Eriba Man

  Just returned from a fantastic trip into the Highlands of Scotland. This trip was from Friday, 25th Mar 22 until Wednesday the 30th. I stayed one night at the C&MC Site at Culloden Moor, and five nights at the Morvich C&MC Site in Kintail. The weather was, in the main, excellent. Dry for the entire trip but a little cloudy in the mornings, sometimes being a bit dull. The highlight of this trip was for me a walk down to Sandaig Bay near Glenelg in perfect conditions. Sunny, pleasantly warm, and not another soul in sight. The view from the gorge walk down to the beach. A view of the Sandaig Islands from the forest on the hill above. Perfect beaches. It was the first trip of the year, and was great to get away again, touring in the Puck. A short movie of the trip...

 

  After towing the van from it's winter storage in a garage, I always conduct a bit of routing lubrication on the caravan. Nothing more than the obvious points which need a little bit of care and attention. I started with the normal lubrication essentials, my grease gun with a loaded cartridge, a tub of medium grease, some 3 in 1 oil, and a can of aerosol WD40. Using the guidance from the hitch maker, Alko, I give a quick dribble of 3 in 1 to the moving parts and the springs. Another point of lubrication is the hinge bolt on the jockey wheel clamp. I used a good squirt of 3 in 1 oil.  Gave the jockey wheel clamp a good dose of 3 in 1. This is one area that definitely benefits from some extra lubrication, especially on the threads of the clamp bar. On the hitch on my van, there are two grease nipples with small rubber caps, one near the hitch and the other by the jockey wheel clamp. I give both these a good couple of strokes from a grease gun loaded with general purpose grease....

  With the weather being really nice today, and with the prospect of touring again in the next wee while, I took the caravan out of the garage where it was being stored and returned it to my drive. I really didn't have any projects for the van over the winter, unlike last year when I completely re-upholstered and redone the internal decor like curtains, carpet, door facia's and the likes. Like my 3 previous Eriba Caravans, I've had trouble with the original plastic door shelves and decided to order an improved aluminium set from Darren at Eribastuff. I've ordered other odds and ends from Darren over the years and everything has always been top quality. He's an enthusiastic Eriba Puck owner himself, a Scot based in France. The original door configuration above, plastic shelves (or rather shelf fronts?) which turn the Eriba door into effectively a very useful storage area, just like a fridge door! I purchased the van 'set' which comprises one with an 'Erib...

  Tonight is night 2/2021 living in my caravan, and is my second night at Morvich C&MC site in Kintail in the Highlands.  Lovely night last night. Not often see herds of red deer on a dog walk! Interesting piece of history I recalled about this site. I think Morvich consisted of a small farm back in the 1840's, possibly the building at the entrance to the site was the original farmhouse. It is now the house and office of the National Trust Ranger for Kintail. This house was the subject of a parliamentary enquiry back in the 1840's as it was the scene of death by starvation of some of it's residents during the Scottish Famine when, like Ireland, the potato crop failed and tenants were not given support from landowners. Interesting read  here I slept like a log, a perfect nights sleep despite the showers and the drip on the roof due to an overhanging tree! Took the dogs along by the river around 0630, and after breakfast, in between the showers, I put up the awning and ...

  This is the first trip of 2021, so that makes it 1/2021 living in my caravan. I was last out touring on the 7th of October last year, when I had a 4 night stay in Melrose. The restrictions started to tighten, and I decided just to 'throw in the towel' for that years touring. It was just becoming nothing more than hassle. We then entered a 'lockdown' of sorts on Boxing Day 2020 and 4 months later, we are now allowed to visit caravan sites. I've been waiting for this day for a long time. I don't think anybody forecast that we'd be stuck in the limbo for that length of time, and like many others, I'd used the down time to book sites using my best guess as to when we could tour again. This led to weekly cancellations and rescheduling as the dates emerged. So, I had been booked to tour from the beginning of March and ended up changing or cancelling around 7 trips. Roll on the 26th April 2021. I hitched up my Puck following it's winter layup and make ove...