Left my house at very early in the morning and picked up Martin and John.  At John’s house we put the finishing touches on the car – the barmy to Barcelona sticker.  Then we headed to Larne for the 7:30 ferry.  Some people say Larne is a dump but they should try 10 minutes in Hull.

 

 

 

Ferry to Scotland, fry, drive, kebabs in Hull, ferry with beer and poker and whisky – thanks to whoever bought me the Glenmorangie for my birthday.

Despite our driver looking a little tired we made it into Belgium and popped up to Holland just so we could do another country before the start.

 

Then we headed down for Lille.  Only pulled once by French Gendarmes at border.  Set up camp near Lille and then went into Lille and signed up.  Lille nice town.

Signed up at Cage Oz, few more beers (except me who was driving) then back to camp for beer and poker.

My current location.

These are the passes in order we did them.

Aigle Col du Pilon. (Stuart)

Grd St Bernado. (Martin up John down).

PS Bernado (Jonh up Martin down)

Col de L'Iseran (Martin up Stuart down)

Cenis (John)

First pass was pretty gentle but after crawling up the St Bernard at 20 km/h for an hour and a half with the heating on we noticed smoke coming out of the side of the car whilst stopped at lights. Pulled over. Diesel leaking from a fuel injector leaking over engine.

So we closed the bonnet and drove another hour to the top.

At this point there was some talk of easy routes, not from me I hasten to add.

I think the car hears our concerns so she launched herself at the next three passes with renewed vigour - hitting 35 km/h on some sections.

Other than John an I shouting at Mr drive fast Samm not too many problems.

One more dead BMW. 12 hours driving and some beers.

Filling in some missing bits here.

Arrived Thun about 9:30. At Swiss border very polite police tried to make us pay 30 Swiss francs for motorway so we opted fir A roads.

Got lost a couple of times and generally cursed bad Swiss road signs. Martin started to get hungry and that brings problems. Pouring rain with road flooding did not help. Sun roof not as waterproof a new.

Did last 10k on motorway by accident and seemed to get away with it.

Burger and beers in Thun went down well.

Just coming to end of gruelling day in alps having completed 5 high mountain passes in about 11 hours.

Car generally ok but very low on power at high altitude. Crawled up some passes at 10kph for long time. Heating on full to keep engine cooler.

Hoping beer is cold.

Arrived at start 7 am this morning to see Robin reliant being worked on. Helped them by lending wd 40. They were changing the only part they had - the fuel pump.

Some great cars which I'm sure will be on the main wacky rally site o the blog spot soon. http://wackyr.blogspot.com

Just outside Lille stopped to aid another dead car but oil in all cylinders. Dead.

Merc gauge approached 120 during hill climb. We now have a new tactic of turning heating up full on hill climbs. Gets a bit warm in the cab.

we've cruised through France, Belgium, France again, Luxembourg and now on German autobahn where Merc feeling at home.

Got set up at camp site yesterday (Thursday) just outside Lille. Barbecued kilo of assorted meat and headed into Lille to register.

Met lots of fellow competitors at bar including guy above who is apparently some dude from Harry Potter and his brother.

Ability to use magic seems a bit unfair but I'm sure our Merc will be spell proof as well as bullet proof.

A couple of beers and usual poker before tent. Up at 6 this morning.

Arrived at Hull at about 4 and got some kebabs while waiting for ferry. Hull did not look great place for a holiday.

Boat spent an hour going round in circles in the harbour and then set off for that Europe.

A few beers later left the dodgy entertainment to his pretend guitar and sat through a few hands of poker which finished over whisky in the cabin.

I spent the winnings on the tea this morning.

Since we have a day to do 60 miles we have popped up to Holland and looked in sleepy town of Oostburg. Had coffee and ham baps with curry sauce in Lidl car park. Just need ice.

Off to Lille.

Got up at 4:25 dressed and in the car. Car sea was nice and wet due to leaking sun roof. Picked up Martin an John, and here we are 46 miles done at lovely Larne waiting for ferry.

While waiting for the wacky rally to start I decided to do a bit of exercise.

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So far we've a tent, some mats and a milk bottle of water for the radiator. Although after Martin poured in a bottle of Radweld we shouldn't need it. Don't forget you can help a good cause through Just Giving and thanks to those of you who already have.