...and time to reflect on the last 6 weeks. It's certainly been 6 weeks to remember.
If you recall, we had some Objectives when we began, more to keep us going than with any "must do" imperative in mind. We managed to achieve some of them; the Tropic of Cancer "selfie" didn't happen because of the weather, so neither did the hurling of a bit of Western Sahara/Southern Morocco into Mauretania. Actually, given the hassle we'd have invited by doing so it's probably a Good Thing we didn't get that far south. We did manage to do some astro-navigation with our sextant and compass although the limitations of that became obvious very quickly, and we did deliver our First Aid kits and toothbrushes to useful places, and there may be some follow-up to that in a later post. The Sand Cats? Given their rarity and likely popularity, we decided to keep quiet on that one,but suffice to say that we've discovered that they are quite partial to cheese-and-tomato sandwiches, and their eyes glow in the dark....
Elly has had her annual health check...and didn't get a good report. Despite a careful check before I presented her to the "Doctor" (the MoT man) he found a few things wrong. The headlights were "pointing a bit low" and the ARB joints - the ones I replaced only 500 miles before we left - needed replacing. A trackrod end was loose (I'd found one but not that one) and one of the rear springs was out of its mounting. Given the pounding she's taken over the last 6 weeks I guess we were lucky to get away with so little. We'd already found the number plate light was a "bit dim" because it was full of sand and the rear plate was coming apart from being in the sun too long. Annoying, too, that I missed the spring and the TRE but the other bits, especially the lights, were down to the personal taste of the tester, I reckon. However...he's the one who has to sign the Bill of Health, so...
After an overdue oil change it's taken us 2 weeks to clean all the dust out of everything and everywhere and put it all away until the next trip. That's what we thought, anyway, but the local Rotary Club had a fundraising day in the local park - they call it "Motafun" - and I asked if they'd like us to come along and show ourselves off. The result was a rapid redecoration of Elly with all her toys so we could enjoy a great day out in glorious weather with a queue at the bottom of the ladder all afternoon.
Sue cooked a chicken on the Cadac and we just played "camping" for the afternoon to an audience that was generally both interested and interesting.
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| How can he get his thumbs to do that? |
What is it about roof tents? Maybe it's the dream of living in a tree house in the garden, but everyone seems to want to look.
We're already evaluating what we've learned and what to change for the next trip. One major issue was the amount of time we had to spend cooped up inside because of the weather. Sue finds cooking and eating uncomfortable if she's "all scrunched up", and to be honest the design was arranged primarily for Mike's benefit to give him somewhere to sleep and "survive" without exposing himself to too much interest from the nasty Jock midgie. Fine for one person, cramped for 2, especially if it's hot but you can't open the doors and windows because of the wind and dust.
To address this, we need to be able to stand up sometimes and ventilate and Sue wants to be able to cook "upright". To achieve that without changing to a different vehicle is going to be a challenge, but a lifting roof is possible, if a bit of a drastic move - and a potentially very expensive one. We've toyed with the idea of converting a Defender ambulance, but this doesn't tick all the necessary boxes, is expensive and may not actually deliver the all-important headroom. We're still looking at the options.
