Cogs life

So we’ve arrived at our campsite the weather is sunny and warm. The staff are really friendly and we were quickly all setup.

As a little update about our journey so far. The NV200 has averaged 57 mpg, it is charged as a car on Toll Roads in France and gets a LOT of attention wherever she goes especially in the campsite with the awning attached. It’s now a life full of croissants, baguettes and lovely French food. There are some friendly chickens walking around the campsite, the most amazing thing is that Darcey our Goldie ignores them completely.

We had a very easy and uneventful trip down to the shuttle which was great. Once over to France we stayed overnight at Le Touqet Aire I thinks its called “La Plage de Paris”. Its one of the very best Aires. The journey down to the South of France was interrupted by a visit to our friends Nathalie and Maurice who are renovating a cottage into a home and B&B they’ve made a lovely job of it.

It was another 4 hour 30 minute drive to our destination of Argeles Sur Mer. More to follow….

We’ve got a couple of night without Darcie our Goldie, so we thought we’d visit Hebden Bridge. We’ve just arrived and so far we’ve had a lovely meal and now listening to an Irish Jig group.

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Today it was nearly 30 degrees. Now you might not know this but Mid West Wales although blessed with stunning beaches and valleys is not normally blessed with Mediterranean weather. So today it was almost a party atmosphere with a lot of people on the beach having a great time.

In fact we did the long walk twice, it was from our campsite to Sea Palling along the beach route. It was on this walk that we saw the Seals and today, our second walk, gave us another breathtaking seal watch.

After the long walk, which is about a 4 and a half hour round trip, it was back to the van for a cup of tea and some biscuits. Today was shopping day so over to Lidl in Walsham to get some necessaties. On our way back and feeling a little hungry we kept an eye out for a suitable pub. After a unsuccessful while we found the Swan at Ingham in fact we’d visited that pub before but now it was completely different. The Swan has several Rosettes to prove its amazing quality and price of its food. BUT the food was stunning and worth every penny.

So now it’s back to the van and re-attach it too the lonely awning. Beer time and then sleep time…. its been another full day zzzzz

One thing Waxham sands is famous for is its regular display of Seals. And today was no exception, Carol lost count at over 200 all laid on the beach just a couple of hundred yards from our campsite. We’ve been blessed with similar sights before but never with this many seals, it was a fantastic sight and drew a few people to watch them. I’m not exactly sure who was watching who as the Seals seemed just as keen to watch all these humans.

Carol taking some of her amazing photos

We had a quick stopover in the Peak District to visit our family before moving onto East Anglia. We hadn’t organised anywhere to stop the night so it was a quick look at Park 4 Night. In fact though we found a place by accident which was brilliant and only £1 for the night ! The next day was the long haul to the East Coast and Waxham sands. We arrived late afternoon to a place we used to use a lot many years ago so this was going to be a trip down memory lane.

An update on the C rail we used it to attach our new awning and it fitted really well ! In fact we were treated to a thunderstorm one evening and everything stayed in place perfectly. So I consider that a job well done 👏

I’ve just finished fitting a C Rail to the roof of our van, this will allow the awning to be fixed to the van and let the van be able to drive away leaving the awning as a standalone.

We bought a Kampa Dometic Air trip at the same time our friends also bought a new air awning. So a booking at Shell Island was made for one night. On the day the weather was amazing sunny and warm with a slight wind. We quickly found a perfect spot and the race was on, who would be quickest ??? It was close but we won lol. Once all was secure a long walk on the stunning beach followed and afterwards a drink and Pizza at the cafe.

just a quick update, we have decided to go gas free in our van. To achieve all electric I’ve added a second 100 ah lithium battery making 200 ah in total, this powers a 3kw pure sine wave inverter. I’ve tested it using an Induction hob and it works really well I’m also going to buy a small toaster and kettle. I’ll keep you updated as too how practical it all is. We have also bought an Air awning by Kampa it’s not been tested yet but again we’ll keep you updated.