Day 14: Spares and Repairs



We were all on tenterhooks as Steve tried to get hold of the parts supplier for the head gasket.  Their website said they were closed - but Theo (a friend of Sebastien and the man who is lending his workshop and tools) was contacted and he said they were definitely open.

Steve rang again to check that it was the correct gasket and Robin, Patrick and Steve set off for the long drive to collect the spares.

 

We had been joined on our pitch last night be a couple of Dutch girls who put up their tent without guy ropes which worried us a little - they did help look for Buddies keys however when they were believed to be lost …. Which they turned out not to be as they were safe in Kevin’s pocket.

 

The collection team arrived back to the campsite to another shared omelette to satisfy their hunger before all the boys set off for the workshop




The post on the S2C website was:
Side on Saturday - head gasket fixed…and a story to be told…
Steve’s 200tdi head gadget blew a few days ago and we have been holed up on a campsite trying to work out what we do next …. 8 x people, 3 x Carawagons, 1 x 109 LandBongo and 1 x SWB. 
Robin got hold of Sebastien, who gave a list of contacts who may help - one link which came through as successful was Theophile Hibon , who called Remy who called Laurent who called Alain - who had the parts and would be open on Saturday morning…. Robin, Patrick and Steve drove 120km to Alain to collect the gasket and fitting kit plus antifreeze  then all the ‘boys’ (including Kevin and Martyn) in the group went to see Theo who opened up his workshop outside Lille for use….. 
As a result Sunder (the 1968 Carawagon) today had a new head gasket bought and  fitted in a loaned workshop full of lovely old classics… 
This means we can continue our holiday and wend our way up to Bruges and beyond. 
A huge thanks goes out to:
1. Sebastien for keeping contacts and being available to help

  1. Laurent for passing on the  information and coming to say Hi - with his dog 
  1. Alain of Cars-Arras.com for the spares and being open on Saturday morning
  1. Théo at Rétromécanic who supplied his workshop, beers, baguettes & pate, coffee and sugar as well as many paper towels…















Steve set off with his porta potti attached to his car - and when he eventually stopped (after about 8 people yelling at him to stop) all he could do was jump out of the vehicle singing ‘portaloo’ to the tune of ABBA Waterloo… 


The instruction has been to take some gone with them as payment so they went via Lidl …. Theo who owns the garage did send a message just before they left to say ‘don’t worry what time you arrive … but the beers are getting warm’….

 

With the boys away there was a bit of tidying around the camp and then Wendy, Dianne and Lucy went off on a c.9k step walk to the second to next village in search of greens for dinner this evening

 

The route was across some crop fields and smelly puddles. It was very enjoyable and include iced coffee and ice creams….

 


Lucy also tried to converse in French with a lovely old lady driving a lovely old 2CV - apparently (according to Wendy) she just looked shocked and jumped in the car and drove off… 




Book-reading then recommenced for the girls - albeit Wendy’s book clearly wasn’t that interesting as she had a little nap instead….

 


The boys soldered on - there were some lovely vehicles in the garage including an old 2CV

 


We have had an interesting couple of days and are stunned at the support that has been offered through Sebastien Land Vintage the ‘crazy French Farmer’ from the Series 2 Club ….  

What an amazing network of supportive Landrover enthusiasts. 

 

Would recommend these businesses to anyone who needs help in France - incredible and has made the continuation of our trip possible.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.  

 The rain held off all day and the weather was quite warm and muggy but the sun came out early evening

The campsite lady came to see us and thanked us for being lovely people! She also said there were fireworks at 11pm in the local village this evening and fayres in the local villages tomorrow


We therefore walked across to the village at about 10:50pm to eventually see a great firework display - we possibly walked another 10k steps but it was worth it and Patrick’s light (electronic Tilly) leading the way home was much appreciated..  


We fell asleep to the sound of fireworks from the neighbouring villages - we’re guessing this is something to do with the summer solstice? 








A late night and hard work for done today … maybe due a lie in tomorrow.. 

 

 

 


Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 23, 2024 at 12:00 AM

    Whoohoo. Great news. What an adventurous time for you all. Enjoy Bruges. We love it. MM

    ReplyDelete

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