Where did it all go wrong?

The short answer is on the A34 through Stafford!
We left Carlisle quite early and were making good time trundling along in glorious sunshine. We were so confident that we would be home in time for tea that we rang home and told our dog sitter that she could go home!

Then we hit pretty nasty traffic in the centre of Stafford and things started to go wrong. At a particularly busy round about the car started to cough and splutter and died a couple of times. I got it onto the verge as best I could and got the bonnet up.

I was pretty confident that all I needed to do was change the battery over to the one I had been charging all night so 5 minutes later we were back underway.

Unfortunately 500 yards down the road in an equally inconvenient place it died again.

Fortunately a very kind man was on hand to help us push it down to a small service road where we were out of the way of the traffic.

It seemed that the spare battery was not properly charged so we had now officially broken down- it was time to call in the RAC.

The RAC were fantastic and got Andy the patrolman to us within 30 minutes- he had a quick look and agreed that it was probably lack of power in the battery that was stopping the fuel pump, spark etc. The route cause of this was that we had been running our luck since John O Groats by driving without a dynamo.

Amazingly just 6 miles down the road was "Mr B's" a classic car and Morris minor specialist so with a bit of charge back in the battery we limped to the 6 miles to Mr B's workshop.

Mr B very kindly checked the dynamo and pronounced it dead- unfortunately he didn't have a replacement but referred us to some one who did. Our super helpful RAC man jumped in his van and went to buy it- hindered only slightly by the fact that the shop would not take a credit card.

Once we had the part it took only 20 minutes or so to fix and the car fired up with no red dynamo warning light. We jumped in and zoomed off.

Unfortunately about 200 m down the road we had to call Andy again as the car had lost power and died. Over the next few miles we would change a part or adjust something, drive a mile or so and then pull over again as it became apparent that our problems were very much still present.

After about 5 hours we were stumped, the dynamo, points and condenser had all been changed and the car was still running as rough as a badgers ass so we decided that it was all over.

1752 miles after we left Thatcham the car was loaded onto a recovery truck and had a piggy back home. Both Lynn and I were gutted. In fact Lynn admitted that she was close to tears when our brave little car was being loaded onto the lorry.

After an enlightening drive home with our Kamikaze recovery driver- who taught me a great deal about the communications industry ( who would have thought that 3 owned Orange!) we finally arrived home at 10.30pm - nine and a half hours after we broke down. There was just enough go in the car to trundle it down the close before it coughed and died.

The following morning it wouldn't start at all and we had to push it around the close to get our modern cars off the drive to go and collect the kids.

Having now had 24 hours to reflect (sulk) about everything I have decided that I will not be beaten. Over the next couple of weeks I( with the help of some professionals) will try and get the car running again and then I will do those final 130 miles. However as technically we failed to complete the trip I will fully understand if anyone wants to withdraw their sponsorship.

Hopefully I can get the old thing running again by the bank holiday weekend as I am meant to be showing it ( and the Ferrari) at a local car show. However I think that all depends on the mystery fault.

Looking on the positive side I am prepared to bet that less than 2 hours at the Thatcham Mini centre will have her purring like a kitten again!

Disapointing end

After several new parts and 5 hrs of spannering by Andy the RAC man we were forced to admit defeat 130 miles away from home.

Swap??

If we can't find the parts we might consider a swap....?!

Oh poo!

We have a small technical problem....

Catch Up from Yesterday

The coverage has been dipping in and out whilst we were in Scotland so thought it was worth doing a full catch up.

We left Carlisle at around 9.30 and had a quick breakfast of Almond Croissants, apples and Capri Sun as we drove towards the borders.

Despite the little issues getting started the car continued to run really well and on the faster roads we were on we averaged around 50 miles an hour.

I have to hand it to the Scottish they know how to make a good road- all the roads were excellent fast A roads with non of this namby pamby English 40 mph speed limits och noo we could barrel along at close to 60 with nae bother.

The journey was pretty much uneventful, the car ran nicely and we only stopped for natural breaks or to fill up with fuel.

Things started to get exciting when we saw our first sign with John O Groats listed on it and as the miles clicked by I started to feel a sense of achievement.

The weather was beautiful, the other drivers friendly and supportive and we were only a short distance from our second objective. The scenery along the A99 was amazing, we took lots of photos whilst zooming along which we will publish in a gallery once we get home.

We decided to stop at Wick and check in to our hotel before doing the final 16 miles to John O Groats.

Unfortunately when we got back into the car the ignition warning light was on- it had been fluttering at low revs for a while but I was confident it was just a loose fan belt so we sped off to John O Groats and to hell with the consequences.

We got there and I have to say it is a massive anti climax. The place is an utter $%&** hole- even the sign showing how far it is to Lands End has been taken down because it keeps getting vandalised!



We got a few pictures taken, got the hotel to stamp our end to end form to prove we had been there and zoomed back to the hotel for some food.

Whilst at the hotel we decided that my original plan of trying to get home in one day from Wick to Thatcham ( well over 600 miles) was a bit ambitious. Instead we decided to stop over in Carlisle again.

So this morning we were up early (having charged the car battery overnight at the hotel) and I got the spanners out to tighten the fan belt and hopefully cure the red warning light.

Unfortunately with the belt tightened it still refused to go out which I diagnosed as a kaputt dynamo- however the weather was good and I surmised that with a charged battery we should be able to get to Halfords in Inverness to get a second charged spare to get us home (no chance of getting a dynamo!).

So that's exactly what we did. The car kept on trucking and the bonnet up photo below is simply me swapping between one old battery and a freshly charged new one.

Also bought the kids some small souvenirs at the gift shop and had a coffee to keep me awake.

The final highlight for me before we left Scotland was to see 2 Morris Minors chugging towards us- that's the first sightings since Cornwall

We arrived at our hotel in Carlisle around 7pm, immediately put the spare battery on charge and I am now off for a well deserved plate of tuck and a beverage.

Not broken down...just resting!

Just pulled into Stirling services for a quick coffee and some air.

We made it!

Last night we pulled into John O'Groats at around 7pm. Will update blog later as 3G coverage is very poor.

Are we nearly there yet?

YES WE ARE!!!!

I canna give her any more captain, she's gonna blow!!

Well into Scotland now. Zooming along the A9 just past Stirling. This is what A roads should be like. Making lots of head time as once we reach the highlands things could slow us down.

531 miles in 16 hrs

What a day! It took significantly longer than we had anticipated to get to Carlisle and we finally arrived at 11.30 pm.

So why did it take so long?

Firstly the route we chose was all A roads that had not been converted to Motorways, as far as I can see this means that a B road has been upgraded to an A.

We particularly lots a lot of time as we drove through the Exmoor national park around Lynmouth. The roads (which were apparently A roads) were extremely windy with lots of 180 degree hair pin turns and in some cases gradients of 25 %.

This has two effects on the car- going up it meant that we rarely got out of second gear and going down it cooked the brakes. The smell of burning drum brake was worrying and the fade was extremely scary- we took a bit of a video which we will try and upload from the Iphone.

Secondly we picked the peak time for driving tractors and caravans around- in some cases we spent hours behind tractors that would not pull over on roads where the powerful 1098 cc engine in the Morris could not zip past them.

Around 2pm we got to Bristol and were introduced to a whole new hazard- the bike chain ninja! I kid you not on the side of the A 39 to Gloucester we came across a man wearing a security guards crash helmet with neck pads and body armour wielding a motor cycle chain like a nunchuk and leaping up in the air to put in the killer strike on the lamp post that was attaching him. What a fruitcake! Fortunately the doors were locked as they kept popping open so we just ignored him and kept driving.

At Ludlow we did a quick tot up of the miles we had done and realised we had about 200 more to do- mainly because I had added up the mileage wrong when calculating the stop overs. Fortunately my wife is very understanding and we did not argue- we just got on with the driving.

However as it go darker and the rain got harder it became almost impossible to drive down the windy A roads so we took the decision to cheat a little bit and join the old A6 on the 1960s map- which has subsequently become the M6.

We carried on tanking along at about 55 miles an hour and finally pulled into our hotel at 11.30.

The real hero out of all of this was the car- she had happily trundled along for nearly 16 hours with no real brake and when I checked her fluids this morning the only thing she had consumed was petrol.

We did learn last night that the windscreen leaks a bit, and that the lights are not very bright, and that the back light on the speedy only works intermittently but mechanically she has been fine.

I got up at 7am this morning and went to check her over as when we pulled into the hotel last night the indicators weren't working. The reason I discovered was because with lights and wipers going full bore for about 5 hours we had flattened the battery.

On a lesser modern car this may have been a problem but on Cowley's finest all I need to do was connect the little red starting handle- give it one turn and she roared into life!

I checked the terminals on the dynamo and the fan belt and all seemed OK and 15 minutes of ticking over later there was sufficinet charge in the battery to start her with the starter motor.

What a wicked car. We hit the highlands today so hopefully we will get some good pictures, we completely missed the lake district as it was pitch black when we passed through.

I suspect we may encounter gradients worse then 25% but I am sure the little car will manage beautifully.

11:30 pm and reached Carlisle

What an eventful day. Far too tired to
blogzzzzzzzzzz.

OMG it's 18:15 and STILL have around 200 miles to go!

Just pulled over for a driver change and looked at the map. Not looking good as only just out of Ludlow. At this rate we won't be in Carlisle until 22:00! Looks like take away for tea.

Behind schedule

Running well behind schedule so not time to update blog with details. Will update fully this evening.

Top Gear were right!

After a quick pit stop to change drivers (James couldn't map read or use the iphone to update the blog) we are not making great time - stuck behind the countries best loved vehicle!

Day 2 (06:55) St Just

Early breakfast after an raven earlier wake up call from sea gulls. I have taken control of the blog and WILL be driving this morning. Of cource, We need to get the old wreck started...once he has been given his cooked breakfast we will be off.

Day 1 - 265 mile- done!

We have arrived safely at Lands End after a relatively uneventful journey.

The car performed really well all afternoon with non of the feared over heating or misfiring. In fact the only bit of jeopardy we had to worry about was almost running out of fuel. I was charging along quite happily with Lynn asleep ( the best way to avoid arguments I find), however when she woke up she indicated the fuel gauge was pointing on empty. At the time we were tanking along the A30 which is long, undulating and apparently utterly bereft of fuel stops.

It got so bad that I pulled over to refill using the emergency fuel in the boot when we spotted a service station on the horizon.

The rest of the journey was fine and what has been really enjoyable is the love we are getting from other motorists- I assume that's why they are beeping their horns and waving at us.

When we got to Lands End the fella on the gate very kindly let us in for free and we went and got our end to end form stamped and authenticated before having our pictures taken.



On the way back we saw this sign. We decided to stop to let the car understand that this was the first and last garage we would be visiting on this trip.

We are now back at the in St Just working out our route and timings for tomorrow.

Overall we managed to average 40 miles an hour including breaks although each hour we got faster as I got more comfortable with thrashing the old girl- at one point we managed 70 down a particularly steep hill but it's not an experience I would recommend- it felt a bit like making your Granny sprint for the bus!

Our next stop off tomorrow night is scheduled to be Carlisle which by my reckoning (using the map and a piece of string) is about 420 miles away so a good 10 hours driving. I hope the old thing is up to it- it's about time she took a turn at driving!!

Will try and post more updates on the move.

134 miles so far (14:40)

Car running well - taken a short stop to refuel ourselves. Averaging a little slower than we hoped but still think we are on target to get to Lands End at about 6pm.

Thatcham 10.24 am- Wig up and move out!

This is my last post from the comfort of my office. The kids have been dropped off with relatives and the car has been fueled and packed- there was a definite creaking from the suspension and that was before I get in!

I am wearing my lurid shirt and my CND medallion and soon the wig will go on.

So wish us luck- our next post will be from the Iphone once we are underway!

Tracking App is now online

With only 36 hrs before we set off I can now confirm that our tracking app is live and online. You can reach the app by going to http://helpforheroes.wincast.com/

Any one following us will now be able to see exactly where we are due to the marvels of mobile technology and a lot of development help from our sponsors WIN.

Would love to write more but I have far too much to do!

Final Preparations

This weekend was my final chance to do the last few maintenance and preparatory jobs on the Morris before we set off.

Did all the basic stuff you would expect, checked tyre pressure, topped up oil, greased nipples(on the car), filled wiper washer, checked tread on spare etc.

I had also been toying with the idea of flushing out the radiator to ensure we reduce the risk of overheating but was uncertain whether I should risk fiddling with something that appeared to be working OK.

In the end I decided to do it.

What a mess- I drained out the radiator (all over the tarmac in front of the house) and pretty much dyed everything including the engine bay a rusty orange colour.

Then I flushed it out with a hose until the water coming out was almost clean, closed it up and put in the flushing liquid I had bought from Halfords.

20 minutes later (and yet again missing the bucket I meant to drain it into) the most foul orangy black slop was removed from the radiator.

Topped it all back up and hopefully it will work that much better if we get stuck in holiday traffic around Cornwall.

With that job complete it was time to pack everything into the boot. This included spares, foot pump, tyre weld, oil, water, spare fuel, fuel additive, tools, duck tape (which will fix anything) hazard triangle, torch, high vis jacket, overalls etc etc. in fact the only essential that we didn't pack was the strong drink we will need after each day of driving. As you can see from the pictures there will not be a whole lot of space for luggage in the boot so we will have to travel light.

Then I used rainex water repellent on the windscreen- the wipers on the car are pretty slow (only one speed) and I have read that if the windscreen is treated properly you can drive OK even if your wipers fail- we will see!

Finally I checked all the electrics (lights, indicators, wipers etc. It was at this point I discovered that one indicator wasn't working and my headlights had failed. PANIC!!!!.

However I think this must have been a dodgy earth as with a bit of fiddling it all came back- possibly the 10 gallons of orangy gunk that splashed around the engine bay had messed up the contact.

Then it was one final test of writing the blog wirelessly (which will have been successful if you are reading this) and we are pretty much ready to go bar fuelling up and packing our bags.

In a weeks time I hope to be writing this from my hotel in John O'Groats- fingers crossed!

7 Days to go

Only 7 days before we start our epic marathon and I keep remembering things I meant to do to the car!

I am trying to drive the car every day and I keep imagining different faults but I am sure they are all in my head.

Did a final push on sponsorship with friends and colleagues and we are really close to the target so hopefully we will achieve £2k before we leave.

This weekend I will do a few last little servicing jobs and then it is packing and off we go.

Damn- just remembered I need to check if the car has a jack and if not get one.

Double Damn- need to check out what the spare is like.

OMG also need to get those big jerry cans from my Dads- feels like it might be a busy weekend!