it needed some work.

With a car outside and no MOT the race was on to get some second hand parts and get it ready for an MOT as quickly as possible.

Did it need some work? Hell yeah, the chassis was straight but all radiators and mountings were bent, so with an £1800 quote just for the radiators from Audi Halifax it was clear this was going to be an eBay build.

Stripped back at the local garage she was ready to start building back up.. within the week she was holding fluids and new to us radiators and a new crash bar shockers we had a rolling chassis to come back and get the finishing bits added to the front to call it a car again...

2025 - Vienna or bust it's almost here

This year's rally started on day 5 of last year's rally..... After losing the mini in northern Italy due to a damaged harmonic balancer throwing the ancillary belt and needing to conserve phone batteries (hence not blogging) we ended up in Trieste in an Airbnb wondering how we ended up without a car again.... A quick auto trader under £1000 search showed an Audi with crash damage for £995.... But it's a stupid rally and we weren't doing it again!!!!! So end of search.

The car was still on auto trader 2 weeks after getting back (which should have been a red flag) but 1 phone call and 3 hours later it sat outside on the road with no MOT and a broken window.... 

End of day 4....

What a difference a day makes. Not in Geneva at all... Lake Guarda.... Campsite here is lovely, the owners are really friendly and the backdrop is spectacular.

The route today took us to a monument on the edge of another part of Como. Then out to Bergamo to an old castle walled area accessible either by road or funicular.

Some "fun" with the car today, we had a problem with noise from a dodgy wheel bearing that was less than perfect when we set off and is now closer to failing, so a 2 1/2 hour detour back to Bergamo tomorrow to pick up a replacement so we have one available and able to be replaced tomorrow night.

All in all though a good day and pizza for lunch with pasta for tea... It is Italy after all..

Day 4...

After another good night at the edge of lake Como we are heading to Geneva today.

Less than 200 miles today so should be plenty of time for a couple of challenges today.

Here's how the morning looks

Day 4 questions

At the start of day 3..

It's Monday.... Where did that weekend go?

Oh yeah we did about 1000 miles of driving!

After a rude awakening on the ferry yesterday at 4:45am we arose to a showery morning rolling off the ferry in the dark it had been a smooth crossing but another short nights sleep.

The run across France started with some nice rural driving through some very old French villages.

Then out for the first of I'm sure many French pasty breakfasts this week.

Fuelled and on the road again to the Champagne region of France and with the karaoke version of "4 none blonds - what's up" to do we had some fun until....... Nothing really but more driving..

So in the vineyards we stopped to have a look at the dark grapes that are in harvest season at the moment.

Rain has been intermittent and not too bad at the moment.

The car has (so far - touch wood) been running well, there's the odd things that are non factory spec, the break squeak under 30mph and a whistling alternator but generally she's holding up well. Pushing 130kph on the A roads uses more fuel than sitting between 80 + 110 on the N roads so we will try and stay at a sensible pace and make it a little more relaxed for the rest of the week.

Anyway that's it for now, we have an exciting day planned today with the Swiss mountains. With a destination around lake Como just the other side of the hills.

Day 2 Questions

Well here we go again let's see if there's any answers in day 2