Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
The final slog!
This time after yesterdays fiasco we decided to head straight for the motorway and get most of the mileage under our belts! A couple of hours later pratising biscuit exchanges and enjoying yet more gorgeou raini we were at the border. Everyone was a little nervous about this but I have no idea why as we flew through! I think we may have been ahead of the pack though because after that we started recieving info that some had not been so lucky. Quite a few had tried to drive through without getting the local tax and were getting fined up to 200 euros for not doing so when the tax was only £25 in the first place, ouch!! By far the worst though was the swat team, they looked pretty much like the real thing, paint was good outfits were awesome but like doughnuts they had a fake M16 gun in the boot. As soon as the police pulled them over and saw this they went mad, pulling their guns out and getting them all to stand back with their hands up until the gun had been checked. They shat themselves is what I was told and the coppers really weren't amused. Don't think I will ever go in police dress somehow!
Well back to us, shortly after the border we were stopping at the services for a quick coffee and as we pulled in there was a cop car sat there at which point I thought.... oooh photo oportunity and parked right next to it along with 9 other shacklers! It was at this point that the guys driving the poperino decided to pope the police car, basicslly they had little stickers made up saying 'You've been Pope'd' that they were sticking on anything that moved. It wasn't until we went in for coffee a realised how grumpy the coppers were that we started worrying!! They wouldn't even get a photo taken with the hulk!! shame on them!! Luckily the one bloke that saw the sticker must have had some sense of humour cause he just looked at it and said nothing... phew!!
Zadar was the lunch stop that day, after going through the 5 km tunnel that actually changes the weather. Before we went it it was 6 degrees and raining, by the time we came out the other end it was 16 degrees and sunny, I kid you not, was one of the wierdest things I have ever seen!! Zadar was lovely, found a nice little restaurant in the marina and sat down for a cheeky beer and something to eat, thats when it all turned nasty and the 5 metre umbrella decided to take off in the wind and try to wipe us out! It actually took off and it was a big piece of wood to be flying through the air!! Luckily one of the quick thinking blokes we were with Daggers sort of helped it on it's way! quick push!
After our near miss we headed off down the coast road to split, what a gorgeous road with some awesome views, well worth hiring a car if your ever out there, being there while the sun was setting just made it all the betterand the 2 hour drive flew by amazingly quickly although the bumper car antics starting did speed things up a lot lol...
We didn't actually get to our hotel till about half 8 so by the time we were eating it was 11... Starving was not the word and drinking before we got te food meant that we were pretty much hammered by the time we were being awarded the 'Spirit of the Ramshackle' award!!. To say we were stunned is an understantement but we were over the moon to recieve it. The trophy is basically for the team the best encompasses what the ramshackle is about and somehow....... WE WON IT!!! What an end too an awesome trip!!
Well back to us, shortly after the border we were stopping at the services for a quick coffee and as we pulled in there was a cop car sat there at which point I thought.... oooh photo oportunity and parked right next to it along with 9 other shacklers! It was at this point that the guys driving the poperino decided to pope the police car, basicslly they had little stickers made up saying 'You've been Pope'd' that they were sticking on anything that moved. It wasn't until we went in for coffee a realised how grumpy the coppers were that we started worrying!! They wouldn't even get a photo taken with the hulk!! shame on them!! Luckily the one bloke that saw the sticker must have had some sense of humour cause he just looked at it and said nothing... phew!!
Zadar was the lunch stop that day, after going through the 5 km tunnel that actually changes the weather. Before we went it it was 6 degrees and raining, by the time we came out the other end it was 16 degrees and sunny, I kid you not, was one of the wierdest things I have ever seen!! Zadar was lovely, found a nice little restaurant in the marina and sat down for a cheeky beer and something to eat, thats when it all turned nasty and the 5 metre umbrella decided to take off in the wind and try to wipe us out! It actually took off and it was a big piece of wood to be flying through the air!! Luckily one of the quick thinking blokes we were with Daggers sort of helped it on it's way! quick push!
After our near miss we headed off down the coast road to split, what a gorgeous road with some awesome views, well worth hiring a car if your ever out there, being there while the sun was setting just made it all the betterand the 2 hour drive flew by amazingly quickly although the bumper car antics starting did speed things up a lot lol...
We didn't actually get to our hotel till about half 8 so by the time we were eating it was 11... Starving was not the word and drinking before we got te food meant that we were pretty much hammered by the time we were being awarded the 'Spirit of the Ramshackle' award!!. To say we were stunned is an understantement but we were over the moon to recieve it. The trophy is basically for the team the best encompasses what the ramshackle is about and somehow....... WE WON IT!!! What an end too an awesome trip!!
The road to Slovenia
Woke up on the third day with very sore heads, luckily after blagging a 4 star bed for the night we were fairly well rested, still I weren't going to drive so Mel had a go :-)
Unfortunatley everyone else was feeling a little tender so one of the new joiners to our convoy took the lead. He liked his sat nav a little too much though and before we knew it we were quite going the right way and 4 hours later along twisty mountain roads we had covered only 50 kms out of the 350 that were needed!! Doh!!
This however did entice some of the more delicate members of the team to say goodbye to their breakfasts which was of course highly amusing for the rest of us lol.
The challenge of the day was to find one of each of the different euro coins from different countires. They don't seem to much like using the lower denomonations and after completly confusing a woman in a shop I ended up with 4 euros worth aof 5 cent pieces lol, grrrreat!
Another 6 hours driving as quickly as possible down the motorway, once we found it and we were in Lubjiana. By this time it was gone 9 and there was no way we were going to find somewhere to kip in the car so a hotel room was booked, very comfy it was too and what a baeutful city too! Not sure about the crazy mirrored toilet at the venue though, walked past them about 3 times before I realised where they were!
Unfortunatley everyone else was feeling a little tender so one of the new joiners to our convoy took the lead. He liked his sat nav a little too much though and before we knew it we were quite going the right way and 4 hours later along twisty mountain roads we had covered only 50 kms out of the 350 that were needed!! Doh!!
This however did entice some of the more delicate members of the team to say goodbye to their breakfasts which was of course highly amusing for the rest of us lol.
The challenge of the day was to find one of each of the different euro coins from different countires. They don't seem to much like using the lower denomonations and after completly confusing a woman in a shop I ended up with 4 euros worth aof 5 cent pieces lol, grrrreat!
Another 6 hours driving as quickly as possible down the motorway, once we found it and we were in Lubjiana. By this time it was gone 9 and there was no way we were going to find somewhere to kip in the car so a hotel room was booked, very comfy it was too and what a baeutful city too! Not sure about the crazy mirrored toilet at the venue though, walked past them about 3 times before I realised where they were!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Taking on Stelvio!!
After the night in Bern got a little messy we ended up getting about 5 hours kips, clubbing in a dungeon type place was pretty cool though!
Course the 2 Km's walk to the car didn't seem very funny, it would appear we had a better day than some though. When we got to the carpark there were 2 blokes with a sign asking for a lift to Bormio. There car had not even made it to Dover beofre it blew it's gearbox all over the road, now most people would have probably given up right about then but these guys hopped on a plane to Zurich an then caught a train down to Bern to meet up with the rally. Anyway the cowboy seemed nice enough and the priest had wicked hair so we folded everything back and squeezed them in the back of the cheese mobile!! They were actually good blokes and ended up staying with us for the trip. Hey on that night they even managed to sneak us into their 4 star hotel!! sweet!!
Day 2 was the day of Stelvio, probably not the best day to take on 2 extra passengers but hey, thats what it's all about. Course it takes it's toll and half way up the pass the belt on my car started screaming at me. At this point I thought ahh to hell with it, I'll tighten it to within an inch of it's life, worked mind, stopped squeeling :-) The mountain itself was incredible. 43 hairpin bends that went up 2700 metres. Unbelievable views, the most awesome driving roads, at some point in my life I will drive it again, just in a much faster car!! Just check out some of the pics! There was also 9 cars in our convoy by now, and believe me tyhat many cars all done out in various crazy attire gets some looks lol....
Course the 2 Km's walk to the car didn't seem very funny, it would appear we had a better day than some though. When we got to the carpark there were 2 blokes with a sign asking for a lift to Bormio. There car had not even made it to Dover beofre it blew it's gearbox all over the road, now most people would have probably given up right about then but these guys hopped on a plane to Zurich an then caught a train down to Bern to meet up with the rally. Anyway the cowboy seemed nice enough and the priest had wicked hair so we folded everything back and squeezed them in the back of the cheese mobile!! They were actually good blokes and ended up staying with us for the trip. Hey on that night they even managed to sneak us into their 4 star hotel!! sweet!!
Day 2 was the day of Stelvio, probably not the best day to take on 2 extra passengers but hey, thats what it's all about. Course it takes it's toll and half way up the pass the belt on my car started screaming at me. At this point I thought ahh to hell with it, I'll tighten it to within an inch of it's life, worked mind, stopped squeeling :-) The mountain itself was incredible. 43 hairpin bends that went up 2700 metres. Unbelievable views, the most awesome driving roads, at some point in my life I will drive it again, just in a much faster car!! Just check out some of the pics! There was also 9 cars in our convoy by now, and believe me tyhat many cars all done out in various crazy attire gets some looks lol....
Let the rally begin
Day one of the rally and we wake up half hour late and soaking wet! Little did we know it was going to rain overnight and we hadn't really taken this into acount when we jammed the towel into the tailgate, soooo we we woke up I was feeling a little damp. The airbed had been touching the towel and the water had been running up the bed and soaking the sleeping beds, oops!
Still the rally must go on and an hour later we were driving round and round a French roundabout wondering which exit to take lol.
We were however one of the lucky ones as over 30 cars didn't make the start due to the tunnel fire in Blighty. After finally getting off the roundabout we drove for about 3 hours through yet more rain until the sun started shining about half way across France and boy was that a beautiful sight! Especially as the challenge of the day was to take pics of cars through a target we were given and before then we couldn't even see across the road!!
There was a lot of drivng on the first day, In fairness we did stop for over an hour lunch and we didn't get in until half 8 after covering nearly 900 km's. That meant we weren't really happy when we drove around Bern for an hour trying to find our hostel.... Little did we know we couldn't reach it by car, doh!
France here we come!!
After a shocking journey around the M25 in typical rubbish British weather we arrived at the ferry and after about 300 miles in the car and it first real challenge all was well and we were grinning.... A LOT.....
Of course this was not to last and literally 5 mins off the ferry the car started making a really load squel. Lucikly we were just driving past a supermarket called Carrefour so we pulled in. No I'm not a great shopper but I loved that shop!! It was like a winter wonderland, they had everything I needed to fix the Alternator bracket which had collapsed! Not a good start is what was running through our minds at that point, but after half hour spannering away aith a nosey french security guard asking what we were doing we were on our way.
We then found ourselves in a little french restaurant meeting the other teams as they signed on before we headed off to the car park to get a good nights kip
Of course this was not to last and literally 5 mins off the ferry the car started making a really load squel. Lucikly we were just driving past a supermarket called Carrefour so we pulled in. No I'm not a great shopper but I loved that shop!! It was like a winter wonderland, they had everything I needed to fix the Alternator bracket which had collapsed! Not a good start is what was running through our minds at that point, but after half hour spannering away aith a nosey french security guard asking what we were doing we were on our way.
We then found ourselves in a little french restaurant meeting the other teams as they signed on before we headed off to the car park to get a good nights kip
Friday, September 19, 2008
WE MADE IT!!!
1950 miles later we are finally here!! There were loads of ups and a few downs so there will be lots more to come but for now were sat in an internet cafe and the local bar is calling us!!
We get home on Monday so keep checking back for updates and if you haven't donated yet.....
Come on..... Please.... www.justgiving.com/christopherjohnson2
We get home on Monday so keep checking back for updates and if you haven't donated yet.....
Come on..... Please.... www.justgiving.com/christopherjohnson2
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Thought the gearbox had gone again today!!
Then I had a proper look and it was just the gearbox linkage..... PHEW!!!
More Trouble!! But we decorated anyway ;-)
After the new gearbox went in the car it lasted another day before the altrnator belt snapped. A small fix But I'm definitly beginning to think that the car ain't looking forward to it's trip!!
To cheer it up we went a bit mad on the decorating, welsh flags are all over the place there's a giant wine bottle on the roof that a friend very kindly made for us, some giant crackers made from my own hands, and even a working lamp!!
Jon at the Encephalitis society even got some stickers done up for us just to finish it off. I'm thinking the motor should get them some good advertising!!
Now the trouble starts!!
Well seeing as it was now working and painted I thought it was about time I took the car into work to check everything was running well with it.
IT LASTED 2 DAYS!! At which point the gearbox decided it was fed up of dragging a yellow Astra around and blew up!! Luckily it did so just after I got back to the house although it was making some very dodgy noises the last few miles babck to the house!!
Not a problem I thought, I have a spare in the garage. So one sunday afternoon I roped me Dad itno helping and we spent a couple of hours getting the broken box of cogs out of the car. We thought we were doing well and we got the new one in place under the car, then I made one massive, stupid mistake!! when Mel asked how it was going I turned around and said ' Yeah quite well cheers' DOH
It was a few minutes later when we realised the spare gearbox I had was oh so slightly different to the old one..... Mel luckily had a great hunt and found the right one for 30 quid. This unfortunately meant trying to fit it after work, that wasn' t a good week!! It did however go in so fingers crossed this one won't blow!
IT LASTED 2 DAYS!! At which point the gearbox decided it was fed up of dragging a yellow Astra around and blew up!! Luckily it did so just after I got back to the house although it was making some very dodgy noises the last few miles babck to the house!!
Not a problem I thought, I have a spare in the garage. So one sunday afternoon I roped me Dad itno helping and we spent a couple of hours getting the broken box of cogs out of the car. We thought we were doing well and we got the new one in place under the car, then I made one massive, stupid mistake!! when Mel asked how it was going I turned around and said ' Yeah quite well cheers' DOH
It was a few minutes later when we realised the spare gearbox I had was oh so slightly different to the old one..... Mel luckily had a great hunt and found the right one for 30 quid. This unfortunately meant trying to fit it after work, that wasn' t a good week!! It did however go in so fingers crossed this one won't blow!
Wey hey, that looks a little bit different!!
Well after another week fault finding, gettinng the alternator working and the water to stop leaking from old pipes we got onto the paint!!
I roped Mel in for this one because quite frankly I find painting unbelievably boring!! I managed to find a one coat yellow paint that said it would cover virtually anything and in fairness I think it did a pretty good job.... Rustoleam was the stuff and it took about 2 hours to do the whole car with brushes and rollers. One thing I would say though is try to paint it in the open, it wasn't a very nice day when we painted so opted for the garage with the door open. None the less I was feeling a little..... fuzzy shall we say by the time we finished lol
Looks pretty good for a start though eh!
I roped Mel in for this one because quite frankly I find painting unbelievably boring!! I managed to find a one coat yellow paint that said it would cover virtually anything and in fairness I think it did a pretty good job.... Rustoleam was the stuff and it took about 2 hours to do the whole car with brushes and rollers. One thing I would say though is try to paint it in the open, it wasn't a very nice day when we painted so opted for the garage with the door open. None the less I was feeling a little..... fuzzy shall we say by the time we finished lol
Looks pretty good for a start though eh!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Hmmmm that don't look quite right!!
On taking the old engine out of the car I put them side by side and realised.... well, lets say there were some differences! Gutted!! Turned out the engine that was in the car was a multipoint injection engine and the engine I had been given was a singlepoint. Basically they were completly different at the top end, LUCKILY all of the mounts were the same!
This unfortunatly meant that all my painstaking labelling was useless lol, different head, different pipework, not to mention wiring!! The local scrappy came in very very very useful!
Anyway I won't bore you with the details but it took a fortnight of head scratching and getting help from mates and to get the engine in... What a feeling though, was well chuffed that day knowing that we now had a car that MOVED!!
This unfortunatly meant that all my painstaking labelling was useless lol, different head, different pipework, not to mention wiring!! The local scrappy came in very very very useful!
Anyway I won't bore you with the details but it took a fortnight of head scratching and getting help from mates and to get the engine in... What a feeling though, was well chuffed that day knowing that we now had a car that MOVED!!
First time fitting a new engine!!
To say I was worried at this point is a vast understatement.... I had never done something as big as fit a new engine, especially with the added pressure of it having to drive over 1500 miles!!
The ole one came out fairly easily though as I made sure I labelled everything up properly so I could put everything back as it was. I even got to play with my new engine hoist!! what a cool toy lol... THE best tool I ever bought! looks wierd with no engine in there though don't it!
So WHATS wrong with the thing!!
Well when we got the car back to the house I was hoping to get it running pretty quickly, unfortunatly twas not to be!! On taking off the cam cover I could see 4 of the lifters had sheared in half.... DOH!!!
That meant the hunt was on, I needed a new engine... sharpish!! I hunted ebay for over a month and nearly bought a 1.2 for an Astra estate, luckily I went onto a vauxhall forum moaning about my problems which is when I spoke to a very nice guy called Al. He had just swapped out his 1.4 for a 2.0 and said if I went up to Birmingham I could have the 1.4.... woooohooooo!!!
So 4 hours driving later I was the proud owner of new engine. Now all that was needed was to swop them over!
Friday, September 5, 2008
ANY SPONSORS GREATFULLY ACCEPTED!!
Just go to this site and out your details in
www.justgiving.com/christopherjohnson2
www.justgiving.com/christopherjohnson2
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Finally the car!!!
One of the rules of the Ramshackle is that you can pay no more than a hundred quid for your car
I have become a dab hand at finding cheap cars and doing them up to run around in so thought this part of the challenge would be a doddle..... HOW WRONG I WAS!!!
That's mainly because of those pesky China men nicking all of our scrap metal and putting the price of steel through the roof. If someone can get £140 for their car from the scrap yard then why on earth would they sell it for a hundred on ebay!! I reckon everyone should start buying up wicker hats and make the price of them funny hats go through the roof... see how they like it lol
Annnyway we must have been looking for a car for at least 2 months before we stumbled upon the Astra. It was on ebay for £100 due to an engine problem, it wouldn't start!! Now when the bloke wouldn't give me straight answers on the e-mail I should have guessed he was hiding something but in the excitement of actually finding something we could take I placed my bid and won, because I was the only one dumb enough to bid lol.
When it came to picking the car up we had to go to Bristol for it and not the nice part!! This was made even worse as I had been basically arguing with the seller over the e-mail about answering my questions so when we drove into Beirut and he turned out to be a 7 ft tall rather large black man I have to admit, I thought I might die! Luckily we made a sharp exit with all extremities in tact and started towing the car home..... Now fair play to Mel she looked like she needed a toilet all of the way home but an hour later driving down the motorway we were back!! The project could begin!!
I have become a dab hand at finding cheap cars and doing them up to run around in so thought this part of the challenge would be a doddle..... HOW WRONG I WAS!!!
That's mainly because of those pesky China men nicking all of our scrap metal and putting the price of steel through the roof. If someone can get £140 for their car from the scrap yard then why on earth would they sell it for a hundred on ebay!! I reckon everyone should start buying up wicker hats and make the price of them funny hats go through the roof... see how they like it lol
Annnyway we must have been looking for a car for at least 2 months before we stumbled upon the Astra. It was on ebay for £100 due to an engine problem, it wouldn't start!! Now when the bloke wouldn't give me straight answers on the e-mail I should have guessed he was hiding something but in the excitement of actually finding something we could take I placed my bid and won, because I was the only one dumb enough to bid lol.
When it came to picking the car up we had to go to Bristol for it and not the nice part!! This was made even worse as I had been basically arguing with the seller over the e-mail about answering my questions so when we drove into Beirut and he turned out to be a 7 ft tall rather large black man I have to admit, I thought I might die! Luckily we made a sharp exit with all extremities in tact and started towing the car home..... Now fair play to Mel she looked like she needed a toilet all of the way home but an hour later driving down the motorway we were back!! The project could begin!!
The Encephalitis Society
The day after booking the rally we decided if we were going to do it we thought it was a damn good thing to do for charity!!
2 years ago Mum was taken into hospital suddenly after hallucinating, seeing Indians and giraffes outside her bedroom window which is actually on the first floor and her curtains were closed :-) Her boyfriend Gareth therefore thought there must be something more wrong than the flu and took her back to the doctors. Luckily the doctor also saw that something was very wrong and sent her too the hospital. Quite a few tests were run which led to several mis-diagnoses before they figured out what the problem actually was.......
That's when Mel and I found out about Encephalitis. It's actually an inflammation of the brain. The inflammation is caused either by an infection invading the brain or through the immune system attacking the brain in error.
What we couldn't believe is how few people had actually even heard of it let alone know what it was including ourselves which is why we thought it was a great charity to raise the money for!!
If you want to know more this is the charity site
http://www.encephalitis.info/TheIllness/WhatisEncephalitis.html
2 years ago Mum was taken into hospital suddenly after hallucinating, seeing Indians and giraffes outside her bedroom window which is actually on the first floor and her curtains were closed :-) Her boyfriend Gareth therefore thought there must be something more wrong than the flu and took her back to the doctors. Luckily the doctor also saw that something was very wrong and sent her too the hospital. Quite a few tests were run which led to several mis-diagnoses before they figured out what the problem actually was.......
That's when Mel and I found out about Encephalitis. It's actually an inflammation of the brain. The inflammation is caused either by an infection invading the brain or through the immune system attacking the brain in error.
What we couldn't believe is how few people had actually even heard of it let alone know what it was including ourselves which is why we thought it was a great charity to raise the money for!!
If you want to know more this is the charity site
http://www.encephalitis.info/TheIllness/WhatisEncephalitis.html
The Ramshackle itself!
' It's a rally with an attitude and it's not an easy ride. The days are long, the nights are longer and when you're not behind the wheel or propping up a bar at one of the magnificent venues you'll be crying for a little bit of shut eye to take away the pain. It’s a character building adventure endurance test that is all about guts and gusto. There is the usual Ramshackle sized helping of absurdity and bucket loads of camaraderie because this rally takes you and your banger to within an inch of your lives and keeps you there for 4 long days.'
That was the statement that started it all whilst in a slightly drunken state. We thought it sounded great for some bizarre reason and the BOOK button was pressed!
This meant that we had to find a car for less than £100 and drive it across France, Switzerland and Slovenia and down in too Croatia in 4 days!
That was the statement that started it all whilst in a slightly drunken state. We thought it sounded great for some bizarre reason and the BOOK button was pressed!
This meant that we had to find a car for less than £100 and drive it across France, Switzerland and Slovenia and down in too Croatia in 4 days!
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