France and Spain by vw

Our first Aire (no WC but one nearby in the village) Here we finished putting the interior panels back in the van - as we had seriously run out of time before the ferry deadline.

Besancon to meet friends and a trip on a boat.  See that entrance under the citadel?  That is a tunnel with a lock in it.  The River Doane (I think) does a grand loop in Besancon and tunnels under the citadel.  It was a holiday and everyone was lining the river in the sunshine but only us three on the top deck and a family of 4 or 5 downstairs.  A lad playing his trumpet at my shouted request for an encore played La Vie on Rose just for me!!!

No holiday is complete without icecream - and just look at the size of that Sorbet!  I did have to share it though.

Pleasant little seaside resort.  

Inside the Sagreda Familia

The flat we stayed in in Barcelona was behind a door from the street that looked from the outside as if it went into an apartment foyer.  But what you got on the other side was this little secret oasis.  The alley formed a T and our flat was the far right hand side one.  Very private and it had it's own roof terrace.  Were the apartments built around the original houses or were they infill?  Who knows.  AND it was right by the Sagreda Familia

On the way home again we just fitted into the last slot at this Aire and look I had an en-suite toilet.

  Fabulous.  

In the morning various camper vans used the Elsan and dumped their grey water etc and there was no smell whatsoever.  

Lucky.

Last Patisserie stop before the Ferry and yet another interesting village.

Natures/Air Head - improvement

I just thought I would share this massive improvement I have made to my Natures Head (identical to the Air Head)

I have removed the churning element completely and stuffed this flexible bucket into the box.  It just fits nicely 14 litres.  I imagine the 12 litre one might fit better as the 14 litre one is a tad 'snug' with the handles.

So with this shoved in the box suitably lined with a bin liner and with a modicum of sawdust/cocoa shells or whatever at the bottom to soak up any errant liquid all is sunny and bright as far as I am concerned.

Change over day takes 5 mins , no mixing, no smell, no worries.

Hope this is of use to others of the third way.

The offending article

What I caught my nose on in the lock.

How to ... How you shouldn't ... and copying another's idea

How to remove a very heavy battery from an awkward position when you are a weak and feeble woman.

Tie straps to the handles so when you lose your grip it doesn't fall into the bilges and knock the expansion tank etc etc

wrap the end of the positive cable (and same at the other end) so that you don't have to actually remove the cable at all which is firmly fixed in place!

Join the long negative cable to the short negative cable on the starter battery together with a bolt and cover with rubber (inner tube).  Job done

Oh and place errant battery in the battery box with the other 4

How one shouldn't do Swarkstone Lock.

I clearly caught my nose on the metal cover for the bottom gate paddles.

I was on the boat and other people were operating the lock for me. I took my eye off the ball whilst chatting.  Just goes to show even with a rounded nose you can still get caught.

I thought the 'Willows' idea was a brilliant one so I copied it.

Here is my lovely tin trunk.

It slides under the end of my sofa bed and lifts up sufficiently to sneak an arm in and get at the logs.

I did have to move the right hand legs over to accommodate.  Benefit of a home made sofabed!

And you can still - just - get the ash pan out.