It's good to goSo now it is a few months later and the car is finally roadworthy. The major defects have been put right and it will at least go and stop. Due to the new arrival in the family, I haven’t even been able to get over to see that car yet. I get a phone call from Steve to say that he is done after four heroic 12-hour days getting the remedial stuff sorted. There are a lot of major items remaining but at least it goes and stops. Hopefully we won’t have any unplanned stops. Paperwork and Route PlanningThis is were the fun starts. I have a 34 year old car which has done about 200 miles in the last two years and am now in the position where it has to be driven 200 miles across England and Wales to the ferry and then another 160 miles across Ireland. So obviously a plan has to come together. The first thing to get sorted is the insurance and roadside rescue service. Then I need somebody to ride shotgun to provide assistance for minor breakdowns and company for the journey. That done I have to arrange plane and ferry tickets. The ferry tickets cost an arm and a leg, but then it is August and I think a cancellation waiver might be a good idea. With the cancellation waiver requirement, Stena Line from Fishguard to Rosslare is the best option. The next step is off to AA’s normally excellent route planning service which yields a good route from Oxford to Fishguard. However, the route for the Irish portion of the journey isn’t quite a good as it gives me a route using 60 miles of Regional roads which are a poor cousin of English B roads. Not exactly a good idea in an untrustworthy Jensen, so after adding a couple of via locations I manage to get something more reasonable that is about 10 miles longer but sticks almost entirely to National Primary and Secondary routes. Stuff for the JourneyObviously, I am going to need a couple of bits for the journey. However, as I am flying over in these troubled times I am going to have to get most of what I need in the UK. Even stuff like a multi-meter is going to cause grief with airport security so it is best to order as much as possible and try to pick up the rest in local shops. So it is off to Amazon, who have recently started doing a reasonable selection of basic tools. I manage to find a basic automotive toolkit along with axle stands and a few other bits. They have a selection of meters but the lead time on the reasonable ones is too long. I can even buy a book to read on the ferry. Next it is off to Henrys for meters which is sorted out in short order. That is about it for ordering in. I will need to pick up stuff like a fuel can, fire extinguisher, fluids and other bits and pieces from a shop as this sort of thing is not easy got on-line. A couple of days later, I have a real bright idea regarding the speedometer or lack thereof. I remember from my scuba-diving days that a GPS performs adequately well as a speedometer on a boat. So, I do a bit of mailing around and I manage to borrow one from a mate. Don’t laugh, it is better than nothing, albeit perhaps not entire legal. |
This is where the fun starts. I have a 34 year
old car which has done about 200 miles in the last two years and am
now in the position where it has to be driven 200 miles across
England and Wales and then another 160 miles across Ireland |
