Van of enormous power Mk 4

[Joeboy]

Turns out we can buy a matching pair of lightly used folding electric city bikes for £1,250. About 50 km range.

That's pretty decent for getting about and I can travel with them in the RV. No drilling into monocoque for bike rack.

[Stinsy]

Talking of bike rack, I finally “folded” and bought the Thule bike rack I intended to buy when I got the iD4 all them years ago:




Really nice bit of kit but obnoxiously expensive…

[Joeboy]

Talking of bike rack, I finally “folded” and bought the Thule bike rack I intended to buy when I got the iD4 all them years ago:




Really nice bit of kit but obnoxiously expensive…

That looks . Thule gear is great quality.

[Joeboy]

I've been in touch with the couple who own the two Raleigh Step E ways. They come with carry bags, rear rack bags and are basically brand new apart from a couple of uses. A generation old now though.

E motor, pedal assist with 4 assist settings and 8 speed gearbox. That seems simple and underpowered enough for me to begin with. SWMBO is going to find out about cycle routes around our way so we can use them via the EV or E van as well as RV touring.

260Wh battery, 50km range 15mph top whack. No idea about recharge if any.

This seems like a nice addition to the family E capability and we'll be able to charge (slowly) from the RV.

The nice lady is holding them for us until our return and knocked £150 off the asking price of £1,400 since we bought the pair.

Another 0.5kWh storage Nowty!

[richbee]

Sounds like a great idea for rv touring - turn up at a small French village, leave the rv somewhere safe & explore the tight & twisty cobbled streets without any problems

[Joeboy]

Sounds like a great idea for rv touring - turn up at a small French village, leave the rv somewhere safe & explore the tight & twisty cobbled streets without any problems

Thanks Rich, that's the hope.

EV charger at last campsite, 2xtype 2.



Up towards the coast and passed our first electronuclear roadside sign. I ran away, just in case.

The hypermarche are excellent, subsistence if I can call it that is on pain au choclat, pain baguette, fromage, saucisson, coarse porc pate, le vin rouge, bier belguiqe, in the evening it's le pain & sausage, steak, tomato etc. I am trying to cherry pick the regionale rustic food and I've got to say it's sublime.

















Every gourmand type store I've went into they are lighting up at my killing the language while explaining what I am looking for. SUCH nice folk.

[Fintray]

I loved the range of food that was available in France, I could easily live in a small village over there.

[Joeboy]

I loved the range of food that was available in France, I could easily live in a small village over there.

I can't get over the range of rough pate and strong almost Dutch cheese available.

Induction hob cooking fatty pork bbq pork for this evening.






Wind is picking up big time and not from the food!

[Bugtownboy]

Have you tried Pork Rillettes, Joe ? Shredded, slow cooked pork preserved in its own fat.

Naughty but nice

Another ‘delicacy’ we always brought home with us is tins of Confit de Canard - usually either two or five pieces of duck.

The duck is slowly cooked in duck fat then preserved in said fat.

To cook, open the tin, warm slightly to melt the fat, remove duck pieces and re-roast in a hot oven.

Use the fat in the tin to roast your tatties.

I think it’s delightful - tender, tasty duck meat and crispy skin.

Makes good roasties too.

Worth keeping a few tins in the pantry for a quick and easy impromptu ‘gourmet’ meal.