MoT season begins

 



We have a bit of a vehicle fleet which my attempts to rationalise have only been partially successful.  S is a little resistant and overall I have had rather more luck with the motorbikes than cars.  It remains a work in progress.


Today was the first MoT of the year.  It was Ava, the Renault Avantime.  As with most of the fleet this meant we went to Whittlesey which was a bit of a trek as Whittlesey Wash was closed due to flooding.  No real surprise there.  The occasional day of respite aside, it has been raining, seemingly, forever and as flood plains go Whittlesey Wash can be relied upon to flood regularly and close the road.  Curiously that hasn’t stopped houses being built bang beside the closure barriers but planning authority decisions are beyond both me and the scope of this blog post.





Once we finally got there, on yet another grey and wet day, an omelette in the Sunshine Cafe was called for, indeed practically obligatory, whilst waiting.  Sadly the weather meant the plant stall opposite the garage was closed.  Since I am short of places to put anything right now, on account of the ground being soaked and the greenhouse being full of cardboard and kindling, that might not be a bad thing.


Ava got through so, hopefully, she will be in top form for our ‘Cars and Cathedrals Tour’ planned for a couple of months time.  The rough idea is to head over to Calais after work and stay overnight at the Holiday Inn at Calais Coquelles/Sangatte.  Yes, I know I’m not selling it but trust me on this it looks pretty good.  We took the MiL’s Hyundai Ioniq 5 down to the South of France a few years back and wanted to recharge before the crossing back.  We didn’t want to risk there not being anywhere at the Tunnel as we were well down on charge.  The Holiday Inn at Calais Coquelles was showing a number of 350 charging points available and it wasn’t until we got closer that things started showing up as Sangatte by which time we had so little range we were committed.  It looks lovely so we are giving the hotel itself a go on this trip.  


From there we are heading down to Rouen for a bit of culture, then dropping into the Loire where we will wave at the factory where Ava was made and visit a car museum.  From there we head off, via Orleans, to Reims for a couple of nights where there is another car museum.  We drove by the Cathedral, in the early hours of the morning, having got hopelessly lost looking for a charging station on the trip to the South of France with the Ioniq 5 so an intentional trip might put that minor trauma to rest.


By the time we got back the weather had improved and the snowdrops were giving way to daffodils on the verges.  Not quite the walk in the park weather from Wednesday but better than the day started.



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