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
…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).
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).
(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.)
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