I love 'all you can eat' breakfasts and I made the most of it today to keep me going through to afternoon tea.
Room emptied - check. Bill paid - check. Car loaded - check. We didn't have any more than we came up with but it seemed to take some getting in. How that happens, I don't know. A final visit to the filling station and it was time to go on the final leg of this superb tour. It was dry & bright, if a little cool. Thankfully the torrential rain of yesterday had passed and we looked forward to a good run.
The car started easily with its new battery and we rumbled off. All was well until navigational errors took us off the planned route in the Garvald area but the roads we used to get back on track were just as good as the ones on the route. Not all errors are bad.
A brief stop en route to take some pictures & video gave us the chance to stretch our legs for a while.
Room emptied - check. Bill paid - check. Car loaded - check. We didn't have any more than we came up with but it seemed to take some getting in. How that happens, I don't know. A final visit to the filling station and it was time to go on the final leg of this superb tour. It was dry & bright, if a little cool. Thankfully the torrential rain of yesterday had passed and we looked forward to a good run.
The car started easily with its new battery and we rumbled off. All was well until navigational errors took us off the planned route in the Garvald area but the roads we used to get back on track were just as good as the ones on the route. Not all errors are bad.
A brief stop en route to take some pictures & video gave us the chance to stretch our legs for a while.
We took another short stop are Scotts View where Pam took this panoramic picture. It was a lovely view.
Moving on for more lovely driving roads & views we came to the climb up to Witchie Knowe and across Ettrick Valley. This was so good I deemed it worthy of a video on its own.
Finally we reached the end of the run at The Woll Golf Club where a super afternoon tea awaited us. We said goodbye to old & new friends and headed for home with Don & Eileen riding shotgun most of the way in case our battery troubles of yesterday recurred. Thankfully they didn't but the run wasn't without drama. Our route was across country to pickup the A68 then a blast south down to Darlington.
All was well until we were well south of Corbridge when suddenly old Numbum started to run very rough with losts of popping and banging from the exhaust. Under hard acceleration it would cough & splutter then smooth out and pull like a train. On a cruising throttle it popped and banged as it did on deceleration. I pulled up at the first safe spot I could find and opened the bonnet on the passenger side, fully expecting to find a loose plug lead. All the plug leads were fine and as I raised my head the view across the rocker cover showed the problem instantly. The dashpot & piston from the front carburetor was missing. Gone completely.
All was well until we were well south of Corbridge when suddenly old Numbum started to run very rough with losts of popping and banging from the exhaust. Under hard acceleration it would cough & splutter then smooth out and pull like a train. On a cruising throttle it popped and banged as it did on deceleration. I pulled up at the first safe spot I could find and opened the bonnet on the passenger side, fully expecting to find a loose plug lead. All the plug leads were fine and as I raised my head the view across the rocker cover showed the problem instantly. The dashpot & piston from the front carburetor was missing. Gone completely.
I found the dashpot laid on the chassis rail but the piston had certainly done a runner. Don, behind me, didn't see anything drop off, and it wasn't embedded in his grille, so I can only presume that it's laid somewhere along the A68. As the car was still running, albeit badly, we decided to press on for home and we made it without any more trouble. I'll have to raid the parts boxes to find the bits to fix it. If you read Friday's report you will recall the song 'Nothings going to stop us now'. What an omen that was! Nothing did stop us.
Here's the final video from the weekend. Watch carefully, you may be on it.
Here's the final video from the weekend. Watch carefully, you may be on it.
Despite the problems we had a wonderful time. Even problems make great memories. Memories that couldn't have been made without all the hard work of the Caledonian Centre committee who must have put hours and hours into organising this.
We thank you all very much indeed.
We thank you all very much indeed.
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