Trip report Part 1
Well, we're just about recovered from the journey.. so here goes.
Unfortunately some pics were lost as i've mislaid one of the memory cards from my camera, but ill try with what i have
Just before we left Ireland, the truck hit a little landmark..
Left home on the 2nd of July - Rosslare to Fishguard, and drove onwards to Brighton for an overnight with relatives. Lovely dinner, and Brunch on the seafront the next day.
We had been keeping a close eye on the situation in Dover, and had booked a ferry at 4 p.m. With the M20 closed, we flew down the M2 and A2, and it only took 20 minutes to get through the port to the ferry. I did feel for the freight drivers, must have been an awful experience. We had booked an overnight in a cheap Campanile hotel south of Lille for the night, as we thought it would be a much longer process getting to Dunkerque. It meant we were in for a long drive the following day to our first destination, Perpignan - about 650 miles.
My truck doesn't have air-con - so things got a little warm around Clermont (Inside temp in the left - outer in the middle)
It was at this time that the transfer box was running hot. I was worried about it for a while, but after posting here and doing some searching while at a services, i concluded that the combination of high temperatures, a fully loaded truck, and pushing on a bit to make time led to the anomaly. Interestingly, i changed the oil in the transfer box before we left - 75w/90. It did run hot a few more times - always in high air temperatures, even when the truck was empty and not driving hard - When we were driving in cooler temperatures, no hot transfer box. (drove the entire 1240 miles home - fully loaded and driving at 80mph + on the level bits with no heating whatsoever - but air temp stayed below 22 degrees) Its not the speed - having had the truck for 7 years - its well able for a fast motorway cruise.
Anyway - our first campsite in Canet beside Perpignan was accessed via this little tunnel - but its a good one - Le Brasilia. Mrs Bob and I decided to stay in top campsites to get the best of both worlds - comfort of sorts and the camping.
Lovely site right on the beach. Just down the road is Collioure - and old fortification on the seafront - and stunning to boot
The Toyota dealership in Perpignan had this beauty outside - and a salesman showing some people a hilux gave us a big wave and a thumbs up when we stopped to take the pic
We drove up to Andorra another day - the drive through the mountains was beautiful. Andorra was not what i expected - much more flashy and full of banks and big brand merchandise - to be honest we were disappointed. So we went into Spain for a drive instead.
It was in Spain i heard a squiggly noise from the front wheel on the drivers side - somewhat intermittently. This turned out to be a brake wear indicator that must have been bent when installed - it was chattering off the hub. A tweak of a pliers had it sorted in 5 minutes. Most of the rest of that week was spent at the pool, on the beach or poking around Perpignan - it was a holiday after all!!