Well we made it back – though not without some initial drama ...
Packed up, ready to go, we drive half a mile down the road and fill up with petrol. I turn round my missus, "you ready?" "yeah let's go," a big thumbs-up and then the bus won't start. :?
I try the key a few times and it doesn't feel right, then the key barrel falls off :shock: I put it back in but it didn't work any more
panicking a bit now, I sat trying to get it to turn for about half an hour but no dice. There's a whole back story to the barrel that I won't go into here ...
Anyway, I figured there's no way I'm getting another key barrel in Spain on a sunday night in time to make our £500 non-refundable boat trip to the UK from Bilbao, so I hotwire it (with worryingly little difficulty despite it being my first time doing such a thing!). Had a head-scratching moment but it turned out the immobiliser had activated and so I clicked on and off the alarm and I was good to go. Worked perfectly from now on and started every time. DEFINITELY investing in a good wheel lock now after seeing how easy it is. Alas, in the meantime I'd rang AA and they now told me if I drove away I wouldn't be covered for breakdown for the rest of the trip :evil:
So I had to wait for three hours until they took it away. Then another two hours for a taxi to turn up with cockroaches crawling everywhere till I get home. Next morning, managed to track down the bus and the Spanish recovery company had sacked off delivering it, and left it in their secure carpark. With ferry deadline fast approaching, AA told me I still couldn't drive it until diagnosed, and eventually a nice Brit mechanic saw it, saw what I'd done, and wired a standard throw switch up to make it safer.
We jumped in, and drove 14 hours straight, right through the night from the South of Spain to the North and only stopping for petrol. I had a 20 minute kip in Madrid because I started feeling dodgy and thought it might be unsafe to drive, then a ten minute sleep only 40 minutes away because I felt awful. Made the ferry with 20 minutes to spare. But not before god played another trick and hit us with the worst storm I've ever been in, the deluge was so bad the rain broke my wipers, it was really heavy. Otherwise bus ran perfect, 60 the whole way and flew up the hills around Basque Country (can't wait to explore that area more, it's gorgeous).
Get on the ferry and unfortunately it turns out me and the wife are seasick :mrgreen: I slept 16 of the 24 hour trip and staggered for most of the rest. Woke up feeling very rested!
Back in Blighty, we put our foot down to get home in record time, home for tea-time and no more issues with the bus. Though I'm not driving it anywhere far until it's had a good service and check-over after all those miles!
Not again!
Driving through beautiful central Spain
Basque Country sunrise.
Made it!
