Monty the Motorhome is feeling much better, with a fully functional water pump now installed. What is more he is experiencing his first ‘Brit Stop’. More later.
Last night passed without mishap, though we did get concerned mid-evening when a couple of lorries turned up, quite a few men emerged and started wandering about talking loudly (every other word a swear word), before all donning hard hats and reflective jackets. At that point the penny dropped - we had seen signs earlier warning of overnight road closures due to maintenance work being carried out. Obviously these were the workers. Luckily they moved off after an hour or so and never returned - so our little spot must have been their rendezvous point.
So first thing it was a quick bowl of cornflakes to keep us going and then straight to Murvi HQ. The main man (Rex) quickly sorted out the details and told us to be back sometime around 2.00pm. That meant 5 hours to kill.
First port of call was the Tesco megastore, adjacent to the industrial estate where Murvi are based. Second breakfast - this time the full English - followed by a perusal of their extensive non-grocery goods.
Then a breezy walk to the local village of Ivybridge. Tea and coffee at The Riverbank Cafe, followed by a look round the shops. Lastly to The Hunting Lodge - a pub on the way back to Murvi - for a light lunch of pumpkin and butternut soup.
Back at Murviland all was well. Monty now has a Shurflo RV freshwater pump, along with a Fiamma expansion tank. Water gushes out of places it should gush out from. He has also had a clean bill of health after the annual habitation check. Finally his sat nav system now has the USB connector required for software updates, previously housed at the rear of the unit (very stupid design), relayed into the front glove compartment. So we can now start paying Kenwood vast sums of money to ensure that our maps are up to date.
On then to our overnight stop. A pub carpark. This one of the pubs in the Brit Stop network - places that allow motorhomes to park overnight in their carparks. There is no obligation to use their facilities, but I suspect very few don’t. We are at The Otter Inn in the village of Colaton Raleigh, just outside the town of Budleigh Salterton. One other motorhome is also present, and we’re both in a little overflow car park. Unfortunately it is under trees, which may provide some drama during the night as bad weather is forecast.
Our evening meal was superb. We both had steak and kidney pudding, followed by apple crumble. Both were home made on the premises and both were huge. The booze was from the Otter Brewery - Otter Bitter - and it matched the food in tastiness.
While in the pub the couple from the other motorhome came in and sat at the next table. We got chatting and found they were on an extended tour of the South West looking at houses for sale, with the intention of moving down from their current home in Manchester. During our conversation the pub was visited by several police officers who were making enquiries about some suspicious youths who had been in the pub earlier. It then came out that one of our motor-homing neighbours was a retired police officer himself! So we spent the next hour or so swapping police related stories.
Back in the van we are now settling down with the rain hammering on the roof, but with full tummies we should sleep soundly.
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