Its actually sunday that I Wrote this!!

Well, what can I say to follow Tonys message of last week? The weather was bad all week and now Tony has gone home we have glorious sunshine!! My dad always said that the last week in August and the first week in September were the best of the summer. So far, it looks as if he was right. Despite the weather we did have a good time last week. The Bell Foundry was a great visit, recommended to all those who visit Villedieu in the future. The kids thought it was great, being able to ring the huge bells and scare silly the unsuspecting people who did not know that they were in working order!! Sian also caught the only fish of the week, a beautiful rainbow trout. Unfortunately, it was not big enough to feed eight of us and had to be put back for the next family! The campsite must have thought we were mad English people, which of course we are, and put up with us all week. I think we were their best customers (sorry, only customers!) but by the end of the week we had encouraged plenty of other campers to taste the fine food in the café and drink copious amounts of beer! By the end of the week the campsite was reminiscent of Glastonbury but thankfully the Range Rover was not perturbed. Our hire car, however, was found to be the worst off road vehicle wherever we went. At the beginning of the week, before it had even rained for two days, on arrival at the steam fair we had to be pushed IN!! Normally, it’s at the end of the day that people are being pushed, but no, this time it was at the start. Needless to say the steam fair was a wash out and we lasted there all of half an hour. Long enough though for Sian to find the biggest horse possible and fall in love with it. It towered almost five feet above her!! Now, the tale of the motor home. On the Thursday before Tony arrived we were quite happily plodding down the road to Villedieu when the motor home decided that hills were too much like hard work and could not go any further. After a puff of smoke and a bang we arrived at the top of a hill and the motor home refused to go any further. After calling the RAC in France we had to pay 200 euros for a tow truck to come and rescue us. He brought us a few miles down the road to Avranches, which is where the motor home has lived ever since. After a few aborted discussions in French with different mechanics the English mechanic arrived!! It turned out that they thought we had put petrol in the vehicle instead of diesel. We knew that this was not the case, but typical the only receipt that I could not find was the one we needed. However, we were absolutely certain that we had not made a faux pas and they finally put the motor home up on the ramps. After a few minutes they had found the problem, the turbo was one hundred percent bust. Unfortunately a new turbo would not arrive until the following Tuesday! This would have been bearable as they were kind enough to let us sleep in the motor home still, supply us with power and let us use their water. They also said we could have a hire car while it was being fixed at only twenty euros a day. This did not sound too bad as it would be the same cost as a camp site! However, as many of you will probably be aware, garages are not always accurate in their timescales. The new turbo also has to come from Italy, who shut down in the month of August!!! Typical!! Well, we are still sat here in our car park. We have a great view for miles, only slightly spoilt by the motorway which cuts through the middle of it. We are still hopeful that the new turbo will arrive this Tuesday, although we are not holding our breath. We are also learning to drive a left hand drive vehicle, a manual at that. It did however give Andrew several headaches to start with. He said it was due to having to drive on the right and in a left hand drive with the gear stick on the wrong side. Personally I think it was because he smacked his head on the door every time he got in and on the boot every time he put the push chair away, but I could be wrong! He He!! I think the reason we sounded so fed up last week as well was the conversation with Fiat UK. Apparently we should have three years of free AA cover with a new vehicle which also includes hotel accommodation and hire cars!! Great that they tell us this well over a week after we break down. (Barry Caravans watch out in September, I believe you are in for a pasting!!) Whilst here we have still been looking for our new home. We visited two last week which had great potential but did not seem quite right. On Monday we are to visit a large property between Vire and Caen. It has three and a half hectares of land and a beautiful stone property that needs some renovation. Lets hope it is the one! On paper, it is the best we have seen so far. We are also planning to visit four more properties on Thursday, so we are on the case. Today was a first for all of us too, Tractocross. It was great fun, twelve tractors racing as if they were motorbikes on a giant track. We were hoping that King Tony would win but unfortunately he came second! Never mind, it’s the taking part that counts!! Anyway, I think that just about says it all for now. Take care and hope to see you all soon. xx