OFF TO SUNNY SPAIN

January 17th 2013

who came down twice, spent a lot of The Fridge......had problems in September when the fridge wouldn't switch to 12v power when driving. Not a huge problem as it worked on gas and mains whenever we stopped, but not right, and then on our last night in France, it stopped working on gas and defrosted itself. So took it down to Chelston in Taunton in November for repairs - and had the filler connector for the refillable autogas bottles moved from inside the locker to outside to keep the french happy. The fridge problem was an electrical relay from the engine that had died so was soon fixed, but the fridge still didn't seem to be getting cold enough when I got home. This is a long story and I'm getting tired of typing.......found a Dometic engineer in Norwich time and eventually replaced everything on the fridge except the carcase and seemed to have it working...it was a brand new fridge by now. However, when we came to switch it on prior to loading up and leaving for Spain it certainly wasn't anywhere near cold. Frantic phone calls to our man in Norwich finally isolated the problem to having the winter covers on the ventillation ducts which was preventing a satisfactory airflow.....normally the covers go on in October and remain in situ until the spring but it seems the very large fridge we now have only requires vent covers when the temp. is below 10c. as there is a large gap between top & bottom ducts. So they are off all the time now and the fridge works and this may have been the problem from the start.
Stop me if this getting too technical.......

Down to Folkestone 6th.Jan. and through the Tunnel on the 7th at 07.50. Weather cloudy all the way to La Suze s/Sarthe (Lemans) and next day to Bordeaux. The continued work on the N10 seems near to completion and depressingly we passed a large Toll Station being built so more expense there next year. Decided to continue past San Sebastian where we have stopped before as we were making good time, and onto Vitorio Gasteiz, capital of the Basque country. Adequate but subsequently noisy aire in town but nice tram ride to historic centre which is worth a detour. Salamanca the next night where it was warm and sunny for the first time but the mist, cloud and drizzle returned the next day all the way to Zafra, another new stop on the route. Scrubby Aire in the showground complex but for some reason we followed 2 german vans round the back to find a quieter but more vulnerable place to park. Turned out ok but I still don't know why I let the Gf persuade me to go there.. Mist and fog next day down to Seville where we stopped for to top up the gas bottles (LPG is not readily available in Spain and the closest to Conil are Jerez & Seville, so best to fill up whenever possible) and then the sun came out as we passed Cadiz and arrived Conil about 14.00. Refueled, stopped at the supremarket for fresh supplies ( 2litre wine up from €2.17 last year to €2.70 but the usual Rioja down from €1.79 to €1.64 and Cruz Campo beer on offer at €1 for 2 550ml tins.)
Conil looking good, La Rosaleda fuller than it was this time last year and lots of old faces. Spent Saturday & Sunday getting straight after 7 days of travel (GF very tired & weary). Obviously without P&M to partner us in the Wed. quiz we had to find new blood and were happy to find Paul & Caroline, neighbours last year, had also just arrived and were happy to team up. Came 4th out of 22 last night with 39/50 and the winners only scored 41/50 so we are in the right zone...I said that the ribbon on the VC was purple but the Gf overruled me and that the Road to Istanbul was not a Hope&Crosby film otherwise we would have tied for 1st and we know how bad that could be for us.....