MMM – September 2019

September 2019outandaboutlive.co.uk 13

There areother guides...

In the July issue (p209)ther e is a review

of an old favourite –All The Aires,

France. My wife and Iused these a

few years ago on our first motorhome

holiday in Normandy and found them

very useful – but,as indicated , heavy!

On a recent non-motorhome trip

to France I foundsome other guides.

These were published by Miche lin.

The first one is entitledL’ Europeen

camping-car. It is written in French, but

lists 75 tour ist routes in 25countries.

These aretypically seven day s and

around 500km.

Each day’s informationstarts with

a comment ortwo ab out the departure

place andthengive s some, butnot very

many, comments about salient places

en route. There are area maps showing

each route, with sugges ted campsites

or ai res at the ends of each

day’s journey. The map

supplied shows the Deutsche

Alpenstrasse (GermanAlpine

Road). The notes a lso sugges t

places to eat.

Information on each

campsite or ai re is very similar

to thatMichelinuses for its

basic camping guides. It is

not dissimilar tothat in the aires book

but does not ha ve photosor detailed

directions to find the sites.

The only problem was it doesn’t

cover France! For that you need

Escapades encamping-carFrance.

Although the books are inFrench,

they are available on the in ternet or in

Frenchmotorway bookstalls.

My wife and I arehoping to use

the Frenchbook when holidaying in

Brittany in August/September.

Peter Hills

EDYou can buyboth of these guides

through Michelin’s UK website priced

£16.99 each travel.michelin.co.uk

but if you search online you may be

ableto i nd the guides cheaper (£12-

£14 from Amazon).

Induction light
I ha ve just read the Product
of the Month inAccessories,
(Summer, p198).
There are manyof us who
have a pacemaker fitted. One
instructionwas not to have an
inductionhob fitted.
As the light has an
induction-chargingsystem,
have you checked with the BHF
to seeif the Nitesafe nightlight
can be usedby those of us that
have a pacemaker fitted?
T Lambourne

EDWeasked Lakelandto
check andthe company
conirmedthat this product
is OKforthose who havea
pacemaker itted.

No indicators here

After two wonderfulmonths of

getting to know our new ’van

conversion, having had avery

large motorhome before,we

decid ed to treat Bridget to a

satellite system.

Driving to Northwich t o

have it fitted, as we approached

the top of our road to turn

right, the indicatorswere going

mad making a sound like a

very fast clock tick and asmall

warning light cameon. They

seemed tostill be working so,

as we were only going 20 miles

up the road, we continued.

Having had the work done,

we mentionedthe indicators

to, but the company said, as

the ’van was under warran ty,

it was best to get a Fiat garage

to check it. Simple you would

think, but,no, this is where it

gets interesting.

We got in touch with

the motorhomedealer, who

sugges ted we call Fiat Assist as

the ’van was under warran ty.

Having called them, they sent

an RAC man to“assist” us.

He arrived, spent ashort

time looking at the vehicl e and

sugges ted that it needed to go

to a Fiat garage.

To cut avery longstory

short, the Fiat garage claimed it

was to dowith the conversion

electrics, while the supplying

dealer could not find the

cause. A lo cal auto electricia n’s

diagnostic readi ng suggested

a proble m with the on-board

“body management unit”.

Back ata Fiat garage, it

stated the fault lied with the

towbar electrics! However,

as the fault was with an

aftermarket ad dition, it hadn’t

fixed the indicatorproble m.

The dealer found amobile

engineer who was confident

he could fix the fault, c alling

at our house. Finally, he came

to the do or with the keys, bu t

had not been able to help! He

stated it was a faulty indicator

stalk! Grey hairs appeared andI

called the dealer.

Where is the ’van now? Back

with the dealer, either being

fixed orgoing to an early grave.

We only had her for three short

months butwe do miss her.

The dealer hastried fitting a

new indicatorstalk, butthis

has not worked. My hair is now

going white!

It is agreed it will loan us

a motorhome so we can get

on with our travels, while

it attempts to fix the fault.

The mechanic has hadthe

indicatorsworking and

sugges ted it is an engine

computer error.Now, the

vehicl e is going back to Fiat but

it won’t take it immediatel y, so

watch this space!

A fed upRoy & Denise Allen

Thanks forgood work

We would like to thank Andy

and his team at Caravan and

Motorhome Solutionsnear

Chard forexcellent work that

he has just donefor us.

Some weeks ago, at an

enterpris e some distance

from here, we had had avery

sub-standardinstallationof a

refillable gas system. We were

most upset andthen afriend

told usabout Andy.

Andy was so helpful and

competent;he reinstalled

the gas system correctly and

securely. He sorted out the level

of the regulator, made sure that

the cylinders were properly

attached tothe gas lo cker and

thatno fumes could get i nto

the ’van. We recommendAndy

and his team forall motorhome

work. He is excellent.

Sandy &Jan Robertson

EDFind outmore caravan

motorhomesolutions.co.uk

)01460 63320

LETTERS