You probably all know that feeling you get when you see something and think "I need that in my life, and i want it now!", well just a few weeks ago I had that feeling, so a short notice plan was hatched for an epic roadtrip of 1000 miles to pick up my new toy ;D
3.30 am (or OMG its early), wake-me-up ice cold bath (forgot to change the timer on the hot water the night before....), and quick trip across town to Dan's (smellyferret's) house where id left my delica already hitched up to the trailer ready to roll as not enough space at mine.
3.45 am, trailer lights and camera check;
I hadnt realised that a camera flash before 4am can actually burn out your retinas, its true!
4 am, We hit the M5 northbound from Taunton with a flask of ultra nasty xxx strength coffee flowing nicely, know we got a loooooooong day ahead.
6am, Bristol has come and gone and well on our way to Brum, always loved driving and watching the sun come up (excuse pi55 poor camera phone);
9am, The Delica+ twin axle trailer combo isnt really renown for its fuel economy and speed, but we make it to around Manchester-ish before its time for its first wallet emptying tank full;
Back on the road and £70 of diesel heavier its time for the breakfast of champions, Bowyers finest pork and pickle Pies and Relentless!
We carry on northward, It might just be our minds playing tricks, but we think the temperature is dropping, cant be far from the arctic circle can we? We were most upset there wasnt a flat cap or whippet in sight, but soldier on past Carlisle.
And with japanese 4x4 efficiency we soon we cross over to Bonny Scotland;
Lunchtime-ish, Now the fun starts! The TOM-TOM (or Sh@t-nav as we decided was more apt) decides its bored with tarmac and thinks that we need to truely explore Scotland and its beautiful scenery, and so begins a nice drive through some of scotlands tightest lanes and curves where setting one wheel off the side means 50 feet down a rocky chasm to our certain deaths;
I'm starting to feel pooped so Dan takes over for a stint, both not knowing we are about to hit even tighter roads and even more certain death it it goes horribly wrong;
Even after a few bottom clenching near misses to rogue sheep, oncoming cars and loose haggises I'm not concerned about my lovey bus, honest;
1pm or thereabouts, We finally find the village were "my precious" (queue Golem voices), and TOMas-TOMason plays ball again and gets right up to the front door, where I get to see my goal in the flesh;
Grinning like a cheshire cat, we stretch our legs, grab a coffee and do the paperwork and have a good natter with the owner Spencer, whos got another beach buggy in the garage as his project on the go. He works at a local Brewery making some rather splendid 8% ale which he generously gives us a few sample bottles to take home as a celebration of our efforts to get to him ;D
1.30pm And its time to saddle up;
We wave our goodbyes and hit the road, deciding that good old fashioned paper maps will probably get us back on main roads quicker than TOM...
Quick stop for leg stretch, Dan has a go in the driver's seat, i think he likes it;
Epic chin of approval;
We both chuckle when we see this sign warning us of Fog on the motorway.
5pm ish and the Bus is starting to look like a council Recycling centre, redbull/relentless cans and sandwich/pasty wrappers littering the floor;
The Wired on energy drinks/coffee look;
Trip all the back to Taunton goes largely eventless as the sun goes back down again, camera pics+night in the car don't really work, but the time, miles and shed loads of diesel are eaten up as we decide the mods and look of what the Fugitive will become over the winter, we were even going to drop into Area52 playday on the way home, but it was gone midnight as we passed Bristol and even though we were fuelled right up on caffeine, the thoughts of bed were weighing deeply on our minds!
Eventually Got home about 1am ish, unloaded the Fugitive and took her for a quick early morning blast back home.
Been tinkering but Those who came to the Brean Beach meet last weekend would have seen her, Its was an awesome day, Bruce only got a little bit bashed about taking the pics of the day that you have probably already seen elsewhere on the forum;
retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=90728
Anyway, just thought i'd say a belated thanks to Dan for helping out, and thought id share the experience with you guys, 1000 miles and 21+ hours later I was still grinning like a fool, and still am ;D
Cheers chaps,
Bones (Stevee)
3.30 am (or OMG its early), wake-me-up ice cold bath (forgot to change the timer on the hot water the night before....), and quick trip across town to Dan's (smellyferret's) house where id left my delica already hitched up to the trailer ready to roll as not enough space at mine.
3.45 am, trailer lights and camera check;
I hadnt realised that a camera flash before 4am can actually burn out your retinas, its true!
4 am, We hit the M5 northbound from Taunton with a flask of ultra nasty xxx strength coffee flowing nicely, know we got a loooooooong day ahead.
6am, Bristol has come and gone and well on our way to Brum, always loved driving and watching the sun come up (excuse pi55 poor camera phone);
9am, The Delica+ twin axle trailer combo isnt really renown for its fuel economy and speed, but we make it to around Manchester-ish before its time for its first wallet emptying tank full;
Back on the road and £70 of diesel heavier its time for the breakfast of champions, Bowyers finest pork and pickle Pies and Relentless!
We carry on northward, It might just be our minds playing tricks, but we think the temperature is dropping, cant be far from the arctic circle can we? We were most upset there wasnt a flat cap or whippet in sight, but soldier on past Carlisle.
And with japanese 4x4 efficiency we soon we cross over to Bonny Scotland;
Lunchtime-ish, Now the fun starts! The TOM-TOM (or Sh@t-nav as we decided was more apt) decides its bored with tarmac and thinks that we need to truely explore Scotland and its beautiful scenery, and so begins a nice drive through some of scotlands tightest lanes and curves where setting one wheel off the side means 50 feet down a rocky chasm to our certain deaths;
I'm starting to feel pooped so Dan takes over for a stint, both not knowing we are about to hit even tighter roads and even more certain death it it goes horribly wrong;
Even after a few bottom clenching near misses to rogue sheep, oncoming cars and loose haggises I'm not concerned about my lovey bus, honest;
1pm or thereabouts, We finally find the village were "my precious" (queue Golem voices), and TOMas-TOMason plays ball again and gets right up to the front door, where I get to see my goal in the flesh;
Grinning like a cheshire cat, we stretch our legs, grab a coffee and do the paperwork and have a good natter with the owner Spencer, whos got another beach buggy in the garage as his project on the go. He works at a local Brewery making some rather splendid 8% ale which he generously gives us a few sample bottles to take home as a celebration of our efforts to get to him ;D
1.30pm And its time to saddle up;
We wave our goodbyes and hit the road, deciding that good old fashioned paper maps will probably get us back on main roads quicker than TOM...
Quick stop for leg stretch, Dan has a go in the driver's seat, i think he likes it;
Epic chin of approval;
We both chuckle when we see this sign warning us of Fog on the motorway.
5pm ish and the Bus is starting to look like a council Recycling centre, redbull/relentless cans and sandwich/pasty wrappers littering the floor;
The Wired on energy drinks/coffee look;
Trip all the back to Taunton goes largely eventless as the sun goes back down again, camera pics+night in the car don't really work, but the time, miles and shed loads of diesel are eaten up as we decide the mods and look of what the Fugitive will become over the winter, we were even going to drop into Area52 playday on the way home, but it was gone midnight as we passed Bristol and even though we were fuelled right up on caffeine, the thoughts of bed were weighing deeply on our minds!
Eventually Got home about 1am ish, unloaded the Fugitive and took her for a quick early morning blast back home.
Been tinkering but Those who came to the Brean Beach meet last weekend would have seen her, Its was an awesome day, Bruce only got a little bit bashed about taking the pics of the day that you have probably already seen elsewhere on the forum;
retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=90728
Anyway, just thought i'd say a belated thanks to Dan for helping out, and thought id share the experience with you guys, 1000 miles and 21+ hours later I was still grinning like a fool, and still am ;D
Cheers chaps,
Bones (Stevee)