Update posted Thu 25 Jun 09

Preparations for the big trip - Tue/Wed 23 & 24 June

Although we don't start our travels until next Monday (29 June) we thought it would be interesting to mention these 2 days as part of our preparation to leave, if only because we discovered a very nice campsite near Durham and had excellent service from a motorhome dealer.

We tow our Smart car behind the motorhome on a Brian James trailer and we noticed a thin line of rust along the upper weld of the towbar hitch. This needed attention and so we arranged to take the motorhome on 23 June to Hedleys of Durham who fitted the towbar back in September 2008. It turned out that the rust was a surface flaw not affecting the integrity of the weld but Hedleys re-welded the hitch in any case -done under warranty and seems an excellent job - we continue to be very impressed with the service from Hedleys. We had booked the motorhome in on the 24 June for a habitation service at Tyne Valley Motorhomes(TVM, near Newcastle), preferring to have this done before our travels rather than on our return which would be a month after the due date in any case.

Rather than trek home across the Pennines only to have to return the next day, we camped near Durham. Yet again we found the local Caravan Club site to be fully booked (we wonder if it really was!) so we used a site just 6 miles east of the city at Strawberry Hill Farm. This was in a a delightful situation and a lovely site. It has a spotless although quite small sanitation/facilities block and is laid out on several levels with flat, marked pitches; a mixture of harstanding and grass, all with electric hook-up. Although there are only 2 loos and 2 showers in each of the ladies and gents, it's worth remembering that the site itself is not large.

The policy of the site's owners towards conservation of both wild vegetation and wildlife is superb and worthy of note. You may see rare species of moths and butterflies here. The weather for our one night stay was warm and sunny, but this is a great site in any weather. And only 40 minutes to TVM for our 10am appointment on Wednesday.

We did not buy our motorhome from TVM - we bought it from Discover, Carlisle. Carlisle is one of the many branches recently closed by Discover and leaves us with no local dealer handling our Swift Group product. We approached TVM having had several good reports of them and with support also from Swift, TVM were happy to "take on" our motorhome. Although any work at TVM means a 140 mile round trip, we think we are luckier than many owners affected by the Discover closures. Our welcome at TVM could not have been friendlier and the whole service was performed most professionally and efficiently at a most reasonable price. We cannot praise TVM too highly.

The service did not uncover any problems and we were on our way home by 4pm, having spent a pleasant day walking around the National Trust estate known as Gibside Chapel about 2 miles away. The fine weather encouraged us to walk there and back - the estate is a lovely place to stroll or picnic on a nice day. It also has a fascinating history. We enjoyed a late lunch at the Pack Horse Inn just 300m from TVM and serving good pub grub - good value too and made even better by a discount voucher from TVM.

Apart from last minute items our MH is packed and we are getting excited as departure day approaches!