Only one more sleep until we head off from Portsmouth to Pentwewan Sands http://www.pentewansands.com for a week. This will be the longest journey with the new engine and so far we've packed nothing lol. The bus is having a new worktop fitted courtesy of the fantastic Scuffer at VW Busbits and hopefully we will get her back tonight in time for a gearbox oil change and packing the bus ready to go on Friday. The journey will be broken into two legs, first stop is Honiton where we will stop for the night to enable us to leave early to finish the 2nd half by mid morning (and thus avoiding getting up and silly o'clock on Saturday) so we can get there before midday. WE keep talking about making a list, maybe we'll do that when we get there lol. Photos and updates to follow.
Well, less than 24 hours until we leave and the bus is still at scuffers having a new worktop fitted (photos to follow) and then when i collect it later this evening it needs to have a gearbox oil change and i need to create a back up for the accelerator cable followed by painting the inside a bit then fixing the bike rack on, packing and last minutes checks. There's not enough time in the day!!!
So here we are, half way and stopping overnight at Marles Farm in Honiton. Just one problem on route when the generator light kept coming on and off. This was just a loose fan belt and a screwdriver and spanner later all was sorted. The van needs tuning as it popped a bit on deaccelerating but can't be done until we return unless anyone knows a place for tuning twin webers near Mevagissey?
Whey hey, we've found a traditional Cornish pub selling good cyder and all is well. Matt, the popping is just us running a bit rich, we need a rolling road still. We got here ok, alternator fan belt housing bolt was ok after a bit if welly was applied. It'll be fine getting back and I've met up with a few darkside guys whilst here!!!
Well, our trip to Cornwall was ace. We stopped over half way there as we wanted to arrive early and not have suffered a 5 - 6 hour drive. On the journey there the Generator light started flickering. We were on a single lane A road and breathed a sigh of relief at the BP sign a mile away. We pulled in and found the fault, the fan belt housing nut had come loose. We tightened her up and problem solved (or so we thought). A short 20 minute journey later and we arrived at the campsite. We stayed over at a small place called Marle's farm. It was a basic set up with toilets and hook up. We had a lovely view of the little pond outside which is used for fishing apparently. This was a working farm and cost just £10 for the night with hook up. The next morning we were up early and i was knackered as i slept on the floor because it would have been too much hard work unpacking everything from the back for the one night. Lesson learnt here was (a tip from Justin over on the darkside) was to take a popup tent and put everything in there so it keeps safe and dry. Two coffees later and we were ready to roll. A quick check of the engine and the fan belt housing was loose again so this time a bit of welly was applied to said nut and that's the last we heard from it all week. We joined the traditional 10 mile tailback near Pentewan. On arrival we were through customs very quickly and directed to our spot, and what a spot it was. We were on the beachfront and only a few feet from the beach with views out to sea and the sound of crashing waves in our ears. This was the view from the awning. A day was spent in the sea with the boat and body board, the water wasn't so cold in the wetsuits lol. The next morning we awoke to this view. We then spent the next few days on the beach and decided to catch the local bus to Mevagissey which was a lovely small fishing town where we enjoyed a mixture of pasty and chips or fish and chips. ;D The town was full of old fashioned signs, this was my favourite. I also caught the biggest crab that week. 8) We mostly had good weather but towards the end of the week it became unsettled and the skyline changed every evening. On the final day we packed up and drove home via Lyme Regis where we stopped for lunch. All in all Pentewan is a great location. I met some fellow bay owners there which was good fun as we chatted about vans and stuff lol. Would i go again, yes. Would i recommend it, yes and this picture explains why.
great pics.as a family weve spent many days on that beech.great rock pooling and have fed on very large prawns and muscles straight from beech to bbq.just got back today from Cornwall will try and put our photo diary on to share . 8)
