297 Setting off for the Sahara.

23rd August 2018   Miles Today, 116, Total miles 116.

Today is the day. We faffed and fannied about sorting out kit and belongings so it finally fit into Wallace's panniers. We had numerous spats about whet was needed, how big it was and how much it weighed. Needless to say I (Ray) lost most of the battles and managed to squeeze what we needed into the bike.

We were to spend the night at Pate and Barbera's house as they will be looking after the cats for the next month. Thanks guys.

After a thankfully short game of chase the cats we eventually found them hiding under the dining room table, stuck like glue with their claws to the cloth chairs. They knew something was going on but not what. A small battle later they were unceremoniously shoved in the car and the door slammed shut. Now they really knew something was going on.

We set off separatley with Karen driving the Mazda and I on Wallace. About 2 hours later we arrived at Pete and Barbara's and carried the cats indoors so they got used to the place for a few days and learned where their food etc was kept.

Sadly, Pete was working late as is the norm so we did not see him that evening. We indulged in the  usual fine hospitality at P & B's and after a few beers and a Chinese take away, we went to bed.

24th August 2018  Mikles today, 112, Total Miles 228
We arose at about 8 and sorted out the final bits and bobs whilst Barbera made us a delightful cooked breakfast. She is extremely good at that sort of thing. The cats seemed to be doing fine and were settling in OK. That did not make it any easier for the crazy cat lady that I proudly call my wife. She was a bit sad at leaving them but the show must go on.

We finally said our goodbyes to P & B and departed for Portsmouth at about 11:30.

And we're off.....  Departing from Pete and Barbara's place in Roydon (we lived in the mobile home behind it for some time)

I found the bike very heavy. Needless to say, I was not surprised but it still took some getting used to.
Riding on the Motorway was easy till we met about 20 miles of traffic to the West of London. Normaly on a bike this is not a problem but when the bike looks more like a barge and weighs about the same, filtering through traffic is not easy. The journey took a lot longer than expected and I was glad we left with a lot of spare time.
We finally got to the ferry terminal about an hour before sailing time and were soon ushered on with a lot of other bikes just as it was starting to rain.  The bike was strapped down and we sorted some gear to take up on deck. Then it was 9 flights of stairs to our cabin only to find it was not ready. Off to the bar it is then!

The ferry set off on time and by now we were in our cabin and shed our heavy biker gear for some lighter and cooler clothing. We went up on deck to watch Portsmouth get smaller and took some pictures. Oh, and it absolutely peed down too.

One of Her Majesties finest. HMS Dragon.

Here's one she used  to own. HMS Warrior. Built in 1860 and the first to clad in iron. Now a museum.

Bye bye Portsmouth.

I haven't seen one of these for a long time.

I am not a fan of big boats (I nearly said 'boats' in general but we just bought a little one so...'big' it is). I find them expensive and boring but armed with a few beers and a Kindle book reader, we made the best of it. The real pain was that it had 2 restaurants, one was a posh 'A la carte' one and the other was a more my style but it was on top deck and exposed to the wind and rain. It was too cold to eat on deck so it was a struggle with a tray full of food and drinks to get through the storm proof doors to find somewhere where the wind wouldn't solidify the grub before we ate it. The ferry was laid out really strangely and we would often have to go down 2 flights of stairs, along the outside of the boat and then back inside and up 2 flights just to be a beer or whatever.

Just after we sailed, we entered a storm. Beer and rain. Great combination.

And so to bed after the usual liquid refreshments.

296 Bikes and boats. Aug 2018

5th August 2018
We had a visit from Naomi, Steve and Charlotte. We took then to see the seals at Horsey but sadly, for the first time since we had lived here they were not on the beach. The weather was very hot so that was probably the reason. So we just went paddling. Her first time to see and go into the sea having been on this earth for 20 months.

Charlotte's first encounter with the sea.

Having sold the Quad bike and now the Suzuki that had sat in the garage for 2 years abd only been used oncewe decided to use the money to buy some more toys.

We started out with 2 new electtric pedal bikes. We got them from a shop in Norwich and bought them home in the van. After setting them up and charging the batteries we took them out and WOW, they are good. They have rekindled our love of cycling. Most of the time we use them as normal bikes but when we meet a hill or a strong head wind, we just turn on the electrics and woooosh...  away they go. Oh, and mine just happens to be a Yamaha (they made the first electric bikes ever made).

We have used them a fair bit and even took them to some of the trails around Thetford Forest.

Karen spinning the rear end up. These bikes have some power!

Not content with pushbikes, we also decided to buy a small inflatable dinghy. Large enough to take 4 people and small enouth to go into the boot of the car so we can take it anywhere in the UK. Oh, and yet again, it just happens to have a Yamaha engine.

3.2m, 6HP, 4 seats and 4 life jackets.

I took a trip down to Mildenhall to see an old friend, Jon Elvidge. He had ridden up from near Harlow and we had breakfast and talked crap for a few hours. On my way back I decided to visit Mildenhall and Lakenheath airfields and turned up at Lakenheath just as a couple of F15s came into land. Bliss.

These things are sight for sore eyes.

20th August 2018
We are finalising our prep for a trip to the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara for a month on Wallace. He (Karen thinks he is a she!!) is finally all serviced and ready to go.

Check out the burgudy sheepskin seat cover. Sexy Huh!

295 June and July 2018 Azores & Farne Islands.

16th June 2018

The Azores.
My brother Bruce and sister in law invited us to go away with them to the Azores for a week in June 18. It is not a place I would have gone to of my own accord but they had booked a large house there so we decided to go along for a sort of family holiday and it would help them out with the cost.

The 16th of June came along and we all set off from Stansted and the holiday had begun. Before long we were stuffing our faces with ice cream on the beautiful island of Sao Miguel in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.

We had hired a couple of cars and were pretty free to come and go as couples but we decided to stick together and go touring. Lynn had been to the island before and knew a lot of the places to go so she took charge as team leader.

The first day was spent just touring the island, having local grub and local beverages. The second day was a lot more exiting and we went whale watching. Karen and I were sceptical about this having been on several similar trips before  and seen nothing. However today we were in for a treat. We saw some sperm whales, some hump back whales, lots of bottle nosed dolphins and a sea turtle.

Hump Back whale resting

Hump Back whale diving for food.

Dolphins playing in the bow wave of the boat.

Much the holiday was filled with touring the island and in doing so we visited a vlocanic area that was so hot, the local restaurants would bring their cooking pots around, bury them in purpose made holes in the ground and retrieve them a few hours later, all cooked and ready to serve.

A chef retrieving his cooking pot from underground.

Steam and bubbling volcanic mud.

We also visited some hot volcanic baths. They were very hot, 39 dec C and stank of sulphur.

The hot volcanic baths.

27th June 2018
We were invited to visit our new friends, Sally and Kevin to go and visit the Farne Islands in Northumberland. We jumped in Gromit, our camper van, and we joined them at a camp site at a small town called Seahouses just near the Farn islands.

We organised a boat trip and sadly, Sally and Kevin could not come as Sally has a phobia about birds fluttering. So, probably not a good idea for her to visit a bird sanctuary then!

The trip was amazing and the bird life was just incredible. We stopped on one of the island that although it is a sanctuary, the National Trust has placed walkways for the general public to get a good look at the airborne wildlife.

They reccomend wearing a hat of some sort and we soon found out why. The birds with young will attack peoples heads and make them bleed. Aside from the the birds we saw were, puffins, razor bills, arctic terns and cormorants. The pictures are shown below.

Arctic tern.

Humping Puffins.

These guys live underground. One emereging from her burrow.

Cormorant.

Razor bills and a chick.

Puffin in classic fishing mode.

One in a burrow.

Thousands of black headed gulls.

We were advised to wear a hat. Here,s why!

This cheeky sod just parked himself.

10th July 2018
Today the RAF became 100 years old having been formally formed in 1918. I hasten to add that 7 years earlier they were part of Gods own Royal Engineers !
The RAF had a formal fly past that had the big planes and jets form up near Ipswich and fly in via
Colchester and Chelmsford to line up with a final fly past over the Mall to salute the Queen.

We decided to work out a place that the planes would pass over and to be fair, we got it spot on and ended up in the middle of a field and right under the flight path. It was awesome. Being an ex squaddie and having flown in (and jumped out of) many of the planes, it was a bit emotional for me.

Here they come....

Newer version of the C130 Hercules.

The huge Airbus Atlas.

C17 Globemaster and Airseeker reconnaissance aircraft.

 

294 The Bungalow is finished.

In the last 23 moths we have been working on and off, on our bungalow. Some of these photos have been published previously but are reused to show the differences from June 2016 to present.

This was it as we bought it. The only think that has changed in this picture is the grass in now completely paved over.

The problems we had with the bungalow were mainly that it needed updating but the big problem was the lack of any proper heating. The electric storage radiators were simply rubbish and gave off their heat during the day and were cold in the evening when most needed.

The bungalow had already been extended on four occasions so some of the layout was a bit mixed up. Like the 3rd bedroom or study door being into the kitchen. 

The main tasks we set ourselves were to overhaul the electrics, install a central heating system and renew the bathroom and Kitchen.

One sort of problem we had was that the deceased previous owner had  OCD (Obsessive compulsive Disorder). This was told to my by his son who we bought the bungalow of off. For example: now that we have finished the work we have counted a total of about 140 13A sockets throughout the property. There were 10 in the loft, 14 in the garage, 8 in the sheds/outhouses and 16 in the study.

Bathroom, Electrics and Plumbing.

The first job to get tackled was the bathroom. This included installation of a new hot water tank and an electric boiler. The job started with he removal of the storage radiators and an overhaul of the electricity cupboard. The old system had a special electricity meter that provided electicity to one specific board that connected to the radiators. this had to be replaced with one for the new boiler. At the same time completely new and up to current specifications, main board needed installing.

This is what we started out with. All old fuses and quite simply, a mess.

This what we have now, clean, tidy, modern and safe. Top fuse box is for the central heating.

  The next job was the bathroom refurbishment. Initially we had two toilets, one had a shower and a sink and the other had a bath and a sink. We decided to do away with one of the toilets, intending to create an en-suite off of the main bedroom later. This what we started out with:

Old and cream with lots of disabled aids.

The other end of the bath. The wall with the rail has got to go.

 The wall between the two was to be removed and make way for access to the new shower that although larger, was in, essentially the same place but to include the area used by the second toilet.

New shower to be placed where this toilet and shower are following removal of the part of the wall behind the toilet.

The rip out has started. This toilet was the next to go.

 With the above toilet removed, we had to use this one that following the removal of the wall, was left floating in mid air till the first one was replaced.

In front of this 'floating' (is that a good word to use in these circumstances ?) toilet a dividing wall was to be placed to cordon off the new boiler/airing cupboard.

Main bathroom are finished.

 Now that the main bathroom including a useable bath and toilet were finished, I set about removing the second toilet and shower to install this one from the main bathroom.

New shower room on right and a waterproof TV at the end of the bath., just for Karen's long soaks. A new wall has been inserted. It's the one far right with the coloured tiles on.

On the other side of this new wall is the new boiler and airing cupboard with a new water tank.
The property initially had a 15mm pipe from the main supply tap. On investigation, I found that the supply to the house was a blue 1" pipe. So I upgraded all supply pipework to 22mm and therfore more than doubled the potential water supply to the house. I stuck a pressure gauge on one of the pipes and found that I had 2.2bar pressure. Enough to put in a pressurised cylinder and remove the old tank in the loft.

It was like a dream come true. The original shower had a pump to make it half usefull and now that was no longer required.
This is the system that I put in. It was a bit of a learning curve but, with the exception of the boiler, I had done most of it in my previous house. My cousin John, who is a plumber, put me on to this system. Thanks to you John.

The new system. The long white box on the left is the boiler. It is like a seriously powerful vertical immersion heater.

The system includes 2 pressure vessels, one to pressurise the central heating system and one for the hot water supply. Hot water then comes out at the same pressure as the cold and it mixes a lot easier and does not scold when someone turns another tap on.

And to finish the job off:

Removable shelving installed to make it into an airing cupboard. Karen is happy.

Study or bedroom 3

Next job was to sort out the study or what could be used as bedroom 3. The problem was, with the first extension being placed on the back of the bungalow, it included the rear door to the house. This ended up being the door to the study. We could not progress with the kitchen unlill the door was moved. We thought the best thing to do was to seal the door up and make a new one into the living room. It had to be better than the kitchen. Not ideal, but better. This was the real problem:

The study with everything built in including the desk. The door into the kitchen was the big problem.

Looking the other way at some of the 16 sockets. It was an electricians nightmare.

We punched a hole through the wall into the living room and bricked up the doorway into the kitchen.

When finished and bare. this is what it looked like.

The radiator is where the original door was.

This what it looks like now we have it in use. Back to a study.

The Conservatory.

Due to the need to punch a hole in the rear of the house for a back door into our conservatory that was the next logical job to do. We had to get our neighbours views on the build as it exceeded the normal permitted development but no complaints were made so we bought a 4.5 x 3.5m kit conservatory.

Prior to this we had submitted plans to convert a small link room connecting the house to the garage into an en-suite for the main bedroom. Whilst the plans were awaiting approval, we changed our minds and used the drawings for the conservatory approval.

We started with a blank wall and a large patio area. This lended itself to building a steel framed floor model as it was easy to build upon.

The blank canvas for the conservatory.

When it turned up is was huge and daunting.

Once the floor was in, it was time to put the walls up.

Now finished. It was a bitch doing the roof, especially as the glass roof panels were huge and heavy.

Nearly done. The very last job I did on the whole bungalow was to finish the conservatory skirt off.

And this is what it is like now.

Living Room

With the two holes into the living room now done, it was time it get on it.
As can be seen from the original photos, there was nothing actually wrong with the room. It was just old. On top of this, all the walls in the bungalow had embossed wallpaper that all had to come off and be scrubbed down for painting.

The living room showing the storage radiators. The room past the sockets on the left is the first extension.

 This is what it looks like now with the two new doorways into the study and conservatory.

And....  Karen doing a jigsaw on the dining table.

Old, old, old and more old.

We like this much better.

Hallway.

 With the living room done, it was the turn of the hallway. This is without a doubt the weirdest room in the house and was the last extension to be put on. It was called a 'Sun room' on the planning application and that is exactly what it is. We considered making it into another bedroom but it has far too much glass and would entail bricking up one wall. We decided against it but it is still a waste of space in reality.

The hallway (or Sunroom) with some of its 13 sockets shown.

This is it now. Still a waste of space.

But looking the other way, Karen has put her stamp on it. A New York, central park mural.

The Bedrooms


The bedrooms were the last to be done. It involved removing most of the built in cupboards and installing sliding wardrobes and an en-site toilet.

The second bedroom was done first. It started out like this:

And ended up like this.

The main bedroom was a bit more tricky. Due to the way the coving went around the built in wardrobes. We needed to get the ceiling re-skimmed.

Same view as above (almost).

Looking the other way.

This shows the en-suite we installed in the corner. The porthole was taken off of a real sunken ship by my good friend Bob. The toilet is attached to a macerator and is pumped over the ceiling and down to the bath outlet.

The Outside.

The last job to be done (ish).

This was the patio area outside the living room.

 

And a slightly different angle from the same spot.

Little has changed on the patio (nor will it !) but we use it as a breakfast area as the sun hits it in the morning. The conservatory has now taken pride of place and much of the foliage removed to open up the view into the garden. Oh, and shed load of plants.

The summer house was getting crowded out by the trees next to it, so.....

...they had to go. This has made the garden feel so much larger and allowed a large wooden deck to be placed outside it. The lawn has been graded as it had a hump and a sump and is now one grade and no longer floods. Oh and 2 new paths.  Sadly the stones are 24" apart as per all the gardening books but would be more comfortable for a dwarf to use.

We now have a very nice evening sun-downer deck that gets the sun all the way to the horizon.

Oh, and more plants. Lots of plants.