First test run

2 May 2017

Here I am just a mile or two down the dismantled railway which forms the spine of the grandly named Welsh Wildlife Centre aka Teifi wetlands, a beautiful reserve where I once watched an otter fishing, but have never seen anything as interesting since. I still go there though, and will be at the best hide by 6am tomorrow. The site is one of my favourites, but tonight there's nobody here. Even the farm is deserted. Suits me. The former railway is now a farm track but there are still bridges and embankments. One of the fields had a nice mixture of lady's smock and dandelions.

later 

It's an extraordinary experience sitting here, black windows all round me, pools of light on the dark red surfaces, the more rufous upholstery and the deep brown wood. I'm reading a romantic novel by a woman called Jojo and feeling at peace with the world. I've managed to turn a dirty, over-worked van into a thing of beauty. Of course it's gone over budget but not dramatically.

I have a long list of things that have to be done in the next two weeks, but so far I've all the problems have been solvable, so I think I'll get there.

3 May

It would be good to end my relationship with Castle Garage in Newcastle Emlyn feeling that they were a fundamentally decent bunch, but alas they are just car salesmen. It's easy to leave the place feeling cherished, but the charm is skin deep. Both the partners, Paul and Mark are native Cardies, very laid back, easy going and charming. Karen the office lady is English and also has a pleasant manner. She is marginally better at answering emails than the men, but that's not saying much. I found it impossible to convince them that for me email takes the place of the phone. If you ask a question on the phone you expect an answer. If I know the person is online when I email, I expect the courtesy of an answer. To simply not answer a question at all as the days go by, is the equivalent to me of putting the phone down. This continual lack of response led to weeks of delay in buying the vehicle and getting the work done on it, delay which has meant a hectic and stressful schedule to get the conversion done on time. 

I had a 3 month warranty. "Can you send me the warranty terms?" Evasion. "What does it cover?" I asked Paul. "Everything" he answered and that was it. Twice I took the van there for warranty repairs. Nothing was done properly. Should I have expected more? I don't know. They clearly thought I was a pain in the arse with my nagging emails, but I was always greeted in a friendly fashion and always left feeling I had been looked after. Then came the realisation that they had only done the minimum to get me out of their hair.

So goodbye Castle Motors. At least I got an excellent respray from the man who does their cleaning and painting - Geraint. He has real pride in what he does, and I'm still pleased with the paint. I'm not really angry with the garage either. In some ways I am a pain in the arse.

Saturday 6 May

Yesterday the van was at the garage in Llandovery. Simon, the boss, has always looks after us well, and his namesake, a younger Simon, seems to be a real expert at camper vans. I took it in for them to check for faults - anything which might cause a breakdown. I used 8mm copper pipe for the gas supply. It leads from the underslung tank up through a 10mm hole in the floor and on to feed the 4 gas appliances. I'd gone to a lot of trouble to ensure that the joints were sound, but had not realised, until Simon the younger pointed it out, that the pipe would rub against bare metal of the hole in the floor. Eventually it could wear through with potentially disastrous consequences. He said I need to enlarge the hole and fit it with a rubber grommet. I couldn't enlarge the hole without removing the pipe first. That meant taking up the whole of  the raised section of the floor under the sofa where the batteries and all the electrical gear were positioned. Bollocks.

Having begun my woodworking career as an antique restorer I know the value of making, as far as possible,  everything I do reversible, and there was nothing in the van which could not be unscrewed and removed if necessary.

I began at 7am, first removing some wiring from the sofa box, then taking the box out. This was something I wanted to do anyway because I could not fit the hinges on the lid in its fixed position and I wanted to make it 20mm lower. By 7:30 the box was out, the batteries disconnected and removed, the inverter, fuse box, solar charger and mains charger removed and the wiring pushed to the back. Then I could unscrew the floor section and get to the copper pipe. Before working on it I had to drive the van up onto its wedges so that I could crawl underneath and turn the gas off at the tank. Then I had to make sure the pipe was clear of gas before I could cut the pipe, remove the section going through the floor, enlarge the hole, fit the grommet, cut a new piece of pipe and reconnect with a compression elbow joint. By nine the whole job was done.

Good, but it had not been on my list and the next job was a stinker - a very fiddly fitting job which involved making several templates, and innumerable trips to and from the van and the workshop. So it went on - brief stop for lunch  - double espresso and back on a  high. Bad move: working too fast and making mistakes. Belly ache; slowing down, exhaustion but I keep going. Total exhaustion at 5 - stagger to the shower room.

Friday 5 May

It's late and  I'm looking at my route to Denmark in more detail. The first day will get me from Wales to Folkestone or Calais. Could I get from there to Bremen in a day? I'm not good at long drives and can only manage if I break up the day into roughly 2 hour sections, starting the first before breakfast. I look at campsites - prices better than in Britain. If I can't make Bremen I could get to Munster. The direct route from there to Copenhagen involves an expensive ferry crossing - 78 Euros. To avoid the ferry I need to take a big detour north - more driving but the same time and cheaper.

Nine days to go before I leave.