And now we're back again till the spring is sprung back in Orkney. Been back in Spain for almost six weeks now and quite a lot has happened.
On our return, we collected the van from the place who had stored it for us and made our way back to Benidorm. We had to collect an attachment to our pull out awning called a 'privacy room'. The idea being that on the cool evenings, we can sit outside the van but with a degree of warmth and privacy.
Checked into Villasol, got a nice looking pitch in the middle of twenty or so Nederlanders and invited a few of the lads to help put the new room in place. After a few hours hard work, beer and laughter, the job was done and we are the owners of a smart looking extension to the van. We bought a rug and a little cupboard and some lights and got all the chairs out of the back of the van and with the addition of a cheap TV, voila, our evening retreat was complete.
On a different note, the van is equipped with two leisure batteries, which are positioned under the front seats. These batteries power the lights and the water pump and are mainly only used as and when needed. So we come back to the van on our third day here and open the door and Jesus h Christos, we're hit with a smell of the vilest rotten eggs you can imagine. Now I don't know a lot, but I do know the smell of dying batteries. And so it was that the main leisure battery was red hot to touch and was literally boiling the insides. So shut that one down by pulling the fuse and hoped that the second battery would keep us powered until we got back to the UK.
After only five days here, Jake goes down with a bug. And a bloody horrible bug it was too. Turned out to be a flu virus that roared through the campsite and took most of the female population with it. A real case of woman flu if ever there was one. Hardly any blokes went down with it and so far, I've stayed healthy......almost.
So there's Jake really not well in bed and the wind gets up. We're both lying there listening to the gusts getting heavier and eventually I fall asleep, only to be woken by Jake around three in the morning. The noise coming he from the outside wasn't good, so I pulled on some trews and fell out the door of the van, to be greeted by an awning in its first death throes! The side has blown open and the inside had filled with air like a balloon and the roof pulled away from the sides and everything was blowing away and falling over and it was chaos!!!!!!
With Jakes help, I managed to tie what was left of the awning down and bit by bit spent the next three hours dismantling it. So there it was, our wonderful spare room, with all it stuff was lying in a heap on the ground and wasn't put back up again!
Jake's illness got worse, a week or more passed and gradually she felt well enough to venture out. So, we get back to the van after a quiet night out and opened the door and you guessed it, the second leisure battery had gone! The smell was terrible and the battery was too hot to touch. Once again, pulled the fuse, but this time we ere out of spare batteries. Have to get them replaced.
The story of the work to get two new batteries installed in the van is worthy of a blog on it's own, suffice to say, it took two men, three days and a lot of effort swearing and ultimately lots of Euro's to do the job.
Great, been here two weeks and the awning has been a disaster, both leisure batteries have died and Jake has been ill most of the time with flu. nothing else can go wrong can it???????
Yup! I got a bit pissed several days later and as we were walking home, I fell off my legs, twisted both my knee and ankle and couldn't walk for the best part of three days! Great!
Then, casting minds and memories back to when we set out in August, remember that water leak that we found in the van? It came back, only worse. Water running out the boiler through the floor of the van and unto the ground underneath! Not good say's my neighbours! I know that! So had to get that repaired as well and then Jake's flu bug came back! What!!!!! This is ridiculous, we've been here five weeks and it's been one disaster after another.
So that almost brings us up to date. We are still in Benidorm, but will be moving off and going South in a day or so and as the idea of this blog is to remind us of what we've done, it's time to get writing again.
The sun has been shining mostly and it's been warm, while the UK and the US have drown and frozen respectively! We've met some great people here and have partied as only we can. Life on the road, albeit somewhat static for the past wee while is as much fun as you want to make it.
So on we go and the unknown starts again!
