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Eurotrip 13, 2024 – Santiago de Compostela
StandardWe left Camping A Vouga on Sunday morning for the short drive to the capital of Galicia, Santiago de Compestela. Famous for it’s Cathedral and the site where the relics of the apostle St James are buried, Santiago is one of the three top pilgrimage sites in the Christian world and over 400,000 pilgrims made the journey in 2023.
As we have already found out, Santiago is not the end of the pilgrimage route – the end is actually beyond Santiago at Fisterra, or Cap Finistere. There is also not one single camino to Santiago but many routes from Spain, France and other European countries. As we travelled around the region, many pilgrims could be seen making their way towards Santiago.
We booked into Camping As Canceles, in the suburbs of Santiago and its a short 2km walk from the campsite to the cathedral and old town.
After checking into the campsite we walked into town and were surprised to find that there was no real queue to enter Santiago Cathedral. The view of the cathedral from the large square is impressive and it is here that the groups of pilgrims arrive – elated at the end of a long (probably) journey on foot or bicycle. Many travel light as there are many hostels on all of the routes into Santiago but equally, many are burdened with large rucksacks and tents that they have carried across Spain and other countries. There’s a large degree of commercialisation around the Caminos and the modern day pilgrims need to get their “books” stamped en-route to Santiago. Once there, the official camino office issues a certificate for the achievement.
After our tour of the Cathedral, we returned to the campsite and ate back at the van after a couple of drinks in the site bar.
Monday and Moe had organised a walking tour of Santiago and was tour guide for the day. It was almost lunchtime when we arrived at the starting point – the cathedral – and she lead me to a local Empanada shop for lunch. A truly massive selection of pies on offer. I ordered one Ham and Cheese and one spicy chicken.
Moe wasn’t tempted by the empanadas, wanting to try something a bit more sweet – so she bought one of the famous Santiago cakes.
Our walking tour encompassed much of the old town and the park with views of the Convent of San Francisco and the only original and remaining bridge of the old city walls.
Looking at food options for later on and neither of us fancied squid…
We did though find a rather nice Tapas bar – Tapas Pesticos do Cardeal.
We enjoyed the hussle and bussle of this great city but after our two days here, we were ready to head back to a quieter place and checked out of Camping As Canceles on Tuesday, leaving behind pitch 310.
A collage of pictures from our Santiago visit. If you want to see a picture in more detail, just click on it.
Eurotrip 12 – France and Germany
StandardEurotrip 12 is now officially underway. Only possible because we didn’t spend our full allocation of 90 days in Spain over winter.
A successful first night at Bognor Regis where we met someone who purchased our virtually unused Isabella Sunshine awning. The item had been for sale on eBay for a while and it happened that we could meet the buyer before we spend the weekend in Hayling Island. Incidentally, this awning could have been quite useful for this summer trip.
Our ferry to France leaves on Monday. We feel un-prepared. We know nothing about the French “crit-air” stickers and we hope the tolls still accept cash or credit cards. Presumably the French gendarmes are too busy dealing with tractors and the Paris Olympics to worry about us.
After a week or so in France, we will head East.
Meanwhile, our friends driveway on Hayling Island looks a bit fuller than usual!
Cheese and Grain, Frome
StandardWith Moe away for the weekend and a recommendation from a friend to see the AC DC tribute act “Live Wire”, I decided to head to Frome for the Saturday evening.
Having bought a ticket for the show, I was then emailed details of another event on the same weekend – LimeHouse Lizzy. Another highly recommended tribute act.
So I left East Devon Friday lunchtime for a weekend of off-grid camping and music.
I arrived at a local “pub stopover” – The Masons Arms – on the outskirts of Frome and there were 3 or 4 vans already lined up in the car park.
I received a warm welcome and a flexible offer to stay the following night as well if I couldn’t find a place in town. Parking is a problem in Frome, so this was a good offer.
At the time of my stay, the pub had suspended its food service, so I enjoyed a pint before walking the half hour or so into Frome.
The following evening, all of the sites I was looking to stay at in town were full, so I extended my stay at the Masons Arms for a second night. This time, I was the only van on site.
Friday night was the Thin Lizzy tribute band – Limehouse Lizzy.
On Saturday I drove to Chew Valley lake and spent time walking around the body of water.
Saturday night was a return to the Cheese and Grain music venue in Frome. The venue is the largest music venue in Somerset with a standing capacity of around 800. It was built in 1874 as an indoor market for farm produce with secondary use as a community hall.
Tonight, it played host to arguably the best AC DC tribute band – Live Wire. They did not disappoint. Having first seen AC DC as a teenager in Birmingham, 1979, this show was an authentic and very loud tribute to AC DC. It was a fantastic evening – for me, this kind of venue is much better for experiencing live music than the big stadia.
Alde fluid change no 2
StandardIt’s around five years ago that I changed the Alde central heating fluid in our caravan and it’s ready for its next change. I learnt a lot last time round and decided to adopt a slightly different approach.
Key points for the planning were:
- Buy a cheap 12v pump from Amazon or eBay. Note I think the one I bought will also substitute as a spare for our Thetford toilet
- Don’t faff around trying to drain the system – which on our van isn’t even possible. Just use the pump to flush and fill.
- We know the system holds 12 to 15 litres of fluid so the flush and fill was in multiple stages.
- Flush with 30 litres of tap water
- Then flush through 5 litres of de-ionised water
- Then mix 7 litres of Comma Xstream with 5 litres of de-ionised water
- Pump this into the system
- Continue pumping de-ionised water until the output is pink
- Top up the header tank with neat fluid
Let’s kick off the fluid change. Remove the covers from around the header tank. This is what you will see.
I wanted to double check the flow of liquid around the system as I believe there is a one-way valve somewhere. To do this I just operated the heating for a few minutes and noted the warmest pipe into the header tank. I’d already figured this out as I know which radiators get the warmest first but this just confirmed it.
You then need to remove excess liquid from the header tank and a good old suction technique sorted this for me. Fill a 1m length of thin clear plastic tube with water. Place your finger tightly over one end and insert the other end into the header tank and down into the pipe below the tank. Take you finger off the tube and let the liquid drain into a bucket. Repeat for the second pipe.
There are three or four screws circled blue in the picture which will release the tank from the side panel.
Two spring clips, circled orange can then be loosened to allow the extraction of the header tank from the rubber pipe couplers.
I cobbled together 4 pieces of pipework which interconnected using Hozelock fittings. You can use whatever works for you with regards to this.
The two short lengths connect to the rubber boots of the caravan pipework. I happened to have some Alde metal tube, circled blue, of the correct diameter with which to do this.
The two longer sections are cheap 14mm irrigation pipe. Terminated with the appropriate Hozelock connectors at one end and the pump at one of the others.
It was then just a case of dropping the pump into the bucket of liquid (see order of liquids above) and activating it by hooking up to an old 12v battery.
Once the fluid was replaced, the procedure to reconnect the header tank was the reverse of the above.
Here’s an image of other equipment used for the swap-out.
Finally, the heating was operated for 10 minutes with the pump at full power.
Links to the previous fluid change are below.
July tour 2022 – Off grid at Newton Grove
StandardWe visited Newton Grove some years ago for an overnight stop and were struck on the peace and quiet of this CL site. We returned today for 7 nights off-grid – there is freshwater and toilet disposal facilities but no electric hook-up.
It had been our intention to visit the final Cornbury music event next weekend but the organisers have deemed they can charge grotesque prices for this final festival. Maybe if there are tickets left over there might be some last minute special offers. Fingers crossed!
John, the owner of the CL dropped by for a chat and explained he has a solar battery unit if we run out of power. It has a small inverter attached so looks like I’ll be able to charge up the laptop every once in a while.
At the moment, all is working off the leisure battery and we are keeping an eye-out on the voltages. The leisure battery is some 7 years old so is already beyond its life expectancy. If it doesn’t survive, I’m eyeing a Lithium leisure battery replacement…
September Tour 2021 – Trip summary
Standard
| Date | Location | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 10th September 2021 | Woodbury | |
| 10th September 2021 | Huntisbeare CL Site | 5 miles / 20 mins |
| 12th September 2021 | Devizes Camping and Caravanning club | 87 miles / 2.5 hrs |
| 19th September 2021 | Henley Four Oaks CMC | 82 miles / 2.5 hrs |
| 27th September | Woodbury | 176 miles / 4.0 hrs |
Henley-on-Thames
StandardWe arrived on Sunday for a few days at Henley-on-Thames. The weather has remained remarkably settled, dry and warm for all of this trip and this theme continued throughout our stay at Henley.
It was warm enough for the “boys” to meet up at the Alehouse in Reading and enjoy a long lunch, outside, at the London Street Brasserie.
Moe and I visited the National Trust property at Greys court for lunch in the gardens. It’s a few years since our last visit but we remembered pristinely kept typical English gardens and finely mown lawns. Covid has certainly taken its toll here and the gardens were far from special. Rather disappointing. As we visited on a Monday, the house itself was closed so do check opening times before your visit.
On our way through Twyford, en-route to Reading, we stopped outside the old station house. This is one of the places where Moe grew up.
On another day we walked through Henley along the Thames to Marsh lock. One can while away hours watching the boats heading through the lock.
This is a very popular and pleasant walk along the banks of the river Thames. We passed a pretty Old House.
2021 UK Post Lockdown England Tour II Trip Summary
StandardI am trying to catch up with some of the Trip Summaries. This one was from earlier this year, including my 60th Birthday – the relentless march of time…!!! It wasn’t supposed to be spent on a Campsite!!!!
Click on the map picture to enlarge.
| Date | Location | Grid Reference |
|---|---|---|
| 16th June 2021 | Woodbury, East Devon | |
| 16th June 2021 | High Onn CMC, Church Eaton, Staffordshire | 52.81733 -2.25021 |
| 17th June 2021 | Buxton CMC, Grin Low Road, Buxton, Derbyshire | 53.24560 -1.92857 |
| 28th June 2021 | Anita's, Mollington, Oxfordshire | 52.12599 -1.35513 |
| 7th July 2021 | Bladon Chains CMC, Woodstock, Oxfordshire | 51.83825 -1.34094 |
| 11th July 2021 | Sunnydale Farm, Hamble, Hampshire | 50.88573 -1.34141 |
| 16th July 2021 | Woodbury, East Devon |
Mileage chart…
| Start | End | Mileage | Time (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodbury | High Onn CMC | 184 | 4.5 hours |
| High Onn CMC | Buxton CMC | 57 | 2 hours |
| Buxton CMC | Anita's | 119 | 1.5 hours |
| Anita's | Bladon Chains CMC | 22 | 1 hour |
| Bladon Chains CMC | Sunnydale Farm, Hamble | 79 | 2 hours |
| Sunnydale Farm, Hamble | Woodbury | 115 | 3 hours |