Needed a holiday

6 months looking at the Mediterranean from the balcony was getting a bit much for me, and I felt like I needed a change of scenery. Actually, one of the reasons we chose the Costa D'Orada to stay in was so that we could drive up to Andorra to ski if the conditions were good. Storm Gloria that went through last week dumped about 1.5m of fresh snow in the pyrenees, followed by a few days of not too warm or sunny weather, so it was time to put the theory into practice. We got a last minute deal on an apartment in Soldeu for 4 nights midweek and drove up on Sunday afternoon after getting Campalot back in its mooring place, and so far its been great - snow is in really good condition and isn't doing the melt/freeze thing to form the ice that Andorra is so famous for, well groomed and being midweek its quite quiet on the lifts so not too much queueing.

I'll ski thursday morning then we will drive home again - should be about 3 1/2 hours and less than a tank of fuel for the round trip. I was last here in 1991 with Gary and it has changed a bit since then. Hopefully i'll be back again sooner than that if we get another batch of snow and good weather in the next couple of months...

She rides

We managed to launch Campalot down the drive and get it on the back of the truck yesterday, so today I finished tweaking the tie downs and we took it out for a spin. We took it about 30km up to speeds of 105kph which is probably as fast as I ever want to take it when overtaking. It felt pretty stable without any side to side rocking or lifting of the nosecone at speed, but the front does bounce quite well on rough roads  - I think it is rocking against the rear tie downs so I may need to beef those up a bit.

So overall I think we have a successful build that fits on the truck and works as expected. So now I can really start phase 2 and spending lots of money on things like windows and water heaters....and Maria can decide how high she wants the kitchenette counter....

Thar she blows....

No, its not a beached whale washed up in our front garden. Campalot has finally transformed from being only a model and an airfix kit to taking up a huge amount of the available space.....

Johnmill visited us for xmas and kindly agreed to stay on for a few days through new year to help me and put up with more of Maria's cooking, we were extremely lucky with the weather and the longest calm spell I can remember since coming here, so we managed to get the side, rear and roof panels glued together onto the frame in 2 days, then as a bonus we also managed to get the cabover panel and nosecone in place before he headed back to work.

The old boy did well - he's 65 you know - and only got confused when given a choice of two directions (Up. UP ! THE OTHER UP!!!!) and this time we didn't do his back in or try to poison him with chorizo....not to mention Maria's contributions lifting and propping up panels, womanning winches and generally looking after us. And i contributed my usual bad language and I think I actually broke with tradition and managed to get more of the glue on the panels than on myself....all round a good team effort.

I still have a few weeks of work sealing up the floor and other holes that were left open to allow for clamps and access, and fitting and fettling the leg jacks before we can move it out onto the road and onto the back of the truck for a test drive. Then I can start on the really expensive part of fitting it out and buying windows and other bits and pieces - not spending any more money on it until i know it works.

And yes, i know this is not a post about travelling and where we are, but it is relevant in that this is how we will get back on the road again once it is ready and we are secure in our Spanish residency post Brexit....