Combe Martin

1/10/25 2 nights 100 miles

So this is a try-out really in the spanking new van. Just picked it/her up from Hull of all places (we used to live in Beverley, 12 miles from ‘Ull ) but now live in Mid Devon, so it was a long trip to pick it up. If we’d have bought it a couple of years ago it would have been 15 mins on the train. The attraction was the discount, I won’t lie. The handover guy said they made 137 quid on the sale.

Jordans are what we used to call in the IT sector, box shifters. Pile high, sell lots. After sales support is not their strong point. Christ. The effort I had to go to get a couple of cheap things replaced which were broken - but then again I did get it cheap, but really, these bits were broken!

Anyway, the van was everything our previous 2013 Vantage was, but more up to date; automatic, Euro 6, lovely wrap round lounge. No more creaky or less well built in my opinion, and with some features which make you stop and think, yes, nice touch. However, I will still soon be embarking on a full soundproofing and rattle suppressing exercise.

So to Combe Martin. The pull was the intriguingly named “Great Hangman” and “Little Hangman” viewspots, or “miradors” in Spanish if you will. Well the walk was very good, challenging for some, as was the campsite (not challenging, good) along with the nice pub in the village, (the Dolphin I think) and the company with our good friends from Sandford, Charlie and Di was excellent.

Graham’s Mother Passed Away

With the passing of Graham’s mother on 4 November 24 aged 95 we are no longer fully posting on the blog as it was meant primarily for her to follow us when we were away. Instead we are using this as a simple diary to record our usage in our NEW van, an Autotrail V-line 610 sport. 

Although we did enjoy looking back at the pictures so the blog may become a repository for photos to remind us of our active days in our advancing old age(s).

The Autotrail is pretty much the same layout as the original Vantage but updated to be automatic, a bit more power, onboard gas tanks, Euro 6, solar, etc and with more modern features. About £20k less than a new Vantage Sol we already feel at home in her. (Or it, or him, we haven’t decided yet) but definitely a modern version of Rex and very much nicer to drive.