Going from bad to worse!

 Jul7 30th

What a day! Both of us woke early, probably because in our minds we knew we had to be away before 8 am! MB was booked in at that time, and not wanting to be late, arrived before anyone else. The owner turned up soon after, keys were handed over, and we set off for the mile walk to Nairn.

So, pub crawls, everyone knows about them but what about café crawls! We must have visited every café in Nairn. At the second café, the phone call came to tell us it was not the alternator or water pump but the crankshaft pulley. In fact, it had almost disintegrated and would not have lasted much longer. The parts had to be ordered, so may be a bit longer than hoped. To pass the time, charity shops were visited as well as the factory shop. We sat outside in the park reading, gosh the time went slowly. 11 am came and went, this was the time they said they would phone. 11.30 and we decided to walk back to the garage. First into Sainsbury opposite the garage for a loo break, no café in there, mores the pity! Midday and Ian phoned to see what progress was being made.  Rest assured, we were told, the parts are on route. 1 pm and because we were so close, called in. The mechanics had gone to lunch and wouldn't be back until 1.30 pm. So, losing the will to live, we actually went to McDonald's for a burger! Not had a McDonald's for years and realised why as soon as we took a bite!

At McDonald's, what's with the ordering boards! Where are the behind counter order staff? Groan, we are so behind the times!

Eventually, at 2.15 pm, the call came to say MB was ready. He showed us the crankshaft pulley and what had occurred, no wonder we had that awful squeal. 

This was the metal placed in-between the inner and outer ring

 

Money paid (more than we expected) and into MB we went. OMG, first thing I noticed was the floor. What on earth had happened to the lid of the water tank? It had lifted the carpet, causing a small hillock to appear! When I pulled back the carpet, this was seen!

How on earth had the tank been shifted like that? I could see the road, what had the mechanics done?  Ian rushed back to reception, called the boss back and showed him the damage. All knowledge of it was denied. Said the vehicle hadn't been on the ramps and on the road test, nothing had been bumped over. He admitted it wasn't like that when we left, so it must have been the fairies then!!! Anyway, he called over the mechanic and between them straightened the brackets and repositioned the tank. I don't understand why someone wouldn't admit it was their fault. I reckon someone had incorrectly positioned the jack under the tank and pushed it out from it housing. Anyway, nothing can be proved and they did fix it free of charge!

 

We eventually left for a booked campsite, thought it best to get electric seeing as no mileage had been done to charge the batteries, and that was where we discovered the water leak!

This was going from bad to worse. Thank goodness we had gone into a site with facilities. We dug out the 5-litre water container, it was to be our only source of water tonight. In the meantime, Ian crawled under MB, pulled out the water pipe, and found the joint had loosened up. Good news, at least it wasn't cracked! With this man of mine carrying everything DIY, adhesive, and tape were applied, and the pipe was placed back. We won't be filling the tank until tomorrow morning to allow the adhesive to 'go off'. Fingers crossed it will work because the only other alternative is to forget about the rest of our travels and return to FS!