Day 5... The end for this year

After a very good night in the bar we went to sleep in high spirits... Only to find this morning when moving the car, yesterday's drive had worn all the brake pad down to the metal backing on the driver's front wheel, which made them stick this morning.

So with a dodgy steering pump and now questionable breaking it's time to admit defeat. The mountains today would have been good but ultimately not safe enough to continue.

So car scrapped in Santander and flights booked back to Manchester, our rally for the year is done.

It's been a good one and got to see some teams we met in 2019 again which was great.

Signing off for the year #65

Day 4 - a run to Santander

Turning the key on the motor determined the day. We had power steering!! So we made a nonstop dash to Santander.

Today's weather was first 50km rain, second 200km dry, last 20km rain... I guess it's going to be one of them weeks.

However the good part, we got over the mountains without issue, the engine dragged us up easily and engine breaking helped on the way down.

The campsite restaurant is closed so we had to pop into Santander for some lunch at 3pm and are currently sat in a seafood restaurant called itxaski

Downstairs is a fish processing business to the sea food should be good and fresh.

Grilled Hake it is.

Wish us luck for tomorrow when we roll the dice again...

End of day 3.

We made it to Biarritz (just). The schorodingers steering pump is now in a working or not working state it depends on what it feels like when you turn the engine on...

A good run to Bordeaux with a linguine for lunch being the highlight today.

Camping tonight in the rain and a run to Santander tomorrow. We won't be going over the mountains tomorrow with the dodgy steering pump so a quick 2 hour run is the order of the day.

Day 3 questions.

Day 3 Biarritz

Today's destination is the rugby playing town of Biarritz. With a run through the wine region called France we will be a couple of bottles heavier by the end of the day.

Just waiting for a ferry across the Gironde estuary.

Challenges today include recreation of a scene from the bond movie Casino Royale with Daniel Craig exiting the water... This could be interesting.

End of day 2

Highlight for the day, we made it.. starting off in fancy dress on the ferry

It all started full of enthusiasm after being woken from sleep by a 30 min to get out of your cabin call at 6:30am uk time.

387km on the map turned into 400miles by the end of the day.

We are starting to understand the car and it's ermm (how to put it) "qwerks" are playing out.

Qwerks include:

Electrical fault on the power steering pump (manual old school steering it is).

Temperature gauge doesn't have any consistency.

Rusty sills mean we may not get another wheel changed..

Boot only opens on the key not the boot latch.

We have developed a rattly clutch plate making gear selection a lottery.

Heater has 2 temperatures "Sahara" and "Arctic" (you don't need to change the dials to get either the car chooses).

So all in all not too bad it still runs and stops and has suspension so we will carry on.

Today has been wet, very wet! So much so that we are not allowed to camp and the organisers have put on accomodation for all ralliers. So we have a dry night and a real bed thank goodness...

Time for a beer then bed, another early start in the morning.

Day 2 questions

And we are in France

Arrived in France at an ungodly hour getting kicked out of the cabin and into the car. Mike's just nipped to a patisserie to pick up some fresh breakfast.

587 km to do today, heading down the west coast to Ronce-les-bains.

An interesting day 1

Almost the end of an eventful day 1 of this year's rally.

From a 5:30am start the first couple of hundred miles were somewhat uneventful. Changing drivers just north of Taunton we picked up a screw in the front drivers side tyre. Which went down while we took a quick break.

Even with a little air it went down within 10 miles. So a quick pit stop into Taunton's park and ride car park to get off the motorway saw 1 jack almost pop through the rusty sill as the car was jacked up. Luckily we had 2 jacks, so strategically placed to balance out the weight a little a formula 1 style pitstop ensued with the bolts back in and Phil tight we chanced the untested spare tyre for the last 107 miles to the start in Charleston which has a fantastic little harbour and wet lock where there were some old wooden ships.

Registration done and half way through the reserve tank of diesel we set off from the harbour in convoy and peeled off to find Asda for a fresh tank of diesel and then onto Quickfit for a replacement tyre for the second day running.

We passed on the challenges and drove from Charleston to Plymouth to catch up and put in day 1's quiz answers. Then onto the ferry for a 10pm sailing.

We dock in France at 8am tomorrow so a quick nightcap and off to bed, its been a long day.

Day 1 questions..

Anyone with none patchy internet please help with some of these questions.

And so it starts.....

5am on a Sunday... With the back tyre replaced yesterday after it going flat in 15 mins we are ready as we can be to start the adventure.

Only 2 warning lights on the dashboard and an assurance from the previous owner that it will be ok... We are setting off.

370 miles to go to the registration point on the chinese clay barge Lady Daphne moored in the harbour at Charlestown.

Question of the day will be......

Jam first or Cream first?

Tally ho!

Banger Rally 2022

After a couple of years away due to a little pandemic, the banger rally is back. We were called late this year as the organisers had a couple of last minute cancellations and put it out to previous entrants..

Having forgotten the bad bits (I'm blaming old age and a little nostalgia) I convinced Mike to take up the spare seat again and join in on another adventure.

2022 - Porto or bust...

This one could be interesting... We have a car with a few issues before we start. So this could be a short rally or a complete success, we are due to find out in a few days.

Wish us luck 🤞