Bringing Lilibet back to life...
Just to confirm, we are talking about our motorhome here (not the second coming of the exorcist!)
If you are a frequent receiver of our posts, you will be aware that we have a much loved 1994 Niesmann and Bischoff motorhome. She joined our family a couple of years ago and we have been slowly getting to know her over this time with the vision of spending a lot more time adventuring together.
So let me introduce you to her properly…
I take you back to the 1990’s when the Niesmann and Bischoff company had launched the ‘Flair’ model. Born in 1994, Lilibet proudly rolled off the production line in Polch, Germany ready to hit the open European roads. She is a manual, left-handed drive (perfect for European travel, not so much for the UK roads!), 6 berth, fixed double bed at rear, separate shower and toilet compartments, microwave, fridge/freezer, double sink, 3 ring gas hob, fully rotating front seats, approximately 2.4m x 4.8m, beauty!
Why Lilibet? We picked her up the same day as it was announced that Queen Elizabeth II had passed away…it just seemed fitting. We are very sure that the Royal Family are pleased with our decision, we do currently assume this though as we haven’t heard back from them yet
As a left-handed drive, she is perfectly matched to the European continent and this is why we choose her as our home on wheels. As you can imagine, driving her around the UK is a two person job (there have been occasions when turning left in the UK, I have had to jump out of my seat, look through the passenger window to see if the road was clear and then quickly jump back into the driving seat and pull off as fast as possible… this is not advisable!) and so we are really looking forward to getting her onto the right hand side of the road as soon as possible. So following a period of the winter with her being in storage, it is time to wake her up!
First job - battery reconnection. The battery has always been a bit of a bug bear for us, as it is located high up into the back of the engine compartment and not the easiest to either take out or put back in again due to the location. However, when we put her to bed late last year we removed the battery and put it on a trickle charge in our utility room so that it kept a decent charge over the winter. Now was the time to get the battery back in again…I am going to be honest, there was a lot of huffing and puffing from me (Mark) to get her safely reconnected.
Most people would like to see me struggling with this battery re-entry, so why not head over and see it in full technicolour (we have highly edited to make sure for family viewing):
So with battery successfully reconnected, it was time for the internal/external clean down. If you will allow me to take you on a journey, she actually smelled pretty decent inside. I was a little expecting there to be a whiff of ‘something’, but no…she smelt like she always did, like a welcoming charity shop mixed with a vanilla candle. What we did come across in a drawer within the kitchen area was a little more concerning, but go see that on the video…I will not be able to do it justice here.
With the inside cleaned up, gas bottles and stove checked, electrics checked and the boot re-organised…on to the outside. Now as she had been standing there in the great British weather for winter, she was looking pretty green and slimy, however, the site that we park her on when not travelling has an amazing jet water cleaning system and we went full on to get that shine back. Now looking her early thirties very best, she is ready to take us out to explore the world. OK, not quite the whole world, but some of it at least.
So what have we got in plan this year I hear you ask?
Currently in plan - We are heading up to middle England to do some Goat Yoga (long story, go subscribe on our YT channel to see that), down onto the South Coast to walk some of the coastline with friends from Australia, back up to North Wales for a 60th Birthday celebration (not mine before you ask!), and then we are planning a three month road trip into Spain that may well include an amazing Camino de Santiago walk…very excited about that one!
Make sure that you subscribe to our channel to get the latest on us experiencing life a little differently to the Monday to Friday 9-5…it is going to be an experience for us all!
Till next time!