Blog 3.1

Yarksha - Monday 17/7/23 onwards.

Well, Otley to be more accurate.

This is going to be a short one-off blog to cover a very short getaway oop north. Much of it will actually be more of a diary record, for my own benefit, of how the solar system is performing in less than optimal conditions, and therefore of little interest to most - sorry.

Normal service will be resumed with Blog 4 in September when we embark from Newhaven again!

Very Northern?

I was perusing, on our return from France, Spain, etc. etc. a copy of the Camping Club's 'Out and About', which is a supplement to their monthly magazine, giving locations of rallies, meetings, Temporary Holiday Sites, and so on - and this one, a THS, jumped out.

Mainly, I guess, because it was advertised as being at Otley RUFC's premises, and Otley are a club that my own club have played many times over the years.

The thing with THSs is that they are some of the nearest things you can get to a French Aire de Camping Car in the UK, in that they are, A: Cheap, and B: Have water and facilities for dumping waste. Usually little else though.

This one is a tenner a night, so comparable in cost to a French Camping-Car Park (which we use a lot), but possibly slightly quieter than some Aires. THSs also permit caravans and tents, and there are quite a few of the former here (and none of the latter so far). There are no hook-ups of course, and as we don't need one, that's not a hardship.

The weather on the way up here was mixed to say the least. One minute full sun and the next, torrential rain. Fortunately most of the wet stuff had blown over by the time we arrived, mid-afternoon, so setting up was a breeze as usual.

The only slightly disappointing thing was that the site is not at Otley's actual ground, which is almost in the town centre, but at their training ground about three-quarters of a mile further out. We found this out after turning into the main ground... harrumph.

What 3 Words Location

No shortage of alehouses

Anyway, post-setup, we walked into town (embrace the positives. It's all good exercise) and fairly quickly found ourselves in a Turkish bistro type of place, initially for a coffee, but after perusing the menu, for food too.

And how glad we were. The grub was superb. Very Aegean. Very meaty. Very good. We may well return later in the week.

Love a ghost sign

Having tucked that away, we had a quick orientation wander, and it should be said that Otley fair impresses. There are very few empty shops (which is refreshing) and some very attractive looking ones.

And another. Sadly not so clear.

It was late afternoon though, so there was little opportunity for more intimate probing.

What we did intimately probe, though, was Tittybottle.

Tittybottle Park sits right next to the River Wharfe, and provides seating with pleasant views of the river, and the start of a riverside walk finishing quite close to the THS.

Odd ol' name though... but this link provides context: https://discoverleeds.co.uk/things-to-see-and-do/outdoors/tittybottle-park/

Quite obvious really!

Just along from the park lies a long weir, dropping the river's level at a narrower section adjacent to what was once a paper mill, Garnett's Mill, now converted to desirable river-view apartments.

Between the mill building and the eastern end of the weir is a small, novel power plant utilising water running over/driving two exposed Archimedes screws.

It's possibly rather noisy for the poor hard-done-by residents of the no-doubt overpriced apartments right next to it though. Still, that's the price you pay!

There's a big garden centre next door to the THS site, with the obligatory café, so we'll probably call in at some point, if only for a coffee. However, most of the drink-making and food cooking will likely be done in the van, on the induction hob, so this will be a proper test of the 12v system away from the sun of France and Spain (as of now, late on Wednesday morning, we've seen little sun - and quite a lot of rain, so the solar system needs to be on its mettle if we're not going to switch to the very much second-choice LPG). So far though, it's doing OK. We've boiled a couple of kettles so far this morning, and it's quite dull - raining now, as I type! - and the Smart Shunt (which is effectively the battery's fuel gauge) is showing 82% of charge, and there's 92w coming in from the solar panel, which is fair considering the lack of sun!

Victron app main display

Weds PM:

Admin now having dealt with lunch; air-fried chicken goujons in wraps, and very tasty indeed, (oh, and coffee) the power reserve has dropped to the low 70% region, fairly predictably, but is slowly recovering due to the slightly improved weather conditions after being Wet, Wet, Wet for much of the morning and early PM.

By nightfall, even after a few more uses of the hob, it's up to 81%. It would be much higher with full sun, but we didn't get anything remotely like that, so I'm happy enough.

11.30am on Thursday, and the solar has put over half a kW into the battery so far, and having boiled the kettle once, it's up to 88%.

We eventually walked back into town, with the intention of tracking down a bit of lunch, and then, just before we reached the centre, there was that aroma again.

We'd passed the Maypole chipoil the other day, and I'd rather cheekily enquired of a couple eating outside if it was any good, and they indeed confirmed that it was the best for miles around. It certainly smelt it.

So, in we went, ordered regular haddock, chips and peas each, and sat outside in the sunshine to devour them (with the aid of a cheeky local feline). And my, were they good? Very fresh, very tasty, and that batter. Every bit as good as it looks, and generally the batter is the first bit I tend to discard. I ate most of this. All in all it was the best F&C I've had in years - and I think Admin agrees!

Following that, we carried on into town in search of a cuppa - which is where it all went dreadfully, spirallingly, wrong. The Chippendale Tea Room. It sounds OK, doesn't it? After all, it's named for the famed furniture maker that hailed from these parts, so it must be quality eh?

No. It's not.

Far from it.

What I somehow failed to fully notice on the way to the front door was the profusion of weeds and dead shrubs in tubs, and the general feel of decay about the place. And it didn't improve much inside. There's a certain inexplicable odour, and a layer of dust on the detritus that some may more kindly describe as ornaments.

And then there's Mine Host, who (and I didn't make this particular observation, merely embellishedit very slightly...) looked like someone who wasn't quite up to performing in the Roly Polys.

The only other customer looked like he was a fixture, and engaged in a constant parlay with Madame, and was very evidently rather deaf.

Why we even bothered ordering tea will remain one of the enduring mysteries of the twenty-first century.

After forcing some down, and paying (it seemed churlish to refuse) and noting that the toilet facilities were 'out of order' (which was a blessed relief to be fair) we made our escape and, breathing deeply, headed for the nearby Sainsbury's.

Never has a Supermarket bog felt so wholesome.

Friday proved to be similar, weather-wise, to almost every other day. Sunny spells, and wet ones. We walked into town again, wandered around, ate a very good sandwich, drank good tea and coffee, and wandered back again via Tittybottle and the riverside path. Totally unremarkable, but pleasant enough.

Tonight, Admin threw together a meal of steak, boiled new spuds, and broccoli, all on the induction hob, all with free power courtesy of Mr Sunshine. Superb it was too. And even though we also boiled three kettles-full, and all this after the clouds had completely blotted out our power station, we still have 65% of our lithium-shaped volts left in the tank.

That's the way to do it!

Saturday dawned grey and wet, and looks set for the day. With no solar income to speak of, this was going to be a good test of electrical resources.

By 8am the 'tank' level had crept up by one percent, but I hadn't put the kettle on yet. That'll drop it by 5%. There's definitely going to be a net 'spend' today. However, I intend to avoid succumbing to the temptation to use the gas, so let's see how low we go.

We have switched to gas once this week; not through power requirement necessity, but because Admin wanted to use the Omnia oven to roast some carrots etc.

No, that's not the built-in Thetford gas oven that the van came with btw. These things are fairly poor to be frank, and ours has tended to be utilized as a pan store ever since we've had it. So, a couple of weeks ago I took the decision - with permission of course - to rip it out, and cover the resultant cavity with a door (made from 15mm MDF, with soft-close hinges, and matching - to the existing adjacent cupboards - handle and catch).

It works really well too.

Importantly, there's much more useable storage, and just as importantly, it doesn't rattle like a tin box full of cheap spanners while driving.

We both think it looks good too (and I don't think Admin is fibbing to make me feel better. At least I hope not), painted to match in with the 'tiles' we'd already added above the sink.

It's all reversible too, so if we decide to sell, the new owners have a choice as to which condition they wish it to be handed over in.

Win. And win.

Oh yes; the Omnia oven.

This is a rather clever stove-top device, internally compartmented to channel hot air over the food - and works remarkably well. Of course, the capacity is not huge, and the fact that it doesn't work on induction is a slight issue, but in conjunction with the small 12v-240v inverter-powered air 'fryer', it's all rather versatile.

Works for us, anyway.

Well, the promised steady rain (oh Jetstream, why hast thou forsaken us?) that was promised settled in steadily yesterday, Saturday, evening, and steadfastly stayed all night. And it's still coming down at 10.30am.

Given that the grass we're parked on has had a fair soaking on and off, and that we're parked nose-down on a slight slope reminiscent of Bedford RFC's pitch (albeit on levelling ramps), it's all-fingers-crossed that this 3.5 tonne lump can drag itself out of here without any drama shortly.

Those in the centre of the field seem to be managing ok; it's the last day today so everyone is shipping out. However, we're right at the edge of the plot, all on our lonesome just as we like it, and there's a definite slope toward the perimeter.

I'm sure everything will be fine!

It was fine. Although I had to very carefully feather the pedal. There was certainly some slippage, but, with care, nothing too worrying.

The battery has been battered, however.

Last night, Admin cooked Chicken Kievs (Kyivs?) and spuds in the air fryer. A long drawn-out business at over a kilowatt, and as a result the 'fuel' gauge read 35% by the end of the day (and this was with the engine running for a few minutes just to help a bit). Solar was non-existent at this point, so it seemed prudent to add 20 amps or so for a while.

It makes me wonder if it would have been worth changing the dc-dc for a 30 amp Victron Orion Smart one, but we decided to save the cost, and the decision hasn't bitten us yet. I'll ponder that one, and maybe speak to Mark and Luke (not the apostles, just naughty boys 😉...) at Bluefix. They'll be thoroughly sick of me at this rate.

Anyway, after a couple of kettle-boilings, it's now down to 28%. That's still perfectly within safe limits, and will no doubt be bolstered back to somewhat nearer full as we wend our way down the M1 through the pouring wet - there's a little solar, 70 watts ish, coming in too now, even though it's still very overcast and wet.

That's the beauty of lithium. Had it been a flooded or AGM type one, apart from the considerable weight and size penalties, we'd have been back cooking on gas days ago - or else we'd be looking at scrap batteries.

Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Definitely. (And ultimately cheaper in the long run given the potential charging cycles of lithium vs lead acid etc).

So here we are home again at about 2.30pm on Sunday the 23rd.

The run home was, er, mixed, with lots of rain, some dryish spells, and thankfully no major hold-ups.

On our return the battery had recovered to 77% of charge (I was hoping for a bit more if I'm honest, but that's the limitations of the Schaudt 20 amp dc-dc for you, and the almost non-existent solar input.

The van's computer indicates that we've used fuel commensurate with a 200 mile run, when in fact we covered 264, so that's pretty good. No, I wasn't pressing on madly, given the mostly lousy weather, but I wasn't dawdling either, so I'm happy with that return.

I just need to ponder the potential Victron dc-dc upgrade now.

Later!