Super Dave repairs our caravan water heater and we cycle to Hailsham Farmers Market

We have only been able to use our Truma water heater on gas since the

Llamas (or alpacas) by the Cuckoo Trail 

autumn as its electrics tripped out and haven't worked since. We did begrudge having to use up our precious gas when most campsites charge a fixed price for electric hookup regardless of how much is used. Heating a saucepan full on the electric hob was an option, but we don't have particularly large saucepans!

Dave spent ages researching the problem online and thought that the

The Homestead campsite from the Cuckoo Trail 

Heating Element was most likely to be at fault, although there were also other possibilities. The whole water heater retails at nearly a thousand pounds so we hoped replacing the element would work. Just that part was about eighty quid - outrageous compared to the price of one for general home use and the tank is only 10 litres! Anyhow, Dave ordered a new element from eBay while we were in France and had it delivered to Argos in Hailsham for easy collection. He also needed to get a mini socket set and connecting thingy from Screwfix. There's never any such thing as a simple task! Then, after a mere two days of trying to work in a ridiculously confined space with a combination of sparky electricity and leaky water, we have a perfectly working heater again. Well done Super Davey!

Our social whirl continues apace. Thursday afternoon we cycled along the Cuckoo Trail for a cuppa at Dad's and yesterday I drove up to Sutton to visit my sister and niece. I looked into travelling by train but was put off by the return fare being £26.60! And that was off-peak! Wouldn't it be nice to have a decent, affordable public transport network in Britain instead of so much tax revenue being frittered away on substandard roads that swiftly crumble away? I've dodged more gaping potholes on Sussex roads in a fortnight than we did during five whole months in Spain. Grrr!

We braved a seasonal rain shower this morning to visit the monthly

Wild Preserves jam trio 

Hailsham Farmers Market. Again, an easy cycle along the Cuckoo Trail to get there and it gave me a reason to don my comfy Marmot waterproof trousers for only the second time ever! Unfortunately the market itself was a disappointment. There were only about a dozen stalls and less than half had food items. I had hoped to get a nice pie or savoury pastry for lunch, maybe some fresh cheese too, but we had to settle for just a trio of Eastbourne-made Wild Preserves jams and cycling on to Waitrose instead. A shame as the weekly markets are pretty good so I had expected this one to be even better. It turned out that Waitrose has a small selection of local cheeses though and the Sussex Slipcote from High Weald Dairy is lovely.

At least we got out in the fresh air and the sun had returned by the time we got back to Bailey so now we can sit out on our loungers for a while, with a book apiece, before we set out again. Curry in Heathfield tonight!