Well here we are in the middle of March with very changeable weather. Last Tuesday afternoon we drove over the Seven Bridge in brilliant sunshine with temperatures in the high teens. Yesterday (Friday) we drove from home to Brean Somerset for our inaugural stay in Voyager. The day was fair temperature low teens with a little wind. Good enough to drive in with no problems and get setup when we arrived at Unity Farm Camp site.

We had gone to Wales to collect a ‘Motor Mover’ we had bought on Ebay. We had decided it was a good idea to get one as moving Betty (the box trailer) when it is fully loaded had proved more than a little difficult. Well she does weigh nearly half a ton with two mobility scooters a wheelchair and the pipes, cables, chairs and tools we need to carry.

As we were so close to going away for the first time all I did was get the necessary power connection to drive the mover sorted and fit it as a direct replacement for the jockey wheel.

On Friday morning I used the ‘Mover’ to get Betty from her home position out onto the road ready to connect to Voyager. All worked great – I was well pleased. I even remembered to take a photo before we left.

At Gordano services on the M5 we stopped (in the Lorry Park area) for a bite of lunch. I jumped out and checked everything was tight on Betty and found that the Mover had lowered itself and the tyre had been dragging on the ground for some of the journey – presumably caused by the vibration. I re-secured it up and hoped for the best.

When we arrived at Brean and had been shown to our pitch I disconnected Betty and immediately found that the Mover had a flat tyre. Luckily the site was totally flat so manoeuvring Betty manually was not too difficult. On further investigation I found a completely knackered tyre so I have another job to do when we get home – fit a new tyre (and inner tube I’m sure) and design and build a structure to get the Mover higher during transit.

Well if that’s the only issue we have I reckon we have done well. The rest of our stay has been great. We nipped out on the scooters (Dolly & Gordon) to find a post-box and see the sea. All good but a bit breezy.

Mary cooked Cod loin in Parsley sauce with mash, carrots & sweetcorn for our evening meal. Absolutely great (and the first test of Voyagers oven).

All the sleeping arrangements worked well. The heating keeping us nice and toasty throughout the night. The rain and howling gales outside didn’t stop us sleeping through although we were concerned that the rocking might have caused us to feel sea sick – luckily it didn’t.

I did scrambled eggs with bacon for breakfast – hard to get that wrong. Then we decided to go out for a bit of fresh air. We did about 4 miles on the scooters bought some fruit and a paper (oh and a cream cake) as well as looking at the sea again (still too cold, windy and wet).

Back to the van for a warming lunch and a siesta. Might try the Bingo tonight.

We have got a list of things to get sorted – nothing drastic just coat hooks on the inside of the wardrobe and bathroom doors, a bin for the dinette area, key hook for by the door and a longer hose for filling the water tank.

Just a couple of pics of Betty to finish.