With old Numbum now in fine fettle we headed out of Bournemouth to catch the Sandbanks ferry to pick up the road to Swanage. Using the ferry saves a lot of miles. We had an easy drive up to Portland Bill where we had lunch, followed by a drive about the area. Some beautiful views. The roads in the afternoon were narrow with tall hedges. Not much fun at all. Exeter at tea time was challenging but we found our way and had a good run down to Torquay where we had a bit to eat from a street vendor before heading to meet George Baxter, an internet friend who was putting us up for the night. George is one of the many very helpful people we have met. Thanks George!
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With rain still coming down when we woke this morning and a lack of stable ground and a jack not fit for what was still to be done we decided to stay in Bournemouth and sort things out properly to continue our trip tomorrow. The first amazing people were the reception staff at The Carrington House Hotel for their ability to find us another room in a full hotel for a night which we hadn't booked. Thank you so much. The next job was to try to find somebody to fix up old Numbum. We rang many garages but all were busy. Eventually I got a mobile mechanic to take on the job. Lee Hilton of Get Mobile Mechanics turned up and sorted the job out properly. When it came to payment time he refused any payment as he felt honoured to help us out as his brother Marcus died from Muscular Dystrophy .Lee, thank you so much. You are a star. Grateful thanks also go to the service team from the Carrington with their help with parts and reattaching the exhaust which was hanging down a bit. With Numbum taken care of and the rain stopped, Pam & I took a slow saunter into town to try to get my specs repaired properly. That was a successful mission again at no cost. We popped into a small cafe for a light lunch and were later to be seen sat on a wall munching on apple turnovers. I know how to show a woman a good time! Later on I was chatting in the smoking shelter and two lovely ladies gave me a donation for Harrison's Fund. Thanks ladies.
We left Chichester just after 9am and travelled to Havant and on to South Hayling. South Hayling was worth the visit for the views across the Solent to the Isle of Wight. There is only one road in and out of South Hayling and it was slow going with heavy traffic getting out. From there it was into Portsmouth which is a pleasant but trying to find a road out that wasn't a Motorway was challenging but we made it and found our way through Gosport to Lee on the Solent where we stopped for lunch and watched some boat racing. The first real rain of our trip started here. We had been through the odd light splash but this looked likely to be prolonged. We bypassed Southampton and drove down though Hythe & Fawley into Lepe where we decided it would be prudent to put our wet coats on. This proved to be a good idea.
Passing through Beaulieu Pam heard a clatter from the back of the car and by the time I managed to find a safe place to stop I had quite a walk back to find a piece of leaf spring lying in the road. There was no space to do anything about it where we were so I limped on down the road hoping to fix it when we stopped to visit relatives in New Milton. It soon became obvious that this wasn't a wise decision as the rear axle was moving around quite a bit. I eventually found a safe(ish) spot to pull over and see what could be done. The only jack I was carrying was a small scissor jack for wheel changing if needed. It wasn't really suitable for supporting the car for spring repairs but I managed to get the missing leaf back into position and held in place with two large cable ties. I decided that with traffic hurtling past within a foot or so of my backside and soaking me in the process that it was time to move so we gently headed off to New Milton, hoping to do something more permanent there but it was not to be. While we were there I suffered another problem when one arm of my spectacles dropped off. The screw had come out and no amount of searching could find it. Pam got out here sewing kit and did a super temporary repair. After a pleasant couple of hours, we wish it could have been more, we limped off to our hotel in Bournemouth. We arrived tired and soaking wet but we soon felt better after freshening up and getting ourselves wrapped round a hot meal. 137 miles covered today. |
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Take an old couple and an even older car, add in over 4000 miles of driving and this is the result. This is the story of Numbum's drive round the UK coastline, driven by Owen and ably navigated by Pam. We hope you enjoy the journey. We will. Archives |