You Need Friends

One of the best things that has happened to us since getting Katy is the response that he gets when we go and see people. It's often one of amazement, but it's also one of approval and pleasure.

This weekend we popped into see three old sets of friends and we had a unanimously warm welcome from all of them.

First of all was some of my first friends I made when I moved to Cardiff, Chris and Judith who now live "oop north". OK well only about about 20 miles away which is no real real distance and therefore no real excuse for either of us, but we don't get to seem them as much as we should. We were amazed when we finally realised that we'd bought the tax disk after 6 months and they still hadn't seen her so we used the occasion of a Big Birthday to pop in our our way up north.

Both loved her and we've already been invited to drop in after caving conference which would definitely be another katy type event.

Next was another Chris - Christine this time. An epitome of a fun loving bubbly blond if ever I met one! 

Chris has a small house and has also recently had a birthday which we'd not been able to celebrate so we headed off with "Mas vino tinto!" (More red Wine) and Chocolate fudge cake in hand to see her and the mad spaniels she shares her house with. It's a small house and whilst we know she would put herself out for us there's no real reason to make her do that when you can turn up with your own bed in tow !

It even gives somewhere to hide from the mad spaniels !

And finally, but no means least we stopped by to See Hazel and Alan (Judith's Mom and Dad) on our way home. This pair have been real adventurers in their time and I've loved hearing their tales of just getting on with it over the years. They have been the sort of people who's ability to have adventures is inspirational. They had an old Series 3 90 themselves in prior years and I've known that Alan would love to see Katy for some time, but it's been necessary to get the gearbox working before we went visiting.

Alan gave us a really good smile and then one of the most complimentary comment we could get ... "Can we have one !"

So all in all a fantastic couple of days and we've had a really great time - so thanks to you all for making us all feel so welcome and we look forward to seeing you all again in the very near future.

BTW We also spotted an old Series in an almost collapsed barn on our walk. I'll need to take a camera next time I go walking up there.

WWW = Wet Weekend in Wales

A Wet Weekend in Wales, well at least in part.

We went down to St Davids in Pembrokeshire and once again Katy was wel behaved on the run, however once we got there the heavens opened and we had rain pouring into the passenger footwell again. So out with more silicone sealant and I've tried to cover up every possible hole

Another of the leaks was around the cable where the solar panel feed comes in whioch was more worrying because it was above where we store the bedding ... the solution ... even more silicone sealant.

On the good news front the new shelves in the rear cupbaord worked really well and the smells have all gone now we're replaced the wood in the kitchen cabinets 

Sunday was beautiful and we had a fantastic day out followed by a really smooth run home in light traffic so we're much more confident about going for a run now all seems bedded down from the last trip

Cupboard Love

Since our trip to Anglesey we've not had a lot of time, but there are some jobs that need to be done before we go away again

Replacing the fridge is going to be a long job, so for now it's been removed because I needed to replace all the wood in the cupboards because someone had spilt something which had soaked into the wood and now stank. We suspect rancid cooking oil. So this type of mess stank !

 Which was hiding this type of mess

Has been replaced with nice clean plywood which has been varnished so if there are more spills it can just be wiped clean and we don't get back to the same problem. As you can see a nice big gap for a new fridge

And whilst I'm there here are the new shelves for the rear cupboard - I mean who needs a wardrobe in a camper van anyway. it's not like the wife will be needing her evening dresses in the middle of a campsite is it?

Hopefully all this will be finished in time for next weekend

Whilst working today we resolved another problem. Another stinking mess in Katy has turned out to be the washer bottle - full of what looked like a bacterial soup - so bad it smelt awful and it gummed up the pipes. All has been cleaned out and works fine now

Anglesey - The Road Home

OK it wasn't that early and we did take time having a cuppa before we got started, but then it was time for off. Sunshine & Scenery were to be the order of the day as we headed back through Snowdonia and then Mid Wales

First stop after Llanberris was to admire the scene of a rugged Land Rover in even more rugged scenery

 

Then down to Bedgellert where we met a Subaru Owners club coming the other way. Whilst waiting in the traffic one of them was sitting next to me enjoying the sound of his sporty engines with a bit of revving so I treated him to what the sound of a 300TDi sounds like in full flow. I got a bit of a shocked look!

The journey southwards was uneventful on the mechanical front which was good as it allowed us to concentrate on enjoying the scenery and it is indeed might fine scenery.

We arrived in Cardiff just entering the red on our fuel which means we have put just £95.00 diesel into Katy for this journey. OK we'll need to fill up for the next, but I think the new gearbox has made a massive difference to the driveability and we are all (all three of us I am sure) looking forwards to our next big adventure

Mind you I do have a list of new jobs ....

1. Remove and replace cupboard shelves which stink !
2. Add shelves to the rear cupboards
3. Fix the Exhaust properly
4. Find out why the washer water isn't working
5. Find all the leaks around the windscreen and doors and fix them properly
6. find out why the fridge is only partially efficient and repair or replace it
7. replace the missing mudflaps

That should be enough to keep me busy for a few weeks or months

Anglesey - Church Bay, Holy Island, South Stack and Roscolyn

After the success of Parys Mountain we rose to some more poor weather so headed off in a slightly miserable state around the north side of the island which has some really small roads.

Church bay was nice, but we did get some strange looks in the lanes.. maybe because the blowing exhaust was getting worse. We arrived at the Llynnon Mill, the only windmill working on Anglesey. I have to say that in an earlier post I commented I would need bigger spanners for workong on katy, but to be honest that's nothing when compared to what you need to work on this gearbox !



Whilst we were there, the weather started improving which was nice so we got some pictures of a white windmill against something other than a pure grey sky.

We then headed to Bagnol Caravan Park in Treardurr Bay where we were welcomed by the owner with a huge grin and a laugh as we blew our way into the campsite and settled into a pitch. His laugh at the site of Katy was followed by him having to come and have a good look at her

The pleasant evening in the sun was followed by a super day on the cliffs at South Stack and then Roscolyn, and then we came back for a final night at the campsite.

With the long journey ahead I decided it was time for some running repairs and it didn't tale long to find the problem. One of the exhaust joints wasn't done up properly and we'd lost 2 bolts  leaving just one holding it together. So on with the overalls i had taken "just in case" and a root around to locate at least one more bolt I could use to repair it, and the blowing was quickly reduced to an acceptable level

All ready for an early start tomorrow...

Anglesey - Moelfre and Amlwych

Having been washed out of Beaumaris we headed north to Moelfre and Amlwych on Tuesday

We ended up farmyard camping at Nant Bychan Farm in Moelfre where we were lucky to get a place, and were only accepted onto the campsite when we said we didn't need electric hookup. It was a bit busy as you can see from this picture of Katy looking out to sea.

OK I can't see what the problem was either... maybe we made a little too much noise...  The exhaust is blowing a little ?!

As the weather was better we tried a little running repairs to the windscreen waterproofing with a tube of silicone sealant, but its not been successful so we need to work our where it's still coming in from

Wednesday we headed for Parys mountain which is a stupendous place, a marvel of geological and historical features and (especially after some rain) a riot of colours as you can see

Katy looked nice as well

We finished the day with a visit to see my relatives who have been on the island since 1951(ish). It was very nice to make connection again since we were last there visiting family in 1975.

Anglesey - Beaumaris

Monday it wasn't actually raining !

The first port of call was to be Beaumaris Castle and a brief respite in the rains allowed us to enjoy a few hours walking around this fantastic building. I've always enjoyed castles, but this one is a wonderful one to walk around as it has many of the wall walks and wall passages still available to walk around which is quite amazing in these times where Elf 'n'Safety has taken all the fun out of things.

After that it was off on some travels but before stopping for some diesel. £95.00 of the stuff !  

Then on to Llangefni to the Oriel Ynys Môn to have a look at the works of famous Kyffin Williams and Charles F. Tunnicliffe amongst others, and then on to Penmon Point to look aty some fascinating dirt (very young rocks) and some interesting skies

Finally we headed back past Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch where katy being a bit of a show off had to stand and have per picture taken in front of the famous railway station sign

Then we headed back in the rain to Beaumaris and another night's good rest on our very nice campsite another good day in Katy !