missed us although the thunder is around us at the moment.
A couple of photos from today, Framlingham Castle, from the west, and the autumn colours of a Spindle Bush in the reserve.
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Thanks for this much appreciated, not yet spoken to Barclays as no plans to go over there until at least Autumn 2024 due to other committments and apparently if you ask the question 12 months or more after the event then loading is not so great, dont want to bore people with this but just for info, my brother in law has just paid £1k via AllClear for annual travel insurance, he does have COPD & a AAA
.looks like being a cracker of a day today and weather set fair for many days, am sure the Solent is warming up not cooling down, we used to say when the power station over Southampton water was operational that when they opened the sluice gates the temp of the Solent rose by 10 degs, but power station now defunct.
Off to DIL's in East Grinstead today, will take the opportunity to view the flower beds provided by CAMC in the town centre
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We usually had quite a few swims in October when we used to visit Cornwall in the Autumn Rufs, Gulf Stream effect I think. Always a lot warmer than in the Spring🥶 We have 24c predicted for this coming weekend, fingers crossed 🤞 it comes about.
Nice photos Nellie, we always enjoy Framlingham. Good news on the insurance as well Wherenext👍
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Yet another problem.......this trip is not going well.......this time with the car......VW Touareg.
When we set out to visit our friends yesterday, car started fine, but the "infotainment" screen remained black. No display would come up so now we have no radio, no sat nav, no parking sensors working, no access to engine information etc etc.
Does not stop the car going, but far from ideal!
From searching on line it seems it is a not uncommon problem, but diagnosing exactly what has failed is not easy, generally expensive, and replacing any parts even more expensive.
Will spend some time checking what I can before contacting garage once we are home.
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Busy morning in town.
Had to return the OS maps and books I borrowed from the library, who kindly lent them to me for a 2 month period. Also had to call into the bank and then get our flu jabs at the pharmacy. Late morning by the time we got home and as the weather was being kind I decided to hoover the inside of the car and clean it. Halfway through the showers started. Anyway it's ready for action now. Cleaned inside and out.
Going to start on trimming some hedges but guess what?
Yep. Will have a coffee whilst catching up on here and elsewhere then maybe get out.0 -
Had fun and games with the caravan, this morning - which might make KJ feel better that he's not the only one to have things go wrong! Started the usual 'deep clean' of the van after getting back from our break, yesterday and was washing out the shower when the water flow suddenly stopped. Tried the other taps - nothing. Quickly came to the conclusion that it would be impossible for all three microswitches to fail at the same time so started looking at fuses. Now as much as I love our van and it's really well put together - whoever designed the fuse panel needs a severe talking to. It's right up against the battery charger and virtually impossible to get the fuses out. The normal fuse tweezers just won't fit because the fuses are so close to each other and it's an absolute pain. Anyway, after a lot of messing about, I checked them all and they were all OK. Damn, says I (or something like that!) No use checking the handbook because our water system is a bespoke one fitted by the dealer when they fitted the inboard tank.
After a cuppa and a lot of thinking - wondered if the inboard pump had jammed. Hand in tank - jiggled pump - nothing. But then - the breakthrough. I accidentally moved the wire powering the pump and it suddenly came on for a few seconds. Traced it back and found a bullet connector joint and the wires had all but pulled out. After stripping the joint down and using Wago connectors to make a proper connection, all is now well but if I hadn't found that dodgy joint by accident, I would have been making a 300 miles round trip to the dealers for them to fix it.
Feeling a bit pleased with myself that I've managed to sort it - so KJ - it doesn't just happen to you!!
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Nellie, my OH used to work on Orford Ness back during the days of the Cold War, yes, a long, long time ago. He worked for the RAF/USAF there. All super, super top secret at the time, he used to tell people he was a cleaner there, to stop "awkward" questions.
We have been back a couple of times more recently, via the National Trust. OH says it feels very odd to be walking around the Ness without anybody with guns and dogs patrolling it!
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We enjoyed a day out on the Ness a few years ago.
Really interesting place and very good for nature nowadays as well.
Interesting what you said about secrecy Ina as my father had to keep it a secret before he went out to Christmas Island with the RAF to take part in Atomic bomb testing. He just explained his absence as "They don't tell me where and why, just when".
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Glad I was able to bring back happy memories for you Ina, and you too WN.
RnR, that was a bit of good fortune spotting the problem and being able to fix it.
Glad that your car past it's MOT, OP. Hope they can sort out the problems with your caravan and that it's not too costly a job. Similarly for you too Kjell with your car. Did your repair to the van's pipework hold up?
Hope you are right about it warming up again, tda, as it was rather chilly this evening.
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Nellie and WN: Suffolk is probably the part of the UK I know the least - we really must visit the area.
Glad your car is OK, Oneputt - fingers crossed for the caravan. Just wished we could use our caravan!! Still haven't got my car back since our breakdown and recovery from the Outer Hebrides in August, although they've made a start on it..... waiting for a sensor, which should arrive in the morning!
Having internet problems at home at the moment, too! It never rains... etc... 😀
David
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We had a dull start to the day but a much brighter afternoon followed by a cool breeze this evening. We had a couple of walks again today, this morning over Walberswick Common and along by the R.Blyth, and then, this afternoon, in Dunwich Forest taking in part of St Helenas Trail. This is our last day here before we head further inland to near Stowmarket.
The photo is of St Andrews, Walberswick and is the third church to stand on this site. The tower is from the original church and dates from the early to mid 1400s being completed just before the rest of the first church was demolished in 1468. The second church was completed in 1493 and it is this that forms the ruins visible in the photo. It was dismantled in 1696 and the stone used to construct the present building.
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Nellie
You seem to have a fascination with churches, is it a particular interest of yours if you don't mind me asking.
David
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Yes, the caravan pipework repair is holding up fine. This was the 3rd water related failure this year.
The problem seems to have been two-fold........the pipe appears to have been slightly damaged at original build, 15/16 years back now, with a shallow "gouge" all along it which had speeded up deformation with age.......and the cut end inserted into the joint was very poorly done.
If only the car problem would be as easy to fix! From reading on the internet, it seems this could be a very expensive repair, or more likely replacement.
Another dull day here, with wind and rain forecast, we will venture out to Aldi later for a little shopping. Only a few items as we are heading home tomorrow.
Plenty to do at home, with doing my tax return at the top of the list.
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The trouble with modern cars, KjellNN, is that that they are too complicated... with a large selection of sensors and other electic gadgets, all of which can go wrong. Our current car problem, resulting in a recovery from the Outer Hebrides to Tamworth (another story), has been looked at by 4 seperate folk, all who have said something different (even after attatching the diagnostic computer thingy). The car is currently with our usual repairers and Paul (the mechanic) is systematically going through, one thing at a time.
In the meantime, we can't get out in the caravan as we haven't a tow car. Just managing with the 20 year old Renault Scenic, which despite it's nickname of 'the rust bucket', seems to keep on going in spite of all adversity!! 🤣🤣
Best of luck with your car, KjellNn. Hope they get it sorted for you soon I feel your pain!!
David
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Oh!!! how i wish, when we lived in Scotland we had a long, and very expensive, relationship with Land Rover Discoveries, yes diagnostics is supposed to tell you exactly what is wrong, but in my experience, via Guy Samon, main agents for LR, they charge you for the pleasure of using the diagnostics machine, which, in some cases you had to join a queue which could be of several days before it was your turn, and then they would say "well we think it is etc etc etc" , i was once told by an engineer in the Portsmouth branch that i should drive home to Scotland and get it tested there as they were at a bit of a loss, the engine management light was showing orange, ok not red, but this was a journery of some 600 miles.
attended my OH's stroke club this morning, and i have to say there are some very kind and helpful people outthere, but was a bit taken aback when one of them suggested i should join the Stroke carers club, just in case i should die anytime soon as they would provide a free carer for as long as it takes, and i thought i looked very fit for my age
guess he was just trying to be helpful,sun is shining, tide is up, bike out down to beach try and get even fitter
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I used to carry out most repairs and services on our cars even swapped a few engines over but not anymore. Modern cars are far too complicated with electronics and sensors etc and even then as has been said garages sometimes struggle to pin point issues. Our Volvo (6 years old) was recently getting a service at our usual Volvo specialist who are very good and I mentioned that it was sometimes displaying an SRS warning sign on the dash so they changed a sensor £135 and said that may be the problem but they couldn’t be sure. Anyway within a week the symbol flashed back up again so obviously the sensor wasn’t the issue as the light doesn’t come on all the time it’s not a big issue but. Just shows that even on the most modern cars with diagnostic tools etc issues can be hard to find. Too many things to go wrong with modern cars unfortunately.
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I had my Primera repaired a few years back and when I next turned the engine on, the red light came back on. It stayed on for the next 3 years, until the new people who had taken over at the MOT garage where I MOT my car said that they would have to charge me to turn the light off for it to pass its MOT, which it had passed in the previous 3 years, with the rd light on!
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I'm no car expert, vgfb, but 4 different folk have connected the diagnostic thingy somewhere underneath the steering wheel and have said something different. I reckon the readings are fairly 'generic'... I don't think its an exact science!
David
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They are just such fascinating constructions and within them the whole gamut of the history of the areas where they are situated. They contain some of the finest aspects of craftsmanship that can be found in such a relatively small space. East Anglia and Herefordshire have some of the best in the country in that respect.
They also make for good photographic subjects.
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