Looking at the BBC Weather App on my iPhone this week, Easter Sunday looks to be overcast with the possibility of some rain, yet today / Wednesday – my day off in the week – promised glorious weather… time for a “Wednesday Wander” like the old days then? 🙂
Some nine miles from my home…
My route was intended to be a BOAT, a rough track, an ORPA route, and then the big long BOAT along the edge of the Clwyd valley, the southern part of the route shown above…
I wrapped a Jones’ Pastie in tin foil and popped it in the pie warmer (it’s a “bain marie” pot hanging over the exhaust headers) so that by lunchtime I’d have a nice hot pastie for my lunch…
All started well..
Climbing up from the Clwyd valley floor…
And I noticed water dripping from the front 😦
I carried on to the car park at the top where all the ‘lanes intersect…
And the water I poured in the filler cap immediately ran out of the bottom of the radiator… 😦
At first I thought the bottom radiator hose had popped off, but on further investigation it had rusted through and sheared off where it enters the bottom hose… 😦
So I parked up…
Made myself comfortable…
And rang for help… LNS Recovery at the end of my road… I spoke to Leigh, and he said he’d send his son Toby up with water, tools and jubilee clips…
Toby arrived, and made a “get me home” repair by shifting the hose so it covered the in-pipe from the engine and the bottom radiator connector…
Ironically, I have a new radiator and cap waiting to go in… I might have to source a slightly longer hose now to connect it up! 😦
Toby then followed me home to make sure I made it… 😉
Backing into the garage… Milo came for a look!… it was obvious the repair had just allowed me to get home!… without cooking the engine!
MANY THANKS to Leigh and Toby for their help! 😉
So the Boogie is parked up waiting for the new parts to be fitted…
Perhaps, in hindsight. I’d gone out too quick and a little ill-prepared… my offroaders are normally packed with tools, spares and essential fixes like tape, ty-wrap, jubilee clips, spare nuts and bolts, etc, etc, and all the tools I could ever need…
BUT, this was the idea of having a couple of “shakedown” trips locally to check everything is in order before venturing further afield, both on my own and with the group of like-minded Jimny owners I belong to…
So, I feel all is well, proved the point of the shakedown trips, and I’ve learnt it needs completely finishing and stocking with spares and tools before venturing out again 😉
So in the first ‘photo’ above, I only managed the blue bit of the route… 😦
And… I didn’t get my Pastie! 😦
Next time… 😉
JimnyBuggy 