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More like needing more room to get our bellies underneath 😂

So here we are day 4 and we’re in France on tour 🙂 We left the hotel at 6am and converged on the Eurotunnel terminal, off in Calais we headed for theipval memorial at a fuel stop we replaced a fuel pipe on Ali and Gail’s car and headed on to Thiepval a truly awe inspiring monument to the fallen leaving here we headed cross country and passing through Suissance we stopped for fuel and food, Jim and Laura’s car wouldn’t start so with a hefty shove by Dave they were off, however it was now rush hour and we all got separated, a quick phone around got everyone moving towards tonight’s stop at saints-maure and Troyes In the middle of nowhere we were joined by Ali and Gail, Jim and Laura and Dave but no Geoffrey and Jude. The gentleman from the mill house got in with me and took me to find them, reunited we all settled in to the mill house for the night . around 320 miles today plus a few unplanned detours oops today it’s 6.30 am had a walk and found a little patisserie so coffee and a choc au Suisse, well it would be rude not to .....

I really enjoyed yesterday and today. 318 miles yesterday and 290 today. We travelled through France yesterday and today and as I type we are in Germany. The difference between the two countries I found really amazing. France was such big views and massive fields with villages a little run down and Germany is trees and busy and there are people and cars. We went through so many villages in France and there where no people. it was as though the French had been wiped off the face of the earth. The Channel Tunnel was so easy to get through and use and passport control was done in minutes. The roads through France where lovely but it all looked the same, huge. We stopped at Thiepval . It was amazing to see the monument and I did a rough calculation of the names inscribed of the fallen oilers and there where 3000 to a panel. Literally thousands and thousands of inscribed names. Lots of wooden crosses which say "Unknown" and others which just state, " A solider". We stayed in a beautiful house last night that had the river running straight underneath. You could hear the river from our rooms and we had a wing to ourselves. On the way to Germany we stopped at the Charles de Gaulle memorial. Huge numb looking building in the middle of no-where. The inside is huge with just a few old cars on display. It was ver surreal and did make a good impression. Drove through a few long tunnels which was great fun and through ten minutes of really heavy rain but apart from that the weather has been really good. We have also had quite a few mini adventures along the way but this are for another day. I also used my first toilet with a conveyor belt.

Just had to reverse it up the kerb to get more room underneath the fuel tank to change a split line. 😀

Few more pictures. I saw my first traffic light that counted down how long was left before you could go. Great idea. We also went to view some war graves and there where two German graves amongst all the allies and this was generally not done from what I understand.

We can see where he's deposited!!

So day 5 already today !!!!saw a longer day covering 290 miles including a few detours We started off from the two different locations and all met up when my clutch linkage needed fettling, oh the joys.... I really must say how helpful and interested the locals were, broken English and broken french and a lot of hand gestures but it provides a great ambience So on we cracked after a bite to eat fuel and a wander around the village on to Mulhouse where we had hoped to visit l’cite de l’automobile but on arriving discovered they were soon to close So again we pushed on towards Sturlingen and our fabulous hotel where a hot meal beckoned, Most of the day was dry and sunny but when the showers hit they were biblical Tomorrow morning we’ll check the cars and we’re off to the Rhine falls, Switzerland and a brief skirmish into Austria Sorry not many pictures today

Are you taking medication?

To many to list but a couple of my go-to albums Alanis Morissette - jagged little pill. , The stone Roses , Foo fighters skin and bones , fear no evil by Robert Ward .I also enjoy a bit of Pink

My friend Malcolm Aria did.

It’s the look. From directly behind they look far too wide for the car. Luckily, I’m never behind you for long!

Well. It seems that im sending endless ammounts of sevens back to spain this year. :p. you have PM. One of my mates wants your car. :).

Bear in mind some original members have sold their cars and are retired members rather than current owners who are active members.

That's a day of independence … live axles not allowed? 😉

You weren't, but you are now - you are #70

And that RWD conversion? 😜

im nearly there with the mini just needs a service and the seat fitting.

Ouch. No damage I hope? Almost looks beached on the sump/gearbox in that shot.

I've a wildly eclectic collection of music covering multiple genres - they're all favourites.😊 @Robin (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO defo, The The (Slow Train, Beaten Generation, Sodium Light Baby etc). The Oils too - growing up in NZ means they and Jimmy Barnes, Cold Chisel, INXS, Jenny Morris, Split Enz, et al were part and parcel in my formative years. And the decade before also - Doobie Brothers, Little Feat, The Band, Linda Ronstadt and others. Not my most favourite album (vinyl) but one I wouldn't part with is my limited edition 5-disc box set of Laurie Anderson's seminal America I-IV (United States Live). Favourite music docu-film is The Band's concert The Last Waltz - the opening credit says "This film should be played loud!" - 'nuf said. Stevie Ray Vaughan is a big favourite - Riviera Paradise is written down to be played at my funeral. In fact blues is the genre I lean most towards. My absolute guilty pleasure is Samantha Fish - the skill of this young woman's singing, songwriting and burning guitar playing shows no bounds, and in less than 10 years is about to release her 7th album. Saw her live in Edinburgh the other week on her latest European tour - I was in awe, absolutely fizzing, and got to meet her too!

Small Project BRG update: I got all the final connectors through and thanks to @Marto303 some wiring to make up the IAT sensor and MAC EBC wiring looms. I also made a bracket for the EBC to mount on, fairly close to the turbo so I'm not running miles of silicone boost hose. Also mega thanks to @AdamR who welded in the IAT sensor boss to the intake pipe. In usual Adam awesomeness, he even added some ribs for the silicone hose to grip to. Cheers dude! Popped over to the garage tonight and got all that fitted, connected and neatly tidied away. Aaaaaaand relax. I'm really chuffed with the outcome, it remains a clean engine bay and you wouldn't know the IAT and EBC wiring was there. It's also a huge benefit to lose that MAF sensor!! IAT sensor and EBC in situ: Next job was to get what was left of the torn exhaust off the car. The three bolts that mount the downpipe to the exhaust were absolutely solid, despite liberal use of Poland's finest rust release spray (Vulcan!!!). Same was true of the exhaust gas sensor, so I did the sensible thing and unplugged that from the loom, and undid the two bolts to the cat, slid the lot out and did a little whoop to myself (the thought of doing that particular task has been eating a hole in my brain for a couple of weeks now!). All that stands in the way of making boost now is fixing the exhaust, refitting it, and installation of the ME221 ECU. I've removed the relevant fuse so all I need to do is whip out the factory ECU (and the f con mini piggyback that's in there currently), replace the main board with the ME221, download the relevant map and away we go (to the nearest rolling road, obviously!). I'm torn as to whether or not to fit the injectors now, or see how I get on with the stock ones - bearing in mind I'm not chasing big power. We'll see as to how carried away I get I suppose!! First up though is the exhaust, so next stop is over to Martin to see if he can work any magic and salvage the downpipe. At this point I'm somewhere between my usual state of hopelessly optimistic and thinking we can do something, and the reality that it's probably scrap. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Arras

Great photos keep them coming have a great trip. P.S great photo of Ali on the train

Have a good trip folks, looking forward to updates.

Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables - The Dead Kennedys

Another one finished today. A simple build this time, straight out of the box. A 1/32nd scale Opel GT.