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

Day 1 Questions...

It begins, a lot more questions this year, there's a few we will need to find, but any help on the others....

On the road again.....

After a day at work what better than. A drive to Devon to make it easier to get to Cornwall for the start of the rally. 

Stopping about a third of the way down for a break to realize you had left your passport at home........ Slight 160 mile detour back to meet up with a very forgiving wife at the services to retrieve said passport and return to the open road...

So now 3 hours behind where we hoped to be it's looking like we will get a shorter sleep than planned before we start for real tomorrow... 

Ah well what's life without an adventure...

Wellies and wipers......

This could be the wettest week in Europe in an unsuitable car.... Flooding across Poland, Germany and Austria causing evacuations of homes could make this a bit more difficult.

But it's only water right..... So let's have it!!!

With cash changed for the foreign stuff and some waterproofs the list of stuff to do is getting smaller....

Excitement rising and bits and pieces in the car coming together only a couple of sleeps to go....

Just the week at work left.....

Half way through the count down and only 5 days before we set off.... Where has that gone already....

I don't recall things coming around this quickly when we first started on these escapades.... Maybe it's right time goes faster when you get older.... Or maybe, nah I just think it's because we are getting older..

Anyway, 5 days until we start and find ourselves meandering, quizzing and the obligatory daily carpool karaoke (although for everyone's ears it's a good job we can't add them to the blog).

Wish us luck, it's been 2 years since we called it time in Santander, let's hope this year is more successful, it will be fun and tiring and more memories made whatever the outcome.

Countdown is begining

Almost there now.... Car is stickered up and only has 3 more fixes before we set off in around 10 days.....

What has been fixed before we set off... Well anything over a wiper blade change is more than we've done in previous years (but we are going to try and get this one home as well, so she's worth it).

Alternator replaced

Front lights upgraded (new spot lights)

Passenger window mechanism replaced

Still to do.....

Cambelt tensioner

Drivers window mechanism (it failed as the passenger one was replaced...)

New spark plugs

Fancy dress is sorted, sleeping bags and tents at the ready, the countdown begins...

2024's rearranged destination rally.....

An interesting start and now only 2 weeks out let's recap on how we've joined the "other" banger rally challenge to Croatia in the 2024 "Split or bust"......

It all started on an almost not rainy day in Leeds, when Mike decided to show me his "new" car... A 2003 mini (very much like his other black mini that has been off the road for a while) that he got because he needed a run around.... But it was cheap and could be used for another rally (potentially) if we could get on one....

So I looked and registration was still open for "Monopoli or Bust" from the Cornwall team that we'd joined before in previous years.

So all excited and with permission from the better halves we signed up.... Only to be informed in August that this year's rally has to be postponed...

Undeterred and another quick look around we found the other half of the original Cornwall team had "Split or bust" organized for the week before "Monopoli or Bust"... So without time to change and stickers already on the car we are now heading to Croatia instead of Italy this year in another fun packed week of driving, camping and general funny business in a very suitable MINI....... With a team name still of "The Italian Job".