Caravan Part 2 - On the road

So here we are. Nigel, Zóe and Chris in Nigel's car (and Zóe's car too of course!), Dave, Guy, Chris and Paul in the Chelsea tractor and Ralph lurking somewhere up the road in his big one. Through Orgiva with no mishap (the old man with the baguette and the dog don't count as it was on a Sunday), right at the Pampanéra turn off, quick stop to raise the jockey wheel (!) and onward and upwards.

Nearing the turn off to Helen's house (the new owner) it was decided to let Ralph go in front, up the steep track in front of Dave and the caravan. Just in case the Chelsea tractor didn't make it, Dave could pull off to the side and Ralph drop back and hitch up for the final pull. Although both Dave and Nigel, men with years of experience under their belts, stated confidently that it would be an easy pull with no problems and that Jeni was just being over cautious by asking Ralph to attend.

Dave later claims that it was the fact that he'd had to virtually stop in order to get back round on himself to go up the track and thus, effectively loosing all forward motion (you can see where this is going can't you?!) that had resulted in Ralph having to come to the rescue. It also didn't help that Dave had run over Chris who had jumped out to check the access was OK and walked across the front of the combo as Dave was giving it some wellie! (The group all thought that Chris' t-shirt looked better for the tyre tread pattern running across the chest anyway!). And of course Lyn had to take some photos of the change over didn't she (have you noticed that women all seem to stick together whenever their men folk get it wrong?!).

And to cut a long story short (why change the habit of a lifetime I hear you ask?!) Ralph fairly whistled up the hill, did some sexy reversing into the designated spot, unhitched and wondered what all the fuss had been about! We'll draw a veil over Chris' climb up one of the overhanging olive trees to cut down a stray branch ('No Chris, not that one - that's the one you're sitting on!' and 'What does it mean when your leveling a caravan and the spirit level bubble is over to the right?!) Anyone would have thought we didn't know what we were doing (surely not?!).

So, the caravan's in it's new home. Helen is out buying some new bedding for it as we speak, and the Tijola team are back at their respective abodes. Just another regular day in the sleepy hamlet of Tijola (Cue background music; roll credits ... OK folks, that's a wrap!)

Caravan Part 1 - End of an era

Well, we've done it. The caravan has gone to its new home and we've officially 'gone brick'!

Due to Jeni's usual overkill on the management side, although this time as it turns out warranted, (Dave is having to live with 'I told you so!' for the next 2.5 years!) a crowd of seven Tijoleans met up at the lower camping to discuss tactics. And everyone knows that you can't discuss tactics without at least two coffees and a glance at the breakfast menu!

The photos is of Chris with his new 4x4 off-roader getting ready for the long haul (Bless!).

After some discussion it was decided that Nigel (seen here in the photo doing manly things with the wheel!) should go and kick the caravan tires to check that they were OK for the short journey ahead (he's experienced in this department!) and after a couple of pumps with his foot pump declared them well within the guidelines laid down by the ... people who lay down these guidelines. Chris did worry that because Nigel had in fact used his hand and not his foot on the pump, that the wrong sort of air had been put in the tyres. However, as the tires would be revolving during the journey, it was decided that this small amount of 'wrong' air would mix with the existing air and that it would be OK. Nigel wasn't sure what guidelines this went under but agreed, in principle that the theory was sound.

Having told Zóe off for trying to distract the group by talking about chocolate cake, Lyn, Nigel, Zóe, Dave and Guy watched (sorry 'supervised') Paul as he did the rest of the preparation work on his own. This involved winding up the steadies, uncovering the tow bar, sorting out the hook-up cables, etc. This was done to much grunting and heavy breathing, but after Paul had told them all to stop making those noises as it was distracting him, he eventually declared the caravan ready for the road. He'd obviously been rehearsing this statement whilst doing the preparation work, which was a shame as there was no one to hear him, the others all having gone for another coffee!

The only near fatality during this preparation stage was when Chris thought that he could stop the forward momentum of the caravan on his own whilst it was being pushed off the pitch onto the roadway. It was unfortunate for him that the wall of the bar was immediately behind him when he decided to do his King Canute act. Although as it meant that the caravan didn't get scratched due to him acting as a buffer, the rest of the group felt that it was worth the pain and to stop being a wimp!

But where was Jeni during all this you ask? Well, due to previous convictions for extreme hysteria, she'd been told that she was banned from all stages of the exercise. She was promised regular text updates though, which went some way towards calming her overactive imagination!

A quick call to Ralph, who was standing by with his ex-Guardia Civil 3L off-road jeep, and the convoy started off for the heights of Bayacas and all points North.

A start

We've been saying that we must start a blog to replace the original web site that our web master Ken started for us when we first hit the road. The old site is still up and running if you're interested (it's at www.rollingfruitbats.com) and has all of the photos and bulletins from our time traveling around Europe.

This is going to be more of a daily record of the amazing things that happen around this little village in the Spanish Alpujarras where we now live most of the time. We still keep one foot in the UK, what with family and friends and our work involvement there, but it's looking more likely that we'll be taking out proper residents status in the not too distant future.

That's got this blog started. So watch this space as they say!