Back to the UK for 10 days and to prepare for our South Africa trip

Proper beer in The Village with Ian, Helen and Monty dog

Its Brian's turn to write, Jackies out doing 'home' things: dentist, opticians, catching up with Alex (girls only apparently) and buying a few things for our forthcoming South African trip and I'm home alone sorting out photos, banks and now, the blog.

We arrived safely back on Wednesday last after a very smooth ferry crossing from Calais to Dover under bright blue skies (didn't see any blue birds over the white cliffs of Dover though, maybe they were camouflaged against the blue sky). Our earlier 11:05 crossing, after our booked 12:35 crossing was cancelled (and then reinstated later after we'd changed!) actually worked out better. We got up at the same time

Distant white cliffs of Dover from Calais 

(7:00am) and set straight off (after servicing Big Ted in the Aire), arriving just over an hour before our sailing, so able to make coffee and sandwiches in the ferry port car park waiting area (the advantages of being in a motorhome rather than others sitting in their cars). Got a bit of a hurumph from the French lady at check in when she asked for our booking form and I handed her my mobile phone with the booking showing on the screen. It did say when we booked to print out the document, but we don't have a printer, so the phone had to do despite her protests. She managed and waved us through.

England and the cliffs much closer as we approached the port with Dover Castle on the hill

'Puffing Billy' Jackie clears the air lock in BT's water system

The earlier crossing meant we left the port of Dover at about 11:30 after getting off the ferry (drive on the left!) and the journey back to the Midlands round the M25 was OK, but quite long, so we didn't get back to Paulines (Jackies mum) until about 17:00, feeling a bit tired. Jackie wanted to drain off the hot water tank in Big Ted first as it was forecast to be at freezing point that night and we wanted to turn off his heating, I wanted fish and chips first! Jackie won, rightly really as it was already dark and very cold. We've done it twice before, the first time it wouldn't drain when we opened the dump valve and needed the pump on for a bit to get it flowing, but the second time we opened the valve and it flowed out nicely. What would

The water damage (bottom right) from the window leak

happen this time? We wanted it done quickly as it was cold and we wanted dinner, but no, a dribble came out, nothing more. Maybe its because its on a slope on the drive, so we backed out onto the road and still only a dribble. After messing about for more than half an hour we opted to leave it and put the heating back on to prevent any freezing. The fish and chips afterwards were fabulous!

Next day we tried again with little success so Jackie, armed with helpful advice from people on the Facebook Motorhome Adventures group, succeeded by blowing into the kitchen tap. First couple of hefty blows produced a trickle but on the third blow from a very red faced Jackie the trickle turned into a steady flow and the tank fully drained! Air lock we think, but it was good for her lungs!

Big Ted all cleaned inside and out, his window sealed to stop the leak and back in his storage awaiting his next adventure with us in March/April 2020

Back to our evening with I&H - a few drinks later and there's dancing going on!

We cleared out food and clothes from Big Ted, clogging up Paulines house and I took off the blind from the kitchen window in BT to find out from where the water was getting in. It was clear the water was entering round the window frame on the outside and there was a little water damage on the internal panel by the kitchen sink where it had leaked for a while before we noticed it. Planning to seal it myself I ordered some Silkaflex sealant on the internet, which arrived, but wasn't used. After taking Big Ted back to his storage area we washed the outside and cleaned the inside and, during this we met Dan the Van Repair Man, who is taking over at the storage area as the man to go to for motorhome problems. He would seal it for a nominal sum and indeed he did. At least we're leaving BT in storage properly sealed and the internal panel has already dried out and, once the blind is back on the water damage will hardly notice.

A cold Jackie and Rob prepare the chimney flue for installation

No sooner have we finished one trip are we about to start another. We're off on Sunday to South Africa, flying out from Birmingham Airport to spend Christmas and New Year housesitting in Johannesburg, a brief trip to Zimbabwe and Victoria Falls, a three week organised tour through Kruger NP, Rorkes Drift, Lesotho, Drakensburg and to Cape Town. Pauline then joins us in Cape Town for a three week roadtrip through the wine region, mountains and Garden Route to Port Elizabeth. We'll be gone for two months in total. You can view our full plan by clicking this link: https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/p/trip-10-south-africa-zimbabwe.html

And there's a H&S conscious Rob balancing on a chimney pot!

The week and a half we've had in between trips has been fairly action packed as usual, not only with putting Big Ted into storage and organising and packing for South Africa, but also for catching up with friends and family. We had Friday night out with Ian, Helen and Monty dog with proper beer in the Village and the Old Moseley Arms followed by a proper Indian curry in Diwans - its good to be back! Saturday was spent at Rob and Alex's to help Rob install a flue liner down his chimney while the scaffolding was still up. Miraculously the sun shone after an appalling night and morning of heavy rain. It cleared to blue sky but it was very cold!

It actually went in a lot easier than I thought - and no-one fell off!

Sunday was Brians family pre Christmas lunch at daughter Fions. Sadly Denise and Paul didn't go as Denise had one of her regular test done that morning so felt tired (although all clear). Granddaughter Abbie wasn't there either as she's still in Manchester at university term time, but Becky and Harry were there as was Jenny, Steph and Sam with Rory and Ivy. As usual James cooked and he did a mammoth amount of food that, after we'd eaten looked as though we hadn't had anything. It was lovely and, obviously to help them out, took a fair amount away with us that we've enjoyed this week!

Monday we were back to the Old Moseley Arms and Diwans again, this time with the Monday Night club, Bill, Martina, Tim, Jill, Mark and Fiona (not my daughter!), so another fabulous night out. Last night (Wednesday) with met up with our Tea Club friends in Birminghams Chinese Quarter for more fabulous food all ordered by Crystal. There were seven of us, Manu and Crystal, Pete and Hilary, us and Reuben. Drinks, great food and fabulous company, great night, thanks guys.

Oscar cat at Fionas. There's a lot of food all around him, is he just waiting for backs to be turned?!

Tomorrow we're down to Hertfordshire to visit Jackies brother, wife and Charles and Caroline, Saturday we're doing a final pack and on Sunday we're off. All a bit of a panic really!

The packing for South Africa is underway!

Anyway, back to the trip we've just finished and I have to say how much we enjoyed it, Germany is a fabulous country (if the bit we saw is anything to go by). Everyone was really friendly and they seemed to really like the British which is really quite refreshing. Most people spoke English but even on the odd occasion we met someone who didn't we managed friendly banter and got ourselves understood. Its clean, safe, the roads are good and there's lots of provisions for motorhome touring. We thought it was good value for money, things costing probably a bit less than in the UK. The one surprise we had was not many places allowed payment by card, they preferred cash, which struck us as odd given their high technology. The places we visited along the Rhine and Bavaria were picturesque, lots of medieval walled towns, forests and mountains often with marked walking trails.

Awww, look what Manu and Crys gave Jackie

The timing of our trip wasn't the best, October was still relatively warm and things were still open, but after the first weekend in November things really closed down so finding any museums and tourist attractions open became increasing difficult. The Christmas markets didn't open until December, so we had between two and three weeks of it being really quiet. That's good for being able to go wherever we want without crowds (or often anyone!), but not so good for doing things. It also got very cold, although not too wet. We did have rain, but not that much, it was mainly dry, often sunny but generally cold.

We will be back, not in the summer when it will be hot, but Spring or Autumn when it'll be warm and not too crowded. That's plans for after South Africa.

Well, that's it for now, next stop Johannesburg!