Clean in Bath!

We have been in Bath the last couple of days.  We are moored up at the marina / caravan park a couple of miles outside of the city centre.

The main reason for the visit to Bath was so that Elaine could catch up with her old friend Julie, who she lived with in the Middle East a few years ago.

We all went out to a local pub last night (The Dolphin) for a good old catch up and dinner ...

Whilst we are at the caravan park we have made good use of the facilities and have caught up on loads of washing using the site laundrette.  It's also nice to give ourselves a good scrub with unlimited hot water in the shower block!

Elaine took the dogs for a long walk along the towpath this morning and returned with a big bag of rubbish, as is her wont!  She often 'does a Maffi' and cleans up as she walks!  She then set about organising the dogs' rabies certificates from the vets (£175 worth!), which had to be sent to the Shipper, so that they can arrange the import permit and then book a spot for them in the quarantine kennels (£411).  She also made arrangements to get our boxes shipped back to Oz a bit later in the year  (approx $2000) ... so it is all happening - the bank account is taking a battering though!

I decided to give the van a good wash today.  I haven't washed the exterior since we were in Portugal, which was also was at a marina.  It is hard to give it a wash as a lot of sites do not allow it, but this one was fine with it.  I climbed up on the roof and started with that then did the stern, sides and bow.  It didn't really get dirty in Europe as there was hardly any rain till we hit Switzerland, but back in the UK it has been a different matter.

I didn't realise how dirty it was ... check out the stern, when I had cleaned only half of it!

It took me nearly five hours to bring it back to pristine condition.

There is not much to blog about so here is a pic of the yummy lunch Elaine made ...

The finished product, all nice and shiny again ...

Later in the afternoon we walked down the towpath to Julie's house.  I love her house - it's right next to the railway line!  We had a cuppa and a chat and then headed off for dinner again.  This time we went in the other direction and went to the Boathouse, which is quite close to the caravan park.  Really nice pub and dog friendly too.

A really cool mini was in the car park -  it is a John Cooper Works All4 Paceman ...

It was a big lump of a mini and is good for 140 MPH...love it!

Tomorrow we will have to leave our lovely electric / hose-pipe hook up again and move on!