Ziggy played Laika....

When we bought the old Cheyenne our first trip away was overnight at the Royal Estate Sandringham, a caravan and Motorhome club site. One thing we did remember was that both the TV reception was awful if you relied on the Van’s aerial - and the mobile coverage was shocking! On the way to the site - where we live is only 20 odd miles as the crow flies from home - we decided to stop and look at the ruined abbey at North Creake - neither of us had been there before - we knew there was not much but….. This also gave me an opportunity to get used to driving Ziggy - our old Moho was also based on a Fiat Ducati but with the 2.5 normally aspirated engine. The difference is noticeable - the old van cruised comfortably at 50 mph - Ziggy is comfortable at 55 or even 60 - and rather than having to drop down multiple gears for steep hills, the turbo has made a BIG difference. After that short break, we drove through Burnham Market and the smell of New Money and arrived at Sandringham bob on 1300. T...

 Having never used a serviced pitch before - I needed to find out what it meant.... In simple terms it means that each pitch has its own water supply, and its own Grey Waste solution. I have always been used to the power but.... In the past, I have emptied grey waste at a Service point when in a Moho or by trundling the grey waste external receiver from my caravan days so - I went to have a look at my preferred forums for advice - MotorhomeFactsForum and my Laika Farcebook group. Responses were swift and helpful - as always, and once I understood what was needed, I remembered the long length of grey waste pipe that I had used previously - I had effectively lived in my caravan on my drive during covid. The feedback from helpful people indicated that I needed to have some form of waste pipe, and that the length could be varied.... I read on the solution from assorted places, and elected to take a trip to Homebase and get some parts - to me, it made sense to have a selection of length...

 When we started to look around and plan our first trip in Ziggy, we wanted something close by, but with a purpose. For what ever reason - probably because i am allergic to doing Grockle things - I have never been to Horsey to see the seals - so after a quick search, I found a local campsite called Walnut Farm - £28 later, we were booked in for a Saturday night. This part of Norfolk is very close to sea level - there is a huge dune / sea defence that basically keeps the land as - well, dry land ! Once we had parked up, we went for the mile walk to the beach, and walked alongside the North Sea - and no, we did not fancy a dip!   The part of the Seal Colony we walked through was the less popular end - we saw perhaps 60 seals in total, ranging in age - the only one that got Marcy was a young, probably male Pup - bloody teenagers! We walked along the beach up to Horsey gap, then walked into the village to visit the Nelson Head Pub - good beer and cider collection. After a couple o...

 So, we have not actually been out over night in Ziggy as yet, but - we have booked two over night stays. For Christmas I was given a Bucket List Map of Great Britain and Jo and myself sat down and had a peruse. We both realised that neither of us had been to see the seals at Horsey… Horsey has the largest gathering of Grey Seals in the UK - the map said Blakeney but us locals know better - Blakeney is a money pit full of Londoners with Chelsea tractors…. Any way, we are off to Walnut Farm near Waxham to look at the Seals! Following on from that trip - we can only do alternate week ends as my sons come to stay - we are off to Sandringham. This is only 40 miles from us, but it’s where we first went when we bought our old Cheyenne - and we have a free night voucher courtesy of the Caravan and Motorhome Club. Not much for us to see and do on the way, but I suspect that we might go due North and turn left at Wells - and take the coast road to enjoy the view!

 So SWMBO Jo likes comfort - and I get that as well... at the wrong side of 50, having a good nights sleep is important. After the old Cheyenne, Jo wanted both a practical bed - not involving Ladders, and not needing to be assembled each night, so when we bought Ziggy she was really pleased at thew transverse bed - it is a decent size after all! The fitted mattress is ok - lets be honest, its 21 years old, so she wanted a mattress topper. Getting some advice from  https://www.motorhomefacts.com/forums/  we soon worked out that we were not going to get something off the shelf as the mattress has a cut out shape Not deterred we went to  https://www.mrfoamnorwich.co.uk/foam-cutting  to buy some foam - what we didn't know was that he does offer a bespoke cutting service if you provide a template but - anyway, we went and bought a long length of 3 inch foam and took it home - very kindly they had also applied a stockinette cover - with a small amount of spray adhesiv...

One of the things that Jo and I wanted to do with Ziggy was to not be reliant on a car - so I cooked up the plan, sold my old triathlon training bikes, and bought a couple of E-Bikes . But, as the more observant may have noticed, Ziggy doesn't have a bike rack fitted... and the garage would not take a couple of adult bikes either. So, I started researching and thanks to a lovely lady called Daniele from Laika Customer services, I found out that the original Kreos 3010 was fitted with a Fiamma Carry Bike L80. (I did get a quote from a - unspecified Laika dealer for one but at £750 I paled - but  https://everythingfiamma.co.uk/  had the correct unit for £280 including delivery). But what about the fitting - well, I did get several quotes for that - all agreeing on 4 hours labour - the quotes ranged from £80 an hour to £120 per hour plus VAT. So I sat down and read the instructions - and one thing leapt out at me: The actual space that the frame could be fitted in was very small ...

 When we bought Ziggy, I noticed that there was no oven, rather a quite bespoke looking microwave had been fitted. On close examination, and putting my Elf 'n' Safty hat on - once I realised that it had been installed in July 2002, and had no turntable - I elected to get it changed over. So first thing to do was to take the old one out and inspect the inside of the cupboard. I was pleased to see that the carcass was in good order with nothing of note. As it was Black Friday, and knowing the dimensions of the aperture, I spent some time researching what was needed on Amazon, and then selected something that I knew would fit in aesthetically. The old microwave had been secured with the two front "feet" anchored into a batten, and once I realised this I measured up "feet" and the hole and then extended it to secure the new microwave. (Not the prettiest job but - it was effective!) One thing that I had noticed on the old microwave (Can folk please make sure they...