We left for our summer holiday to Britany in France on Thursday 30th June. A long drive during the day with the Traynors in their (more reliable) S-max. An early start made easier with packing the van the day before …. Everything but the kitchen sink. I can’t believe Esther (Tetris queen) fitted as much stuff in. I’m assured that it’s all essentials for a 2 week trip abroad… Hmm?🤔

Special mention has to go to the drawers, all five of them. 

We drove throughout the day to reach the evening sailing from Portsmouth to St. Malo. The van was running like a dream. This was the first big trip since the new engine install, time to put some miles on it. Buried in the back of the photo above are the bikes, Esther’s, John’s, Serena’s and Emily’s. Mines had to go on Tosh’s roof ….. Wee Esther wouldn’t have had enough room for all of her crap stuff!

After docking in the morning at St. Malo it was time to make our way to Baden. About 100 miles should take us about 2/3 hours. 

About 15 miles into the journey the van started juddering a bit on the motorway. The feeling of dread was unbelievable! The stink of diesel inside the van was really strong, it didn’t feel and smell so good. After many phone calls about recovery and getting it fixed we ended up like this …..  What a great start to our holiday 😡

I could go on all day about the cost and how pissed off I was, but basically we were recovered to Daniel Mouton VW in St. Malo after having to pay for 2 uplifts €290 in total. Day 1 in France was awesome so far….

The van had to stay there until Thursday 7th of July as they had to order in a’diesel leak off pipe’ which had failed and was spewing diesel into the engine bay. 

If it hadn’t been for Tosh taking Serena to the campsite with his family, emptying his car and coming back for us we would have been snookered. S-max packed with everything we could fit …. Sadly wee Esther’s pink drawers had to stay 😏

Time for some wine and an amazing holiday in Baden. This is our 5th time visiting France for a holiday. This year has got to be one of my favourites, decent weather, good company and amazing accommodation. This year we had a patio cottage rather that a static caravan. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to go back to a static. 

On one of our day trips we visited Vannes in our Van wearing our Vans😜

Vannes & Auray were beautiful. Great days out for some delicious ice cream and whatever that thing Serena had….

We had the best time on our holiday especially considering the rough start. We picked the van up again on Thursday and were able to get out and about. A 100+ mile journey, I was assured that it was all fixed and the diesel smell would go away…..

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After our final day where we had a BBQ in the rain ….. There is a lot to be said for Scottish ingenuity (Tosh’s umbrella bungied onto the decking post) we got packed up and headed for Roscoff. 

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We stopped over in Plymouth for the night after a great daytime crossing. John and I went to the cinema and Serena won the colouring competition …. Again!

A wee surprise the morning after when we told the kids that we were heading to Alton Towers on the way home. 2 days in Best Western and a day visit to Alton Towers theme park. 

Thursday 14th of July, time to head home to Scotland. The van was going great …. Time for hame!

We were 6 miles from home and it happened again…. The van was losing power and stuttering as if there was no fuel. Thankfully we managed to pull over safely on the m74. Time for a call to Green Flag …. Again😡

Esther and I just turned to each other and laughed….. You could not make this up😂

Thankfully we had left  Stoke early in the morning, so at about 1:30 the VW van centre got a call telling them to expect my van back …… On a transporter. 

Give them their due, they gave me a courtesy van while it was getting fixed…. Again!

A nice new shiny white t6…. 

If I had my choice of a brand new t6 or my t5.1…. I’d take mine every time. 

If Green Flag are the 5th emergency service as it says in the adverts, surely Tosh has to be the 6th. If it hadn’t have been for the man our holiday would have been a complete disaster. As it is we had a fabulous time and cherish the happy memories that we’ve made.

p.s if you hadn’t realised what we have decided to call our van, there really can only be one name….

“MALO”