Thursday 15 May 2014
Dougie is getting some new shiny bits!
So for the past week Dougie has been in the garage having a number of wrinkles ironed out.
The first being the rather alarming absence of gear lever, sadly the previous lever had been bodged one to many times so a new one is winging its way over from VW Heritage. Hopefully this will be fitted in the next couple of weeks.
The second fix will be for the fuel lines after a slightly embarrassing leak from a disconnected hose (stupidly I forgot to take a picture). So to be on the safe side all the fuel lines will be replaced with some shiny new, non-leaking ones.
As an add on the the fuel lines, we have also decided to fit a new fuel filter as I suspect the loss off power we experienced on the way back from the lakes is due to crud getting blocking the fuel intake at some point. Glow plugs are also going to be tested as the amount of smoke and lumpy start-ups suggests that not all of them are working as promised.
Luckily these are the only serious repairs, everything else is (vaguely) cosmetic.
For example, new windscreen wipers (which included free washer fluid, woo) and a new knob to control the heating fan. Gone will be the wire-pulled-out-of-switch bodge.
We have also been planning THE EPIC SCOTTISH ROAD TRIP and decided that we could really do with running the phone chargers and such off the leisure battery and not the van battery (at the very least to stop me having to beg jump starts off people). I am going to have a go at wiring another 12v socket direct to the leisure battery. How hard can it be?!
And speaking of wiring, the dash is going the be looked again. Since Dad 'fixed' the horn, half of the dash pod lights have been conspicuously absent.
Finally I have decided to start stockpiling wine. I suspect it will be needed!
The first being the rather alarming absence of gear lever, sadly the previous lever had been bodged one to many times so a new one is winging its way over from VW Heritage. Hopefully this will be fitted in the next couple of weeks.
The second fix will be for the fuel lines after a slightly embarrassing leak from a disconnected hose (stupidly I forgot to take a picture). So to be on the safe side all the fuel lines will be replaced with some shiny new, non-leaking ones.
As an add on the the fuel lines, we have also decided to fit a new fuel filter as I suspect the loss off power we experienced on the way back from the lakes is due to crud getting blocking the fuel intake at some point. Glow plugs are also going to be tested as the amount of smoke and lumpy start-ups suggests that not all of them are working as promised.
Luckily these are the only serious repairs, everything else is (vaguely) cosmetic.
For example, new windscreen wipers (which included free washer fluid, woo) and a new knob to control the heating fan. Gone will be the wire-pulled-out-of-switch bodge.
We have also been planning THE EPIC SCOTTISH ROAD TRIP and decided that we could really do with running the phone chargers and such off the leisure battery and not the van battery (at the very least to stop me having to beg jump starts off people). I am going to have a go at wiring another 12v socket direct to the leisure battery. How hard can it be?!
And speaking of wiring, the dash is going the be looked again. Since Dad 'fixed' the horn, half of the dash pod lights have been conspicuously absent.
Finally I have decided to start stockpiling wine. I suspect it will be needed!
Wednesday 14 May 2014
Tuesday 13 May 2014
This means WAR!
So it turns out the neighbourhood cats have laughed in the face of my ingenious defences...so much so that I came home to a little "present".
(seriously these cats must have bums of steel, either that or the ability to hover)
I have had no choice but to resort to chemical warfare!!
Step 1.
Acquire the appropriate chemical deterrents.
As I didn't have chance to head to B&Q to get a commercial spray, I thought I would try my hand at some homemade alternatives. Extensive Internet research (and a call to mum) has suggested that orange peel and strong smelling things are my best hope. Mustard should do it then...
Step 2.
Assemble the delivery mechanism.
Basic idea was more height, more pointy and more smell. I give you the mustard-orange kebab.
Step 3.
Deploy your delivery mechanisms.
Lots of mustard kebabs!!
OK I'll admit, I may have gone a little overboard. but look on the bright side, they bring a little bit of colour to the garden!
Now all that's left is to keep an eye out for mustard covered cats. Unless then can hover. Then I'm stumped.
(seriously these cats must have bums of steel, either that or the ability to hover)
I have had no choice but to resort to chemical warfare!!
Step 1.
Acquire the appropriate chemical deterrents.
As I didn't have chance to head to B&Q to get a commercial spray, I thought I would try my hand at some homemade alternatives. Extensive Internet research (and a call to mum) has suggested that orange peel and strong smelling things are my best hope. Mustard should do it then...
Step 2.
Assemble the delivery mechanism.
Basic idea was more height, more pointy and more smell. I give you the mustard-orange kebab.
Step 3.
Deploy your delivery mechanisms.
Lots of mustard kebabs!!
OK I'll admit, I may have gone a little overboard. but look on the bright side, they bring a little bit of colour to the garden!
Now all that's left is to keep an eye out for mustard covered cats. Unless then can hover. Then I'm stumped.
Sunday 11 May 2014
Anti-cat battlements
Step 1.
Assess the terrain and gather your troops.
Step 2.
Mount your defenses and station the troops.
Step 3.
Await your foe.
Well fingers crossed it will work, I would't like to sit there that's for sure!!
In other garden news..
The tumbling toms tomatoes haven't really got off the the best start but decided to test a couple of the strongest seedlings in a basket. Also planted out both the courgette plants as they were getting too big to fit on the windowsil.
Alex painted up his own pot to match Tom's and added some more mange tout seedlings. And while the rocket in the pots is looking brilliant, the recent heavy rain has drowned the lettuce somewhat.
Happy to say there Lemon Balm and Japanese Maple acquired from my dads house are settling in OK.
Aaaaand finally, some flowers :)
Tuesday 6 May 2014
Spring clean and slight set-back
Little did I know that it would take over 7 hours and leave me with some rather interesting tan lines, not to mention a new (and healthy) fear of step ladders!
Have to admit, I really hadn't realised just how dirty the van had got. The lake district mountain driving escapade had left muddy tracks up the side of the van and there was a surprising amount of oil just under the front grill (I suspect left over from the overheating drama and radiator work). The roof was also very dirty....dirty enough to write your name in! Which was incidentally how I nearly fell off the ladder so no pictures unfortunately.
Luciky with the help of Kat bringing me tea and cold drinks, the supervision of the dog having a snooze in the van and Sarah pointing out bits I'd missed, the whole van not only got scrubbed clean but also a lovely coat of polish.
Getting up close and personal with the paint out did point out a couple of interesting facts. Given the number of weld marks around the roof, and the fact that under the white is is the same green as the tailgate, I'm pretty certain this isn't the original roof.
Also the front grills appear to be held on by hope and rust, how the RAC guy got them back on is beyond me. Tried to tidy them up anyway and without the moss growing in them I think they look quite good!
As well as the outside, spent a bit of time sorting out the cupboards as the previous arangement meant we blocked the tea cup cupboard with the bed, very annoying when you want to make hot choc last thing at night. I also modified one of those Ikea wardrobe accessories to make a wardrobe in the back cupboard. Quite pleased with that one!
So the only thing left to do was to take Dougie on a drive to show him off. Saturday night I popped round to the Tates for a BBQ and discovered that more of the dash lights are non-functional. The clock still works, and is set to the right time (so it has one up on the Ibiza!). Had a some starting issues, engine would turn over then take AGES to catch.
I should have sensed the impending doom at this point...
So on Sunday Sarah suggested we should take the van for a drive. (Déjà vu??) Anyway the van didn't start for about half an hour. This is all that happened:
So given my extensive knowledge of the also things old and crotechty, I suggest we walk the dog and try again later. So we did, and he started second time.
All good. Right? RIGHT?
Nope.
To my credit, I did not panic. Even though I was at traffic lights. Blocking everyone turning right.
Luckily using a combination of a wrench and my dads foot we manged to get second gear and all the way home. All 2 miles of it. And you know what? We didn't have to stop once. Phew.
Sunday 27 April 2014
The garden (work in progress)
The garden
View of Toms pots
The raspberry bush
Mangetout and courgette
Flowers
View of Toms pots
The raspberry bush
Mangetout and courgette
Flowers
The bench of sunshine (this is where I have been sat writing this blog post!)
Indoor planting
Herb garden
Wednesday 23 April 2014
A weekend by the river
A weekend in the lakes
Given that Dougie no longer has that embarrassing horn problem, we decided it was high time we went on an actual camping trip!
The Plan
The aim was to drive up to the lake district to Stonethwaite, pick a camp site then settle in and wait for some climbing buddies to turn up on the Saturday.
So we got up early on Friday, hot footed it back to Sandbach, packed the van, checked the fluids and set off.
It actually worked out pretty well!
Got onto the M6 and settled in to the Easter traffic, had a humorous race with a green T4 (first to 10 miles an hour) and generally relaxed in the lovely sun spotting all the lovely buses stick in the tailback going south. First stop was just after Lancaster. We had managed 60 miles in 2 hours.
But from then on the traffic lightened and Dougie chugged up to a respectable 55mph. We even over took a caravan!!
Now were hadn't really realised this before but the motorway is very, very bumpy. Especially in the slow lane. Luckily duct tape was on hand to save the day.
We eventually pulled off the motorway and had a quick pitstop at Keswick. As we needed to pick up some last minute goodies this meant we had to stop. Which meant parking. Now normally this would be the stuff of nightmares but somehow we (I was driving but Tom was providing the eyes) got reversed into the last parking space in the town center. I was amazed. Dougie behaved perfectly. I think he was surprised too as couldn't resist a little bit of squeaky horn action in celebration. I really wish I had remembered a photo!
Mountaineering/Off-road
The very narrow road past Borrowdale then led to the tiny village of Stonethwaite and the first campsite of choice. We arrived only to be told it was full. Now this was fine as there was a back-up site round the corner but the access was described as "a bit tricky." When I asked how bad, the campsite owner replied "Well I wouldn't try taking my bus up there".
This next bit I will gloss over. We made it. Despite having to reverse down a mountain (no I am not joking), scrape through a rocky gap (only the wheel arch, and only a little bit) and ford a river (stream) we made it. It took me a fair while to calm down after than.
Luckily dinner helped!
Beefburgers topped with goats cheese, lamb and mint burgers then ember roasted sweet potato with a bottle of vine. Ahhhh. And just in time to enjoy the sunset.
We settled in for a lovely night (if quite chilly night) with the view of the stars from the back window and a mug of cocoa.
Poo sticks and climbing
I find the easiest way to wake yourself up in the morning is to jump out the van and discover your flip-flops are frosty. It's an experience and causes me to pull a rather alarming face.
On the plus side, the hob in the van means once you have dashed to the toilet block you can return to bed and hot porridge. See how happy Tom is?
Following this hearty breakfast we set off to explore past the campsite. We wandered though Langstrath valley in search of the landmarks written on our handmade map of climbing spots.
Turns out we could follow a map! Having scouted out some potential climbing boulders (and a swimming spot for later in the year) we collected some firewood and headed back to have some lunch while waiting on the other guys arriving. We also attempted to play poo sticks under one of the bridges but alas the water was running pretty slow. I think I lost by default as my stick got stuck in a eddy and technically ended up upstream!
We met up with a couple of guys from RockOver and spent the afternoon chasing the sun and doing a wee bit of bouldering. Then BBQ and watching the sun sink behind the mountains surrounding the valley.
The next morning we unfortubately had to be up and moving pretty quickly in order to make it home for lunch. To my eternal delight, Dougie started off pretty much first time!
Unfortunately though we ran in to a slight hiccup one the way home. Basically every couple of minutes the van would loose all power. Not so helpful on the hills. So quick googling on Toms part and we came up with the hypothesis that the fuel filters were probably blocked with crude from the fuel tank that got stirred up when we went off road. Needless to say it made the drive a bit more interesting but we did make it home in one piece. still grinning.
We I was, Tom fell asleep!
Given that Dougie no longer has that embarrassing horn problem, we decided it was high time we went on an actual camping trip!
The Plan
The aim was to drive up to the lake district to Stonethwaite, pick a camp site then settle in and wait for some climbing buddies to turn up on the Saturday.
So we got up early on Friday, hot footed it back to Sandbach, packed the van, checked the fluids and set off.
It actually worked out pretty well!
Got onto the M6 and settled in to the Easter traffic, had a humorous race with a green T4 (first to 10 miles an hour) and generally relaxed in the lovely sun spotting all the lovely buses stick in the tailback going south. First stop was just after Lancaster. We had managed 60 miles in 2 hours.
But from then on the traffic lightened and Dougie chugged up to a respectable 55mph. We even over took a caravan!!
Now were hadn't really realised this before but the motorway is very, very bumpy. Especially in the slow lane. Luckily duct tape was on hand to save the day.
We eventually pulled off the motorway and had a quick pitstop at Keswick. As we needed to pick up some last minute goodies this meant we had to stop. Which meant parking. Now normally this would be the stuff of nightmares but somehow we (I was driving but Tom was providing the eyes) got reversed into the last parking space in the town center. I was amazed. Dougie behaved perfectly. I think he was surprised too as couldn't resist a little bit of squeaky horn action in celebration. I really wish I had remembered a photo!
Mountaineering/Off-road
The very narrow road past Borrowdale then led to the tiny village of Stonethwaite and the first campsite of choice. We arrived only to be told it was full. Now this was fine as there was a back-up site round the corner but the access was described as "a bit tricky." When I asked how bad, the campsite owner replied "Well I wouldn't try taking my bus up there".
This next bit I will gloss over. We made it. Despite having to reverse down a mountain (no I am not joking), scrape through a rocky gap (only the wheel arch, and only a little bit) and ford a river (stream) we made it. It took me a fair while to calm down after than.
Luckily dinner helped!
Beefburgers topped with goats cheese, lamb and mint burgers then ember roasted sweet potato with a bottle of vine. Ahhhh. And just in time to enjoy the sunset.
We settled in for a lovely night (if quite chilly night) with the view of the stars from the back window and a mug of cocoa.
Poo sticks and climbing
I find the easiest way to wake yourself up in the morning is to jump out the van and discover your flip-flops are frosty. It's an experience and causes me to pull a rather alarming face.
On the plus side, the hob in the van means once you have dashed to the toilet block you can return to bed and hot porridge. See how happy Tom is?
Following this hearty breakfast we set off to explore past the campsite. We wandered though Langstrath valley in search of the landmarks written on our handmade map of climbing spots.
 |
| The view back to the campsite, its just round the bend in the river. |
 |
| Black Moss Pot, a haven for skinny dippers |
 |
| Our spot |
We met up with a couple of guys from RockOver and spent the afternoon chasing the sun and doing a wee bit of bouldering. Then BBQ and watching the sun sink behind the mountains surrounding the valley.
The next morning we unfortubately had to be up and moving pretty quickly in order to make it home for lunch. To my eternal delight, Dougie started off pretty much first time!
We I was, Tom fell asleep!
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