Planning A UK Trip

Usually the Mediterranean Sea  is dead flat, however the last few days its been quite rough, nothing like Im used to back in Oz but for this area it's been a talking point.

There was a lot of salt spray in the air, which once again has been very unusual.

There were even surfers out there, unfortunately he got wiped out when I took this pick.

I had a call during the week from Frans, a fellow motorhomer  who we met back in September 2015 whilst travelling through France. Frans and his wife (Trudie I think) are Dutch but lived in Oxford for a number of years and now live in the French Alps. You can read about our first  meeting  here.

I met them for a coffee then joined them later in the day for a few drinks, they can't hang around too long otherwise they may not be able to get the motorhome back up to their house in the mountains.

A pic of original meeting.

I also had an email from Ani and Ernie who bought our old Autotrail motorhome a couple of years ago, they are also in the area for a few months so I will catch up with them as well. 

Obviously Elaine is in my thoughts everyday and its still a roller coaster ride, however I have been feeling a bit better and wanted to plan a trip back to the UK this July and August.  I really dont fancy being here in the middle of summer, as its unbearably hot and crowded.

Normally its easy as I would just jump in the motorhome and head off, but thats not going to happen as there is a very good chance I will no longer have the motorhome.

Lots of reasons for selling the lovely lady..... Its very difficult to keep the motorhome in Spain and be legal, (legally I can keep it in Spain for six months) it's a bit too big for just me and the boys, I have signed up here for another year, so the motorhome would mainly be parked up. I could put her on Spanish plates but the cost is sky high. 

I have received and accepted an offer on her from a blog reader who want to pick up a motorhome in Spain, obviously its early days and as I well know things can go wrong, but if everything goes to plan she will have new owners next March.

 I really want to go back to the UK this summer so for once in my life I have started planning.

Im already too late to get the ferry from Spain to the UK as all the dog friendly cabins have sold out, so it looks like a drive to Calais in the little C3, which I have just started to put onto Spanish plates at a cost of about 1000 Euros. I did look at buying a car here in Spain but the prices for second hand cars are just ridiculous, there really isnt much of a second hand car market in Spain, there are a few reasons for this....one being that there are not a lot of fleet cars in Spain and two Spanish tend to keep their cars for years and run them into the ground. 

Back to the story......My first stop in the UK will be Elaine's sister who lives in Maidstone, then I will drive to Mousehole in Cornwall where I have booked accommodation for two weeks. Nothing else is planned in detail at the mo, Im hoping to stay onboard a narrowboat boat for a couple of weeks, so already thats one month gone.

I hope to stay with my mother for a couple of weeks, but she has been in and out of hospital since January so I will just have to see how that one pans out.  

For the first time in a long time Im getting excited!!