{"id":3062,"date":"2017-05-31T10:40:22","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T10:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/astraea.net\/blog\/?p=3062"},"modified":"2017-06-03T08:35:14","modified_gmt":"2017-06-03T08:35:14","slug":"zen-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/zen-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Zen Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before we begin the story, a brief but heartfelt thanks to those of you who helped make this adventure happen, especially Dad and Mum, Pam, Richard, Noel, Daniele, Kelly, Rhadames, Clara, Kate, Christian.\u00a0 THANK YOU!<\/em><\/p>\n

The idea of getting the red car down to Malta had been passed around a few times, but no one seemed to have time.\u00a0 Dad had said that he thought it might be good this year.\u00a0\u00a0 It could be shipped, so I looked in to that, but the idea of driving seemed more interesting.\u00a0 It would mean I could stop to see a couple of friends on the way.<\/p>\n

The idea of taking someone had been booted around.\u00a0 Pam would be teaching so couldn’t come.\u00a0 The boys were in school.\u00a0 And I didn’t want to be slowed down.\u00a0 I was aiming for a maximum of a week and had to be back by 20\u00a0 May at the latest and would be tied up in the garden and with hay making till late summer.\u00a0 So, if I was to go, I was leaning toward a solo drive.<\/p>\n

When Dad visited with Romey and Anthony he confirmed he’d like to\u00a0 have the car in the sun, so I started planning and by the weekend had decided to go, but not whether to go on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday …\u00a0 On Monday, Pam encouraged me to take Richard, but I was reluctant.\u00a0 At lunch I decided to take Richard – it might be the last chance for me and him to get to know each other a bit before he was gone for good … We would leave the following morning.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Just about to leave Noel’s workshop in January 2016 looking the best she’s done for years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The preparations had started in earnest a few days before the off.\u00a0 Padraig at Wesley James’ tracked and balanced the wheels.\u00a0 Wesley warned me about play in the steering.\u00a0 I said “That’s just how it is!”.\u00a0 Wesley told me to “See Noel!” at least five times.\u00a0 So I did.\u00a0 Noel<\/a> is a wizard who keeps the cars, trucks and tractors of many lucky folk around here running and looking good.\u00a0 He had done an amazing job of “repainting” the car a year ago.\u00a0 The paint job was beautiful but he also waxoyled the frame inside and out and re-welded a few of the more gaping holes.\u00a0 (After picking it up last year, he demonstrated its roadworthiness by doing a few doughnuts on a country lane!)\u00a0 The car wouldn’t have been ready without his magical touch.\u00a0 On this occasion he gave the steering a clean bill of health but told me to replace the front driver side tyre.\u00a0 We swapped it for the spare in the meantime. I’d look for tyres over the weekend.<\/p>\n

So on Monday I phoned around to find tyres.\u00a0 Tom McGagh (jr) in Bagenalstown suggested Askea Tyres\u00a0 Carlow.\u00a0 Pam and I went up in the afternoon. One of the two tyres they had in stock bubbled at the side when inflated so off it came.\u00a0 Luckily we were able to change the worst offender –\u00a0 the front driver side tyre –\u00a0 which was cracking.<\/p>\n

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Mountain Ash at Noel and Anna’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the way home, a banging developed.\u00a0 We stopped at Noel’s.\u00a0 On the way in I had to snap\u00a0 his mountain ash which looked gorgeous.\u00a0 Brian gave a hand.\u00a0 We tightened the wheel spinner – problem solved.\u00a0 Brian mentioned play in the ball joint.\u00a0 “Shhhh! Don’t say anything.\u00a0 What you don’t know won’t hurt you…”<\/p>\n

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Racing pigeon resting in plot 6.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After we returned home, I walked around the garden and saw a pigeon sitting next to the leaf beet.\u00a0 Weird!\u00a0 Pigeons are supposed to fly away… Why wasn’t it moving?\u00a0I leaned closer and saw tags on its legs.\u00a0 I remember Anthony, who once helped me dig a 6 tonne mini-digger from a bog, telling me that sometimes racing pigeons become exhausted, are very weak and just have to land. \u00a0\u00a0 I phoned the number on the tag and Eddie answered.\u00a0 He was from Dublin.\u00a0 Yes it was his pigeon.\u00a0 Could we give him some water and meal?\u00a0 No problem.\u00a0 And how about a pick up?\u00a0 We’d do something in the morning as we drove through Dublin to the ferry.\u00a0 We put the bird in a box with hay, water and rolled oats and barley.<\/p>\n

Then, I went to pick up the rush print job of How to Get Rich and Famous<\/i><\/a> from Patrick and Davy at Digital Outputs<\/a>.\u00a0 They did that in a day!\u00a0 Super job!\u00a0 Thank you!<\/p>\n

And then picked Richard from the train station.\u00a0 He had got permission to leave school at the last moment and had to run to catch the train from Waterford … but he made it. He was coming too.\u00a0 When we returned home we noticed the car was looking less dusty – Pam had surreptitiously given it a good cleaning.\u00a0 Thanks Pam!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>That evening we packed and tried to get an early night.\u00a0 Pam mentioned that having driven to Carlow earlier that day helped her appreciate the dangers involved … and maybe it wasn’t such a good thing to put Richard in the car.\u00a0 But the die was caste…<\/p>\n

I woke at 3.\u00a0 The moon was bright.\u00a0 I lay there for an hour and a half before deciding to move.\u00a0 Bath, dressed, laundry, bags down.\u00a0 I checked the car and walked around the garden in the pre-dawn light as the birds broke silence.\u00a0 Full moon facing the rising sun, crisp air, dawn chorus – it was awesome.<\/p>\n

I woke Richard around 5 or so.\u00a0 We tucked in to eggs and toast. Loaded the car, loaded the pigeon, hugs and kisses and off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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About 06.05, 26,101 miles on the clock.\u00a0 We stopped in Ballon to fill up. The Dublin commuter crowd was already on the road.\u00a0 Though we all wanted coffee, we were in better moods than them: We were on a road trip!\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We cruised to Dublin.\u00a0 On the M50 I got the directions wrong and we took the wrong exit and incurred a toll.\u00a0 We had chosen the longest trip through Dublin.\u00a0 It was interesting to see the town waking up and see different parts of it, parts I’d never seen, but I was a bit impatient with the traffic.\u00a0 Insane!\u00a0 Richard was cool about the whole thing.\u00a0 He nonchalantly mentioned every now and then how much traffic we faced and how much quicker the other route, which the mapping app recommended, would be… but he didn’t give me a hard time.\u00a0 And the engine was warming as it sat in traffic.\u00a0 We got to the port half an hour before departure.\u00a0 Irish Ferries, comfortable as always, this time the quick crossing.\u00a0 Just as we were about to enter the hold, \"\"<\/a>we released the pigeon, who soared in to the sky, got her bearings and turned for home.\u00a0 Eddie left a voicemail that she’d arrived 5 minutes after we let her out… a fun beginning to the trip, little of which had been planned from Richard coming along, to the pigeon rescue, to waking up at 3am, to the Dublin detour, and we felt good.<\/p>\n

We dozed and did a bit of internetting for the two hour crossing.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>After disembarking we stopped a Lidl for provisions then started off on the A55.\u00a0 It is lovely countryside, partly by the sea and we made fair time to Chester.\u00a0 We even undertook a Lambo!<\/p>\n

Then the car stated to overheat.\u00a0 We stopped and refilled the water.\u00a0 But soon the temperature was up again.\u00a0 I got in touch with Noel who mentioned leaks and, I think prompted by Brian, maybe it was a leaking head gasket.\u00a0 But he gave me testing instructions over the phone and it seemed the worst it was was a leak in radiator or hoses.\u00a0 We were at a service area where a fellow kindly directed us to the nearby town of Helsby and a motor factor there.\u00a0 Clive (I guess (who coincidentally might share a passion for Pratchett) but I don’t know …) at CAW Motor Factors helped out with rad weld and coolant.\u00a0 We continued on.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The temperature issue ameliorated but didn’t go away and stayed with us to London.\u00a0 It didn’t seem to be leaks because they didn’t show on rad or hoses.\u00a0 It wasn’t the head gasket because there was no constant bubbling on filling the rad with water.\u00a0 I wondered if the radiator cap was the issue because it didn’t feel tight.\u00a0 I wondered if water was being released too easily. The electric fan didn’t help – it wasn’t working yet was blocking air flow thereby reducing the capacity of the cooling system to cool the engine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>After Chester the traffic got heavier.\u00a0 We even undertook a Lambo!\u00a0 But then, as we rounded Birmingham on the M6, heavier traffic and intermittent crawling pushed the temperature up a bit more.\u00a0 Suddenly the engine stopped. We were in the middle of the motorway.\u00a0 I hit the clutch and popped the car in to neutral to maintain speed. \u00a0 Luckily the traffic was slow, maybe 70kmh.\u00a0 Rich was dozing off but was immediately leapt in to action as we both jumped out of the car and pushed her off to the side.\u00a0 French might have been spoken, but we were pretty calm.\u00a0 After a couple of minutes I tried the engine again and she started.\u00a0 We rolled off again.\u00a0 I dropped speed and cancelled an evening appointment with Rupert.\u00a0 We had to refill the radiator frequently.\u00a0 The scenery was lovely but the car gave me a little cause for worry.\u00a0 It was good to have texts from Noel and Rupert, who had followed progress, asking about how we were getting on.\u00a0 And Daniele’s advice as we passed Oxford was welcome “Get here safely”.\u00a0 Thanks to them all.<\/p>\n

I planned to go to the TR Shop if we made it to London … which we did, eventually parking around 20.45 near Kensington Gardens.\u00a0 The 5-6 hour drive had taken over 9.<\/p>\n

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On our stroll: Colbert in Sloane Square and overhearing strange snippets: “…he had like a tiny risotto…”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We spent a memorable evening with Daniele and Kelly.\u00a0 They are a breath of fresh air and generous hosts.\u00a0 A pint at the pub with a summer evening crowd, a colourful Italian restaurant nearby and later Richard and I parked near the flat we had been offered by my parents.\u00a0 We took the luggage in, then strolled around the neighbourhood.\u00a0 For Richard it was a new experience with new worlds opening up.\u00a0 It was fun for me to share it with him.\u00a0 On return we showered and passed out a little after 0100.<\/p>\n

We were up and at Floris Cafe by 0830.\u00a0 It’s my usual haunt when passing through South Ken.\u00a0 I had the usual eggs and chips and Rich had the full breakfast.\u00a0 Great place, good people. Coffeeee!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Afterwards we went to get credit and found a bleary eyed fellow uninterested in customers because he had a “fiddle spinner”.\u00a0\u00a0 We asked what it was while we got the phone top-up.\u00a0 He explained that it was a dangerous addiction which he played to stop him cracking his knuckles, but that it distracted him so much that he couldn’t even be bothered to stroll to the microwave to get his coffee!\u00a0 People are strange…<\/p>\n

Then I met Charles and Allen.\u00a0 Allen, a successful entrepreneur building a business which turns waste tyres in to fuel, also has a passion for cars and has raced, maybe at Le Mans but I’m not sure.\u00a0 He came to look at the car.\u00a0 He clearly understood some of the issues I was facing and offered some pointers, including staying below 50mph for safety if the steering was suspect (which I didn’t think was the problem, but…).\u00a0 Thanks Allen.<\/p>\n

Richard returned from his walkabout – Sloane area and through Harrods – and we loaded up and left.\u00a0 We passed by Kensington Palace to give Kelly some copies of How to Get Rich and Famous<\/i> for Ivan, who has been a great supporter and would give copies to selected friends. Then we headed for Chiswick.\u00a0 I hoped to see Guy (though our comms broke down and I failed) and go to the TR Shop.<\/p>\n

I’ve been going to the TR Shop since the early 80s.\u00a0 The counter used to be along the left wall, now it’s at the front.\u00a0 It is a real place, a human place and I’m grateful to Lukas for helping me out for decades.\u00a0 I picked up a radiator cap with a\u00a0 slightly longer neck and primed at 4 lbs rather than 10.\u00a0 The longer neck was essential to keep the water in.\u00a0 I also picked up a few emergency supplies like radiator hoses, fan belt, coil, distributor cap and leads, and spark plugs, just in case …<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The heating problem subsided, though never went away, partly because the electric fan didn’t turn but blocked the radiator.\u00a0 George (in Gozo) later told me that the lighter pressure of the radiator cap helps reduce water loss, as well as the correct length neck.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We continued to the Chunnel train.\u00a0 We made good time and arrived in time for the 1520 departure.\u00a0 Sadly Richard’s phone was damaged when dropped and we lost some great photos – but have since recovered the phone and photos, hurray!<\/p>\n

We arrived in France about 1730 French time.\u00a0 After filling up we erroneously took a slight detour toward Brussels before getting back on the Paris road.\u00a0 I wondered if it was a sign that we should visit Marc, now in Brussles on his brief vacation from Africa, but I decided to stay on track simply because I had given myself limited time to do the trip.<\/p>\n

It was beautiful drive and we made reasonable time toward Paris.\u00a0 After 100km or so I checked the wheels.\u00a0 There had been more shake than I was used to on the down slopes of the rolling motorway.\u00a0 We jacked the front wheel and checked the spinners.\u00a0 Everything seemed fine and while stopped, Sebastian pulled up, checked out the car while we were fiddlin’, and then we chatted a bit.\u00a0 He showed us a snap of his 70s or 80s Cateram, a more modern racer and I tried out my incomprehensible French on him.\u00a0 It is cool when spontaneous camaraderie is sparked by a mutual passion …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We continued on, but as dusk fell I realised our lights were not working properly.\u00a0 We pulled in to a service area and looked for a solution, checking wiring and fuses, but we\u00a0 didn’t have luck.\u00a0 I phoned Rhadames to say we were delayed.\u00a0 We had some bread and cheese from the now closing shop and I continued to fiddle.\u00a0 Eventually I got the fiddle right and they came on.\u00a0 We got going again, though it was nearing 2300.\u00a0 It was 40km to Paris and Rhadames was not yet asleep. Soon there was a motorway diversion and, as traffic merged, we were edged in to the verge by a truck.\u00a0 Luckily we rumbled over the grass on to the road without any bangs.\u00a0 That was the only traffic incident we experienced and everyone came out fine.<\/p>\n

Arriving on the Paris peripherique it felt good to be able to keep up with the traffic.\u00a0 The car sounded awesome growling through the tunnels as we sped half way around Paris via the “exterieur”.\u00a0 We arrived Vanves after midnight and were happy to be let in from the quiet street.\u00a0 And what a warm welcome:\u00a0 my favourite pasta, a pizza a glass of wine!\u00a0 Ahhhhh… home.\u00a0 We zoned out by about one in the morning.\u00a0 Thanks to Rhadames, Clara and Ruben for looking after us.<\/p>\n

Rhada and I woke around 6am and got ready before waking Ruben at 7ish to get him ready for school.\u00a0 I was a bit bleary eyed and apparently “someone” had kept Rhada awake with loud snoring!\u00a0 Richard decided to sleep some more and I went with Rhada by taxi to drop Ruben at school.\u00a0 We enjoyed a coffee and croissant while waiting for his appointment to arrive.\u00a0 Then I left to enjoy a walk back to the apartment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>What a treat to enjoy Paris on a sunny morning in May.\u00a0 A hot air balloon was rising next to the Eiffel Tower over the Seine as I crossed.\u00a0 The timing couldn’t have been better.\u00a0 And I took a little detour through a park on the way.\u00a0 There were arrows on the ground pointing off the main path, so, in the spirit of the zen adventure, I took the hint and followed them.\u00a0 They brought me through pleasant glades and it seemed a metaphor for life – that if you take “the road less travelled” you enjoy the byways while still being in touch with the more distant main route …<\/p>\n

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After the park I found myself in the square where the Metro rises at Corentin Celton.\u00a0 Some lads were demonstrating or testing a robotic goods trolley – it looked like it was good for lazy lads and then for putting people out of a job.\u00a0 After watching it for a while, I walked up the hill to the sleepers in the flat.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On arrival Clara and Rich mobilised and we left on foot to meet Molly down by the river.\u00a0 Clara and Molly went for a coffee while Rich and I walked to the Eiffel Tower and then on to Concorde near where we met the others to go to lunch.\u00a0 We found a Cafe and enjoyed yummy pasta and a beer.\u00a0 The boss kindly treated us to another eau de vie… after which we headed for the flat and Rhada for the office.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>We had planned to leave after lunch but I decided to stick around a little longer to hang out with Rhada since he would be home early.\u00a0 I’m glad I did, though it meant we left in the rush our traffic.\u00a0 There was gridlock on the peripherique, when we left at 1900ish.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It was only a couple of km to our exit and we made it out of Paris in about half an hour and headed south.\u00a0 The whole time we’d travelled on motorways we’d been the slowest vehicle in the slow lane. The small size of the car becomes especially noticeable when you’re surrounded by large trucks.\u00a0 On this stretch I started to notice the small size more.\u00a0 There was some rain and the performance of the wipers was variable.\u00a0 (We had learned at the TR Shop that the wipers are probably original, based on the serial number.)\u00a0 I hoped to reach Kate and Christian that night, but knew we had left Paris too late.\u00a0 Around midnight we pulled in to a rest stop and parked.\u00a0 We slept.<\/p>\n

About 0400 we started off again.\u00a0\u00a0 There was a diversion at the next motorway exit.\u00a0 We didn’t want to exit, but were forced to and there were no signs for the di\"\"<\/a>version.\u00a0 After asking a cop, who said head for Autun, we started following signs for Bourg and then Chalon.\u00a0 We pulled in to Chalon north about 0600 and stopped in a quiet gas station to get our bearings.\u00a0 When I turned the ignition the battery was flat.\u00a0 Must have been lights, heater and wipers that drained the battery… I asked a few early morning passers-by for jump leads (in my best French haha – “pinces” if you’re wondering) but no luck.\u00a0 Rich said “Shall I push?”\u00a0 I didn’t think we had a chance, but after a while said “OK, let’s try.”\u00a0 We pushed the car to the back of the lot, then started for the roll, I jumped in, Rich was powering the machine from the back, I let the clutch off in to second and she fired.\u00a0 Wahoo! We’re off again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We re-found the motorway, got on and then off at then next exit and followed Kate’s excellent directions to St Bonnet de Joux arriving for le petit dejeuner around 0800.\u00a0 Kate and Christian welcomed us.\u00a0 Christian had some jobs on the farm, Kate fed us coffee (ahhhhh) and toast.\u00a0 Soon Lucie came down for breakfast, after which we all dropped her off at school.\u00a0 On returning Rich and Kate went for a stroll while I looked at the car and chatted with Christian.\u00a0 The clutch and brake pedals had been sticking on each other, which can be quite worrying in traffic or at high speed or both!\u00a0 He ingeniously proposed a washer to move the joint on a couple of mm – simple and effective!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We stayed for a delicious lunch, checked maps and then bid farewell.\u00a0 Would we head for Marseille or Geneva? Unfortunately a family tragedy meant we could not see Pad and Keeley near Marseille, so we headed toward Geneva.\u00a0 But, t turned out that Maria-Daniele would be out that evening, so we decided to head for Italy… The drive through the Alps was spectacular.\u00a0 Hills, valleys, tunnels, viaducts, precarious edges, hard climbs … through the Mont Blanc tunnel (11.6km!) and out in to Italia!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We stopped to refuel and water.\u00a0 We were keeping a record of mileage since the fuel gauge was erratic and we didn’t want to run dry.\u00a0 We also matched the miles on the clock to the kilometres on the road signs to make sure the reading was good.\u00a0 (It was.)<\/p>\n

After a bit of lollygagging we headed on south.\u00a0 After passing out of the gorges and valleys as the Alps subsided, we came to flatter country which appeared flooded.\u00a0 Rich thought it was planned and we reconed it might be rice paddies for aborio rice used in rissotto.\u00a0 And then we saw evidence of haymaking – most fields had already been baled, though we wouldn’t cit for another month or more.\u00a0 We continued straight down and headed for Genoa.\u00a0 It sounded historic and was on the coast.\u00a0 Hopefully we’d find a place to stay.<\/p>\n

We arrived Genoa as the light faded.\u00a0 We cruised in from the west and found ourselves in a port town – large warehouses, rail lines and cranes and ships behind port walls.\u00a0 The street lighting was dim.\u00a0 Before long we passed a Best Western and circled back to see if they could take us.\u00a0 They could.\u00a0 We parked, checked in, left out bags and went out.<\/p>\n

We found we were near the port and airport but that downtown was 7km away.\u00a0 Well, we weren’t getting back in the car again.\u00a0 We strolled along and came across Vecchia Genova<\/a>,\u00a0 a modest pizza joint on a corner.\u00a0 A large fellow had just driven his 1000cc racebike into the shop.\u00a0 “Buona sera! Aperto??” In my best, non-existant, Italian we asked for a pizza and a couple of beers.\u00a0 The people there were welcoming and cool. They helped us get internet and get oriented in the neighbourhood.\u00a0 We wanted to go back.\u00a0 We took out pizza and beer (delicioso!!) and strolled.\u00a0 We walked up the steep slope in to the residential area.\u00a0 The gardens and roads are picturesque and pleasant.\u00a0 Recycling bins were conveniently available and we used them.\u00a0 We meandered back to the hotel by midnight.\u00a0 The shower was bliss!\u00a0 Could’ve stayed there for ages.\u00a0 We zonked soon after.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We were down at the buffet by 8.30.\u00a0 Coffeeeeee! And eggs and croissant and sausages (for Rich) and more …\u00a0 And we were ready.\u00a0 We loaded the car and hit the road.\u00a0 It was a beautiful day and the drive was fun.\u00a0 We had to get fuel and stopped at the next service area.\u00a0 This was were we met the reputed rip-off opportunity in Italy which some fear – \u20ac1.99 a litre!\u00a0 In France the price was advertised well before the service area, in Italy you didn’t know it till you were at the pump.\u00a0 Our fill ups were 25-35 litres and we had some flexibility in the budget so I didn’t grumble.\u00a0 It was a sharp contrast to the wonderful evening we’d had before and put it down to a local economic divergence.\u00a0 (The next most expensive was in southern Italy were we found fuel for \u20ac1.75 a litre.) We filled up, checked the water, declined the very expensive coolant and continued in the sunshine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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We coasted south till the road forked around Pisa.\u00a0 We had planned to take the coast road, but made a mistake and found ourselves heading for Firenze and Roma.\u00a0 But we decided to retrace our path, since we wanted to be on the coast.\u00a0 This might not have been such a good idea.\u00a0 The scenery was lovely, but the road was a disaster zone – rutted, cobbled, holey – and everyone still maintaining motorway speeds.\u00a0 The car got shaken.\u00a0 Exclamations were muttered!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>About 200km north of Naples, the car started to shake badly.\u00a0 I thought it might have been tyres or steering damaged by the poor road.\u00a0 We stopped and checked the tyres for bumps.\u00a0 All seemed OK, but the shaking remained.\u00a0 We texted Noel who gave some suggestions.\u00a0 We stopped again to check, again.\u00a0 This time I removed the wheels and checked the steering. \u00a0 All seemed OK.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It was warm so we also took the roof down and used the windows as wind-breakers behind our seats.\u00a0 And so we continued.\u00a0 But the shaking remained with us for the rest of the day.\u00a0 I tried to find the right speed and feathered the throttle to try synchronise the car best to reduce the shake.\u00a0 It wasn’t easy and we dropped our speed from 80-100kmh to 60-80kmh.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The drive was beautiful.\u00a0 We passed around Rome and continued south along a picturesque, though intermittently industrial, landscape.\u00a0 As we approached Naples the sun was setting.\u00a0 We passed around and continued south.\u00a0 We stopped at a service area for a bite.\u00a0 The pizza was nothing compared to the one we’d enjoyed the night before, but the venue gave another insight to Italian life – it was big and full of food.\u00a0 A bus load of students arrived, ate and left quicker than we did.\u00a0 We continued on for another couple of hours, pulling over at another service area before midnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>I woke early at 4.\u00a0 I tried the lights, they didn’t come on.\u00a0 I tried the ignition – the battery was flat.\u00a0 I started to explore the connections behind the panel.\u00a0 After about half an hour a van with trailer pulled up nearby.\u00a0 After 10 minutes the driver came over to offer help.\u00a0 He gave me a torch with a magnetic back.\u00a0 I had been using a couple of LEDs which turned off after a minute!\u00a0 Unfortunately his torch ran out of power after a few minutes.\u00a0 The fiddling continued and Waldher offered a hand.\u00a0 Richard too had woken by this time and after a while went in search of coffee.\u00a0 Waldher returned to his van to sleep, while his partner took over the driving.\u00a0 They were off to Palermo to pick up an 1970s Alfa!\u00a0 I got out the computer and tethered the phone and started looking up wiring diagrams.\u00a0 By about 6 I’d rewired the lights and ignition and the panel was back on.\u00a0 But we still had a flat battery.\u00a0 Fortunately we had a Richard.\u00a0 After a stretch and another coffee we set off.\u00a0 Richard push-started the car and we headed out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It was a gorgeous sunny morning but the shake was still with us.\u00a0 The road took us through some hilly patches where the car would coast on the downhill.\u00a0 On one of these occasions she slipped out of fourth.\u00a0 I tried to put it back, but was met with resistance and a grinding sound.\u00a0 I tried third.\u00a0 She went in easily, and then slipped in to fourth … and the shake was gone!\u00a0 Now I remembered that the car had slipped out of fourth the previous day – the gears must have misaligned when I forced it into fourth! I’ll have to look that one up when I get back.\u00a0 The point was, the going was now smooth and we could raise the tempo to 80-100kmh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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This one had some light, though dim. No lights was very black!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are numerous tunnels along this stretch too and the lights seemed to be working most of the time.\u00a0 Not having lights wasn’t a great issue in the tunnels because tunnels are lit and other drivers have lights.\u00a0 But as we entered one tunnel I “interpreted” a sign in Italian posted at the entrance -“no lights in this tunnel…” or something like that…\u00a0 As we cruised in, I switched on the lights.\u00a0 They didn’t come on.\u00a0 It was getting dark fast.\u00a0 I started to brake and by the time we slowed we were in pitch black darkness.\u00a0 No light.\u00a0 I didn’t know what lane I was in or if I was facing into a wall or not.\u00a0 I breathed.\u00a0 I flicked on the indicator.\u00a0 OK, some light.\u00a0 We were stopped diagonally across both lanes.\u00a0 Hopefully any car roaring up fro behind would see the light flashing, but it would still be tight.\u00a0 I pulled to the side and frantically fiddled with the switch.\u00a0 A car shot past.\u00a0 The lights came on.\u00a0 We resumed the journey and were very happy to exit that dark hole in the ground …<\/p>\n

We headed for Reggio di Calabria from where I had caught the ferry a few decades before.\u00a0 But the port was quiet and only a foot passenger ferry was operating.\u00a0 Oh dear!\u00a0 I asked a cop and he pointed me to Villa San Giovanni which I had noticed we passed 5km above Reggio.\u00a0 We headed back along the minor roads and found our way to the port, bought a ticket and boarded the commuter ferry to Messina.\u00a0 From there we headed to Catania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>Sicily was different from Italy.\u00a0 Similar countryside but it felt a bit more rustic, provincial, feudal, … mafia??? It was a lovely drive with the car top down.\u00a0 We got to Catania and wound our way through the streets to the port.\u00a0 We saw the signs for Virtu ferries but no ferry.\u00a0 A lad at a local bar was in no mood to help.\u00a0 He seemed more interested in making sure I did not speak to his female colleague, reminding me of Asterix in Corsica<\/em> where speaking to a female was cause for a vendetta!<\/p>\n

Eventually I found the office.\u00a0 It was closed.\u00a0 Meanwhile I’d check the Virtu website and it seemed there would be a sailing form Pozzallo that evening.\u00a0 We left Catania and headed south again.<\/p>\n

We approached Pozzallo and exited to the local roads which deteriorated significantly.\u00a0 We hit a dip in the road which brought the car down hard on the road, but we cruised on, finding the port five or ten minutes later.\u00a0 We knew we were in the right place because we could see a massive catamaran ferry with Virtu on its bow.\u00a0 We found the queue – there were only three cars there.\u00a0 We stopped.\u00a0 The hand brake didn’t work.\u00a0 It had snapped off, probably when we hit that dip just outside Pozzallo … boring!<\/p>\n

We got out and stretched.\u00a0 We had made it (at least to the ferry).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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After half an hour or so someone official looking turned up.\u00a0 We inquired about tickets.\u00a0 “Oh no.\u00a0 It’s full.\u00a0 You can book for Wednesday.\u00a0 Or go on the waiting list.”<\/p>\n

“Yes please!”<\/p>\n

We got on the waiting list and stood by for four hours hoping we’d get on.\u00a0 Roberto at the ticket counter kindly charged my phone and laptop while we waited.\u00a0 The people in front of us had driven a car and caravan from Wales and were wait-listed too.\u00a0 They had seen us on the road.\u00a0 They too had had challenges – they had duct-taped the exhaust back on in northern France and it had lasted this long.\u00a0 A few other hopefuls showed up so that when boarding started around 2030 there were half a dozen waiting to get a ticket.\u00a0 I think the team at Virtu would have liked to put us all on, but knew the boat was packed.\u00a0 We’d have to wait and see …<\/p>\n

At nine o’clock they let on a wait-listed motorbike.\u00a0 OK, well if a motor-bike is not a sure thing, maybe there’s no room for a car.\u00a0 And there was a car and caravan in front of us.\u00a0 After another 5 minutes they started chatting on the walkie-talkies.\u00a0 They wouldn’t take the car and caravan and they gave us the green light and we drove on! Wahoo!\u00a0 We were happy, though felt sympathy for the family in the caravan since they had had a long tough drive too.<\/p>\n

On board we had a slice and a drink and I fell asleep on the deck.\u00a0 It’s a super two hour crossing and we arrived Valletta at 2330.\u00a0 We drove off and sped for the ferry at Cirkewa,\u00a0\u00a0 There was a minor detour, but luckily we made good time arriving 1210 and drove on to the ferry soon after.\u00a0 We landed Gozo and drove in to Torri by 0100.\u00a0 After a mutual celebration we unloaded, decompressed, showered and slept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>We woke to the peace of Gozo, … and a flat tyre hahaha.\u00a0 We must have got it on the dirt track going down to the house.\u00a0 We spent the day in luxury, moseying around, fixing the tyre at George’s (Emer suggested the light problem might be caused by dirty points on the voltage regulator – will check that), removing the electric fan (we determined that teh switch was defective and until fixed the car will be cooler without the fan blocking the radiator), taking a dip in the sea and closed the day with a fabulous dinner at Porto Vechia with Mum and Dad.\u00a0 The next day we accompanied Mum to Floriana and then she dropped us at the airport.\u00a0 We had to get get back to reality …<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Epilogue<\/h2>\n

Why zen adventure?\u00a0 Because we didn’t plan very much and let the universe point us in the right direction.\u00a0\u00a0 For example, why did that pigeon land in our garden the evening before we left for Dublin, and me happening to remember something told me by a pigeon enthusiast ten years ago?\u00a0 The cosmic rhythm!<\/p>\n

We visited friends who were available, we arrived when we arrived, we stayed where we stopped and took the ferries we arrived in time for.\u00a0 Yes, I aimed for a schedule and that influenced us, but in our heads we just went with the flow and enjoyed the journey.\u00a0 As they say “comme je trouve” and we found fun!<\/p>\n

Thanks!<\/h3>\n

A few people ought to be recognised and celebrated for their help\u00a0 and generosity in making this adventure happen.<\/p>\n

Top of the list is Dad: Thanks for letting me drive your car!\u00a0 It was super fun.\u00a0 A real life experience.\u00a0 And thanks for making the whole trip “risk free”.\u00a0 And thanks for the welcome you and Mum gave us in Gozo.\u00a0 It was a fantastic dream.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Noel<\/a>, without whom the car wouldn’t have got out of the yard.\u00a0 I learned during the trip of some of the extra work and care you gave to the car when you painted it and felt very fortunate.\u00a0 She held together as well as she ever has, she was protected out and in by your coatings and she looked fantastic.\u00a0 And your advice and reassurances while on the road took away our worries.\u00a0 Thank you!<\/p>\n

And Richard for being a good friend and partner on the trip.\u00a0 Cool, engaged, good with the navigation, two push starts, many water and wheel checks and being a great companion.\u00a0 Thanks!<\/p>\n

And Pam for giving me the time to go, for cleaning the car the night before we left and for your support and back up which made our adventure much easier and more fun.\u00a0 The little cushions you gave us worked too! Thank you, xo.<\/p>\n

Along the way many people gave a hand from friends who looked after us, like Daniele and Kelly, Rhadames and Clara, and Kate and Christian, to those who offered advice, like Noel, Rupert and Allen, to strangers who offered a hand, like Sebastian, Waldher and Roberto and the fun, helpful and generous characters we met along the way.\u00a0 Thanks to all.<\/p>\n

Vital Statistics<\/h3>\n

Triumph TR3\u00a0 first registered 1956 August 1. It’s basically a powerful go-kart: 2 litre, 2 seats, you’re 10 cm from the tarmac, you are the power steering and ABS (ie be strong and pump those drum brakes), great torque,\u00a0 still can get over 80mph though probably shouldn’t, and able to do doughnuts!<\/p>\n

It’s original but, parts have been replaced and repaired.\u00a0 The biggest difference is the fibre glass wings which were probably put on in the 70s or 80s when they were popular and the originals would have had some wear by then.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The engine had a leak in the cooling chamber between cylinders after its first trip to Malta in 2000.\u00a0 That was looked after by Joe Zerafa.\u00a0 This is a wonderful photo of the car in his shop before the site was developed.<\/p>\n

We set off at about 6am on Tuesday and arrived about 1am Monday having travelled about 3,656 km, three ferries, one Chunnel, and numerous tunnels and viaducts through the Alps and in Italy.\u00a0 It was an awesome trip.<\/p>\n

Thermal issues<\/h3>\n

For a few days after we returned home my laptop shut down for no apparent reason.\u00a0 I wondered if this was a processor overeating and did an internet search which confirmed the likelihood of that being the problem.\u00a0 I loaded a thermal monitor and sure enough the processor temperature was ranging from 60 to 95 C. I reckoned it would shut down if it hit 105 C or so and guessed that had been happening.\u00a0 At first I just used a cooling platform to moderate the temperature while I got some work out of the way.\u00a0 Then one morning I disassembled the laptop to clean the fan and vents.\u00a0 Compliments to Acer for the design (V3-571) because although I had to displace the motherboard, following instructions in the manual (downloaded from manualslib.com<\/a> – thanks) it was quite a smooth process.\u00a0 While in the guts of the machine I found that the anchors holes for the monitor screws had broken – possibly a piece had lodged in the fan itself.\u00a0 After a quick vacuum and brush all was put together again.\u00a0 The machine now runs at 40-50 C as it should.\u00a0 The lesson – watch the temperature … haha.<\/p>\n

Video<\/h3>\n

You can see our snaps etc mashed up in a video here<\/a>.\u00a0 It’s quite fun.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before we begin the story, a brief but heartfelt thanks to those of you who helped make this adventure happen, especially Dad and Mum, Pam, Richard, Noel, Daniele, Kelly, Rhadames, Clara, Kate, Christian.\u00a0 THANK YOU! The idea of getting the red car down to Malta had been passed around a few times, but no one …
Continue reading Zen Adventure<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[35],"tags":[194,193,190,191,192],"class_list":["post-3062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homenandgarden","tag-194","tag-adventure","tag-tr3","tag-triumph","tag-zen"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hwcd-No","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3062"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3223,"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3062\/revisions\/3223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}