Though traditionally an inauspicious date, having placed the order back in October, Friday the thirteenth proved lucky for us as we travelled down to Rye with Ruth to collect a Roller Team T-Line 740. Ships are usually referred to as feminine, but in this instance, our new purchase is now affectionately known as Alan the Motorhome. If you are wondering why we are calling the vehicle Alan, it is named in honour of Robert’s Uncle Alan, who sadly passed away in May 2017 and whose generosity has enabled us to embark on this new adventure. Matilda is resistant to driving Alan, although she accepts she should at least get a feel for it in case Robert is incapacitated at any point. It just looks so BIG. Ruth was therefore the first passenger as Matilda drove the car we had all travelled down to Rye in home. She was a little concerned when Alan pulled over after only a matter of minutes. It transpired that something was rattling – we later found out this was the showerhead which we have now replaced with an Eco Camel – review to follow. Lesson for the day: reversing on to the drive is an art.
2018 Purchasing Alan the Motorhome
Having ordered a motorhome in October, we returned to the February Motorhome and Caravan Show to look at accessories and extras for our new motorhoming lifestyle. One thing we were particularly interested in was Britstops, a book with over one thousand pubs, vineyards, breweries, cafés, fish and chip shops and heritage sites where you can stay overnight for free. Pubs and breweries: you can see this is a close match with two of Robert’s interests. The 2018 edition is launched in February at the show. We bought Britstops and the ASCI card which offers significant discounts at European camp sites off-season. Both are annual subscriptions.
Sunday, 19th November 2017 So today we went for a drive down to Rye, in East Sussex. We were visiting JC Leisure who are the dealers that we are getting Alan the motor home through. After having paid the remainder of the deposit that we owed, we went for a wonder to see a Rollerteam T-740 that they has in stock. This is what Alan will look like. So we also now have a idea of the date that we are expecting to get Alan: Sometime around the first week of April.
This day marked the very beginning of a new adventure, when a motorhome was just a glint in Robert’s eye and we travelled up to ‘The Motorhome and Caravan Show 2017’ at the NEC, Birmingham. Robert had done some extensive on-line research and had previously visited a dealer in Romford to view the model he thought would meet our requirements. The dealer was very professional and user-friendly and advised Robert not to place an order with him there and then as a new 2018 model would be available which would be launched/previewed at the Motorhome and Caravan Show at the NEC in Birmingham. He also said there would be staff from lots of dealerships who would be keen to offer discounts and deals at the show. He warned however, that they would be from dealerships from all round the UK and you could talk to someone who would offer you a deal only to find they were based at the opposite end of the country. So if you want to have maintenance, servicing and habitation checks you might prefer to build a relationship with your local dealer. We visited the show and hoped to place an order with him but […]