Thursday 23rd June (Day 1)
Well this is the reason we came home; to take Billina to the main Rapido dealers. Overnight we had a months worth of rain in less than an hour accompanied by thunder and lightening and continued rain. Just what is required if you have a leak! No water was inside themotorhome though which is confusing. Anyway before we left we had to try and get Matthew to somewhere where he could get to work. Trains were cancelled; rail and roads flooded; chaos ensued after last nights weather. I settled for Hainault underground station but two miles took almost 30 minutes so back home we came. We then abandoned Matt to his own devices and left for Great Yarmouth. Me driving the MH and Chris following in the car. We parked the car at the dealer premises and drove on to the Old Hall Hotel in Caister. Here we were warmly welcomed. £15 for the night with £10 off drink or meal, plus free use of the swimming pool, jacuzzi, steam and sauna rooms, oh and the gym. We tried to book a massage for Chris but they had no appointments free so we just used the facilities (missed the gym). After couple of hours we strolled around Caister (not much to see). Then it was a bit of TV before a very nice meal in the restaurant. A bit more tv then bed for a prompt start in the morning.
Friday 24th June (Day 2)
Up and away by 8.00am. Having said that firstly there was the news that the country had voted ourselves to leave the EU - quite a surprise. Anyway by 8.20am we were a the dealers and by 9.00am we had explained and shown the problem and were off in the car. We drove north up the coast and stopped at Hemsby (Norfolk's answer to Jaywick in Essex). Tattoo shops, betting offices, 'kiss me quick' type shops - yes I know showing a bit of snobbery here - sorry. Anyway for less than £10 we had a good breakfast in a café, playing nothing but pop music from 60's and early 70's - "I'd like to teach the world to sing"; "Do Wah Diddy" etc. Off then to Wrexham where we parked up. strolled around for a short while before taking a boat ride for 90 minutes on The Broads in sunny pleasant whether, which was both informative and a nice change. We saw a variety of wild life; an example of the local working boat - a wherry and even the house George Formby lived in. Then by 1.00pm we decided to make our way home which was just as well we did. Traffic going north along the A12 was ten plus miles of crawling traffic and we were pleased we were southbound. Pride comes before a fall. Just at the turn off for Sheffield the traffic stopped - a clear affect of a blocked M25 - 5 miles further on. We managed to get off at this junction and had a slow journey into Brentwood before turning off and using back-doubles and finishing the journey in a reasonable time.
