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| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10756  
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Thank you for the update, nice to see her back together again
Have a great time doing the LE-JOG, as i did back in 2015 ish 
If down and around my area, be sure to drop in for a cuppa 1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up.
Keeper. Clayton. |
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4th Apr 2024 9:14pm |
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| Teario Member Since: 04 Aug 2015 Location: Merseyside Posts: 153 
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As always guys, thanks for all the comments and encouragement.
Sounds good to me! All going well we should be down near you in 2-3 weeks, I'll drop you a message when we're nearby and see if we can meet up. After getting back from Wales with a few issues, I replaced the injector 4 return pipe, swapped the temp sensor and fixed the sensor wiring. The diesel leak was fixed but the temperature gauge still wasn't working. We headed up to Scotland anyway.  Click image to enlarge On a rainy morning we pulled up to the John O' Groats sign. I was looking forward to this, having been here around 8 years ago with my other Defender. Click image to enlarge I couldn't get the camper up to the sign this time, there's a barrier in place now. Our plan was to head south down the west coast and over Applecross but on the way we started hearing a bad rattle. After a bit of investigation I saw the belt tensioner had loads of play in it, I don't think it had much life left. So we aborted the Applecross plan and made a more direct route back. On the way we discovered Three Lochs Drive, a nice little route around some parkland with lochs and the ability to stay over night. So we did. Click image to enlarge Once we got back I fitted a new tensioner and belt, then another new temperature sensor which fixed the gauge. It's a relief being able to see that working again, it's been off since I got the vehicle back from Hungary. The first new sensor I got had a black band on it and didn't seem to make a difference but the second one had a green band and is working great. All the information I can see online seems to say black is for Defender and green is for Discovery but it's the green one that seems to be right in my case. That's the last of the current issues fixed now so I'm back to feeling good about the reliability and less filled with dread at every new noise... With a bit of extra time, I also removed the DC-DC charger from the electronics box. I've never even switched it on the whole time we've been travelling so I'd rather not have cables running from under the driver seat into the electronics box in the back. At the same time I time I tidied up all the water pipework. Initially I wasn't sure how much I'd need so I cut everything conservatively. It makes it hard to get the grey water storage out though and now I've got a better idea how it's all holding up, I got rid of the excess. Before Click image to enlarge After Click image to enlarge Now I'm pretty much just fiddling about with everything and getting itchy feet until we set off again at the weekend. |
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1st May 2024 9:27pm |
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| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10756
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Thanks for the pics and nice to see you made it to the " sign post " and what looks to be the same weather that the wife and i had in 2019
Click image to enlarge 1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up.
Keeper. Clayton. |
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3rd May 2024 8:49pm |
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| Teario Member Since: 04 Aug 2015 Location: Merseyside Posts: 153
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We've been back on the road a little while now. Headed south to compete JOGLE first.
Click image to enlarge On the way down we met up with Clayton who graciously hosted us for the afternoon. Click image to enlarge And made a stop off at Caffeine and Machine on the way to the ferry port. Click image to enlarge Then we were off over to France. It was mostly driving every day because we had to reach Beziers to meet up with family but I wanted to make sure we stopped off at the machine island and machine hall on the way. Both of these places are filled with amazing mechanical and artistic wonders, I was like a child in a toy shop there. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge After France we headed to Switzerland. Most of the mountain passes were still closed so we ended up taking the transporter trains. Click image to enlarge After a few days around Interlaken we started heading for Austria. Finally we did get to drive over one open pass and the snow was pretty high. The weather during the previous days was too hot for us so up in the colder air we ended up spending the night. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge We travelled across the North of Austria, through Innsbruck, Salzburg and Vienna. For some reason I didn't take many pictures with the Defender but I do have this one at a nice place we stopped at over night. Click image to enlarge Our last night in Austria we were treated to a firefly display. It was pretty tough to get a decent picture of them. Click image to enlarge Then we crossed into Hungary and spent 2 nights at a decent camp site on the edge of the Balaton. I needed a break after a few days of constant driving and this was a perfect spot for it. Now we've just arrived in Budapest and getting ourselves mentally prepared for visiting the city during the heatwave tomorrow  |
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20th Jun 2024 8:58pm |
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| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10756
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Great your still enjoying your travels and thanks for sharing the pics
1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up.
Keeper. Clayton. |
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21st Jun 2024 7:59pm |
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| Teario Member Since: 04 Aug 2015 Location: Merseyside Posts: 153
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A happy and sad day today as we have made it back to the UK and finished our long term travel plans for the time being.
Last time I posted we were just arriving in Budapest. From Hungary we next went to Romania and headed along the TransSemenic to reach the south west. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge At the southernmost point we met the Danube again and could just about see Golubac fortress over the border in Serbia. Further along the river is a dam which has a border crossing point on it, which seemed like it would be an interesting place to cross. After our previous experience we weren't in a rush to visit Serbia again though so passed it up. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Once we turned back north we drove the Transalpina route. This was one of my most enjoyable, lots of twists and turns taking us up into the clouds and then back down through the trees. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge During this part of the journey we started having trouble with the fridge. It started turning itself off and I would have to kill the power to it for a few seconds to get it back on. Then it started switching to the highest temperature mode and eventually the control panel stopped responding so I couldn't even lower the temperature again. Finally after pulling the fuse one more time it simply gave up and refused to turn back on. The issue seemed to be the control board because if I bypassed that and sent power directly to the compressor it would fire up, but there was no way to stop it running once it reached the right temperature. I found a camper store that had a fridge for sale that would fit in the space but it was a few days travel away so we made do with the directly powered compressor for a few days. I had read the tragic story story of the town Geamana and wanted to see it for myself. It's hard to describe the sight as you drive through forest trails and keep getting glimpses through the trees of this grey mass that just screams at you to turn back. At this time almost all of the town is submerged and only the tiniest bit of the church spire remains visible. We heard that the mining company were going to topple the tower as the sight of it had started drawing people to the area, but in the end they left it because pretty soon nothing visible will remain. We could also see where a floating wood pontoon used to be, which apparently was a bit of a tourist attraction for a while. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge On our way out of the forest, the battery light on the dashboard came on. We had quite a distance still to go as we were aiming for Turda and I knew there was a well reviewed garage there so we pushed on. Along the way the stereo stopped working, followed by all of the gauges on the dashboard and eventually the indicators as well. We made it to the garage after they closed so stayed in the car park until morning. The guys there were great and started looking for a new alternator. It took 2 days but they finally located one for us and we got back on the road. In the mean time they were totally happy for us to continue living out of the car. While we were there it was a heatwave but luckily Turda has a former salt mine which now has a boating lake and some other fun things to do, so we hid underground until it was cool enough to be outside. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Our next major stop was Bran but when we tried to visit the castle grounds we were stopped by a guard because there was some kind of cat breed competition happening. Only people attending the show were allowed in... so that's how we ended up going to a cat convention. Then it was time to head to the famous Transfagarasan. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge It was interesting to see bears at the side of the road. There are signs saying not to feed them but many people chose to ignore that. Locals did tend to try scaring the bears away with their horns but they'd just come back once the coast was clear. Driving this famous road was fun but to be honest I actually preferred the transalpina. It was a nicer drive for me and much less busy. That was all for our time in Romania. We made a quick stop in Bucharest to pick up the new fridge and then crossed the border to Bulgaria. Click image to enlarge The first thing I did was accidentally offend some Czhech guys who came over to talk, when I called their Nissan a jeep (I genuinely thought it was a Cherokee XJ). There was no rescuing the conversation after that... We took a drive up to the founders monument and spend a few days in Veliko Tarnovo then visited Buzludzha. This place was really cool, like a spaceship just landed on top of a hill. It was well sealed and had cameras everywhere so we couldn't explore inside but apparently there is an effort to have it reopened to the public, so maybe one day. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge We drove around some more places in Bulgaria but didn't really get any shots with the Defender. We took a slight off-road trail to reach a cave which used to be an old fort. Had a day at Krushuna walking around the waterfalls. Visited a church carved into the side of a rock face and another that made amazing spicy bread. There were also many places we didn't get to see as our Schengen days were running out, so we will definitely come back in the future. Crossing into Turkey was pure chaos. We had our passports checked but need to buy insurance at the border. We were told to drive over to another building to sort that out, but what I didn't know was "baggage control" sat between us and that building. Baggage control was some guy sitting in a plastic chair and I was somehow supposed to know to go and see him. Anyway, after making a fuss he looked in the car for what must have been 0.001 second and let us go to the insurance building. First I bought the insurance, then the next step was to get it validated at another window. After standing in an ever growing crowd for 35 minutes and only 2 people being processed, they told a few people to go back to the passport control to be validated there. I was one of them, so I walked up to the passport control window only to be told they won't do it because I'm out of the vehicle. Easy then, I just got in the car and drove the wrong way back through the passport control lane, turned around and arrived at the window in my vehicle. Passports and insurance validated, I headed out toward freedom. No luck. The barrier wouldn't open because... I hadn't visited my old friend in the plastic chair for the second time. So back we went, again he looked in the car for a fraction of a second and we were officially in Turkey. But things didn't get any easier. To drive on toll roads we needed a HGS sticker. It sounded pretty easy to acquire one, simply stop at any post office or Shell petrol station and fill in a form. After the 6th Shell told us they didn't have any we gave up and just drove without the HGS as the fine was small, less than we wasted in diesel driving around aimlessly looking for one. The following day I headed to a post office, but it was closed. All of them were closed because it was Saturday. For some reason they have a system where you need a sticker, but if you enter on Friday afternoon as we did, you can't actually buy the sticker until Monday. As luck would have it, Monday was a public holiday, so we actually couldn't get one until Tuesday! We made it to Instabul and decided to spend the weekend there, hoping the main post office would be open on the public holiday. Although there is a small fine for not having the HGS, we were advised not to cross the bridge without it as that is apparently much more serious. Click image to enlarge So here we stayed, in a car park in Istanbul looking out from the European to the Asian side but not able to reach it. We spent some time in the city taking in the sights and returned in the evening to get some sleep. It was busy in the car park, lots of locals arrived and set up music, bbq etc and things were loud well into the early hours of the morning. It was a nice atmosphere for a while but I did need sleep so around 3am we moved on to find somewhere quieter. We ended up a nice town with lots of cafes and seafood places. Unfortunately while here our windscreen cracked. I think it was the heat, because the sun was directly on the screen and the crack formed from an existing chip. Click image to enlarge Back into the city we went and found a garage to supply a new window. They had a Masai heated screen available so I opted for that one and hopefully I can retrofit the loom at some point in the future. By this time it was Monday and still the post office was closed so we decided to stop waiting around and just crossed the less impressive but also less problematic bridge with a toll booth. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge We heard about a lake which attracts flamingos and it was not too far off our route, so we headed there hoping to get lucky. In keeping with what seemed to be the theme at the time, not only were there no flamingos, there was actually no lake either. All we found was a tower and the dry lake bed. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Finally after a few days of driving, we made it to our easternmost point. It was bittersweet to arrive in Cappadocia because it felt like a turning point for us. Everything from there on was the journey home rather than the journey out. I think in the end it turned out to be the perfect place to mark that point though because we were treated to an incredible display from the hot air balloons. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Once again I found myself in a place that was just impossible to describe. We had managed camp right between the launch and landing zones so everywhere we looked was filled with balloons. It is genuinely something that I think has to be experienced to really understand how it feels to be there, it can't be conveyed with words or pictures. We stayed out there from the first balloon up until the last one was down. We stayed in the area for a few days but it was too windy for any more balloon launches, so we were lucky to have caught it on our first morning. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge On our final night we treated ourselves to a hotel which had an amazing view over the city at night. Then we prepared ourselves for the long journey home. I'll talk more about that in a future post. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge[/url] |
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18th Aug 2024 7:08pm |
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| kevin-h Member Since: 24 Mar 2020 Location: Huddersfield Posts: 27  
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Your write up is amazing, so well conveyed in text and pictures.
Your journey is so inspiring to me and I’m sure to many others. |
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19th Aug 2024 12:12pm |
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| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10756
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Great that you made it back all okay
Thank you so much for the update of your incredible journey 1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up.
Keeper. Clayton. |
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19th Aug 2024 8:20pm |
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| BrickBox Member Since: 05 Oct 2021 Location: Wales Posts: 826  
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Absolutely love reading travel diaries like this. Fantastic journey! 2008 2.4 110 Utility Station Wagon XS.
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19th Aug 2024 8:23pm |
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