T2D to the rescue

D Day and the journey to Chimay has started. It didn't take long but on the M25 near Heathrow a van was on the hard shoulder. I had to stop as I was imagining myself in the same situaton. The guy asked me if I knew anything about Volkswagen engines and I replied that it all depends on the problem. His name was Sam and his girlfriend also Sam ......so easy to remember. I looked at the engine and figured out that he didn't have any sparks on the spark plugs. I then looked at the coil and I saw that the wire was disconnected from the contact. We put it back tight with a nut and what a relief, the engine started straight away. A very nice feeling to see Sam & Sam's smiley faces. Job done in 10 mins instead of waiting 45mins for the AA to arrive They called back to cancel the recovery and headed to Dover to take the ferry

What a scene, beetles, vans, buggys everywhere, what else do you want... Everybody is waiting in line to get on the ferry.

Slowly the ferry is getting full. You don't see a shipment like that every day...

and off we go. Au revoir England, Bonjour France

And then everything went pants !!!!

The van was driving fine on the French motorway until the gears started to feel odd. I went down to 3rd and 2nd until I realised that I would have to stop on the hard shoulder. Been here before, but this time it's my turn. I manage to get into 1st but the gear stick is flying everywhere. The linkage looks disconnected. There is absolutely no way I could fix anything. This part of the motorway had road works in the centre, so had only one lane and I must be 10 cm away from the barriers and another 10 cm from the traffic overtaking me. That was scary. I managed to attached the triangle to the back of the van (sorry no picture as the blog was the least of my priorities at the time) I decided to try to find some space to have a look underneath.

After about 3 to 4 Kms in 1st gear, with traffic thundering passed, I reached the services area What a relief!!!

A big thanks to a guy named Paul who came to help me but he couldn't do anything because he didn't have a jack and my little hydraulic one wasn't up to the job.

And then I couldn't believe my luck... The T2D Crew was there with the Panelback and the Link Pin Bay. In no time at all Ballsey was under my van fixing it. It took him about 30 sec and I was off again. Who needs international breakdown cover with guys like this ??

Ballsey at the back of the T2D convoy........ thanks Guys.

A few hours later the camp was set ready for the fun to start..