88. Boys day out

COSTA DA CAPRICA - LISBON - PORTUGAL

Stayed up half the night organising replacement bits for the Giantavan's missing rear bumper and lights.  An aftermarket replacement bumper can be bought for three hundred and fifty pounds in the UK but at eight feet wide and nearly two feet tall it will not be an easy item to ship. Getting the correct lights for it will also be a challenge.  With it being close to Christmas and midwinter, listings for caravan parts have evaporated.

This was at the large hardware store.
Sheet of ply on a palate, what could go wrong?

In the early afternoon the four lads, including Brian, set out, Halfords or Repco. The first turned out to be a dismantler so I set the GPS to Avoid Motorways and we drove through urban centres and stumbled upon a proper auto shop with a hardware store next door.  In the end I purchased a prewired trailer kit that I will splice into the existing remaining wiring.  The lights are unremarkable, square and simple but will do the trick.  At the hardware store I got bolts, Neatcap, and lightweight pre-drilled bar suitable for mounting that can be bent, some hex drive bits and a soldering iron to re-solder some of the flicking LED bulbs in the Giantavan.  A decent door mat to hopefully de-sand shoes before entering was also procured. A large shop at a medium sized supermarket followed.  Hopefully my eBay crimping kit will arrive tomorrow.  I eyed the crimpers in the shop today but look forward to the ratchet crimpers ordered on-line.
ostensibly to research and partly to escape.  We headed for a caravan repair centre and found ourselves bouncing around on sandy back roads, through huge rivets and puddles round run-down five acre blocks following a crazy Google route in the pouring rain.  We were aware that it might be siesta time but wanted to see if the business even existed. It existed but does not look particularly promising.  We then headed for auto supply shops hoping for something like

During the torrential rain last night we had water egress onto the bathroom floor but, like the Nile, its source eludes me. While out today the girls did some earthworks and filled in the puddle outside the awning and hopefully diverted the streams should it rain as hard again.

Tomorrow we are hoping to get into Lisbon.