Back On The Road Again...

For the past month I’ve been doing my best to get my fridge working properly again, it’s been frustrating to say the least, with misinformation, wrong diagnosis and false promises. On Monday I managed to find a Waeco service agent near Almeria and made an appointment for yesterday morning.
I left Canada de Gallego on Tuesday, I’d been there with friends since before Christmas. Although I’ll miss my friends I was glad to be on the move again. I drove along the coast  in bright sunshine until I reached Mojacar where I found a place to free camp on the beach. It was a lovely quiet spot with just a couple of other campers. I looked out through my windows to the calm sea, hearing only the gentle lapping of the waves on the pebble beach.

Wednesday dawned bright and sunny. I set off around 10 am making my way towards Almeria. Driving along my mind driffted back a few years, I’d met some people in Gabo
De Gata who had told me of a great place to buy wine in cartons, ideal for the camper, no glass bottles to break. I struggled to remember where the place was, but shortly afterwards I pasted a sign for Benahadux and remembered the name, it was the place I’d bought the wine from five or six years ago. I turned off the highway, driving the short distance to the town, finding the ‘Chaparrel Wine Caven’ at the end of the high street. It was just as I now remembered it. A large wooden barrel outside some impressive wooden doors which led into the dark interior. Inside was an impressive selection of wines as well as some beers and sprirts. Wine there main seller. I found a good red wine in a 15 litre carton, the equivelent of 20 normal bottles. The wine was in an airtight bag within the carton it had a tap in it so the wine would keep fresh for some time. At €22.60 it was good value, I returned to TC a happy man with a large box.

Mid afternoon found me on the outskirts of Almeria in an industrial estate where the Waeco service agents had thier workshop. I drove around and found a place nearby to spend the night so I could be there early in yesterday morning. Up early I pulled up outside the workshop and didn’t wait long before a young technician came out to meet me and have a look at the fridge. I explained the problems I’d been having and the difficulty of getting someone to look at it. Within a short while he had diagnoised the problem, it was the main electronic module. Although he had a new module the job was a lot harder than it should have been as the module is fitted to the back of the fridge and we couldn’t get the fridge out. In the end I had to dismantal the cupboards and panels around and above the fridge so the technician could squeeze his hands down the back of the fridge to replace the module. While I had the chance I asked him to check the gas in the fridge as I didn’t want to have to take the camper apart again, just as well as the fridge gas needed to be topped up. Happy that the fridge was now fixed I rebuilt the vans interior and drove away, happy to be back on the road, even if my wallet was a little lighter. A little further along the coast I found another beachfront free camp, although it was full of campers, and parked up for the night, cooked dinner and relaxed with a glass of my red wine.

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The Waco technician hard at work in a small space replacing the electronic module.