After a fitful night’s sleep caused by the attic room I’d
been allocated being too hot & a bunch of shouting drunks shouting, we were
informed that there would be a film crew from channel 4 making a spin-off
programme from “gogglebox” filming while we ate breakfast. We did our best to
take no notice.
The weather was bright as we left town, but the inevitable
traffic soon split us up & as is often the case, small groups formed &
re-formed at fuel, rest & lunch stops. Lunch consisted of ice cream at a
very secluded café in the grounds of a ruined castle – very pleasant. But I was
on my own as I crossed the border.
I arrived at the hotel & opened the bonnet. I opened the
boot & rummaged for something springy. I thought I’d cracked it when the
spring from a mole wrench fitted perfectly, but opening the throttle showed
that for a spring, it wasn’t very springy. Back to the drawing board. The hotel
owned said there was a Halfords in the next town & a cycle shop in Selkirk,
so it looked like I was out of the following day’s blatting until I could find
a suitable spring, but then Matt arrived & being a practical sort of bloke I
thought he might carry a “box-of-useful-stuff” like I do. He did & unlike
my box, his contained a couple of springs, one of which was a good fit, but not
quite strong enough to return the throttle to idle, so it got backed up with a
bungee & to my surprise it worked perfectly for the rest of the trip.
The weather was bright as we left town, but the inevitable
traffic soon split us up & as is often the case, small groups formed &
re-formed at fuel, rest & lunch stops. Lunch consisted of ice cream at a
very secluded café in the grounds of a ruined castle – very pleasant. But I was
on my own as I crossed the border.
The throttle was still playing up. It was working but felt
“notchy” at each stop I slightly re-bent the spring to make it better, but
after a few miles, it would be worse again, until I was following a Golf who
had wanted to play, but had either given up or decided he wanted to see more of
my car, he waved me past & just like with the Audi yesterday I floored it
& found the throttle stuck open – this time on a B-road. At the next
junction I took a left & parked & watched while my compatriots turned
right & drove off.
I managed to rig a workable something from the re-located pedal
return spring & a bungee , & drove the last 25 miles very gingerly.
I arrived at the hotel & opened the bonnet. I opened the
boot & rummaged for something springy. I thought I’d cracked it when the
spring from a mole wrench fitted perfectly, but opening the throttle showed
that for a spring, it wasn’t very springy. Back to the drawing board. The hotel
owned said there was a Halfords in the next town & a cycle shop in Selkirk,
so it looked like I was out of the following day’s blatting until I could find
a suitable spring, but then Matt arrived & being a practical sort of bloke I
thought he might carry a “box-of-useful-stuff” like I do. He did & unlike
my box, his contained a couple of springs, one of which was a good fit, but not
quite strong enough to return the throttle to idle, so it got backed up with a
bungee & to my surprise it worked perfectly for the rest of the trip.
The Hotel was a good find, we had all but one of the rooms,
so the bar was pretty much ours in the evening & with a good menu, food
& service, we were rather well looked after.
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