Hubbett gas spring

Mileage: 157884

We were to head to Normandy today, near Petit-Caux; a village whose name nostalgically reminded us of the skirts from the rock 'n' roll years.

Unfortunately, the journey took longer than planned.

As we were packing our things in the motorhome at noon to leave, our Hubbett in the driver's cabin just wouldn't stay in place under the ceiling; it kept falling down again and again. There was no way we could drive like that. After a quick investigation, it turned out that one of the two gas springs holding the bed under the ceiling had lost its pressure. The part was quickly removed, and the bed was secured with a strap. This allowed us to continue on our way for now, but it wasn't a permanent solution. Sooner or later, the well-known sky from Asterix and Obelix might fall on our heads.

First, we headed to the nearest garage in the village, but they couldn’t help us since they only dealt with passenger car technology; they recommended that we drive one village over to a specialist. They could have helped us there, but the part was out of stock, with a delivery time of perhaps 10 days or maybe longer. We continued on. All 6, 7, 8... - we had lost track - of the garages and dealers we visited that day gave us similar answers. Either they didn't know the part at all or they would order it, which would take anywhere from two to three weeks. We were thoroughly fed up for the day, and after a short break at a small but delightful patisserie, we headed to the campground we had selected for the evening. We then went out to eat, as neither of us felt like cooking that day.

The burgers there were exceptionally tasty, and while our first washing machine in the last two weeks was running, we enjoyed burgers and Belgian beer. Should we order the part ourselves from a specialist store? That could work, but where should we have it delivered? Perhaps to a campground? But to which one?

We needed to get some sleep first, and maybe a solution would arise by tomorrow.