Preparation time……

Still a few days to go until Neil finally leaves work but a long weekend to enjoy in the van.  Well, near the van.  We squeezed it into the (shared) drive while the neighbours were away.  Portia is 2.42 metres wide, the gateposts 2.51. That gives 4.5 centimetres to spare either side – that’s 1.7 inches.  We decide it is doable.  I quite like reversing because you can do it really slowly and see straight down the side of van in the mirrors.  So I get the short straw and Neil gets to dart about shouting and gesticulating.  And here she is – with not a lot of room to spare!

The idea was to spend a day getting her set up and then spend two Easter days in a small site in Alkborough, North Lincolnshire.  It is good cycling territory there as it is very flat.  I now have my replacement bike and I can confirm that the problem was with the bike not with me.  (It was just too small with narrow handlebars which made it very wobbly to steer.)

In the end we decided to believe the weather forecast, which was threatening gales and heavy rain storms over the weekend, and stayed at home.  Good decision – that is hail blanketing the garden.  It meant we could continue with the jobs that needing doing before we set off.  Neil spent ages washing the van with bucket, hose and big shaggy orange mitt.  It is a big job.  I spent the time fitting the second piece of carpet and yet again forgot to take a photograph.

I also had a first stab at figuring out the logistics of what should go where in terms of different cupboards and lockers.  We have spent weekends away but taken so little stuff that most storage space went unused.  So, taking advantage of a voucher for quintuple supermarket points, we had bought all the kitchen store cupboard items a couple of weeks previously – tinned and dried that is.  I have made a list which I will store somewhere in future in case it might be useful.