Brian and Barbara RV'ing: Starting out for 2023

By the time we were due to leave the cold, of course, had eased. The trip back was uneventful and we were soon back in Sundance working on our next adventure.

Stay tuned for that !

The next adventure is the same as our last one! We had so much fun touring Ireland and the UK last year that instead of selling the RV we bought there we stored it near my sisters (and Barbara’s brother and sister)’s houses.

Waiting patiently in storage

Now we have to get back, get it safety Inspected, which is an annual requirement, serviced, restocked and ready for the summer.

T Mobile has been great for this, we have made multiple calls across the Atlantic and they have all been done under their $15 a month overseas calling plan.

Being dedicated procrastinators we now had a ton of things to do and very little time to do it in!

Before we could blink it was time to go and we hurriedly got things packed, had lots of fun with everyone over for a happy hour, and did those things required to keep the house ready for our return.

Ed ran us to the airport and we checked in for our flight to London. Then we discovered the flight was delayed by an hour for maintenance but we had plenty of time when we got to London before our next flight to Manchester in the North of England.

Beer at the 3 Magpies

A pot of tea for Barbara

Almost too much time as some idiot (Me) forgot to check the layover times and we ended up with a 9 hour wait!

Fear not! We have experience around London’s Heathrow airport and our bags were checked thru to Manchester so we took a cab to a pub called “The 3 Magpies” where we ate and drank and generally enjoyed the time spent there instead of hanging around the terminal.

The flight to Manchester was also delayed 1/2hr and we finally got to the hotel we’d booked near the airport around midnight!

Sleep was no problem!

After a very nice (Free) English breakfast at the hotel our daughter Sally picked us up and drove us to my sister Jaqueline’s house which she kindly let us use as our base for getting the motor home ready.

The motor home had sat out in the open at a storage place nearby since last September. We had hopes it would start but both the chassis and house batteries (Vehicle and Leisure Batteries for our UK friends) were dead.

Rental Car a Renault Clio Diesel

First task was to remove the chassis battery. On the way back to “Base” we bought a battery charger and after 48 hrs the battery was fully charged and it started first try.

Next big hurdle was the annual safety inspection. Called an MOT (Ministry of Transport) test in UK it is very detailed and they put the vehicle on a rolling road which tests the efficiency of each brake including the parking (hand) brake.

We failed!

Luckily it was on some fairly minor things like headlight alignment, windshield washer and wiper efficiency, The bigger one was that the braking force of the 2 rear wheels was not balanced. They took the rear drums off and adjusted them to the required settings.

Then we were able to get road tax for the next 6 months which made us street legal and ready to go. We still had a couple of weeks left on last years insurance.

Street legal and parked outside my sisters house

Then we were off to one of our favorite places from last year Arrowe Brook Farm. A very quiet and friendly little campground, close to my sisters and Barbara’s brother plus our old friends from our teenage years.

Beautiful day at Arrowe Brook Farm

All those mundane little tasks like renting a car for a few weeks, charging the house battery, sterilizing the water system, inflating the van tires, shopping, going out for dinner and visiting the local pub made the first week just fly by.

Patriotic crochet top for a local mail box

All dressed up for the Coronation

Another Mail Box decoration.

A little thing called the Coronation of King Charles 3rd came up and we had "High Tea" at a big house called Inglewood Manor (Now a hotel) with both my sisters, our daughter Sally and the grandkids Niail and Kaitlynd while watching the replay of the ceremony and parade.

The family (L to R) Kaitlynd, Sally, Beryl, Barbara and Jacky

My other sister Beryl with Barbara and Niail

Fancy cakes and sandwiches for "Tea"

Plenty to go around

Champagne to wash it down!

Niail getting to try everything

Lawns and gardens

Inglewood Manor, very "Posh"

At last were back in the van and blessed with a beautiful sunny day to enjoy. I for one slept really well not waking up until 9am. We shopped and filled the cupboards and the tiny fridge with food and drink

Niail in blue, star defender.

Our great friends Ken and Angie called and invited us to a local event “The Secret Gardens of Oxton”.

All for local charities

Oxton is a small area of the town we grew up in, everyone calls it Oxton Village, and it was a small village until the town grew up around it.

One of the huge houses at the top of the ridge, one side faces Wales the other Liverpool.

The village is at the top of a red sandstone ridge that runs along the Wirral Peninsular. From the very top you can look south across the River Dee to the hills of Wales. Look North and the city of Liverpool stands out across the River Mersey.

The wealthy ship owners of Liverpool in the 1800’s discovered the quiet Wirral Peninsular and found that from the top of the ridge they could see their ships entering the harbor and also their shipping offices in Liverpool. By systems of flags they could receive messages from the ships and the offices.

Soon the top of the ridge was filled with grand houses.

A garden hidden away behind high walls

The Secret Gardens tour is a charity event where certain home owners allow the public to see what the gardens of the grand houses are like behind the high sandstone walls that typically surround them.

In some little narrow streets the cottages of the original village still stand hidden away and it was a delight to find them tucked away.