31st May CASTELO BRANCO

We picked up our new truck today; the dealer had said that the insurance would be about 248€, we thought “great, that’s really cheap” – stupid idiots!!! Of course that was for 3^rd party, without fire and theft, literally 3^rd party. We asked for a quote for fully comp, bloody hell, it was 900€; they could see us panicking, they offered to get a fully comp quote without ‘acts of God’, terrorism and reducing the replacement cost for the vehicle – final quote 714€, we had no choice, we accepted (of course we haven’t built up a ‘no claims’ bonus here yet).

Brett drove it back to the campsite with me following in the camper. We went a very roundabout route after driving away from the showroom;,he took the wrong turn for the zona industrial, then he found the right road, but he drove the wrong way out of the zona industrial,  so we passed in front of the Mitsubishi showroom again (hoping the man wasn’t looking out!) and then he finally found the right way – I think Brett was trying to take my mind off driving the camper on my own (baptism of fire!), it worked; Brett says it wasn’t because he’s stupid, he had to keep looking for his gear stick and indicators (they’re on the wrong side). Once he got used to it, he said, the truck drove quite nicely.

New truck!

After lunch Brett drove to a nearby barragem; we were going to have a walk around it but it was far too hot there, so I drove back to the campsite. Hahaha, everytime I went to change gear my left arm automatically moved (it was a bit like patting your head and rubbing your stomach with the opposite hands), I’m sure with practise I’ll be fine; Brett spent the whole time telling me I was too close to the verge (I was saying exactly the same to him on the outgoing journey). On a positive note driving the camper van is a doddle!!

Camper and Ute

The truck (or maybe I’ll start calling it ‘the Ute’) has air conditioning; it’s absolutely brilliant it blows cold air into the foot well, it was a real treat when we got in after being outside at the barragem. It’s much more effective than open windows; apparently ‘Myth Busters’ did a fuel consumption test: air conditioning v open windows and they both used about the same amount of fuel.

Before we picked up the truck we did some more material sourcing; we found a solid fuel range (a bit like a Rayburn, but more old fashioned looking) 2000€ (which is cheap compared to a new Rayburn), a rather nice ceramic sink (double or one and a half sinks) with drainer similar to the one we put in at the farm but only about 250€ (we think we paid £280 before and that was the cheapest we could find), and some really nice wall tiles for behind range and sink in a lovely matt green (square and brick shaped) about 14€ m2.

 We have yet to find any interior paint colours we like, the colours on offer are all very LOUD; shocking pink, acid green and yellow etc or white, not the traditional/historical chalky colours we favour, if we can’t get colours we like we’ll have to paint the whole house white or find a way to mix our own. The other negative thing about paint is that it’s very expensive compared to the UK, and I thought it was expensive there.

I’ve been brooding about the pillars that are needed if I want to have large rooms and I think I have the solution for the kitchen; we’ll have a wooden pillar (or clad a block built one) and incorporate it into the island we’re going to build, then I can hang kitchen utensils, garlic and chillies etc off it. The one in the other building shouldn’t be a problem as the space is probably going to be partitioned off into three separate rooms – so problem solved.