By keef and annie hellinger, Nov 1 2020 09:39AM Waterloo Farm Great Oxendon Motorhome trip No 42 : Oct 23rd- 31st 2020 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Waterloo Farm , Great Oxendon, Northants & Surrounds ->NOTTS 271 miles Waterloo Farm Great Oxendon - Return to Waterloo Farm for round two — the peaceful Northants escape where the views are big, the walks are easy and the ducks act like they own the place. This visit delivers calm countryside vibes, friendly faces and the kind of simple motorhome happiness that doesn’t need drama to shine. A light‑hearted diary of fresh air, good pitches, gentle adventures and the comforting joy of going back somewhere that just… works. This was our second trip to Waterloo Farm, partly to self isolate and partly to give Craig & family the house to themselves for a bit. It being only our 1st trip away in the van this year, certainly gave it a bit of a run out, being autumn the weather was very mixed but we were able to get out and about every second day. Packing up the motorhome for touring is a doddle these days, we are experts Packed the van Thursday and then it was onto the campsite at Great Oxendon village. We had been there before in November 2018, see Blog 132 with our dear friends Pete & Joy, a very nice site site indeed, views and 3 services , water, leccie and sewage. It is definitely a fisherman’s paradise with 3 lakes. Spent a bit of time chatting to the guy next to us who caught a huge fish, 17lbs allegedly oh and it was this big ;) We walked both ways along the old disused railway track by the site as far in the Great Oxondon direction as the old lengthy tunnel but as we didn’t have a torch decided to stop at that point. Keef legged it up one of the slippery banks to an old bridge which was totally overgrown and surprisingly had a badger’s set in it with soil very deep probably built up since Beeching in the early 60s. There is also a huge badger set along this track nearer the site. tranquil lakeside pitch, great oxendon, northants For the first time we also discovered the village of Great Oxondon and Waterloo Cottage Farm shop, amazing cheeses, chutneys, chocolates and pork pies. Cheese wise Godminster (expensive) and Shropshire blue our faves. Apricot and ginger chutney is a must. we went collecting, did that last time we were here as well So on the days when it wasn’t lashing down we visited amongst others Market Harborough Wharf, Grand Union Canal, Foxton locks, Pitsford water, Husbands Bosworth, Rockingham Castle, Kirby Hall (again), those two not being open to us as had to purchase tickets in advance. Deene Country park, Great Bowden, East Carlton country park (sadly minor damage to bumper grrr!), Cottesbrooke, Clipston, Kelmarsh, Hasselbach, Holdenby House, Althorp (only in passing), The Bringtons (lovely), Welford and the Kilworths, Lamport, Willougby Waveley,Both Peatland Parva&Magna, big names in Leicestershire, Naseby, Roundheads and Cavaliers, New Model Army, Ruperts views, Fairfax's view and we saw churches, farms, Halloween tributes etc etc All in all a very relaxing 9 days away in our lovely Wendy house. Looking forward to making and drinking the sloe gin, hic! #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2020 #campsites #timeline SUMMARY This second visit to Waterloo Farm captures everything that makes this Northants hideaway such a quietly brilliant motorhome stop. This blog celebrates the simple pleasures that turn a short break into a proper reset: wide‑open views, peaceful walks, friendly wildlife and that gentle countryside calm you only appreciate once you’ve parked up and exhaled. The return trip brings a comforting sense of familiarity — the kind where you know exactly where the best strolls start, which spots catch the evening light and which ducks will waddle over demanding attention like tiny feathery landlords. The post blends easygoing humour with genuine appreciation for a site that just works. No drama, no chaos, no unexpected motorhome mishaps — just a relaxed escape where the biggest decision of the day is whether to sit outside with a cuppa or wander down to the lake. It’s a reminder that not every adventure needs mountains or mayhem; sometimes the best trips are the ones that simply let you breathe. This blog invites readers to enjoy the charm, the stillness and the small joys of returning to a favourite place that feels a little better each time.

By keef and annie hellinger, Nov 10 2020 09:33AM Just in time before Flash vanishes at Dec 2020 I have remastered all our major holiday websites Motorhome memorabilia and fun, All Major Holiday Sites Reworked 2020 Take a tour through the freshly reworked 2020 holiday pages — now polished, organised and behaving far better than most campsite showers. All the major trips have been tidied up, rebuilt and given a well‑deserved glow‑up, turning years of adventures into a smooth, easy‑to‑browse archive. It’s a cheerful overhaul that swaps chaos for clarity, fixes the digital dust bunnies and finally makes your travel history look as epic as the journeys themselves. From May 2026 it is possible to take a look at our new site DECADES OF TRAVEL and it's sister site TRAVEL VIDEO BLOG But for now, why not take a look, thanks, just click on the highlighted links below, All Major Holiday Sites Reworked 2020 2007-8 Our Gap Year after work 2010 Across Canada in a Motorhome 2013 Southern Hemisphere, Our 3rd Holiday of a lifetime ;) 2017 Back Downunder with our Good Friends Enjoy collage of our other major holiday sites UPDATE 11/11/21 all of our major holiday sites are being migrated to WIX so that will need a bit of work (deep joy!) ;( they are very likely to look a bit different

By keef and annie hellinger, Dec 4 2020 07:29AM Enhanced Indexing on the Site New Search Methods UPDATE 2nd May 2022 Completely replaced by Blog 179 but before that happens Enhanced Indexing on the Site - Celebrate the site’s new supercharged indexing — now so sharp it could probably find your lost socks. Blogs are neatly sorted, instantly searchable and no longer hiding like shy hedgehogs in the archive. This cheerful update turns chaotic lists into a well‑behaved library, making it easier than ever to track down old adventures, odd mishaps and that one post you swear you wrote. A light‑hearted victory for order, clarity and stress‑free browsing. A new BLOG TYPE indexing structure has been added to the site to enable you to use both a TAG cloud map and searches via Travel, Hints & Tips, Campsites, Recommended and Other , which features mostly Blogs by UK countries & England's counties To go directly to the TAG Word Cloud CLICK HERE, you can then download the associated file and use it to click on the words in the cloud to go directly to all the blogs associated with that word, have fun, it is secure and fully tested To go to the new BLOG TYPE and its associated drop down of menus or just click on the images shown under Blog Type just CLICK HERE, enjoy and thanks for looking motorhomers or should I say motorhomies #smile Note we first mentioned doing this back in Nov 2017 under BLOG 121 , i.e its only taken 3 years to achive, "good things come to those that wait" #smile motorhome-travels blog old style tag map pre Nov 2021 UPDATED 11/11/21 replaced by new WIX functionality for TAGs across ALL blogs

By keef and annie hellinger, Dec 11 2020 06:13PM Blogs by year county country UPDATE 2nd May 2022 Completely replaced by Blog 179 but just before that Blogs by year county country - Explore the newly turbo‑charged blog search, now so organised it could probably run its own campsite. Find posts by year, county or country without scrolling like you’re training for a marathon. And if that’s not enough, you can even print the entire “Book of Blogs” — perfect for anyone who’s ever thought, “I’d love a hefty paperback of our chaos.” A cheerful upgrade that finally tames the archive and keeps your adventures neatly at your fingertips. 1) a new search process alongside the TAG MAP and INDEXES to allow you to search by Year across all our Blogs. If you want to try it out, please CLICK HERE this makes it so much easier to find all the blogs that refer to a specific Year 2) a new search process alongside the TAG MAP to allow you to search by UK county, UK Country, all Blogs for the UK or Non UK Countries. If you want to try it out, please CLICK HERE this makes it so much easier to find all the blogs that refer to a specific UK county or country i.e England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Island 3) a Book of Blogs created to enable one to download the complete set of Blogs as an offline PDF so one can read it all at one’s leisure wherever one wants without the need for a broadband / wifi service i.e no need to be online Go directly to the new page on the site to get that download HERE Feb 2021: All images from Blogs 68-145 now available in responsive code, click HERE these facility were introduced to the website july 2021 but this blog is retrospectively included under the older style blogs i.e pre dec 2020 to 1) try out all the functionality of Moonfruit's Blogging code prior to swapping to WIX 2) because I believe it is a useful search facility and I wish to see how it is embraced when migrated to new code in 2021 3) if you wish to peruse blog tag’s after 2020 please click HERE, thanks thanks for looking do hope it helps uk counties map UPDATED 11/11/21 All of these search facilities are now superseded by functionality within WIX to use both search and TAGs across the whole set of blogs (i.e 1-158) the first time since I started the blog both combining the 2 sites (.net & .co.uk) and creating Blog categories to show automatically by year

by keef & annie hellinger 8 Feb 2021, 14.45 pm Blog 147 Motorhome Humour Campsite humour is a must for the Motorhoming community, if you wish to see our Blogs in which it features I suggest you go to the INDEX page and click on the appropriate tag. It will tickle your funny bones (hopefully) There are some jokes and associated sayings that are all things motorhome, plus a slideshow featuring the wonderful Supertramp with some visual gags attached either collected by us on our travels, I have an eye for such things, remembering our pals dropping the water cap down the cesspits at Whakapapa village site in NZ in 2017 ;) Enjoy, let us know what you think if you want! Use comments box below, thanks again for your interest. See Picture Slideshow below Blog 147 Motorhome Humour - Dive into a collection of motorhome giggles where everyday mishaps become comedy gold. From cupboards that fling themselves open mid‑drive to awnings that wait for the windiest moment to misbehave, this blog celebrates the lighter side of life on wheels. It’s a joyful mix of relatable chaos, daft observations and “yes, that’s happened to us too” moments — a perfect reminder that motorhome adventures are at their best when they come with a good laugh. campsite humour

by keef & annie hellinger 11 Feb 2021, 15.32 pm We are very lucky parents, for Christmas Craig and Leanne very kindly bought us a present of membership to the newly created online wine tasting club. Once a month 2 small cardboard boxes arrive (one each) inside which is a further 5 smaller cardboard boxes each containing about one half a glass of wine...white, red, rose, sherry etc....ready for tasting. Accompanying that our heroes Jamie & Alex hold a zoom conference once a month focusing on those wines all from one selected country and wine growing regions within that country. So far we have had the pleasure of experiencing Spain & New Zealand. Next month is scheduled to be our fave wine area in the world Australia.The presentation is a combination of videos of the region, interviews / chats with the wine growers from the selected vineyards / wineries, and discussion / advice by our heroes from what counts as a studio but looks more like the outroom in their wine warehouse. Wine tasting could be very pseudie but this is very relaxed and nothing like that formal. Indeed Jamie did what can only be described as a sea shanty dressed as santa last night, whatever next, most entertaining oh and of course there is the wines to sample at the same time. Lockdown Escape Blog 148 - Step back into lockdown life with the Online Wine Club — the weekly escape that kept everyone sane, sociable and slightly tipsy while the world went bonkers. This cheerful blog uncorks memories of virtual tastings, questionable wine notes, laughter‑induced tears and the joy of seeing friends’ faces… even if half were frozen on screen. A light‑hearted toast to the club that proved good company and a decent bottle can brighten even the strangest of times. we loved our wednesday evenings with the online wine club, hic! We have so far always ended up being more than a little pickled, lightweights that we are on the drinking front. So we thought we had leant from our fellow attendees, there is a chat facility running alongside the viewing, and decided to employ cheese and bikkies with grapes to accompany our tastings. Still pickled at the end I'm afraid, but more than happy. The hosts also throw in a few quizzes along the way, all very light hearted and fun. They announced last night that even though they have only been going for about a year that they had won a new business award. Well done folks, in our humble opinion that is very well deserved. Love it , looking forward to the next tasting already. If you wish to have a look at their website, whilst agreed very little motorhoming is going on now, please click HERE Update 15 April 2021:- after the splendid session on Chile, whose wine we know next to nothing about we ordered our 1st few bottles from the club 2 of the truly wonderful Odfjell's Carmenere grape and 1 of the Vina la Causa Pais grape, both of which grape types we had never heard of before. Looking forward to supping. The Sav Blanc from the desert was a very interesting taste as well, all in all great fun as we have with our cheese and bikkies whilst listening. The Oz one the previous month was via Zoom and failed miserably tech wise so from this one on its all You Tube Live, seemed to work perfectly! Update 12 May 2021;- South Africa, entirely new packaging and 3rd presenter, Caroline who was behind the scenes earlier joins Jamie & Alex , good news plus and here's the really good bit for us amateur alcoholics, glossy new brochure - (see images on the picture show) and 6 wines to try rather than 5 and each increased to 75mls rather than the old 65ml... hic. Oh and the absolute best wine was the CabSav by the 1st black lady winemaker in South Africa Ntsiki Biyela of Aslina winery (progress BIG TICK!) PS as is often the case "they saved the best 'til last". Update and sadly our last club membership after 6 months, UK vs the rest 9 June 2021 ;- Jamie & Alex compared 2 roses - Greece & Kent, Kent won for us hands down, the Greek one had the mustiness and harshness of some of my old Boots homemade wines before I discovered adding grape juice to die down the roughness then 2 whites Austrian vs Norfolk, Annie liked the Riesling type from Austria (no3) I loved the Bacchus grape (which I'd never heard of) especially its elderflower taste notes and finally 2 reds , Chile (one of my fave newly discovered Wine regions (see our Chile tastings session 4 here) and Kent, Annie liked neither I thought the Chilean Pinot Noir was by far the best of the night but if I was forced to chose on an entirely UK supporting basis I would have gone for the Norfolk white. Some nice videos of the country plus interviews again with the wine growers of Norfolk & Kent. Overall now we have finished our 6 months we have to thank Craig & Leanne again for such a fab pressie, during lockdown it made you feel like you were travelling abroad again from the comfort (& cheese & bikkies) of your kitchen with iPad x Surprise UPDATE 14 July 2021 and we were not expecting this , a single pack for the German discoverer series arrived (did they get this wrong?) who knows but never look a gift horse in the mouth so we decided to join Alex & Jamie for one last time, forget your 70's Blue Nun and Black Tower & Black Forest gateaux (apparently so popular back then because it went well with Auslese ,the sweetest categorisation of wines in Germany, Rieslings)... we got the cheese board, bikkies and iPad at the ready for 8pm... You Tube...The Online Wine Club, and hic twas interesting, lovely to see the scenery, talk to the first female sisters from their vineyard on the slopes of Platz (Jamie could not get a word in edgeways tee hee)... There are some nice wines in Germany, Keef didn't like the sweet ones. Overall Annie's fave was the Riesling, Keefs the Scheurebe (one from the sisters). Another fun night, thx again C&L even if you (and we) didn't know this one was coming x Yet another surprise UPDATE 11 August 2021. The wines of Argentina. This really really will be the last one, Criag has now stopped our subscription, we werent expecting this one so a real treat. Now everyone knows about Argentinian Malbec but on this voyage of discovery we have found the Bonarda grape. Bit like our discovery of the Chilean Carmenere grape, a real taste hit. Even their Sav Blanc was nice, quite different from our fave Kiwi Marlborough but nice just the same. With wine tasting the real key is everyone's palette is different, noted by the different likes Annie and I have as they say I'm dry, she is sweet. 😉 For quite a while now they have an online Tag map for taste recognitions by the audience, mostly all very sensible (i.e Blackcurrant, Gooseberry and if I may say pseudie (i.e Jilly Goolden's "like a wild spring meadow in a basket" ) but one that sticks in the mind overall was "dog urine"... how would they know one wonders? how tasteless , literally :) , oh and I remember Jamie saying after the numerous awards they have got (rightly) that he got to hold Oz Clarke's jacket tee hee!. Thanks for looking.

by keef & annie hellinger 11 Feb 2021, 18.02 pm Blogs in Batches Discover the shiny new blog‑reading system that finally herds your posts into neat little batches — because even the most dedicated reader deserves a break from endless scrolling. This update turns your archive from “where on earth is Blog 73?” into a smooth, organised library that even a confused campsite duck could navigate. A light‑hearted announcement celebrating order, clarity and the joy of finding old adventures without needing a packed lunch for the journey. In order to help provide an additional facility for perusing our Motorhome travels blogs, which due to changes in technology are now still over 3 different construction mechanisms I have created a new page and button to allow them to be looked at in approximately batches of 5 which will allow "inline" reading. The much older blogs which by nature are smaller in content are roughly in batches of 10, these are my blogs numbered 1-67, the rest are in batches of 5. I do hope it helps. Let me know via the comments feedback box here on this blog any suggestions, like, dislikes and I will look into it, many thanks. It is worth noting that blogs 1-67 were constructed using v6 blog code, 68-145 next generation of Blog code and from 146 onwards the new responsive code. Thanks for looking. UPDATE 10/11/21 It is worth noting that because of the hugely greater functionality for Blogs on WIX I will be retiring this facility as soon as the new motorhome-travels site goes live New Search Methods UPDATE 2nd May 2022 Completely replaced by Blog 179 blogs in batches, a new search facility

by keef & annie hellinger 17 Feb 2021, 13.39 pm Images from Blogs 1-67 - Unearth the earliest snaps from Blogs 1–67 — a glorious mix of wobbly horizons, mystery close‑ups and “was that meant to be artistic or did we just trip?” moments. These rediscovered photos capture the chaotic charm of your early motorhome adventures, complete with dodgy angles, surprise sheep and the occasional finger over the lens. A light‑hearted rewind to the days when the travels were epic, but the photography… let’s say “enthusiastically experimental.” Technically speaking Flash vanished at the end of 2020 at least for Google & Microsoft browsers, moonfruit have found a clever way around this via Firefox so I've been able to copy back all my hidden images so I'm very pleased with that. I've managed to put all the images that are associated with that set of older blogs into a slideshow. They are also available via each of the older blogs directly from the indexes in the dropdown above. See the full picture slideshows below. Thanks for looking. Blog 150 dives headfirst into the earliest era of your motorhome adventures, unearthing a treasure chest of recovered images from Blogs 1–67 — and what a gloriously chaotic collection it is. These photos capture the raw, unfiltered beginnings of life on the road, back when every trip felt epic, every stop was a discovery and every photo was… well, let’s call it “creatively improvised.” Expect wobbly horizons, accidental close‑ups, mysterious objects you definitely don’t remember photographing and the occasional cameo from a sheep that wandered into frame with perfect comedic timing. This blog celebrates the charm of those early days, when enthusiasm far outweighed photographic skill and every click of the camera felt like documenting history — even if half the shots were taken with a finger over the lens. It’s a warm, funny, nostalgic rewind through the first chapters of your travels, reminding readers how far the journey has come and how much joy there is in the imperfect, the unexpected and the wonderfully unplanned. A delightful visual time capsule that proves even the dodgiest photos can tell the best stories.

by keef & annie hellinger 20 Feb 2021, 9.24 am Recovered images blogs 68-145 - Dive into a freshly unearthed stash of photos from Blogs 68–145 — the digital equivalent of finding a forgotten biscuit at the bottom of the tin, only far more charming. These rediscovered gems range from “accidentally artistic” to “why on earth did we take that?”, with plenty of laugh‑inducing surprises. A light‑hearted look back at early adventures, dodgy angles and the joy of unexpected nostalgia. Technically speaking Flash vanished at the end of 2020 at least for Google & Microsoft browsers, moon fruit have found a clever way around this via Firefox so I've been able to copy back all my hidden images, so I'm very pleased with that. I've managed to put all the images that are associated with that middle set of older blogs (i.e 68-145) into a batch of slideshows. They are also available via each of the those blogs directly from the indexes in the dropdown above. If you wish to look at the full picture slideshows take a look below. Thanks for looking, folks. UPDATE NOV 21, after migration to WIX all of these videos are attached to each the blogs numbered 68-145 This blog showcases a big batch of recovered images from Blogs 68–145, rescued from the depths of long‑forgotten folders and digital hiding places. The collection captures years of motorhome adventures, from scenic stopovers and campsite moments to quirky snapshots that perfectly reflect life on the road. It’s a nostalgic visual rewind through earlier travels, revealing everything from unexpectedly lovely landscapes to the occasional “why did we photograph that?” mystery. A warm, humorous look back at the evolving journey, now restored and ready to enjoy again. Motorhome at site in Norway our first motorhome #larf

by keef & annie hellinger 20 June 2021, 5.20 pm Blog 152 Abandoned NC500 trip Motorhome trip No 43 : Jun 14th-19th 2021 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Birnam Perthshire Scotland ->NOTTS by 3 relay transporters (boo!) 497 miles Blog 152 Abandoned NC500 trip - This was to be our 1st true motorhome trip outside of lockdown for a month to Scotland taking in the North Coast 500, Harris and Lewis and pals on Mull. Sadly it didn't end as well as we had hoped but we did have a fun few days in Glasgow beforehand. Our tears were evident: Set off on a grand Scottish adventure… only for the van to throw in the towel before the Highlands even warmed up. Cue the NC500 dream collapsing into a symphony of warning lights, recovery trucks and tears — some from frustration, some from laughing at the sheer absurdity. This diary turns a breakdown‑blighted Harris, Lewis and Mull plan into a comedy of cancelled ferries, soggy spirits and stubborn Scottish weather doing its worst. MENU Intro Diary Slideshows Travel Blog Routes Retro Scottish Travels The End COMMENTARY / OVERVIEW / DIARY Sadly this was not the best trip to Scotland we have ever had but I include the travel blog anyhow but we did have a good few days in lovely Glasgow first before disaster struck!. INTRODUCTION motorhome broken down, on transporter, ready for engine fix After all the meticulous planning and wrestling to get campsites on the heavily overbooked NC500 sadly we only got to do 6 days , but what lovely six days visiting pals Mandy and Colin in the Lake District, staying and visiting Coniston Water, an interesting Caravan and Motorhome club site in the Coppice woods with now 350+ pitches (we stayed on pitch numbers 302 & 194, they also have glamping pods) with a lovely walk down out of the site across a farm to Coniston Water, revisiting reunion site at Threlkeld, and 3 lovely days in Glasgow staying at the Strathclyde Country Park (pitch 99) and using Park & Ride from Belshill to get into central Glasgow, a city we dearly love, the highlight of and there were many 2 days on the trot in Mrs Cranstons Charles Rennie Macingtosh’s art nouveau inspired Willow tea rooms. menu for our fabulous high tea in glasgow Class plus some fab art by his wife Margaret MacDonald (esp. the gesso panel on the stairs) and the Mad Hatters tea party was a true delight, plus the Kibble glass house at the fab Botanic Gardens , in our humble opinion a true competitor of Kew Gardens. Go to MENU DIARY We endured / listened (quietly to hide our accents) the Tartan army ready to travel to Wembley at the Central station and again in George Square, very loud of voice but happy and well behaved (maybe?) with liquid food (Tenants) for the journey. Anyhow SADLY because on the way up to Inverness on the A9 to start the NC500 after seeing now both Perth’s (Scotland and Western Oz) our lovely Wendy house started to make the most incredible noise from the engine and power slipped, we pulled off on a side road sign posted Birnam and stopped it. I have had an experience with an old Cortina years ago where the engine timing belt snapped and knew it could damage the engine. We contacted the insurance folks who sent out a mechanic from Blair Atoll who said it’s the timing chain. Sadly no garage in the Highlands could do it and after ringing around getting it fixed in Perth / Glasgow would have meant up to 2 weeks in a B&B / Hotel, no fun so reluctantly we decided to get transported back home. Bad news, but no one is hurt, we will get the van sorted locally (hopefully it doesn’t need a new engine but who knows) and will redo this trip next year. motorhome parked up near the river in perth, scotland If you would like to see slideshow of our “limited” fun please CLICK HERE, thanks PS we now LOVE French Earl Grey tea, give it a whirl if you can find it PPS the first transporter driver from Blair Atoll quipped "I love nothing better than deporting the English from Scotland" ;) plus remember after the England / Scotland 0-0 draw at Wembley in Euro 2020 (played 21 because of Covid) the Scots TV station played Braveheart ;) Thanks for looking, folks. PLEASING UPDATE: 14/7/21 after 3 and 1/2 weeks in major surgery our beloved Wendy House is now back on the road and as recuperation we took her out for a 40 mile spin to put the engine under pressure, I am pleased to say all OK so can now start planning a few local trips to continue her rehabilitation ;) Go to MENU SLIDESHOWS #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2021 #campsites It may have been bad but at least we can say it wasn't this bad, taken in arisaig scotland around the same time disaster off arisaig, scotland Go to MENU SCOTTISH TRAVEL BLOG ROUTES Here is a set of videos, reels and shorts showing all out Scotland travel blog routes graphically, enjoy Go to MENU RETRO SCOTTISH FAMILY HOLIDAY VIDEOS Recreated these in 2023 , enjoy my utubeo videos Go to Menu THE END

by keef & annie hellinger 18 July 2021, 4.50 pm Hopefully a useful Hint & Tip Sadly whilst we were away on our ill fated Scotland trip , until the engine gave up (see blog 152, now rather costly repaired but we would never give up on our trusty Wendy House) the roof would suddenly not stay open on full. Lesson Learnt : re cambelt failure never entrust a Motorhome company to warn you your cambelt may go, mine is every 4 years or 80k miles, Don Amott' general manager told me that sort of stuff was the customers responsibility not them who I have entrusted our vans engine health to for 9 years. Not sure I will again. The gas had gone from the gas struts that generally hold it open. I guess they eventually give up, they have been working fine for 18 years, anyhow I have 2 spare so set about replacing. example gas struts for a motorhome, top opening vent Not as easy as I had expected, just could not work out how to get the plastic caps off to remove the old one so I asked the ever helpful Auto Sleepers Motorhome Owners Forum (see our Blog 91 - join if it suits) Besides getting sent the full repair instructions I found a very helpful person who had exactly the same problem as me, what a great idea screw in an appropriate screw then use pliers to pull out, hey presto, success In the meantime I had cut 2 thin pieces of wood to keep it open to its full extent. I attach the full script of my help, others may find this forum useful, I do hope so, share and share alike, just click on the button below to download the full transcript as a "secure" PDF If you would like repair instructions for the full roof vent please CLICK HERE Thanks for looking. More Hints & Tips Central: Join the high‑stakes drama of replacing the gas struts in the roof vent — a task that starts with optimism and quickly turns into a workout worthy of a gym membership. With arms wobbling, screws hiding, and the vent behaving like it’s auditioning for a slapstick comedy, this light‑hearted diary turns a simple upgrade into a triumph of determination. A funny, relatable tale proving even small fixes can feel like engineering glory.

by keef & annie hellinger 19 July 2021, 7.29 am Hopefully a useful and helpful Hint & Tip Sadly whilst we were away on our ill fated Scotland trip , until the engine gave up (see blog 152, now rather costly repaired but we would never give up on our trusty Wendy House) the waste water tap would not drain away properly. Overall it seemed to be a trip of multi repairs ;) beside the roof not staying open, the fire came off the wall after a heavy bumpy road and the sat nav broke free from its mouting on the dashboard. As they say these things are sent to try us. work on the van in summer, post engine repair Anyhow getting the old tap out wasn't too bad. The Motorhome company had put this one on in the past and it has always had too narrow a channel. It seems after all these years the inner flow channel had been clogged with gunge etc. All you have to do was remove the outer edge sealant, rotate the tap anti clockwise, it fits into a screw channel inside the waste tank. This unscrewed quite freely, when examined it was full of what looked like congealed fat, which despite pouring hot water down the sink on numerous occasions obviously hadn't worked. Having drained off the waste water from the tank, 2 bucket loads I then used a pressure hose to completely clean out the system from both inside (both sinks) and underneath directly into the tank. This worked a treat. I completed the cleansing operation finally with boiling water in through the sink. Happy all ok and clean I attached the new wider channel tap (£4 via e-Bay - I note that Don Amott's charged me £80 last time the tap was replaced, what a rip off!) by rotation, screwing into the internal thread, making sure it was seated in the grooves properly. When attached I then applied 3 successive securing layers around the outer edge of the tap to ensure no leakage. Each layer 24 hours apart to ensure true bonding. 1st Gorilla glue (a plastics super glue). Then no more nails for hardness when rotating the tap and finally white silicone. As they say the "jobs a good un". I'm happy, much cheaper, I learnt something and hopefully good drainage for years to come, fingers crossed Thanks for looking. Hints & Tips Central: Discover the glamorous side of motorhome ownership: replacing the waste‑water tap. This heroic tale follows the brave battle against drips, stiff fittings and that moment you wonder if the tap is mocking you. With tools scattered, knees creaking and victory inching closer, this light‑hearted diary turns a simple fix into an epic saga. A funny, relatable reminder that even small jobs become adventures on the road.