Preparing for the trip

Preparing for the trip

There had been a recent article on ITV Wales about people using the Nordorthopaedic clinic in Kaunas and I was guided to a Facebook group for people who are, or have been, treated there. All the comments seemed to be realistic and very positive and complimentary. So I decided to go ahead and book to go to the Nordorthopaedic clinic.

Having fixed the date for the operation for 3rd July there was a deal of organising to do. What to do with Flair IV for a start. It was also clear that with Catharine's inner ear issues, the dogs and her continuing involvement at Star Autocare Ltd she was not going to be available to come with me.

I had contemplated a lift out for Flair it became clear that this was unlikely to be a possibility before I had to leave; so my major concern was to make sure that the batteries maintained their charge. The solar panel I ordered was a 100w semi flexible panel and when I tried to fit it on the coach house roof it was just about 50mm too wide and around 400mm too long for permanent fixing so I ordered a smaller panel but this was not going to arrive in time. 

On Friday 29th July I made temporary connection for the large panel and then checked it was working ok on the Saturday morning. All was well so I felt comfortable about leaving Flair on the mooring. Luke and Trevor have offered to go and check on Flair while I am away for which I am most grateful. 

The schedule worked out to be travel to Liverpool Airport Travelodge on Sunday and to stay overnight ready for an early start on the Monday morning at 04:00 to get through the security etc. before the gates closed at 06:00 for the Ryan Air flight to Vilnius. 

Rhosneigr had been very hot and whilst Catharine and I had been chilling out before setting off we had got involved in firefighting when one of the neighbours’ guests having a BBQ managed to set the grassland, on the seaward side of Warren Road, on fire. No one seemed to be organising the situation, I called the fire brigade who are fortunately stationed very close to us. They arrived just as we were fighting a losing battle to stop the fire from spreading.

Soon they had the fire under control and then spent some time making sure that it was all safe before leaving. After the crew had left the BBQ was, to my amazement, re-started.