3 months??????

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.......................................

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.........................

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?

5 weeks since last blog entry????

God, how boring am I?  Not much to report really bus-wise unless you're interested in trips to Tesco and a drive round the block every couple of nights. I don't react well to this time of year and this year is worse than most. The long 6 weeks off seems to be centuries ago & the black dog has been humping my leg good style. Not been sleeping well & worrying about not sleeping, not enough money, feeling guilty about feeling down when I've so much to be grateful for and other things all resulted in a trip to the GP. A prescription for little blue pills (no, not those little blue pills, stop sniggering at the back) has resulted in better sleep but a weird numb mental state for the past week. Don't suppose that any of my perceived worries are any less but I can't even muster the angst to worry about them - pathetic really.

Yesterday was a glorious day. Tatton Park with Ann (my beautiful wife), 2 out of 3 sons and 2 out of 3 grandkids was enough to chase even the blackest dog away. Playarea & picnic by the lake was heaven on earth. The memory of it now makes my heart ache to do it again & again & again and I know that we will. I need it.

Today was a bbq in Crewe with friends and family. Andy, Gemma et al, the world is a better place for knowing you. I'm rich indeed in things that you cannot put a price on. Guilt come from knowing that sometimes I can confuse priceless with worthless - my problem, no-one elses

6 night tour - high wind stopped play

Ann (my lovely wife) conceded that she was willing to go away int' bus for a week. Wore her down again, didn't I?   Cornwall was favourite but once we realised that it would cost us an arm & a couple of legs in petrol alone, a closer alternative was needed. A little research later and the Llyn Peninsula in north Wales seemed to fit the bill. Cliffs, coves and decent waves for Ann, Stu and the bodyboards. 130 miles away instead of 330. All we had to do was to substitute laver bread eating Welshies for bearded pasty munchers (that sounds a bit rude) and all would be well. Ann also expressed a desire to see the wonders of Shell (suit) Island and while I just refuse to stay there overnight ever again, we decided to find somewhere nearby & visit the Island for the day. Maybe Saxo engines sound quieter during the day & Burberry stripes simply fade into the dunes.................

Two sites were found, Ty Newyyd near Aberdaron on the Llyn Peninsula and Parc Isef about 8 miles south of Harlech so handy for the Island. £14 and £16 a night respectively with electric hook-up, so cheap enough. Bus was packed & all ready to go so off we went.

Found the first place easily enough. Some of the roads/lanes/tracks were a little tight but plenty of passing places.  It was a little disconcerting to get a text from Tesco Mobile welcoming us to Ireland once we got past Caernarfon but the signal died entirely later so no danger of paying international roaming charges.

Set up easy enough - see above. Ann admitted to enjoying herself - see above. Stu had taken Scrat the Rat with him so was instantly the coolest kid on site and made friends easily. The woman in the café was less impressed & wouldn't let him in with rat in pocket.

Weather was brilliant, blue skies etc with sunsets worth climbing the headland to watch. Beaches were sandy & warm, kites were flown and food & drink was abundant. Stu was enjoying himself and as most of his mates were leaving on the Sat am, we arranged to stay an extra night. Tues, Wed, Thurs & Friday am passed happily enough.

The wind started to blow Friday afternoon. It got stronger as the afternoon went on. Re-checked all pegs and all were holding fine but the wind got stronger and louder. It soon became clear that Ann (my lovely wife) was no longer enjoying herself and that it was possibly my fault we were there..............Some "discussions" took place and it became clear that:

1 - ideally we leave now

2 - it's too late to leave now isn't it

3 - leave me alone

4 - no, I said just leave me alone while I sit on the floor crying.

I'll leave it to you to decide who said what..................In the end, I disconnected the awning and pulled the bus round in front to act as a windbreak. Me & Stu got to sleep ok but poor Ann (my lovely wife) found it very difficult & only managed a couple of hours.

I woke at 8am to find a sunny dry still morning & Ann sweeping out the awning with a handbrush having packed a lot of stuff. We were due to move on that morning anyway so no problems with that. The awning had survived the night, no damage, We packed up easily and went for breakfast in the site cafe. As we were moving on to Harlech, I checked the weather forecast  for later that day. It was showing heavy rain & high wind so no prizes for guessing what we did. Better to cut our losses & run for home than risk another night like the night before after setting up in the rain.

Stopped off in Conway on the way home. There was a river festival going on, lots of stalls & fundraising, including jetski rides for £3 - proceeds to RNLI. Stu went on twice while we watched. Glad to say that the only customer we saw fall in was the adult knobhead who declined to remove his glasses as recommended and turned out to have an iPhone in his pocket. Not me, before you all jump to a reasonable conclusion.

Me & Stu might have a night away next week to end our 6 weeks off - will keep you posted.

Tatton VWNW 2011

Great day at the Tatton show as always. Took 1 wife (the lovely Ann), 2 sons & 2 grandkids and met 1 son & 1 grandkid when there.  An ex-husband & new partner turned up too and Ann (my lovely wife) met an old friend who pulled up to park next to us. How diverse.................

Forgot the camera but too many buses & cars to choose from, so I couldn't have taken them all anyway. A good day was had by all. Heard some people complaining about high cost of getting in (£7.50 for adults, free for kids) but as most of these were wearing wanky designer gear & too much hair gel and the rest were grumpy old fcuks,  we can safely ignore them.

Edale & a faint red light

Strange how I seem to have had less time to do stuff this last week than when I'm at work. Good prep for being retired, I suppose. I've been pottering around the house, keeping busy, nipping to Tesco for a few bits, etc, etc. I've stopped short of wearing beige, distrusting foreigners and demanding the return of National Service/Capital Punishment but I suppose it's only a matter of time....................

Anyway, Edale, Edale, Edale, EDALE. What a place. Shameful to say that I'd forgotten how beautiful the Edale Valley was. The number of times we've driven to Keswick etc when Edale is 30 miles away....... Don't suppose I'm really comparing like with like but so be it. The constant sunshine was a major factor (isn't it always?) & we quickly got into "being away" mode, didn't we Stu?  Coopers Campsite was only £24 for 2 nights, 2 nice pubs within 400 yards, a cafe on-site, shower/toilet block a little primitive & unclean but we managed.

We ate & drank like kings, walked a fair bit (for us) and felt slightly guilty that Ann (my beautiful wife) wasn't with us. Assuaged that guilt by taking her there on the following Saturday for a day out/good pub lunch. She confirmed the bogs etc to be a little too primitive/unclean for her delicate constitution (Princess & the Pea springs to mind, should that be Princess & the Pee?) so we'll need to find another site if/when she comes with us.

We'd taken the laptop to use as a DVD player & had a couple of late nights watching League of Gentlemen - no slur intended on the good people of Edale - and by the end we'd have been happy to never leave even if we did start calling each other "Dave".

Arthur ran like a dream coping with the drive out over Mam Tor with ease. Minor panic yesterday though when the temperature light came on but only very faint. Hot air was still coming through heater so I carried on driving (engine didn't overheat or seize up in a cloud of steam so I made the right call!). Having consulted the Club 80-90 Wiki about this, it suggests that it's almost certainly an electrical short or mucky temp sender unit so will be sorting that this afternoon.

No days away this week due to funds/crap weather/jobs to do so will look for a 1 nighter next week. VWNW show at Tatton Park on Sunday so will toddle over there & camp for the day while wandering around looking at/lusting over all manner of things VW.

Wales on 16th for 6 nights anyway - I've decided that IT WILL BE DRY.