Today became basically a housekeeping and travel day. We left Stratford, going towards Cornwall. On the way, we were passing through Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. We called into Gloucester Motorhome Services Ltd, who we had emailed nearly a week ago. Tom Pritchard, the director, was most apologetic — freshly returned from holiday, he was only just getting on to answering our email. He wasn't in a position to help us directly, as he was booked out till the end of October -- all those Brits wanting to holiday in Spain until the weather gets better back at home! But he did put us on to two other firms who could help, and we have booked ourselves in to each in turn, on September 16 and September 18, the first for a general service, and to check the state of our engine and clutch, and the second to set up our gas supply for continental use. This means that we have two weeks to kill, and we're starting this soujourn in Cornwall — so after leaving Gloucester's vicinity, we made a beeline towards England's Southwest tip. We travelled nearly 200 miles, finally coming to a stop on a rather generous layby on the A30, in Devon just short of the Cornwall border.
By the way, John Keats wrote of Devon after a visit in March 1818, "It is a splashy rainy misty snowy foggy haily floody muddy slipshod county", and a local wrote "Devon, Devon, six days of rain and one in heaven". Well, we had a little rain — but only while we were driving. (Apparently Devon averages 200 days of rain per year!)
Distance driven — today, 187 miles ( 301 km ); to date, 6,678 miles ( 10,748 km )
No comments:
Post a Comment