Our third morning on the Area de Servicios Autocaravanas at Canfranc Estacion so the Hymer has had electic hook-up for 3 days, that means the leisure batteries and the engine battery have all been on charge for 3 days.

When I came to start the engine to move over to the service area the engine turned slowly, the speedo and rev counter pointers dropped to zero – a bad sign! After a struggle the engine finally fired and started. Oh how that took me back to some of the old cars I used to drive when cold winters meant careful attention was needed to your battery. That’s a thing of the past now, maintenance-free batteries mean you never need to check the electrolyte level or inspect the terminals etc.

We serviced the vehicle emptying the grey water and cassette, then needed to move to fill with fresh water, this time I really didn’t think the engine was going to start it turned so slowly. I waited, giving the battery time to recover then tried it again, there was one small sign of life from the engine so i kept cranking and eventually the engine fired up. No surprise I kept the engine running whilst we filled with water then got on our way.

Major change of plan called for today, baking heat, no long drive, it was obvious that we needed a new battery TODAY. Nearest town was Jaca – so that’s where we went, but by the time we arrived everywhere mentioned on google maps was closed until late afternoon.

To be completed . . . we got a new battery and the service was excellent