Skip to main content

On y va

Hooray. We are off. The ferry was booked a few weeks ago and the pressure was then on to get all sorts of jobs finished on the house and Landy.

Major cosmetic work was to cover the grey front doors with paint that matches the rest of the vehicle.

On the engine a coolant leak had developed behind the water pump and so the P gasket and adjacent core plug were renewed. Also a cheapy head unit from those Chinese people replaced the old Sony fm radio. Now we have opened up the wonders of Car Play and all that comes with it.












Finally the 9th gen iPad with WiFi became a 9th gen iPad with WiFi and ‘cellular’. This means we can use OsmAnd Maps which need no data and get their gps position off the ‘cellular’ chip in the iPad. More on this useful map in subsequent posts.

We headed towards Portsmouth for a mid morning ferry via our old neighbours in S-I-V. There we had a great few hours updating each about our families and then proceeded to save the NHS, the country and the world too. I mean why not? We’ve now been around longer than most; have seen and experienced more than most and are older and wiser (than most). We deserve it and have the time.

Portsmouth is an interesting port even though there weren’t as many naval vessels around as I might have expected. Highlight was the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth which is already eleven years old (since commissioning). 







I’m sure that it spends a lot of time at the dock. Maybe it is getting upgraded. The work appears to be major and I doubt it will leave anytime soon. I’d feel happier about our defensive capability if it was at sea.


The ferry is small and not at all busy. There’s a few cars, caravans and motor homes. An old chap was in a Smart car. Didn’t seem very laden. I wonder where he’s going? The guy with the Harley had one small piece of luggage and we decided that he’s only travelling with essentials.







So we are happy to surf the waves and the internet (with free and fast Wi-Fi) as we cruise in the sunshine across to La France. Tomorrow it’s going to rain. 😩

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Onwards

You can’t visit a classic car enthusiast without admiring their car and we got our timing right, as it was the monthly club meet on Sunday. This was held at the Hippodrome in Maisons Laffitte, so it was just up the road. The definition of ‘classic’ here is 30 years and so many of the vehicles there looked very familiar to us 😳. TR5 and TR6, MGB, RR, BMW, Maserati, of course the Jensen Interceptor that our host drives, 2CV, Caterham 7, a beautiful Austin Healy 3 litre and then this… This is identical to mine, a Fiat 850 Sport Coupé, that I owned from 1978-81. Seeing it, brought back memories of welding, brazing, stripped driveshaft splines, clutch on the M1 and many miles of amazing touring. We drove around France on a camping road trip for all of September 1978 and the following year did the Ardennes for a month too. Here’s Nige’s Jensen… Maisons Laffitte is a very nice area to the west of Paris centre. The mansion is now owned by a trust I think and is a beautiful building. All we ne...
Post a Comment
Read more

Burgundy

We thought that after the descent from Col du Galibier, we would be done with cols. They are brilliant to drive but hard work. The narrower the road the harder it is, especially at hairpins. These are almost always steep and so the vehicle speed and engine revs need to be correct before the turn. If it’s a right hand bend then the driving line is obviously on the right part of the corner which is always the steepest. It’s all about teamwork, especially as those bikers love the roads and like to be close to the middle. A Land Rover 110 needs a wide turning circle and so we have to look out sideways and either up above or down below to see what’s coming. After Galibier the road finally descends to the ski area of Valloire and on to Col du Telègraphe, which from the south isn’t much but those ascending from the north will feel the height gain. Then down to the Maurienne valley and we think we are done with hills. However there’s one last surprise as we turn right off the motorway route to...
1 comment
Read more