Where was Bertie? He was at Dave Newell Leisure Services in
Madeley, having a major service and MOT.
Where was Erica? She spent most of the day in Ironbridge
Weather: very cold and icy, but a glorious, clear sky.
With Bertie due his MOT and overdue his service, and with
our usual MOT establishment having shut down, we opted to take Bertie over to
Dave Newell to have both of those things carried out, as well as having his
fridge serviced and the oil in his gas pipe cleared. Two years ago we went over
there just in Bertie, then spent the whole day loitering in cafés and wandering
around. Last year we decided it was worth taking both vehicles, so that we
could use Erica to go and do something enjoyable whilst Bertie was being
fettled. This year we opted for the same two-vehicle approach.
So, Bertie was dropped off and down to Ironbridge (only 10
minutes distant) we went. I’d plotted a route that I thought would take us
around 2 hours to walk, so we didn’t waste much time in setting off –
discovering on our way that our favourite café is currently closed for a winter
holiday.
The route we walked wasn’t exactly what I’d plotted…
We were quite right to be here
We shouldn’t have been here
Or here
Back on track by here.
Walking through a field of old brassica stems is not a pleasant experience. I
still have a scab on my leg to prove it – and I was wearing thick winter
trousers.
…but it worked out fine and gave us more ascent than I’d
planned, which I’m sure was beneficial to both of us, but it highlighted once
again how much fitness I need to regain. By the end I was also acutely aware of
needing to rebuild stamina too.
Arriving back in Ironbridge, a café was needed, and we made
the mistake we’ve made so many times before of going in the first one we came
to, rather than seeing what’s two doors further on. My only complaints with our
café were that someone ordered the last scone moments before I tried to order
it, and it really shouldn’t take fifteen minutes to make a pot of tea. The
substitute cakes were good, though; the tea, when it finally arrived, was plentiful;
and they brushed away our apologies for the amount of mud we’d got on the floor
(we’d wiped our feet well on the way in, but I think the mud had been frozen at
that point; by the time we left it had defrosted to a soupy
spread-all-over-the-floor consistency).
As we left we saw a much more comfortable place two doors
along with a big mound of scones on display (but maybe they wouldn’t have been
so tolerant to muddy shoes?).
Earlier than expected we got a call to say Bertie was ready.
Turned out he didn’t need new brakes (we’d expected he would purely based on
mileage) nor had his gas line been cleared. Rather than phoning us to clarify
what the issue was (the very same issue that the very same chap has resolved
before), when he couldn’t see what the issue was, he decided to ignore our
request).
As for Bertie’s tail light that we discovered was out when
we went to Norfolk in December, before Christmas I took his light cluster off
and discovered that we didn’t have the correct wattage of bulb. I chucked in one
of the same size but a bigger wattage, hoping, as a temporary measure, it would
work even if dim, but it didn’t. We bought the correct bulb, but the weather
then wasn’t conducive to taking his rear light cluster back apart, so we left
it until we returned from Scotland, two days before his MOT. The new bulb
didn’t work either. I took his opposite light cluster off, tested continuity
and tested voltage, and concluded that it was a loose or broken wire. Without
the time or inclination to sort that out, we decided to allow Dave to do it. On
Monday morning, his light was suddenly working again, and remained so for the
MOT. I haven’t checked if it’s still working (in which case it may have been a
loose connector that was resolved when I reconnected everything) or it may be a
broken wire that I moved and will fail again in due course when the vibrations
of driving dislodge it. Only time will tell.
Alas, Monday wasn’t such a great day for Erica. On the way
to Telford her cab fan stopped working other than on max speed (leaving me
alternating between not being able to hear the radio due to the noise of the
fan, or not getting any heat into the cab on a -4 degree day). On the way back
from Telford her engine management light came on. I’ve replaced her cab fan resistor,
so that’s now working again, and she’s booked into the garage on Monday for her
overdue service and to find out what is ailing her engine management system
(whatever it is, she’s running fine, so at least she didn’t go into limp mode,
or cause me to have to call the breakdown service less than a month after
opting for the cheaper cover that has a call-out fee).
The faulty item
Had to take half the
dashboard out to access it.
(As well as disassembling Erica, I also took the tumble
dryer apart on Monday, but concluded that with it needing four new parts,
coming to the best part of £100, and with it being over 20 years old, it was
beyond economic repair. If I’d taken it apart when it started making a horrible
noise, rather than waiting until it broke completely, it may have been
salvageable.)
(Post-blog note: Erica went into limp mode on her way to the garage the following Monday, when she was already booked in for a service in any case. She ended up spending a couple of weeks at the garage, as the replacement of her EGR valve was a big job and one they couldn't fit in immediately, and it was of no value us having her back if she wasn't working. We finally picked her up and all was well for the first 25 miles, but then her engine management light came on again. Having spent an arm and a leg on the EGR valve, spirits sank with the thought that the garage had misdiagnosed and fixed the wrong (very expensive) thing. She spent another week off the road, pending her next appointment at the garage (we had her booked in for an MOT the following week, so waited for that appointment to come around). They modified some parameters with the new EGR valve and the problem was solved - phew! In the meantime, we managed to go from 6 January to 5 February without doing a full supermarket shop, managing with just the occasional purchase from the local Co-op to supplement the contents of the freezer that went from bursting at the seams to completely empty in that period. I cannot tell you how many times I said "It's no good, we're going to have to go shopping tomorrow", only then to come up with something else I could rustle up from the ingredients we had in the house.)
