Happy New Year!

Hi folks, hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year.

We spent the first few days of the school holidays up at the RV, and skiing at Mount Washington. It was extremely cold (for Vancouver Island) over those few days, about -14C, and it turned out our RV batteries couldn't cope with the cold, despite being rated to -20.  The solar panels were doing a good job of charging (once we cleared the snow off), but as soon as we put any load on the batteries, they went into safe mode and gave no output.  Unfortunately that meant a dash into Courtenay to find a portable generator, so that we could keep warm!  The furnace uses propane for heat, but needs electricity to run the fan, and won't fire up without the fan running.  

We found a Champion generator in Canadian Tire, but we hadn't brought the shore power cable with us (as we didn't expect to need it), so also had to try a number of places to get a cable with the right connections.  Eventually we got one at Arbutus RV, who very helpfully sold us one, despite their parts department being closed - Thank You! 

At the end of the next day, after some nice skiing up at the mountain, the Land Rover decided not to start!  Despite a couple of attempts to boost the battery from some kind folks, there was no way it would start.  After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to get some roadside assistance (not easy at night at the top of a mountain when there is a large snow event!), we decided to leave the car and come back the next day.  Hopping on the Mount Washington Ski bus, which took us into Courtenay, and then finding a taxi to take us back to the RV, with a quick pint at Gladstone Brewing while we waited.  

The next day a friend of ours happened to be coming up to Mount Washington for some cross country skiing, and very kindly gave me a ride back up the hill in her truck and then a tow start in the car park.  After a quick dash to the RV to pick up Sarah and the boys, we headed straight back to Victoria without daring to turn off the engine!  There's always an adventure with Team Errington...

We spent Christmas with the same great friends who rescued us, at their farm near Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island.  We had quite a bit of snow, so technically a white Christmas, but it actually rained pretty constantly on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, which put a dampner on our plans to get outdoors.  We ate lots of delicious food, played lots of games, and stayed cozy by the wood burner.

Between Christmas and New Year, we spent a few more days back up at the RV, skiing at Mount Washington, exploring Miracle Beach Provincial Park (just down the road from the trailer), and also visiting the Church Street Taphouse in Comox - highly recommended.

Sarah's parent's arrived from Edinburgh on New Year's Eve.  We had a traditional Scottish Hogmanay; much merriment, singing and dancing to Auld Lang Syne, 'First Footing' by the boys, staying up too late and waking with a hangover!  We've spent a great few days with them, including family shooting competitions with the boys' new X-shot toy guns!

They're here for a couple of weeks, and we've got a few more things planned, so stay tuned... 

Here's to a 2023 full of adventures!

Ready for Christmas (Nearly!)

Last weekend was very Christmas themed for the Errington crew!

In an attempt to buy local and support small businesses, we visited the Out of Hand market in Victoria on Saturday. It was a great collection of local artists and makers, and we picked up a few nice pieces for Christmas presents for some of the family - no spoilers as they may be reading this!

In usual Errington style we also sampled a few drinks from local wineries and distilleries, and have a few nice bottles to add to the Christmas celebrations.

We then watched the Victoria Santa Parade; there were some very impressive Christmas floats and other decorated vehicles, and a couple of Marching Bands.  It got us all in the Christmas spirit despite the rainy weather!

On Sunday we bought our BC grown tree, "the perfect tree" according to Innes!  

We then started putting up our outside decorations, before wandering up to Oak Bay Village for the big Christmas Lights switch on.  It was a fun afternoon with live music, decoration making for the kids, street hockey (not very festive but a highlight for our boys) and sing along Christmas Carols.  The switch on of the lights was Santa's cue to arrive, and he was driven down the avenue on an Oak Bay Fire Truck, along with Mrs Claus and one of his elves.  The truck happened to stop right in front of us, so both of the boys got to say 'Hi'.

We then retired to our local pub, The Penny Farthing, to warm up.  Sarah had cleverly thought ahead and booked a table, as it was exceptionally busy.  Santa and Mrs Claus followed us into the pub, took their chance for a photo opportunity with Struan and Innes, spoke to some more children, and then sat at the next table for a well deserved break!