Its been too Long

It's been way too long since I had a Katy adventure and even longer since I wrote about it 

The reason - work, more work, oh and work! so today as things were going well and the team had everything under control and didn't need me I took a day off (well most of it had calls and emails to make) 

So a day to explore my 3 favourite things (after the wife of course) 

1. Land Rovers

We found the RAMC parked up .. asleep they were (bless) so we didn't wake them. We were spotted taking this picture by one of the army guys in another picture, but as soon as he saw what I was driving he was really cool about it and wanted to inspect my "old bus". Not up to Army standards of maintenance sorry 

A few minutes later when we were parked up for me to put my boots on the ambulance came up to see us and I had a wonderful chat with the driver who was really appreciative of the efforts to keep one of their old vehicles on the road.

The extra 8" width and over cab storage combined with the "Wolf" air vents in the wings do make quite an impression compared to the rounded look to Katy. I hate to say it, but the Army do a better job of cleaning their vehicles

2. Walking up a decent hill 

A really nice start to the walk which went quite well until I hit the cloud base. Actually I went up into it for a while, before dropping back down for these pictures

3, Photography 

Enough said. Just enjoy some pictures sorry no Land Rovers in the rest

Cracking Scenery Gromit !

if you want to see more of these hills they are here 

Saundersfoot

We've just had a fabulous weekend away with the South Wales Land Rover Club.

Katy did her best to stay at home with a split fuel pipe dumping diesel on the drive, and allowing air to get in and stop the engine running, but a quick fix by James Holt in his local garage got us going and we were away

The weather for once in wales was superb and we had some real fun looking at the geology on Amroth beach and also in Landyspotting a fun challenge set for us to get our picture with as many Land Rovers as possible in the day

So here's a set of me looking gormless with the 1st of the day being katy of course and the rest around and about

 

This last one was in Tenby where the deailer who's forecort it was on said he'd not has so much interest shown in that vehicles for ages. Sorry mate - Just tyre kickers no buyers today

WWW = Wet Weekend in Wales

A Wet Weekend in Wales, well at least in part.

We went down to St Davids in Pembrokeshire and once again Katy was wel behaved on the run, however once we got there the heavens opened and we had rain pouring into the passenger footwell again. So out with more silicone sealant and I've tried to cover up every possible hole

Another of the leaks was around the cable where the solar panel feed comes in whioch was more worrying because it was above where we store the bedding ... the solution ... even more silicone sealant.

On the good news front the new shelves in the rear cupbaord worked really well and the smells have all gone now we're replaced the wood in the kitchen cabinets 

Sunday was beautiful and we had a fantastic day out followed by a really smooth run home in light traffic so we're much more confident about going for a run now all seems bedded down from the last trip

Anglesey - The Road Home

OK it wasn't that early and we did take time having a cuppa before we got started, but then it was time for off. Sunshine & Scenery were to be the order of the day as we headed back through Snowdonia and then Mid Wales

First stop after Llanberris was to admire the scene of a rugged Land Rover in even more rugged scenery

 

Then down to Bedgellert where we met a Subaru Owners club coming the other way. Whilst waiting in the traffic one of them was sitting next to me enjoying the sound of his sporty engines with a bit of revving so I treated him to what the sound of a 300TDi sounds like in full flow. I got a bit of a shocked look!

The journey southwards was uneventful on the mechanical front which was good as it allowed us to concentrate on enjoying the scenery and it is indeed might fine scenery.

We arrived in Cardiff just entering the red on our fuel which means we have put just £95.00 diesel into Katy for this journey. OK we'll need to fill up for the next, but I think the new gearbox has made a massive difference to the driveability and we are all (all three of us I am sure) looking forwards to our next big adventure

Mind you I do have a list of new jobs ....

1. Remove and replace cupboard shelves which stink !
2. Add shelves to the rear cupboards
3. Fix the Exhaust properly
4. Find out why the washer water isn't working
5. Find all the leaks around the windscreen and doors and fix them properly
6. find out why the fridge is only partially efficient and repair or replace it
7. replace the missing mudflaps

That should be enough to keep me busy for a few weeks or months

Anglesey - Church Bay, Holy Island, South Stack and Roscolyn

After the success of Parys Mountain we rose to some more poor weather so headed off in a slightly miserable state around the north side of the island which has some really small roads.

Church bay was nice, but we did get some strange looks in the lanes.. maybe because the blowing exhaust was getting worse. We arrived at the Llynnon Mill, the only windmill working on Anglesey. I have to say that in an earlier post I commented I would need bigger spanners for workong on katy, but to be honest that's nothing when compared to what you need to work on this gearbox !



Whilst we were there, the weather started improving which was nice so we got some pictures of a white windmill against something other than a pure grey sky.

We then headed to Bagnol Caravan Park in Treardurr Bay where we were welcomed by the owner with a huge grin and a laugh as we blew our way into the campsite and settled into a pitch. His laugh at the site of Katy was followed by him having to come and have a good look at her

The pleasant evening in the sun was followed by a super day on the cliffs at South Stack and then Roscolyn, and then we came back for a final night at the campsite.

With the long journey ahead I decided it was time for some running repairs and it didn't tale long to find the problem. One of the exhaust joints wasn't done up properly and we'd lost 2 bolts  leaving just one holding it together. So on with the overalls i had taken "just in case" and a root around to locate at least one more bolt I could use to repair it, and the blowing was quickly reduced to an acceptable level

All ready for an early start tomorrow...

Anglesey - Moelfre and Amlwych

Having been washed out of Beaumaris we headed north to Moelfre and Amlwych on Tuesday

We ended up farmyard camping at Nant Bychan Farm in Moelfre where we were lucky to get a place, and were only accepted onto the campsite when we said we didn't need electric hookup. It was a bit busy as you can see from this picture of Katy looking out to sea.

OK I can't see what the problem was either... maybe we made a little too much noise...  The exhaust is blowing a little ?!

As the weather was better we tried a little running repairs to the windscreen waterproofing with a tube of silicone sealant, but its not been successful so we need to work our where it's still coming in from

Wednesday we headed for Parys mountain which is a stupendous place, a marvel of geological and historical features and (especially after some rain) a riot of colours as you can see

Katy looked nice as well

We finished the day with a visit to see my relatives who have been on the island since 1951(ish). It was very nice to make connection again since we were last there visiting family in 1975.

Anglesey - Beaumaris

Monday it wasn't actually raining !

The first port of call was to be Beaumaris Castle and a brief respite in the rains allowed us to enjoy a few hours walking around this fantastic building. I've always enjoyed castles, but this one is a wonderful one to walk around as it has many of the wall walks and wall passages still available to walk around which is quite amazing in these times where Elf 'n'Safety has taken all the fun out of things.

After that it was off on some travels but before stopping for some diesel. £95.00 of the stuff !  

Then on to Llangefni to the Oriel Ynys Môn to have a look at the works of famous Kyffin Williams and Charles F. Tunnicliffe amongst others, and then on to Penmon Point to look aty some fascinating dirt (very young rocks) and some interesting skies

Finally we headed back past Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch where katy being a bit of a show off had to stand and have per picture taken in front of the famous railway station sign

Then we headed back in the rain to Beaumaris and another night's good rest on our very nice campsite another good day in Katy !

Anglesey - The Road North

Sunday afternoon, the packing was done, the rain was falling and we were ready for off.

Our first impressions were how much nicer it was with the noise proofing, the second was we were getting wet ! The rain was coming in from around the windscreen and dropping onto us. There was nothing we could do about it so we simply moved anything that could get damaged and continued.

The next sensation was we'd stopped moving forwards... Not a technical problem, simply that we'd reached Builth Wells and although the Royal Welsh Show didn't start until Monday there was still an awful lot of traffic trying to get into the showground and the famous traffic jams were already in full flow

Given the rather un-wonderful weather the scenery in mid Wales had to be described as "disappointing" and we pushed on as fast as we could. Next. we headed towards Snowdonia and once again all of the mountains were cut off at about 200 ft above us and there was nothing to see so we headed on again

We arrived at about 6:30 pm and settled into the Kingsbridge campsite and considered our evening meal. We'd considered eating out to celebrate, but with the weather so bad we settled in for some pasta and we cooked our first meal in Katy. It may not have been Cordon Bleu, but it tasted fantastic to me !

A wonderfully successful day on what we hoped would be be our first successful adventure since the Gearbox disaster

Katy's on the road again

With new gear and transfer boxes in place and working well and making Katy more driveable I think todays shakedown cruise to Pwll Du and back deserves a song in our hearts, and as I'm no good at singing, With due deference to Manfred Mann, Here it is ...

Katy's on the road again
Wearin' different gears again
Katy's turning propshafts round
To keep her tyres clean
All her fuel is flowing again
Her gear's as good as gold again
Sez if you see Rhian now ask her please to sit in me

Rhian and I we moved along
Since the day - down in the hollow
When the mind went driftin' on
And the wheels were soon to follow

Katy's on the road again
Wearin' different gears again
Katy's turning propshafts round
To keep her tyres clean
All her fuel is flowing again
Her gear's as good as gold again
Sez if you see Rhian now ask her please to sit in me

Downtown in the big town
Gonna set you back on your heels
With a camper full of memories
And a lot of stickers for my windshield
Shut the door, Cut the light
Katy won't be home tonight
You can wait till the dawn rolls in
You won't see our Katy again