Menootnaboot; Finding Faults And Fixing

On Monday, you saw my younger sisters and me having a lovely day together. It was fleeting but most enjoyable, and it was well worth the adjustment to my own timetable to be able to share it with them. By lunchtime of the second day, I drove off and headed further north—but only across the Firth of Forth to the fine county of Fife. 

There are some excellent inland sights in Fife, but it has to be said it is best known for the beauty of its coastline. Peppered with rugged and interesting geology, fine sandy beaches, good surfing waves, and many wee and delightful fishing ports, it certainly has much to keep the interest of most visitors. But come back tomorrow for the pretty and near-perfect. Today is about settling into the van life routine and The Grey a little more.

My first park up was only a little away from being right opposite the capital city, at a spot between the busy commuter town of Dalgety Bay and the smaller, quainter Aberdour.

Evening

Morning

There were no residences around, and the road was merely an access point for a major oil company; thus, there were no restrictions and no trouble staying the three nights I did. After a week and a half of non-stop go, two full days to rest and recuperate! The place was busy, though, as it was also a hub for cyclists, runners, walkers and dogs. It was a sunny weekend, which helped bring out the numbers. It was quite entertaining, and I got to love on a couple of hounds, which was a plus. I did a short walk away, but I was content just to stay in the van, door open, and utilise the 5G access to work on images and videos and such.

Monday rolled around, and I took off again, first briefly back into Dalgety Bay, as I needed fresh groceries. There was also a hardware store, so I popped in and got more Bungie ties and spring clamps. You can never have too many of those on hand! More were needed aboard here because the oil heater did have a habit of rolling about whenever I turned a corner... and a table that I bought at the furniture barn in Hawick when doing walkabout with Aitch, which was anchored by sharing with another from the side shelves, needed to be moved and have its own anchors. The move was good, making the flow of the workspace in The Grey more homely. Suddenly, with that one change, it started to feel very settled here. And now I can work the air fryer on the tabletop instead of the potty!

The gateleg table is perfect for this corner. It doesn't need to be up during travel and daily use. If parked for more than one night, it can have the leaf up, and I have full utility. I will find a lighter vinyl wrap to recover it, but it is perfectly serviceable as is. The heater is now over by the side shelves, and it feels right.

Remember, this is only the second trip out and is as much about finding out what works and what doesn't before I start actually bolting things to walls. 

One thing that became obvious when traversing yet another blind alley that Google took me down (Grey is proving an excellent war horse, an expert in multi-turn reversals in extremely confined conditions... including farm tracks...), and we went over some IED-style speed humps, was that the cheap metal shelves might actually be made only of tin foil...

The weight of battery A, combined with the sharp shock of those humps causing it to jump up and down - heavily - resulted in a reshaping of its tray and, consequently, the whole unit. The strip ties and Bungies held things in place, so no major catastrophe, but the angle of the A when I crawled back there was most disturbing. The initial cardboard prop was not going to cut the mustard. Thankfully, I was parked on a beach, and beaches tend to have detritus. One piece of said flotsam rode back in the Rolls-later from beach to Grey, where - having thought to bring my handsaw with me - I got to work...

As temporary fixes go, I am rather pleased with this one! The photo doesn't convey it particularly well, but the wedging in of the log has brought the A back to level, and it will work fine like this until I get back to base and can make a better fix—or replace it.

As you are all aware by now, The Grey is a BEV that requires refueling by plugging into a source of electricity. The battery not only takes me miles but also provides onboard power with which I can charge the power banks A and B and run the heater or the air fryer if I am not using the power banks for that. For those of you who watched the first video for this trip, you will know that locating chargers can occasionally have its frustrations. Some of that was conveyed in the relevant post. The costs, as mentioned then, vary considerably. However, the process is mostly fairly smooth, and it must be reported that Fife excels in this regard! There are all the usual money-hungry chargers, but there are also chargers provided by the council and found in most car parks, rail stations, and similar facilities. They have all been in good order and accessible, with bays that hold Grey and are not just for Dinky Toys. What is more, they are well-subsidised, for the costs here have been more than reasonable at a connection fee of £1.75 and then only 15p per consumed kW. Outstanding! I could happily make Fife my "main port" based on that alone.

Then there's the park ups... but more on that tomorrow.

NB: Several spots I've parked have had minimal (or, on one occasion, totally nil) cell reception, ergo, no Wi-Fi. If I seem AWOL from responding to your posts (or any comments that require an answer), it is purely because I am off-air. I'll catch up as and when I can.