C'est la vie! (The Truck & Van Blog)

C'est la vie!

Desperate Van Challenge - This picture says it all. Yes this is my van with our man of the hour - Dan Bowness, RAC patrol man 2906 - who rushed out to help out when, yes...here it comes...I broke down after about 80 miles, 400m from my house! *&%&$&£&£**£!!!!!!

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Let me start with the trip down. Will, who was kind enough to take me to Sandwich, thankfully has sat nav as this place is way out in the sticks. Though it is better than navigating with maps, it wasn't quite as perfect as we thought.
At a very late stage in our journey once we had hit the countryside, it took us down a road which even Collin McRae would think twice about....and we ended up in a field. After that incident there was still a fair amount of guess work involved, but we found the place in the end.

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We turned up to a small plot of land with a few old bangers on it and a guy waiting in a van! The beast was parked up right next to it and looked as banged up in real life as it did on the photos. It was pitch dark and the interior light didn't work. Great?! But the engine started up straight away and all the vital functions worked.

We did the deal, said our good bys and I drove off with Will in tow. The gears and stiff pedals took a bit of getting used to, and I now have thighs like a rugby prop.
After filling up the van, Will led the way until we hit the A roads, where he signalled me to overtake so he could follow me.

Not as easy as it sounds! After a 5 minute overtaking manoeuvre and 20 pissed off motorists later I was passed. The van was happy at just under 60mph....yet we drove at around 65mph!

The whole trip went fine until we were about 10min away from home. The radio went first, then the indicators. After getting out to check what was going on, it looked like the headlights had been substituted with a set of candles. Quick....let's just make it home and deal with it later! Wishful thinking!

400m from my front door the b*****d thing just cut out. My suspicions were that the battery warning light was broken and didn't warn me that the alternator wasn't up to scratch. These suspicions were confirmed when RAC man Dan turned up and did his thing.
Fortunate for us he was very chuffed when we told him he'd be in the magazine and was happy for us to take pictures of him analysing the French heap.

He charged the van up sufficiently for me to move it to a free parking zone and went on his way.

My midnight beer has never tasted so good before!

Next blog - Doesn't just look like a skip