Iona goes to Mining Country

Teversal Camping and Caravan Club site - Trip 4

March 21st -24th.2017.

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We will call this Trip 4 although Trip 3 was one night outside our son's house. We are going back to Teversal in Nottinghamshire, to the site of Silverhill Colliery and the C&CC campsite.

We have had an engineer come out and check the cooker for a warranty claim and everything is now working but we need a new gas valve to be on the safe side.

The journey to Teversal only took just over an hour and the roads were quite quiet. We arrived early and while we waited until checking time we wandered around the site and found a friend, Peter Swift, who had been onsite for a few days already. We were able to get the pitch next to Peter and we were soon up and running. From the window we can see the old colliery slag heaps, they will be tomorrow's walk.

 

 

Day 2.

Today we were woken by heavy rain on the roof, and looking at the weather app we will be having rain all day. At about 10 o'clock there was a break in the weather and I made a point of doing all the daily chores. 

The rain has stopped but the wind is pretty strong but I think we will go for a walk this morning. We took The Spinney Grace Bear with us to send a report back. The total walk today was 3.5 miles.

 

 

 

  

Living Willow  Tunnel

Sue trying to avoid the mud

 

 

I should mention that Grace Bear is given to all Spinney Motorhome / Caravan customers. 

This campaign is very special to the Holland Family. The bear is named after Grace Holland who is the only child of Gemma Holland and the late Nick Holland Junior and granddaughter of Gill Holland and the late Nick Holland Senior, who established Spinney Motorhomes in 1975. 

Nick Junior worked at Spinney from 2002 and ran the service department from 2006 until his very unexpected death in February 2010 from an undiagnosed heart condition. Grace was only 9 weeks old at the time and is a very special part of the Holland family who brings comfort and pride to all. 

Every motorhome or caravan sold is supplied with a Grace Bear. The Holland family want this bear to be taken on all adventures and they encourage owners to post pictures to their FB page.

http://www.spinney.co.uk/about/grace-the-bear

 

Back at Iona we had some soup to warm up. We had timed the walk to perfection because the skies opened to an afternoon of heavy rain. The afternoon turned into relaxing and reading until Sue prepared tea and After tea Peter came over with a bottle of wine and we spent another evening putting the world to right.

Day 3.

We awoke to sunshine and wind. When we eventually got up it had clouded over but more sun was forecast. Once all the jobs were done we set off on another walk around Silverhill. We found another pond and another steep hill to climb. After covering some of the ground we walked yesterday we detoured to see the Teversal visitor centre, I was quite expecting it to show the colliery before and after but no, it turned out to be mainly a cafe.

Another Pond

 

We wandered back along one of the old railway lines that serviced the local pits. We met a few horse riders and lots of dog walkers. We eventually arrived back home after a total of 5 miles. Lunch was bratwurst sausages in rolls and then a beer and a nap. We have invited our friend and neighbour , Peter, around this evening as it is our last night before we head home. 

  

 

After another trip in Iona, it has confirmed that our choice of motorhome was correct and the layout suits us very well. If only we could go away every week but we are limited to alternative weeks at most.

Trip 4: 92 miles, av speed 29mph, 23.7 mpg, 3:06 hrs total time.

More gadgets for Iona

I was waiting for the sun to go down so I could try the latest addition to the motorhome. I bought some movement sensitive LED lights, one for the doorway so that it comes on and lights the control panel when you first get in at night.

The second one is for under the micro-wave to give some extra light on the cooker hobs. The lights are rechargeable and are fixed with self adhesive magnetic strips so they are easy to remove for travel and charging.

Iona gets some TLC

When we were away and it was very cold at night I noticed that condensation was forming on the aluminium extrusion that holds the floor to the walls. I spoke to Auto-Trail technical services and they said it does happen sometimes. And they suggested insulation where it was happening.

I managed to get some neoprene insulation strip to cover the exposed metal and stop condensation forming. I bought 5 mitres which has covered all the areas that I can see apart from near the boiler which I thought I would leave well alone.

Before

After

Before showing Aluminium

After with the Aluminium covered

When on Facebook the other night a member of the auto-trail group mentioned that their waste water tank moved in it's holding straps. I went to check ours and sure enough it moved when pushed hard enough. I have some old rubber car mats so the next job is to put some of this rubber between the straps and the tank to stop any movement.

We also had a visit from Nick who is an Approved Workshop Engineer, he came to check the cooker for a warranty claim. The problem is a gas valve which he is going to order. In the meantime the old valve has decided to work but we are having it replaced.

Just waiting for our next adventure to Teversal.

Iona develops a Leak

Today we arrived at our Son's house for, as the grandchildren call it, a Sleep Over. We all went for a walk as you do and then back home. After playing and trying to wear them out it was time for tea.

A couple of large Pizzas were ordered from Pappa Johns along with some side dishes etc. Wine and beer was collected from Iona and we all stuffed our faces.

I thought I would set the timer for the heating in Iona to come on before we retired to bed. I set it for 19.00 and I went to check it out at 20.00 to make sure I had got it right.  It was working so I turned the fan down and went back indoors.

When we were kicked out at about 23.00 the van was nice and warm. I switched everything on as normal and the water pump started, I checked the taps were shut but the pump didn't stop. Sue asked I I could here running water and then water started to flow from under the sofa. I switched the pump off and quickly started to mop up litres of water with towels, it took two bath towels and a dish cloth to soak it up.

On inspecting under the cooker I found that a pipe was not seated in a push fit 'T' joint. Pushing it in properly it cured the leak and then a few spots of water were found where a pipe went into the pump, this was pushed in properly. The pump was swiched on and it stopped pumping almost instantly. Problem solved - hopefully!

The cat came in to have a look around but the lure of the outside was too much for him. I let him out before he started clawing the carpets which is what he did in the old motorhome to get our attention.

I woke at 7.00 to find the van warm, in the excitement of the flood I had forgotten to turn the heating off. At least it dried out any water we had missed.

Added some Mud Flaps

Cleaning the motorhome is always a chore especially behind the front wheels where spray hits the coach work. So to try to minimise this I purchased some mud flaps.

    

The motorhome has beige carpets and after our first two trips we decided to take them up to save them from getting too dirty. We have replaced them with dirt trapper mats with the exception of the bedroom. These should give some protection and feel warmer than the hard floor.

 

They are a bit darker than we would have liked but they will do the job and I am sure that we will get used to them.