We made it, we were back in Brighton and Hove again.
We actually went to Hove to the place we’d parked last time. Our friends very kindly took us out to dinner to celebrate the sale of their house in London completing. It was a nice welcome back.
Over the next 6 weeks Dee managed to get his accounts done and also get the sofas moved. We caught up with admin, went to the dentist and in my case the osteopath too, and we had our jabs. I also saw some of my old clients and did their hair whilst I was in town. And of course I went swimming and we both caught up with friends.
Here’s a few swimming photos. It was great to be back on my home swimming patch and see my swim buddies.
We booked the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander for the end of November just to be sure that we got everything done. In hindsight 4 weeks would have been enough, but better safe than sorry as they say!
Here’s a few photos with various friends we managed to catch up with.
One of the hardest things about vanlife in the UK is finding somewhere to empty the toilet and fill up with water.
The water isn’t too bad as it is sometimes possible to find a garage to fill up at and also because we were in our home town we were having lots of showers at friends houses!
The toilet was a bigger issue though, it’s not something friends tend to even think about, so no one really asks if you’d like to empty the toilet! The first time it needed emptying whilst staying in Brighton and Hove, we actually ended up doing a 60 mile round trip!
I got chatting to some people on instagram who had actually changed their toilet. We ended up meeting up with them as they weren’t that far away to have a look at the new toilet. We realised it would be a much easier solution so decided to get one . It is called a separett loo and basically separates the pee and the solids! Making emptying much easier.
It arrived very quickly but it took at least a week before Dee was able to fit it as it just rained relentlessly.
Finally it stopped and he was able to get the toilet in and a lovely surround too, but somehow this caused a fuse on the fridge to go!
We were without the fridge for almost a week as it wasn’t easy to find where the fuse was! It was beginning to look like we might be going to Spain without a working fridge. Finally a good friend managed to find it . He’s a retired builder and has also done work on vans and boats before and he even struggled to find it initially!
As you can imagine it was a bit of a relief when the fridge was finally working again, just days before leaving for Spain!
The toilet was a great investment and has definitely made life much easier, well worth doing.
We also managed to get some new curtains made for Jovanna . One of my swimming friends made them and we are so grateful that she got them done before we left. Here is the before and after photos. What a difference!
Our ferry ended up being delayed by 12 hours so we spent a day and night in Portsmouth before we left.
Then finally we were boarding the ferry and on our way. The next post will be the start of our Spanish journey. We hope to see you there.
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Our Life on the Road 