What a weekend!

Well where do I start! Guess with the exciting news - we just bought a 2005 model Lunar Lexon 640EB - what a van!

Our original plan was to sell up - which we are still in the process of doing, then put that towards a new van. But if we didnt make as much as we hoped for to stay in our current van (Abbey GT 212) 2 berth as old as the hills and save for a couple of months, then buy a 10 year old van.

However, we quickly sussed that by staying on CL's we could cut our £20 per night budget by around a half if not more in places. Trouble was our shower didnt work in the abbey so we had to hang on till we got a newer, better van.

We often drive by Lady Bailey near Blandford and drool over the new vans, but today we took a trip down, just to have a nose around. Two caught our attention, a Pageant 4 berth with a fixed bed and the Lunar. The lunar won with the island bed at the rear and the seperate shower and toilet either side. The finance worked out well, with the savings to be had by being now able to stay on sites with no showers, over the month easily pays for the van, so a bit of a no brainer really.

You can see pics of the van as they are still on the Lady Bailey website - ladybaileycaravans.co.uk its the only Lunar on there.

We pick it up on the 26th August!

We are both a pair of cheshire cats - cant stop grinning!!

We did spend saturday renovating the abbey! I needed to fix a new jockey wheel, sort out the front storage box lid and the damaged waste hose!

The damaged was caused by an idiot deciding that our van would look good after being pushed down a hill and through a hedge! As a result the above damage was caused, along with every plate, cup and glass as well as numerous other things smashed within the van! We have learnt a couple of valuable lessons:

1) Wheel clamp your van!
2) Insure it - we only found out after the event that we could of insured it as when we first looked into no-one would touch it due to its age!
3) Use melamine instead of glass/china - You should of seen the mess!
4) Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. We know who did it - just no proof!

We now have alternative storage miles away where they do not know!

Revenge will be sweet! 

To be honest if it had been a newer van it would not of survived, we got away lightly!

The jockey wheel had the bracket/clamp bent, trouble was the bracket was welded on, so new holes had to be drilled on the outside of the A bar and the jockey wheel attached via 2 bolts to that, took all of 15 mins to complete - I amazed myself!

The lid was slightly different as when it went through the barbed wire fence it garotted the box lid clean off! New metal hinges and screwed through onto wooden batten underneath for support did the trick! The bungy holding it down didnt look that good, but best of a bad job as the latches either side had been ripped clean out including a portion of the fibre glass around it!

The hose was even easier. When it travelled down the hill the front must of tipped up dragging the backend on the grass, thus damaging the hose, so all I did was pull the excess from the sink through the floor, cut off the damaged bit then attached it to the outlet connector/socket.

The sale of the goods from the house is starting to pick up, we have sold the sofa, bed and other bits of furniture, which instead of going towards the new van is now going towards a laptop, flatscreen tv and another aqua roll and one of those extension bars to attach to my drill so I can put the legs down easily as my knees are knackered!

So all in all a good weekend! Off to Wigan tomorrow to deliver our bed, sounds along way to deliver it, it is, but money is money and the buyer is paying for the delivery so why not!

Next job is to get our faithfull abbey onto ebay and see what we can get for her! If you know anyone who wants a very cheap van - get in touch!!!

Its in reasonable good condition, dry, and comfortable, will let you know when its up on ebay!

I was going to take some pictures of the repairs, but forgot to take the camera!

Off now for a little G & T!!!!!