Mountain Passes

Yesterday was a fairly long day – having left Innsbruck in the early afternoon, we stuck to our plan for a scenic route to Trieste through the Dolomites. We were rewarded with one of the best drives yet, with hairpin bends to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and truly spectacular scenery. From the warmth of the valleys to the freezing, snow covered peaks, we enjoyed every minute.

The drive took its toll a little on the Jag – we seem to have picked a couple of transmission noises and a strange clunk. Also, the brake discs were pretty hot from all the downhill sections, and we lost a mudflap bottoming out with the extra weight in the car, but all seems to be running ok.

We didn’t quite make Trieste, but stopped off in a town called Portogruaro, still in Italy. As we arrived late and hadn’t booked anywhere for the night, we drove around for a while before settling on a cheeky little three star hotel. Because we are a little tired we opted for a quick bite to eat and an early night.

After several beers, a few glasses of wine and a limoncello we sat down for a game of cards and got to bed just before 2.30am. So much for self-discipline. Tonight we’re really going to get an early night, although Bob lost at cards last night and will be looking to redeem himself.

Some more news on the Chevy is that the insurance company have sent us mixed messages about repatriating the van. As things stand, it’s going to cost them too much and they won’t pay anything towards getting it back to the UK, although they might ship back the gear we have left in the back of it. On the bright side, we’re saving around £600 worth of fuel by not driving it round the whole route, so that’s something good we can take out of the situation.

As for today, we’re making excellent progress, and have left Italy for Slovenia. We stopped for lunch in what we think is the capital, Ljubljana, which turned out to be a very pleasant town indeed. We are now en route to Bratislava in Slovakia, where we’ve splashed out on cabins aboard an old cruise boat moored up on the river.

The cars are holding up fine, although the BMW is looking a little low at the back, and the Jag is showing signs of wear and tear. Today the cruise control stopped working, and Quent started formulating a plan whereby he could wire it up to his laptop and control the speed from that. Better still, we even discussed figuring out a way for folk back home to control the speed from their PCs there. Knowing Quent he might just succeed in his Jaguar modifications, although if he gets his hands on it, I’m concerned we’ll pull in to Dover and the doors and wheels will fall off.

Chevy News

It’s Monday afternoon, and we’ve had a fairly eventful 24 hours.

The van was getting through water at a rate of about 10 litres every 20 minutes, with steam coming out of the exhaust like Stephenson’s Rocket. It wasn’t looking good, but at least it was still running. Progress was slow though, and the BMW went on ahead to check in to our hostel in Innsbruck (Austria). The van and the Jag arrived an hour later at around 9.30 pm. It had been a long day – much of it spent by the roadside.

After much discussion over a curry last night, we decided to make two calls this morning. One to the American car specialist in the UK for some advice, and one to the breakdown service in the UK to put them on standby.

The news from the first call wasn’t good, and the over-the-phone diagnosis was that one or both cylinder heads would most likely be cracked. Getting parts and getting the repairs done over here is something that would take days if not weeks. We discussed all the options, including taking the engine apart to check the damage, and even buying another old banger over here and continuing in that. With a heavy heart, Quent phoned the breakdown service.

Within the hour, the van was on the back of a truck, and most of the kit transferred to the two cars. The insurance company have confirmed that the van can be repatriated back to the UK, and so today at lunch in a café in the centre of Innsbruck, we raised a glass to the loss of our dear Chevy Van.

We’re now heading through the Alps for Trieste in country number nine – Italy. Spirits have only been dampened slightly, and we are all still on good form and looking forward to the rest of our trip. The BMW and Jag are running smoothly, and are admirably coping with the extra responsibility resting on their shoulders.

Another Stop

Just a quick one on the move:

The van started making more ominous noises after Zurich, so we pulled off the motorway for a better look. Looked pretty serious, so we found a layby off a side road and settled down for lunch to let the engine cool down and assess the situation.

We think the head gasket has gone, which means water is getting into the engine itself, resulting in steam coming out of the exhaust. We're now limping along at 50mph, stopping every 20 mins to refill the water system. Our thoughts right now are that it's terminal, but we're soldiering on regardless.

All in high spirits though, and still having a great drive in fantastic Alpine scenery. We've just entered our eighth country, Austria. But we haven't seen any kangaroos yet.

Strange Noises

Considering the fact that we have done minimal planning for our route, yesterday went like clockwork – which is appropriate because we made it to Switzerland in the early evening. We had stopped for lunch in Luxembourg, and before setting off we phoned ahead and booked a night in the local Youth Hostel in Basel.

They said that there was space for all of us in one dormitory, but would we mind sharing with one other bloke. Fine by us, but we felt sorry for the other guy having to share with seven rowdy lads. We turned up at around 8.00pm, and went straight out for a few beers in Basel, which started off fairly sedately and culminated in – amongst other things - a conversation with a couple of transvestites, an ejection from a bar, and a jump in the town fountain.

This morning we got up at reasonable time, had a breakfast of cereal with hot milk (!) and set off through Switzerland headed for lunch in Leichtenstein, but had a bit of a mechanical problem en route. To date, the biggest problems we’ve had are a broken glove box in the Jag, a leak from the van which turned out to be the water bottle fallen over in the back, and a gas problem in the BMW (although this is more of a problem with the occupants than the car itself).

Today we had our first real breakdown. Quent came on the radio saying he was losing voltage (i.e. the battery wasn’t being charged). Despite a potential loss of power, he of course insisted on keeping the stereo on. Things were looking ok until the van reported a ‘strange sound’ coming from the engine. We pulled over in Zurich and popped the hood to take a look.

The water in the engine was overheating severely, and the strange noise was the header tank banging against the side of the engine bay with the ferocity of the boiling water inside it. It took about 10 minutes to stop, in which time we discovered the fan belt had snapped which was the cause of all the problems.

While Quent got under the van to replace the fan belt (miracle that he brought one), James got the stove out and brewed up a cuppa. John even produced a box of Milk Tray to make the whole event very civilized.

Back on the road now, should be able to stop for lunch in the mountains, before heading on to who knows where.

On The Road!

So here we are – our first blog on the road. We tried doing this last night on my mobile phone, but it has decided to stop working. Good timing that. This is being uploaded from the back of the Jag, so we’re still pretty switched on.

All is going well, but things didn’t exactly go smoothly from the start. Our convoy broke up before we even got on the motorway, and the BMW had to break off en route to collect one of the guys. With fuel stops as well (one every 10 minutes for the Chevy), we found ourselves leap-frogging each other all the way to Dover, phoning each other along the way because we hadn’t sorted out the radios yet, and no-one knew where each of the others were.

The Jag got to Dover with about 30 mins to spare, and the Chevy van shortly after. A quick search of the van by customs (no cavity searches thankfully), and we were both through check in. Puzzled as to why the BMW had not yet arrived when it had been miles ahead of us on the motorway, we phoned Rich.

Turns out he was still going round the M25, and only realized he had gone too far when he saw signs for Gatwick. He put the BMW through its paces and got to Dover with minutes to spare. As it turns out, the ferry was late departing, so we had a bit of time to put our decals on the vehicles – we’re now fully kitted out with 8build, NGK and Christie’s stickers.

After a very sedate crossing with cups of tea instead of beers for the drivers, we disembarked at Calais only to lose the Chevy for about 15 mins. There’s a trend developing here. No worries though, as we settled into convoy for the first time and cruised for a few hours through to Brussels. The Chevy seems most comfortable at 59mph, so it took a little longer than expected.

We arrived at Ed’s in-laws’ flat at around 3.30am, cracked open a few beers and put our heads down at 4.30. Bacon and egg butties this morning saw us off, and we’re now on the road to Luxembourg for lunch. Hopefully we hit Basel in Switzerland this evening, although we haven’t got any idea where we are staying or even if we’ll get there before sundown.

And they're off....

...well, in about an hour anyway. I'm expecting this to be our last blog from the UK - all being well the next one will be on the move using all sorts of modern gadgets.

It's all gone a bit quiet - a couple of phone calls here and there, a dash out to get power steering fluid, mineral oil (whaveter that does) and a few other bits and pieces, but otherwise it's like the quiet before the storm.

Just downloading the European maps for our Sat Nav now. Hmm - looking a bit tight actually, may not get it done in time. Hopefully the others have managed to sort theirs out, or we'll be in Albania before the week's out.

So this is it then. Wish us luck - see you when we get back.

Yikes!

So the day is here. Seven hours to departure.

We leave this afternoon from Batchworth Scout Hut in Rickmansworth at 5.00pm sharp. I say 5.00pm, but judging by last night's 'planning meeting' in the pub, I'm ever so slightly doubtful of that.

Four of us managed to get together last night for a last minute catch-up. A few beers and a lot of Twiglets later, Quent is still debating whether to bring a two-burner stove, gas bottle and full set of pots and pans. We had a brief discussion about whether to fit the stereo in the van before we go, or on the motorway on the way down to the port. We also discussed what air horns would suit the van best, whether we should attach a full PA system to the roof, and what 'outfits' each set of drivers should wear. I think Quent is going to be BA Baracus. As you can see, all the important stuff is well and truly covered off.

Great news yesterday though - we've had last minute word from our friends at P&O that we've been given three return trips completely FREE. We left it a bit late, but they turned around our request in record time and came through with their 'ferry' generous offer yesterday. So huge thanks to P&O for helping us to and from the continent!

Right, I'm off to give the Jag a once-over. Still something leaking from the bottom, and the power steering is groaning ominously.