I'm off work all week so hopefully I can get the telly sorted. I ring the caravan shop and ask him to go through the whole Aeriel system and find the prob and fix it, I also tell him that if after all it does need a new Aeriel then to fit one.
The only day he can do it is Wednesday, the day i have arranged to go to the caravan show at the NEC in Birmingham.but no prob he says i can drop the van off on Tuesday.
So while at the caravan show I get a call saying there is no prob with the Aeriel,but he's fetched a TV engineer in who has returned the TV and everything is OK with at least 99 channels !!!!
AT LAST.As we are going away again on Thursday (24/02/2011) he agrees to me leaving the van at the workshop till then.
We go to pick it up about 2.00pm to see the free view in all its glory .........
He says he only wants £35(the cost to him for the TV engineer), so i give him £40,cheap at half the price.
So off we go in glorious spring sunshine, to Delph bank caravan site in Holbeach,Linconshire, http://www.delphbank.co.uk/ we would have arrived about 4.00 pm. but a couple of mile before, we come to a roundabout and the sat nav says take the 2nd exit but numb nuts takes the 3rd !!! no prob its given us a alternate route, turn left in 300 yard, we leave the main road onto a single track road,there's a farm house with a van parked outside blocking the whole track. Now what ? I survey the surroundings, there's a decent sized driveway about 10 yards back. Martine is dispatched on directing operations, and between us we manage to turn round a 26ft caravan and car, it takes a couple of shuffles but we do it and are soon back on the main road.We eventually arrive at about 4.30 pm.
She shows us to our pitch which is at the end of a row of 4. All the pitches are hard standing, there's about 25 in total and its quite full with vans and motor homes.
Martine takes Jazz for a walk and by the time she gets back Ive just about set everything up ......getting quite efficient .....
We have brought the awning this time, for the 1st time in fact ....the next Chinese puzzle for us to negotiate, but decide not to attempt to erect it until tomorrow (Friday).
Miracles of miracles the telly WORKS yes get in, back of the net.
We go out into the village, there are two pubs with in 10 Min's walk The Rose & Crown, and The Bull. We go in the Rose & Crown, only 3 other people in.Its a free house selling Elgoods' beer,http://www.elgoods-brewery.co.uk/site/ they have a couple on and I sample both. We enquire as to anywhere serving food. Apparently there's a Chinese restaurant at the other end of the village which has a good reputation. We have another couple and set off to find the Chinese. Its about 10 Min's from the entrance to the site in the other direction. Its by the side of the A17 but to say its in the middle of nowhere its packed, We decide on a takeaway and navigate our way back to the van.
Next morning I go into Holbeach which is a couple of miles away. Its a bustling town with plenty of proper shops and also a Tesco and loads of pubs and take aways. I also find a cash machine.
After breakfast its time to get out of the comfort zone and have a go at the awning......Martine is reading the instructions and directing operations,"Lay out all the poles,thread the canvas round the channel on the outside of the van,fit brackets to beedinding on awning"......"fit poles with hooks into brackets" What poles with hooks? there arent any. Everything is checked against the diagram and there are definitely no poles with hooks on them......so hows it going to hold up ?there's obviously some poles missing.
I ring the caravan shop to inform him we have some parts missing but he's not there, he's at the caravan show until Monday. So everything is packed away.We spend the afternoon in Holbeach, having a good look round and do some shopping.In the evening we decide to utilise the novelty that is the television and have a night in.
We end up at Wells-next-the-Sea where we sample the fish&chips then make our way back. It takes quite a while as we are caught in a torrential downpour and can do no more than 40 mph due to the visibility.
In the evening we go into the Bull and are amazed to find menus'......Why didn't they mention it to us Thurs night in the other pub? We are too late for food though as they stopped serving at 9.00 and its 9.15, have a couple in here, a couple in the other pub then back for pizza and match of the day.
Sunday we have a ride to Spading and call in at the Springfield's outlet http://www.spaldingnet.com/spaldingtown/springfields.html where again it costs' me £100+ but we do get some decent suitcases and a coat and a few other things.
When we get back I notice that the heating isn't coming on but as we are cooking the van is quite warm, later on though it begins to get quite cold and the evening is spent trying to find the prob. It is pinpointed to the pump in the header tank, which when i remove starts working but when placed back in the tank stops when it makes contact with the fluid.The rest of the evening is spent under the sleeping bags.
The next morning its back on the phone to Couplands http://www.couplandscaravans.co.uk/ (we'll be on first name terms soon) and the tell us to call in for them to have a look.
So we have been out with the van 4 times and had to take it back twice, hope it's just teething probs.
The pump is removed ,tested, and they come to the same conclusion that I did......its knackered. A new pump is fitted and we make our way home via Doncaster.
I wonder if we will go out and not have to go via the caravan shop or come back via Couplands !!!!!
I go to the caravan shop and as instructed take with me the poles for the awning,As soon as he sees them he says they are the poles for the bedroom annex and not the awning.
It turns out I have picked up the wrong bag, the awning poles were in the house all the time !!!!!
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