Where does the time go? Washed away by the rain probably. No camping done by me since Shell Island in April though bus did get to Beat Herder a couple of weeks ago in the capable hands of The Eldest Boy. Lots of that dance music where you can't hear the words and low-skanking aplenty no doubt but the net result to me was an empty fuel tank, half a ton of mud that has necessitated the purchase of a power-washer and a minor bump on the rear wheel arch where he slid into a fence post while being dragged out of the shité by a tractor. Oh these young people and their fun-filled ways. Jealous? Me? Absolutely...........
Lots of Tesco trips and picking up The Youngest Boy from Youth Club but precious little else. MOT was passed in the capable hands of Paul from Minichanics (www.minichanics.co.uk for all your classic car needs, but don't just chat when picking up and then try to walk off without paying like I did). Some welding advised for next time so will be back at the end of the season. Weather being what it is, this could have been 6 weeks ago but I've got November in mind.
One more week of work & school then then me & The Youngest Boy will be off for a couple of nights. Ty Hen on Anglesey is favourite at the moment but other places are in line for a visit too. Gorsdale Scar near Skipton must be done soon & Grizedale Forest too. We're off to Malaga for 10 nights in August & everyone I mention this to asks if this is a bus trip. Seeing as it would be £1000 to take the ferry from Plymouth to Santander and approx 1000 miles of driving at 24mpg, it would be cheaper to resurrect Concorde. Sorry Arthur, promise to take you to Cornwall next year. Can't own a VW and not take it to Cornwall - those caravans can't block the A30 on their own, can they? Carly, get the kettle on & the spare bed ready for Aunty Ann.......................................
Friday 13 July 2012
Sunday 15 April 2012
1st trip of 2012 & Shell (suit) Island - an apology
Previous entries have not been too complimentary to Shell Island in Gwynedd. Previous experience in a tent in close proximity to Saxo-revving idiots have led to it being re-named Shell (Suit) Island. I hereby retract all previous comments and nominate it as my new personal heaven. 3 days of sun, blue sky, a perfectly functioning bus and no morons nearby have pointed out just how judgmental I can be.........
The forecast wasn't great, 3 days of heavy showers according to the BBC up to the day of leaving. Me & The Boy packed up & set off. Easy drive to Barmouth for a picnic on the beach while we waited for the tide to go out up the road. It's not called Shell Island for no reason after all, so a couple of hours killed watching the waves, wandering & eating ice-cream. Up the road, booked in & found a great spot right on the edge overlooking the sea.
Plenty of wandering about, a bbq, a little cold with quite a biting wind coming off the sea but they do say that alcohol lowers the body's core temperature so that could account for it. Anyway, Stu loved his first bottle of Strongbow, I enjoyed an odd glass of wine (1st, 3rd, 5th, etc, etc......) & we were tucked up by 9:30pm. We woke (from a fresh-air induced coma, not at all hung-over) at 10:30am. More sun, blue sky, no rain, wandering about collecting shells. It's not called Shell Island for no reason after all. Stu went off after lunch on his own for an explore around the dunes - exit stage right I stayed behind listening to good tunes & making sure my nose got properly burnt, sun cream? North Wales? April? 3 days of rain forecast? Of course I hadn't taken any sun cream & my Nivea Sensitive Moisturiser for Men might as well been olive oil for all the good it did me. Could be worse, I could be a Blue Nose I suppose.
Stu came back with a fantastical tale about lying down in the dunes & being bitten on the finger by a sand lizard. He did indeed have a bite mark but I suspect that the lizard may have been provoked and possibly objected to being picked up. I also suspect that both parties have learnt their lesson.
Second evening was 100%. The wind dropped, stars came out, Stus home-made chilli tasted like the best thing ever & marshmallows were toasted over a perfect fire. Some things are just right & can't be properly described..........
Last morning same as really, another wander, packed up, leisurely drive home through Bala, though bizarrely bearing in mind our weather, they had had a massive dump of snow that sat 18 inches deep at the side of the road where plowed clear. Stopped off for bison burgers at Rhug Estate near Llangollen where I could have spent an absolute fortune on the organic free-range perfectly happy before killed meat on sale (Rhug Estate), and beers, and cake, and pies oh the pies.
Home again, bus needs a v good wash & clean (again) but ran like a dream. Cost of petrol was only quibble for a 240 mile round trip. If anyone has a spare £1k for an LPG conversion please don't feel embarrassed to let me have it. Talking of fuel prices, we passed many garages in Wales where the petrol was more expensive than the diesel - strange seaweed eating people the Welsh.
What next? SoManc meet on the 29th April, possibly a T25 meeting in Chorley the Sunday after that & then the All Types shows at Bodelwydden Castle in North Wales the weekend after (All Types). It's all go, isn't it? We'll see.........................
The forecast wasn't great, 3 days of heavy showers according to the BBC up to the day of leaving. Me & The Boy packed up & set off. Easy drive to Barmouth for a picnic on the beach while we waited for the tide to go out up the road. It's not called Shell Island for no reason after all, so a couple of hours killed watching the waves, wandering & eating ice-cream. Up the road, booked in & found a great spot right on the edge overlooking the sea.
Stu came back with a fantastical tale about lying down in the dunes & being bitten on the finger by a sand lizard. He did indeed have a bite mark but I suspect that the lizard may have been provoked and possibly objected to being picked up. I also suspect that both parties have learnt their lesson.
Second evening was 100%. The wind dropped, stars came out, Stus home-made chilli tasted like the best thing ever & marshmallows were toasted over a perfect fire. Some things are just right & can't be properly described..........
Last morning same as really, another wander, packed up, leisurely drive home through Bala, though bizarrely bearing in mind our weather, they had had a massive dump of snow that sat 18 inches deep at the side of the road where plowed clear. Stopped off for bison burgers at Rhug Estate near Llangollen where I could have spent an absolute fortune on the organic free-range perfectly happy before killed meat on sale (Rhug Estate), and beers, and cake, and pies oh the pies.
Home again, bus needs a v good wash & clean (again) but ran like a dream. Cost of petrol was only quibble for a 240 mile round trip. If anyone has a spare £1k for an LPG conversion please don't feel embarrassed to let me have it. Talking of fuel prices, we passed many garages in Wales where the petrol was more expensive than the diesel - strange seaweed eating people the Welsh.
What next? SoManc meet on the 29th April, possibly a T25 meeting in Chorley the Sunday after that & then the All Types shows at Bodelwydden Castle in North Wales the weekend after (All Types). It's all go, isn't it? We'll see.........................
Wednesday 28 March 2012
Nearly 6 months???
Time flies, doesn't it? Whats been going on? Not much really - major drama before Christmas though. Engine had sounded increasingly "tappy" for a while & in my usual laid-back (indifferent? reckless?) style, I did little about it. Mentioned it in passing to Anns niece who is friends with Paul at Minichanics who services/fixes/indulges my bus. She told him & his considered opinion was it was probably due to the drivers in the queue of traffic behind me tapping on the rear window asking me to hurry up. Mass hilarity ensued apparantly........Thanks Paul.........mind you, these are people who believes that Minis are a form of transport so obviously are in need of major overhauls themselves :-) I really want a Mini too........
Anyway, one day the tapping became a major banging & then failure to start at all. I instantly went into panic mode convinced that a new engine was needed (see prev entries about the panic need for a new gearbox which was eventually fixed with a roll of gaffer tape), I cancelled the road tax, declared bus as SORN and did nothing for 6 weeks until Christmas/New Year was out of the way.
Mid Jan, decided to bite the bullet & get bus trailered to Paul for fixing. Decided to be devious & called CSMA breakdown prepared to lie that "it just wouldn't start today, was fine yesterday, etc ,etc....". Little man turned up, T4 owner as it turned out & we chatted about VWs in general. He was after a new bed for his so gave him details of where I got mine and showed him how it worked. Eventually got round to the tale, he asked me to try starting up & it fired up first time, a bit lumpy but ran ok. His opinion was that the banging was due to dirt in the fuel lines & pointed out that the fuel filter was rather clogged up. Red face for me, but good news. Drove bus to Pauls who replaced filter & fuel lines in engine bay, cleaned fingerprints off rear window and did a general service, plugs, leads, coil etc.......Runs so much better now, who da thunk it.........
Since then, just general pottering about. So Manc meet in Didsbury at end of Feb (a collection of various VW owners in a pub carpark, last Sunday of every month), Demon Dubs meet in Southport mid March (all kinds of VWs that made me realise that 1 is not enough, Project Fastback is underway) , Tatton Park day campout with Ann (my beautiful wife), Stu, Phil and 2 grandkids, red hot day, perfect cruising weather.
Looking forward to time away soon - me & Stu at Shell (suit) Island for a couple of days 2nd week after Easter (his choice, not mine) so get those Saxos & Burberry beanie hats ready - don't want your shaven heads getting cold when you're revving up at 3am. Will definitely be going to a VW show weekend but not sure which one yet. Fancy BugJam at Santa Pod with drag racing too but that might be a bit expensive so close to the proper holiday in August. All Types in North Wales looks favourite mid May. Only a 1 nighter & close to home too.
That's it for now, loads of little jobs to do, leather steering wheel glove needs sewing on, headlining to be stuck back, carpets fitting in cab, a bloody good deep-clean inside too. See you in another 6 months?
Anyway, one day the tapping became a major banging & then failure to start at all. I instantly went into panic mode convinced that a new engine was needed (see prev entries about the panic need for a new gearbox which was eventually fixed with a roll of gaffer tape), I cancelled the road tax, declared bus as SORN and did nothing for 6 weeks until Christmas/New Year was out of the way.
Mid Jan, decided to bite the bullet & get bus trailered to Paul for fixing. Decided to be devious & called CSMA breakdown prepared to lie that "it just wouldn't start today, was fine yesterday, etc ,etc....". Little man turned up, T4 owner as it turned out & we chatted about VWs in general. He was after a new bed for his so gave him details of where I got mine and showed him how it worked. Eventually got round to the tale, he asked me to try starting up & it fired up first time, a bit lumpy but ran ok. His opinion was that the banging was due to dirt in the fuel lines & pointed out that the fuel filter was rather clogged up. Red face for me, but good news. Drove bus to Pauls who replaced filter & fuel lines in engine bay, cleaned fingerprints off rear window and did a general service, plugs, leads, coil etc.......Runs so much better now, who da thunk it.........
Since then, just general pottering about. So Manc meet in Didsbury at end of Feb (a collection of various VW owners in a pub carpark, last Sunday of every month), Demon Dubs meet in Southport mid March (all kinds of VWs that made me realise that 1 is not enough, Project Fastback is underway) , Tatton Park day campout with Ann (my beautiful wife), Stu, Phil and 2 grandkids, red hot day, perfect cruising weather.
Looking forward to time away soon - me & Stu at Shell (suit) Island for a couple of days 2nd week after Easter (his choice, not mine) so get those Saxos & Burberry beanie hats ready - don't want your shaven heads getting cold when you're revving up at 3am. Will definitely be going to a VW show weekend but not sure which one yet. Fancy BugJam at Santa Pod with drag racing too but that might be a bit expensive so close to the proper holiday in August. All Types in North Wales looks favourite mid May. Only a 1 nighter & close to home too.
That's it for now, loads of little jobs to do, leather steering wheel glove needs sewing on, headlining to be stuck back, carpets fitting in cab, a bloody good deep-clean inside too. See you in another 6 months?
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