By Madame Escargot 
Somehow it slipped my mind that I had resurrected this blog. We have been so very busy!
For our first three weeks back in The Shack we were manoeuvring around items emptied from the van. We hadn’t really settled in when we first arrived (2 years ago) and I have had much tidying and organising to do. Mr Snail improved the lighting throughout, replacing old-fashioned bulbs with brighter, lower consumption, LED ones, and new fittings where needed. Gutters have been cleaned, storage shelves assembled, exterior cleaning effected. It’s getting to be habitable. Still things remaining to do before we drive off in September – such as re-sealing the deck.
Van Nessa now has new solar panels, new solar control, some other electrical system gubbins that I don’t fully comprehend, plus a diesel/electric boiler/heater system (yes, now gas-free!). Upholstery has been cleaned, and a leaking window seal repaired. It also had a full service done at Norauto. It all took 4 weeks, or thereabouts. Tested as much as possible at base but then we needed to take off to see how it performed in the field.
We had the van booked in for a cambelt change at the only Norauto that seemed both willing and able to do the job. This was in Chantonnay, about an hour away from base. The appointment was for a Tuesday and we planned to go out on the Monday and to stay overnight at a CCP Aire close by, ready for our 8:30 am appointment. A phone call at midday on Friday, asking us to take the van that afternoon for them to see if it would fit in to the workshop, resulted in our scurrying around to re-pack the van and depart tout suite. It took just two hours to pack, and then an hour’s drive, and we were there for 3pm. It really made no sense just to drive over there and drive back the same day, we made a virtue of necessity and ended up with a whole week out. And a very nice trip it was too. We fitted in CCPs, a France Passion Vineyard, and free Municipal Aires. A good selection of new places and old favourites.
There were riverside walks, meals out, chateaux, wine, churches a-plenty, crayfish, and windmills – plus that new cambelt.
We returned to base on Saturday, all systems checked and working. The solar did particularly well. We are pleased.
Since Saturday it has been back to work again. The van door’s flyscreen has been replaced with a new one. The old one never worked very well, even before Dusty tried to escape through it time, and again. Recently the stringing on it broke. We could have tried repairing it but we settled upon a new one instead. The electric step is also undergoing an overhaul.
I’ll be honest – it has felt like a long four days and we both feel as though it may be time to take off again soon. That being so, today has been a laundry day. I shall start packing tomorrow, once the step is reassembled.
** I am busy reacquainting myself with WordPress, which has changed enormously since I last used it on a regular basis. Today I discovered the ability to generate a featured image with AI, and so, I played. The results were not as expected (globecar summit 640 ducato van being serviced in auto workshop, bottle of muscadet wine and wineglasses in foreground) but I decided to use it anyway, because it amused me. AI is pretty stupid, I probably won’t play this game again.