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The South Coast Chronicles in
our Autosleeper Broadway EB – Heading over to Bridport on day 5
New to motorhoming, we are
still learning the ropes. One of these important ‘ropes’ seems to be around the
idea of ‘routines’. So far, we are thinking of three routines: one for arriving
at a pitch, one for departing a pitch and one for living harmoniously in a
cramped space.
Take for example, our morning
departure routine from Charmouth.
It is a sad but true fact but
Maggie assumes that all caravans and motorhomes come with their own ‘Bed Fairy’
and ‘Toilet Pixie’. Whilst she retires to the bathroom after arising from her
slumbers, ‘Bed Fairy’ magically appears, putting away the bed, packing away the
duvet, mattress topper and pillows, rearranging the habitation area and having
a cup of coffee waiting on the kitchen worktop, for when she emerges, swan-like
from the rear of the motorhome. Such is
the joy she derives from having her own ‘Bed Fairy’, she feels it is important
that all potential motorhome buyers should know about their existence and insist
their dealers throw one in for free!
Whilst she then resides on
the sofa, enjoying her coffee and a catch up of the news via her phone, ‘Bed Fairy’
morphs into ‘Toilet Pixie’, emptying the toilet cassette, cleaning it and then refilling
it with blue fluid and some water, just enough for the day’s forthcoming
journey. ‘Toilet Pixie’ also ensures there is just sufficient enough water in
the cistern as well.
‘Bed Fairy’ and ‘Toilet
Pixie’ have on occasions thought of going on strike, but then they both know,
it is in their long -term interests not to threaten this! Especially given they
are lousy cooks and household accountants!
After breakfast, division of
labour occurs. Steve cleans and packs away the exterior silver screen, takes
off the wheel clamps and checks the bikes are secure on the bike rack. If there
is no MoHo service point available, he drains off the waste and freshwater
tanks using a 10 Lt bucket, carried by hand to the nearest available drain. Maggie
insists it is part of his daily fitness regime when motorhoming, one that will
hopefully stop him having a heart attack later in life. Meanwhile, she washes
up breakfast crockery, cleans and secures the kitchen area, stores the
microwave plate securely and places tea towels everywhere to secure crockery
and stop rattles. She also checks the route for the day, in her role as chief
navigator and does final checks of the habitation unit, ensuring that nothing can
come loose when we finally depart the site.
Within 20 minutes, the only
thing that needs doing is disconnecting the EHU and picking up chocks or ramps
if they have been used overnight. We then jointly check that our pre-departure
checklist has been completed correctly (see the end of this post for this).
From getting out of bed to wheels rolling takes, on average, just under an
hour. We are sure we can do it far more quickly in the future, but to do so,
requires that we change our thinking – from regarding Bryony as a caravan,
a ‘fixed’ base unit – to thinking of her as a ‘mobile rapid deployment’
vehicle. It is all about getting the
routine right isn’t it?
We head for West Bay via the
A35 with a stop over for provisions at Morrisons in Bridport. And yes, once
again, with no will power whatsoever, we succumb to take away coffees, a
newspaper and two cinnamon buns! We really do have to break this habit or we
will never get anywhere!
Finding a place to park in
West Bay is initially confusing. The first car park we arrive at says ‘No Motorhomes’.
Not very welcoming we feel! We follow the road a little further, turning left
at the final T junction, where, just past the pub we find a huge car park with
dedicated parking for motorhomes. Much better and we mentally apologise to the
West Bay local council.
How do you best park a
motorhome with bike rack in a remote car park? We are temporarily bamboozled. Do
we reverse Bryony up against the wall with the bike rack as tight to the
wall as possible; will this make it difficult for potential thieves? Do we put
her nose against the wall with the bikes visible for all to see? After some
discussion, we opt for the latter approach and then spend a few minutes securing
her with steering lock and wheel lock.
Which then generates more
discussion about exactly how to best do this. We eventually decide to turn the
steering wheel fully over to one side before putting on the steering lock, working
on the principle that if someone tries to hook her rear up to a tow truck, or
tries to drag her onto a tow lorry, the wheels fully turned over will slow
things down a little. The wheel clamp goes on a rear wheel. We have no idea
whether these things are worth doing or not but it gives us some peace of mind,
for this is a big moment! We are for the first time, leaving Bryony
unattended in a big empty public car park. And, we are leaving her for at least
a few hours!
West Bay proves to be a
quirky little harbour area with a marina, an antiques emporium, a few tourist
shops and a scattering of art galleries, cafes and pubs. Families are crabbing
off the marina harbour walls. The wind is fresh, seas stormy and waves are
funnelling up the narrow marina entrance to rock the boats at the pontoons
within. We wander around, duck in and
out of various shops and then retreat to the Rise café for coffee. Good choice,
it turns out to be a lovely, relaxed, stylish café with welcoming staff, varied
menus and a chilled vibe. The light oak furniture, snazzy cushions and
comfortable seating area with small log fire stove gives it a warm, friendly
feel. We both agree it is a good find and exactly how we would want to decorate
a café, should we ever decide to go into that business – which we shan’t any
time soon.
Three hours pass rather
rapidly and we return to find Bryony exactly where we left her. This
isn’t a surprise because one of us, who will remain nameless, already knows
this. He has checked her location three times on his mobile app in the last
three hours. It’s like watching a nervous father worrying about his only
daughter on her first prom night! In fact, there is a distinct possibility that
he has actually worried more about Bryony now than he actually did when
his only daughter did go on her first prom night!
Graston Farm at Burton
Bradstock proves to be a delightful next overnight stop. Only one motorhome and
one caravan are here with us. The site has hardstanding’s for five units and is
in a sheltered field screened by tall trees and hedges. Well sheltered, with
chemical disposal point and water tap close by, it is a charming site.
The drive down to it is via a
narrow lane is a tight squeeze but with plenty of passing places. We wince at
the thought of meeting another motorhome coming towards us and are glad we come
in at under 6.5m.
Arrival routines kick into
place, basically the reverse of the morning ones. Steve hooks up the EHU,
secures the wheel clamp, fills the water tank with the jerrycan and the toilet
cistern with the watering can. He puts on the exterior silver screen as dusk
descends. By the time all that is done, Maggie has sorted the interior - the
front seats are reversed, the little coffee table put up and a cup of tea is
waiting for Steve. Along with chocolate biscuits!
We have to go up to the road
to get a decent mobile phone signal in order to touch base with the kids and
the signal is very intermittent. Perhaps we have pitched too close to the tall
hedge? Eventually through trial and error we discover that if we stand with our
phones held up to the front cab skylight, we can get two bars! We will take that, it’s better than getting
chilled or wet outside!
This evening, collected by
old friends and whisked away to their house for a meal, we pass a lovely
evening reminiscing about past times and catching up on each other’s family
news. We haven’t seen them for a few years and it is a wonderful evening and we
are dropped back off at the farm, agreeing to meet tomorrow, to spend the day
together exploring the local Dorset countryside. ‘Hardy’ country. One of us
goes to bed terribly excited. He is a great fan of Hardy novels!
It’s 3am and I lie awake,
disturbed by the violent rocking of Bryony, her response to repeated
gusts of strong winds slamming into her side. So much for the windbreak trees, for
they are on the wrong side of the wind direction tonight! Looking up through the skylight, I watch
clouds shrieking across the night sky, torn apart by violent winds which moan loudly
as they blow through the neighbouring trees. Twigs and leaves fly a cross her roof
at regular intervals, whisked away by an invisible giant hand, but the scene is
tempered by occasional shooting stars and a good view of Mars. There are
intermittent light rain showers. Warm
and snuggled under the duvet, I enjoy this night time show, grateful that we had
managed to programme the heating to come on and off at regular intervals
through the night to keep off the outside chill.
I don’t remember falling
asleep, but suddenly I’m conscious of the light streaming through the
skylights. ‘Bed Fairy’ is going to be late up and rather rushed this morning!
In the meantime, stay safe,
take care out there and happy motorhoming – have fun.
Steve and Maggie
If you would like to know more
about us then visit
https://wherenexthun.blogspot.com/2020/10/welcome-to-our-blog.html and
https://wherenexthun.blogspot.com/2020/11/who-are-main-characters-in-our-blog.html
Graston farm website is found at https://www.grastonfarm.co.uk/
Our routine for setting off (not in any particular order):
1.
Turn off the gas at internal isolator tap (we
don’t know whether we should also scramble under the van and switch off the gas
at the refillable tank, so we would welcome advice on this matter)
2.
Empty fresh and waste water tanks
3.
Clean out and refill toilet cassette
4.
Check tyre pressures and condition
5.
Secure all loose kitchen and bathroom items
6.
Close motorhome windows, doors and skylights
7.
Close internal lockers, cupboards and draws
8.
Open curtains and blinds
9.
Secure TV and bracket in its cupboard
10.
Lock habitation door
11.
Check external lockers closed and locked
12.
Awning stowed and secured
13.
Bikes and bike racks secured
14.
Front seats back to driving position, handbrake
on and vehicle out of gear
15.
Chocks removed, and if you have them, corner steadies
raised
16.
EHU disconnected
17.
Fridge switched to 12v
18.
Nothing left outside or under motorhome
19.
Wing mirrors correctly positioned, all
exterior vehicle lights working
20.
Initial route plans for the day checked,
sat-nav programmed, atlas pages ready
21.
Electric rear step fully retracted
22.
One last check behind us as we drive off the
pitch
Our routine for arriving on a pitch (again
not in any particular order):
1.
Visit MoHo service point - top up with
freshwater
2.
Walk onto allocated pitch - check quality,
where dips are etc (especially if it is a grass pitch); decide whether to
deploy Milenco giant lattice mud mats or not
3.
Check accessibility to water, EHU points and distance
from facilities block
4.
Any nearby trees to cause problems e.g.
falling leaves and twigs?
5.
Check sun orientation to pitch
6.
Use spirit levels to decide whether to drive
up onto the ramps
7.
Arrange Bryony so that her habitation
door opens on the other side to any neighbouring motorhomes, if possible
8.
Chock the wheels
9.
Connect EHU and switch on the heating and
harmony panels
10.
Switch on gas
11.
Switch fridge to EHU 240v
12.
Top up toilet cistern
13.
Turn on water heater and pump
14.
Reverse driving seats, put vehicle in gear,
release handbrake
15.
Put on kettle
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Hi, we always look forward to hearing your comments, tips and thoughts. Drop us a line or two below. Take care now. Steve and Maggie