All ready to leave, we pass the mailbox key to the neighbours and say goodbye. We set off and Mary Lou is rolling along fine but a mile or so down the road Nick notices the electric parking brake switch is 'on'. Normally it wouldn't even move with the brake on, We pull into a pub car park to check, and find it's all working but not holding on the incline.

We phone the garage and despite being chock full of pre Christmas work they offer to help. Attempts at adjusting the cables improve it but don't fix it so new shoes are required which are separate from the road brakes. Parts will be ordered today and the garage will squeeze us in to fit them tomorrow.

We return home, chock the wheels and try to rearrange the ferry, but the best we can do is 4th January, so with the pressure off we ring the garage and book in for repairs to be done next week.

All in all a big disappointment.