Not long now

Spaniel proof upholstery...hopefully

Five days to go and the pace is going to hot up. It's that time when you begin to worry about what has been forgotten. We just did a couple of nights in Shrewsbury to shake down the van after the full service, cam belt change and  new shock absorbers. Great job by Lodge Bank Garage in Darwen. Since our last big outing we have fitted a 3G/4G aerial booster to give us more efficient wi fi, had the seats reupholstered in spaniel-proof material while Neri has made new and thicker curtains for the front window. Oh, and we installed reading lights in the cab area. The ones that came fitted to the van were not that efficient.

Neri spent two whole days putting down a new floor covering as the old one was beginning to look a little tired. Florence really is looking smart now.

Posh new flooring...just waiting for muddy paws

We think we now have all the permits and paperwork. We already had a French Crit'Air sticker, now we have the German equivalent so we can go into cities where there are restrictions on vehicle emissions. We also have a permit for Antwerp. Our engine is Euro 6 so we don't have too much problem but some cities are talking about banning diesel engines with Euro 1, 2 and 3 emission controls over the next couple of years. We don't intend to go into many cities but Hamburg and Antwerp are on the list as is Copenhagen. The latter only needs a permit for taxis and buses at the moment but I guess that will change.

We also registered for paying road tolls in Norway online. They use ANPR cameras rather than the toll tags we have used in France, Spain and Portugal in the past. Once registered they send us an invoice via e mail for whatever tolls we incur. I just need to check that we have all the adaptors to enable us to top up with LPG in all the 16 or so countries we will be visiting. That's except Finland which doesn't allow LPG for vehicles so we'll be rushing through before we run out.

Despite the best efforts of the EU, five of those countries don't use the euro so we have been loading the currency card with Norwegian Krone to get us up to Nordkapp. We have also equipped ourselves with International Driving Permits just in case we have left the EU before we return.

The house is now pretty much packed up, just a few things to go away and Florence to be loaded. Our new tenants are arriving two days after we leave which is good and means the house won't be empty for long. Mind you, our eagle-eyed neighbours will be keeping a watchful eye.

We are going to take a leisurely 4 days to drive down to the Channel tunnel so the dogs won't be stressed by a longer journey. After all, we have a year to do this trip!

That should be powerful enough to pick up the Rugby World Cup