Mechanical Shenanigans and possibly the luck of the charmed
Close followers of this blog will be aware that despite á little fan belt hiccup on day one of the journey proper all has been pleasantly (for me) quiet on the mechanical front.
Today saw a small change and one that I hope will not escalate into a full blown epic ...................
It was my time to return back through and over the Atlas Mountains to Marrakech today, a nice 6,000 foot high pass to negotiate and countless hairpin bends. In fact there are two passes to cross as you go through the mountains and it was as I was about 4 miles from the top of the second and smaller of the two the engine began to mis-fire. Not too dramatic but enough to make me pull over and dig out the Haynes manual.
There's nothing like being over 1500 miles away from home and more importantly about 700 miles away from RAC breakdown cover to instil a new found interest in motor maintenance. I am not a complete fool, but for any non mechanic who has skimmed through a Haynes manual you quickly realise it is not the Lady Bird book of how to fix your car. It assumes some prior knowledge, familiarity and skill. I am the son of a motor mechanic. What limited knowledge he managed to squeeze into my unreceptive brain came to the fore today (Dad if you were up there on a cloud looking down and chortling, I don't blame you!)
I'm carrying some spare parts and a phone!!!! So after taking off the distributor cap and making what sense I could. But without prior knowledge of what looks normal and what doesn't you're a bit stuck. So I rang my good friend Neil to get his advice (and him to order me some spare parts).
The reason for the spare parts is simple. My van is 35 years old. I've not seen a single air cooled VW bus or beetle here in all the time I've been in Morroco (it was a French colony and they all drive Renaults, Citroens and Peugeots - plus some ancient Mercedes saloons). It might be quicker to push the van to Spain than wait to try and find parts in Morocco.
This story is not just about out back hill billy mechanicing. It's about bigger things - divine providence and pure, unashamed good luck. Because tomorrow a certain Miss Anderson of Maryhill, Glasgow flies into Marrakech to join me for 7 days. Not only that, but she will be passing through Cumbria on the train en route to Manchester airport - my very own Glaswegian spare parts courier! So in addition to speaking to Neil I also spoke to the wonderful Des, the Van restoration man about his thoughts on the situation and what I might need.
So tomorrow morning, if all goes to plan, there will be two clandestine VW van part deliveries on two separate Cumbrian railway platforms, with our very own heroin of the hour making room in her capacious handbag for clanking bits of metal.
The van is driveable and I drove very gently the final 50 miles to Marrakech.
If my spare parts story isn't luck enough when I arrived in the campsite tonight (an oasis of incomparable bliss, quite the most lovely, wifi enabled, swimming pool clad campsite I've seen all trip) I found out that the French owner (who speaks perfect English) is friends with the owner of Marrakech's VW dealership ................. I do hope I've not used up all of my life's good fortune in one day ......
I'm not out of the woods yet, but all the duck's are in a row, I've read and re-read my Haynes manual inside out and will begin some preliminary work tomorrow before my new points and condenser arrive on the evening flight from Manchester .................
Wish me luck blog followers
The Van Man
Today saw a small change and one that I hope will not escalate into a full blown epic ...................
It was my time to return back through and over the Atlas Mountains to Marrakech today, a nice 6,000 foot high pass to negotiate and countless hairpin bends. In fact there are two passes to cross as you go through the mountains and it was as I was about 4 miles from the top of the second and smaller of the two the engine began to mis-fire. Not too dramatic but enough to make me pull over and dig out the Haynes manual.
There's nothing like being over 1500 miles away from home and more importantly about 700 miles away from RAC breakdown cover to instil a new found interest in motor maintenance. I am not a complete fool, but for any non mechanic who has skimmed through a Haynes manual you quickly realise it is not the Lady Bird book of how to fix your car. It assumes some prior knowledge, familiarity and skill. I am the son of a motor mechanic. What limited knowledge he managed to squeeze into my unreceptive brain came to the fore today (Dad if you were up there on a cloud looking down and chortling, I don't blame you!)
I'm carrying some spare parts and a phone!!!! So after taking off the distributor cap and making what sense I could. But without prior knowledge of what looks normal and what doesn't you're a bit stuck. So I rang my good friend Neil to get his advice (and him to order me some spare parts).
The reason for the spare parts is simple. My van is 35 years old. I've not seen a single air cooled VW bus or beetle here in all the time I've been in Morroco (it was a French colony and they all drive Renaults, Citroens and Peugeots - plus some ancient Mercedes saloons). It might be quicker to push the van to Spain than wait to try and find parts in Morocco.
This story is not just about out back hill billy mechanicing. It's about bigger things - divine providence and pure, unashamed good luck. Because tomorrow a certain Miss Anderson of Maryhill, Glasgow flies into Marrakech to join me for 7 days. Not only that, but she will be passing through Cumbria on the train en route to Manchester airport - my very own Glaswegian spare parts courier! So in addition to speaking to Neil I also spoke to the wonderful Des, the Van restoration man about his thoughts on the situation and what I might need.
So tomorrow morning, if all goes to plan, there will be two clandestine VW van part deliveries on two separate Cumbrian railway platforms, with our very own heroin of the hour making room in her capacious handbag for clanking bits of metal.
The van is driveable and I drove very gently the final 50 miles to Marrakech.
If my spare parts story isn't luck enough when I arrived in the campsite tonight (an oasis of incomparable bliss, quite the most lovely, wifi enabled, swimming pool clad campsite I've seen all trip) I found out that the French owner (who speaks perfect English) is friends with the owner of Marrakech's VW dealership ................. I do hope I've not used up all of my life's good fortune in one day ......
I'm not out of the woods yet, but all the duck's are in a row, I've read and re-read my Haynes manual inside out and will begin some preliminary work tomorrow before my new points and condenser arrive on the evening flight from Manchester .................
Wish me luck blog followers
The Van Man
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