In the last seven or eight weeks we’ve seen some substantial relaxing of the lockdown restrictions. Not before time either because – and I’m sure I won’t be alone here – I was starting to lose it a little. It’s meant that I’ve been able to get out and about a bit more and, as we’ve been given the green light to use the underground car park at work, I’ve been giving the bug a run into the office once a week for the last few weeks.

My punt of booking the campsites for August seems to have paid off too, as a couple of weeks later it was announced that they would be able to open from the 4th July. Fingers crossed all the Covid processes are nicely bedded in by the middle of August. And hopefully it’s stopped raining by then! Looking at the availability at Coniston Park Coppice now (or lack thereof) I think it’s likely to be busy up there!

Yeah, thanks Clarence

Less than a week after I brought Clarence back from having had his clutch cable replaced, I had decided on having a little lunchtime trundle over to Halfords in Guiseley to pick up a click and collect order. All was fine on the way over there, but on the way back the gear change got even more vague than normal. As in I couldn’t find second kind, and there’s so much travel I can’t get it into third because it’s hitting the dash kind of vague!

Fortunately I managed to nurse it home, but was worried that this might be seriously expensive to fix. After a reassuring chat with Johnnie at the Herbie Hospital, we figured it would most likely be a bushing that had gone. Whilst I was giving the coupling at the front of the bus a waggle, something fell on the floor towards the back end of the bus. It turned out that it was the rear coupling that had essentially disintegrated.

Think before ordering….

Seeing that it was the rear coupling, I just cracked on and ordered a very nicely engineered part from Limebug on their eBay store. Feeling pleased with myself I then gave Johnnie another quick call and he suggested that I could actually get away with just replacing the bushes rather than the whole coupling assembly and it should be pretty straightforward. Happy days!

Obviously it wasn’t that straightforward (but then, what job in history has been straightforward on an old VW?). When the new part arrived, it looked like a really nicely engineered piece and I couldn’t wait to get it on the bus. Bear in mind that I was going to be trying to do this job one handed (my left) whilst lying on my back, trying to squeeze under a lowered bus. Anyway, I think I probably spent about 15 minutes or so trying to get the new bushes into the old coupling.

They just didn’t fit though. Comparing them with the originals, they were quite a bit bigger and also more of a square shape. I did wonder if I could take a Stanley knife to them, or a bit of sandpaper, but figured it was probably just better to buy and original style part and use the bushes from that. So I ordered another, standard, coupling from Just Kampers and a few days later I was back under the bus completing the fix. And it actually works!!

In other Clarence news

I’ve also finally finished the polishing of the outside of the louvered windows and I’ve done most of the inside too. It did occur to me the other day when I was giving Clarence a bit of an internal clean that his curtains have seen better days. Dying them blue back in 2012 was only ever meant to be a temporary measure after my mum broke her wrist, so I recently successfully negotiated with her to make some new ones for me. There’s some reasonable looking fabric available at Ikea, and that should work out significantly cheaper than buying a ready made set. I think I can also persuade her to make on for the inside of the cab area, so can ditch the silver one I normally have on the outside of the windscreen.

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In VW news, Clarence is back from having his clutch cable replaced at the Herbie Hospital. Naturally he wasn’t driveable with a buggered clutch so he had to tootle over there on the back of a recovery truck – something he’s not done for a good few years – and in a twist of irony he was collected on the same day that we had to be recovered on the A14 on the way down to Type 2 Detectives back in the mists of 2012!

It felt so good to be back behind the wheel after not having driven for a couple of months and it was great to have a bit of a catch up with Johnnie. Although I did have to laugh because firstly I had ordered the wrong clutch cable; no problem, I told him, there’s a spare under the rock n roll bed that came with the bus. Anyway, turns out that my feelings of reassurance of having that spare cable for the last 8 years were based in fiction, because that was also the wrong cable! So another order was placed with Just Kampers and the following day the correct replacement cable (J10571) landed with Johnnie (along with a suitable spare cable!).

Polishing and Procrastination

With having a bit of extra time on my hands I’ve also gotten around to painting the inside of the bug’s bumpers and giving them a real good polish. I’m very happy with how they have turned out too, in that it doesn’t look too obviously like a brushed on Hammerite job. That may have been a job I’ve been meaning to do since I bought the bug 10 years ago. Nothing like some good old fashioned procrastination!!

Talking of polishing and procrastination, I’ve made a start on polishing the jalousie windows on the bus. Super tedious job, but is getting there any they’re starting to look much better. I’ve also had the hubcaps off the bus and given them a polish. Don’t think they have had a proper buff since I bought Clarence!

The lockdown period has been something of a busy time from a brewing perspective. So far I’ve knocked out a Hereford pale ale (Lockdown HPA), a Mad Goose clone (Right in the Nutkins), a very nice golden ale(La Marmotte d’Or), some oatmeal stout (Break Stuff – ready next weekend) and I’ll be brewing the Bluebird clone (Mach 1.1) this weekend.

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As I’ve had to slightly rejig my time off to make things fit a little better with year end (and also make it easier on my mental health being stuck at home) I’m hoping I should be able to get a few little jobs sorted on both the bus and the bug. Especially seeing as the weather is apparently going to be ok.

The only really noteworthy VW news is that March is MOT time for Clarence and his first at the new home of the Herbie Hospital out towards Wetherby. It’s a great spot, but a bit of a PITA to get to. The accessibility issues (2 hours from BIW via 2 buses) are almost tempered by the fact that they have a whole load more room there so can store the bus for longer than the old premises.

Normal Service Is Resumed

Naturally he failed first time around:

• Windscreen washer not working (3.5 (a))
• Nearside Inner Drag link end ball joint dust cover excessively damaged or deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.1.3 (g) (ii))
• Nearside Outer Drag link end ball joint dust cover excessively damaged or deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.1.3 (g) (ii))
• Offside Inner Drag link end ball joint dust cover excessively damaged or deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.1.3 (g) (ii))
• Nearside Front Direction indicator not working (4.4.1 (a) (ii))
• Horn not working (7.7 (a) (ii))

Nothing too material there, but obviously a couple of hundred quid left my pocket! My joy at that was compounded 10 days letter when he developed an issue with the clutch. I’m not sure what the issue actually is, because I can’t get him to the garage thanks to this lockdown business. It could well be the cable which, speaking with Johnny should be a fairly straightforward replacement. Having got the back end up on axle stands I’m not sure I want to have a go at it – felt super vulnerable under there!

In other news, I have a new lady in my life. I can’t see her right now other than via video call, which sucks, but it’s going pretty well. The brewing is going from strength to strength and I’m making some pretty good stuff these days. Santa brought me some lovely shiny stainless steel kit at Christmas which has not only made life easier but has also increased output!

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And when I say the Lakes, I really mean Coniston. The next trip up was a quick jaunt up there the week following our trip to see Metallica at Twickenham, after some plans with Ginger Mat changed at the last minute. Despite the ridiculous humidity I made it to the top of the Old Man, so naturally had to revive myself with plenty of cool refreshing beverages at the Black Bull. They’ve done quite nicely out of me this year! It’s pretty rare for me to be up there alone, so it was nice to be free of the admin of the awning and extra bits and pieces that company usually requires. Ginger Mat and I did make it up there a few weeks later, and yet again I ended up in the Black Bull having been over the top of the Old Man.

The weather on top of that hill has not been kind to me all year, and it started to rain as soon as we got to the summit. Because we’re not stupid, we were prepared for this, having checked the weather forecast and packed the appropriate clothing. Some of the people we saw on the way down, however, were clearly stupid. It’s not fair that Mountain Rescue teams should put themselves at risk for people like that – hopefully they didn’t have to that day. The weather also wasn’t hugely kind to Spicey Matt and I when we were up there in August. After a promising start – a day later than planned due to Matt’s motorbike breaking on the way up – the rain came again.

We’d decided to try somewhere new for our longer break up there after the August bank holiday so had plumped for a couple of nights at Gillside Farm before heading over to Pier Cottage at Coniston. Clarence absolutely bossed the Kirkstone Pass twice in two days, which brought back some distant memories from my D of E days. An RAF training jet flying up the valley was reminiscent of, if not as cool as, the Tornado that flew under us all those years ago. I doubt we’ll be in a massive hurry to head back that way, although if we’re going to have a crack at Helvellyn we may have to. Ullswater is beautiful, there’s no doubt about that, but I don’t think either of us were hugely impressed with the facilities at the site or the local hostelries! It was lovely to be back at Pier Cottage for a few nights, although I can’t help but think it would be much lovelier with a bit of sunshine around. I really wish they would update the shower and toilet block because that’s the one thing that rather lets the place down.

Despite the wind and the low cloud, Matt and I got to the top of the Old Man (that’s number four for me this year) and having got down out of the weather enjoyed the company of the Paynes for a couple of hours at the Black Bull. Brad finally got to find out what all the oatmeal stout related fuss was all about, but unfortunately had to leave relatively early as the kids were in tow. Naturally it hammered it down with rain for the rest of our stay! So that pretty much covers the Lakes – unless I have a run up there in the bug for the day I think that’s probably it until next spring now.

The only other camping trip I managed to squeeze in was back in September with Darryl and Jo. The Caravan Club had given them a free night, so we decided we would check out their site at Buxton. I really like the fact that it’s set in a former quarry, but it did feel as though some of the pitches were a little crammed in – especially in comparison to Park Coppice. The facilities were, as they always are at the Caravan Club sites, top notch and with a discount deal with a local pub we had a very pleasant weekend that included a walk along the Roaches and through Lud’s Church.

As far as the bug is concerned, she’s not been out of the garage as much as I’d have liked since the Stanford Hall weekend. I still haven’t managed to get her through an MOT first time, but there wasn’t too much needed. With the Herbie Hospital having moved out towards Wetherby, that will be the last time either of the dubs will be tested at Discount Dave’s, and to be honest I don’t have too many issues with that!

Interspersed throughout, I’ve been honing my brewing skills. Some brews have turned out better than others but the last couple of batches – an English bitter and an oatmeal stout – are pretty bloody excellent! The first OP style that I brewed tasted nothing like OP, but version 2 is currently fermenting away behind the sofa. Fingers crossed for a good result on that! (Update – it turned out pretty well!) Other than a trip to the Great British Beer Festival, a day at the Headingley test match against Australia, a visit to the new Spurs stadium to see the Bears against the Raiders and a double Therapy? gig, I think that’s about that for the last few months!

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The Easter trip will see me head up to Coniston for three nights at Coniston Park Coppice and then three nights at the National Trust site at Wasdale. The plan is to have yet another go at the Old Man, and Oli will be joining me for a few days for an attempt at Scafell Pike. Unfortunately I couldn’t get in to Pier Cottage for this trip, but we did manage to wangle three nights there in August which is a bit of a result. It’s no real hardship going to Coniston Park Coppice – their facilities are awesome – and it should be better value now that I have joined the Caravan and Motorhome Club. Yep, you read that correctly!

I’m hoping that the weather will be significantly better than it is today, as it is absolutely hammering it down out there. Fortunately Clarence is sporting his Just Kampers cover, which seems to be performing really well. Well, now that I eventally figured out which way round it goes! I wish I’d bought one sooner, but you know what I’m like for procrastinating. He’s just been through his MOT and only needed a front wheel bearing sorted and an adjustment to the horn. As a treat, I fitted some headlamp grills and a new mesh for his front grill the other day. For the first time I can remember, a couple of ten minute jobs did actually only take ten minutes!

I’ll skirt over the nonsense from VW Heritage over the purchase of the headlamp grills and mesh, save to say that once the remaining vouchers that the guys at Maples gave me when I left are spent, I’ll be buying most bits from Just Kampers. Not only is their service ridiculously good, but I’ll also receive a 10% discount now I’ve insured both VWs with them.

Not much else has changed on the Volkswagen front in the last few months. Lucille is currently at the blasters, with Jim having decided to go all in on the restoration. Evidently there was more rot than he was expecting when Ben at Robertson’s Restorations started the strip down. Planning for next year’s German Job is moving at a glacial pace, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out. Life wise, I’m settling into the new gaff nicely and it’s eventually feeling like I might be settling into the new job more. I’ve also taken up home brewing, and my debut efforts haven’t been half bad. Watch this space!

The one big change is that the site has had another facelift. With WordPress moving over to the Gutenberg block format, I figured it was time for a change. Plus it’s good to keep my hand in at that sort of thing. I definitely made sure I backed it up beforehand this time!

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There are loads of positives about having moved out of the city, not least that it’s a whole lot less stabby. I’d forgotten just how much of a faff moving house actually is and a month on I reckon I’m just about organised in the new place. It’s so good to have a garage – although I found out today that the bus is just that little bit too long to fit in there. Dear Santa, please could I have a Just Kampers Deluxe Breathable Cover for Christmas?

The new flat itself is actually a fair bit smaller than Concord St, but having a bunch of storage space means that that isn’t really an issue. The fact it’s not on the 5th floor also means that loading the bus should be a whole lot quicker and easier.  Being only a couple of miles outside Ilkley, this place is really going to come into its own in the spring and summer.  Especially with it being half an hour closer to the Lake District……

The spring seems like quite a way off at the moment, what with Christmas only being a couple of weeks away.  At least the gig calendar has picked up over the last couple of months and we’ll be finishing the year of with a Black Stone Cherry double header. We’ve not seen them for two years now and amazingly these next two gigs will see them drawing level with Depeche Mode as the band I’ve seen the most frequently. Super looking forward to that.

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After a year off in 2017, the lads at the Herbie Hospital were in charge of this year’s charity raffle car again and they had done a cracking job of bringing a 90s show car, Peppermint Dream, back to life after it had been languishing in a garage for a couple of decades. Sadly none of us won, but it was great to see it finished and presented in fantastic fashion as a giant Matchbox car. Evidently Rich was having a lovely time selling raffle tickets and had even managed to come up with his own theme song!

Video: VW Festival Facebook Page

As in previous years, there did appear to be more watercooled stuff there than aircooled. That may have been down to us being there on the Saturday rather than the Sunday as in previous years.  Whilst not as plentiful, the quality of the aircooled stuff that was on show was very high, in particular some of the buses. I’m also hankering after a beach buggy – although now the weather has changed of late perhaps that’s not such a good call! As Bradley keeps pointing out, I have nowhere to put another one. Damn him and his facts!

We had a great day, but at £18 apiece for a day ticket, it does seem a little steep. The same issue had put me off going to Tatton Park the previous weekend and I’m just not sure how such high entry fees can be justified when compared to either Stanford Hall or even the Volksworld Show.

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The middle of the month saw us head back to Cooper’s campsite in Edale to meet up with Darryl and Jo and the Pageant 7. Now I haven’t actually seen the place in decent weather, so was thoroughly looking forward to it. Clarence had even had a decent clean and wax the weekend before in anticipation of some sunshine. Mr Cooper was actually in pretty chatty form when I arrived, although I’m really not that interested in the price of red diesel or the availability of whatever gas he keeps on site.

Darryl and Jo weren’t scheduled to arrive until later that evening and so I had planned to try to get to the top of Mam Tor and back before they landed. It is so much easier getting up there in the dry and as such I was back at the site with plenty of time, having done a solid 5 miles and had a quick Farmer’s Blonde.

The following day was an absolute scorcher and we had a thoroughly lovely time getting to the top of Kinder Scout, even if it was hot work scrambling in the mid day sun. Still, I’d rather have the heat – I bet it’s pretty bleak up there when the weather’s bad.

Another bus joins the family

Fast forward a week and my plans for a nice quiet bank holiday weekend were thrown into pleasant disarray when my old buddy Oli announced that after some to-ing and fro-ing he was back in the market for a T4. I spotted one in Kendal on eBay which looked a decent buy and within the space of a couple of days the decision was made that we would go and take a look at it. Even if he didn’t buy it, we would have a good day out, having not seen each other since last September. As it turned out, the van turned out to be pretty much spot on so a deal was struck and we agreed to pick it up later that day as the seller had to go out for the afternoon.

The Lakes didn’t seem as busy as you would expect for a bank holiday in May, although all the places we fancied staying at were full. So, as we had some time to kill (and following a very agreeable luncheon and sticker purchase at the Hawkshead brewery), we decided to have a run over to Langdale and see whether we could find anywhere to pitch up for the night. Most conveniently the National Trust had a car park just by the Old Dungeon Ghyll hotel so we decided that we’d head back there once we’d picked the van up.

Obviously we had to stop and take some snaps of both vans at the lay by that has views down the valley on our way back and after having been driving for most of the day I was more than ready for a pint of OP or six at the ODG walker’s bar that evening. There was also tequila involved later in the evening thanks to the guys who were sitting on the same table as us (a couple of bikers who worked in the oil industry and a girl called Clare who worked for the National Trust and who had spent the last 26 days riding around the Lakes with just her horse and dog for company), and I have very vague recollections of us being in a scouse couple’s motorhome and that’s about it!

I must admit that my head was a touch sore the next morning, which was another beautiful day. A roast beef dinner over at the Black Bull may have helped on that front and having loaded up with oatmeal stout we had a quick wander down to the water’s edge before heading home. I think that’s where my legs got bitten to buggery because up to that point I’d been fine. They really went to town on me and Sunday night was agony. Oli made it back the almost 300 miles just fine and I don’t think he was actually in too much trouble when he revealed his purchase to Zinnia!

In a weird (and fairly tenuous) coincidence Facebook reminded me, just yesterday I think it was, that it was 6 years ago to the day that I’d first camped in Clarence down in Salisbury.  Fortunately that was also the last time we came home on the back of a recovery truck! I think the photos are over on the Autumnal Update post. I’ve certainly refined the whole camping experience in that time – I’m not sure I was quite as well prepared as I thought on that occasion!

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I’d clocked some of the Clique 53 cars the last couple of times I’d been to VW Festival at Harewood House and they’re a bit special – hence following them on Instagram. I’m fairly sure that there will be some photos somewhere on the site. Anyway, the show was advertised as being open to all types of classic cars, not just VWs, and gave the impression it would be a pretty relaxed affair.

Which, in fact, it was. Weirdly, and despite the fact I’ve never shown either car before combined with my general anxiety levels, I felt very relaxed about Clarence being on show.  Mark used to have a ’66 bus back in the days when we both worked at CCM (the plum wine hangover is still one of the worst on record) and I think we can probably persuade him that he needs another VW  in his life one of these days!

We had a great day: for once the sun made an appearance; Newstead Abbey is a great little venue and the show seemed to be very nicely organised. So many shows these days are absolutely heaving, with more of an emphasis on trade stands so it was really refreshing to be at a smaller, less commercial event. I think it’s pretty safe to say we’ll be back at Spring Classics next year!

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Clarence was a popular little dude and had clearly caught a few people’s eye. Not least the couple who were sitting next to us at dinner who were about to spend their first night in a bus (a fully restored late bay) that they had picked up from Newcastle earlier in the day and were driving back to London. All I can remember other than that is that he was a barrister called Keith. I’d love to have found out how they got on but sadly they left very early the next morning so we didn’t get the chance to find out!

So, the floor. As I may have mentioned before, it occasionally takes me a little while to get around to dealing with some jobs. In the case of Clarence’s flooring, it has taken 5 years to get rid of the awful dark laminate flooring and replace it with some lovely grey and white checkered lino. The original plan was to deal with it whilst I was over at the folks’ for lunch on Easter Sunday. Fortunately the weather wasn’t great, so decided against it. As it turns out, that was a great call because it turned into a real pig of a job. It’s an old Volkswagen so I guess that shouldn’t come as a huge surprise! And anyway, it meant I got to spend some time with my sister and her kids which isn’t something that happens every day. Plus they got to go for a run in the bus – something that had never previously happened!

Anyhoo, the following weekend the forecast was significantly better, so we headed back over to Wakefield to bosh it out in a day. Or at least that was the plan, anyway. It turns out that the laminate flooring was stuck down with some sort of diamond/titanium hybrid concrete that meant that any hopes of saving the original ply underneath went right out of the window. That meant an unscheduled trip to B&Q was on the cards and of course I couldn’t get the size I needed in a single piece, so had to buy 3 lengths. Awesome. Getting the bed out was proving somewhat impossible and after a couple of sheared screws I decided to call it a day and return the following morning.

Which I did with my pal Mat in tow. It’s amazing the difference another pair of hands can make on occasion and the bed was out in no time. It clearly hadn’t been out for a good few years and there was a fair amount of detritus under there. Nothing particularly interesting other than a handful of american coins. Once the bed was out and we’d put the hoover round, the actual laying of the floor was a breeze. And how good does it look?

It’s nice to have done a job like that before the camping season really gets under way and we do have a couple of trips lined up already. You’ll recall that I spent my birthday weekend up at Masham sampling their breweries’ finest wares. Well today I booked the campsite for Matt’s birthday weekend in June. So that won’t be a boozy one….. I’ll also be making a return to Langdale at the beginning of August with Mat and Cycy. It’s hard (terrifying?) to believe that I first visited there 25 years ago this year. Let’s hope the weather’s a little better than it was when Matt and I visited a couple of years ago when it rained non-stop the entire time we were there!! Hopefully we’ll squeeze a couple of other impromptu trips in here and there too.

Finally, it’s also taken me five years, but it looks as though I have found a handbook and Campmobile instruction manual for a 71 bus, I won the eBay auction a couple of nights ago so it’s a nervous wait until it arrives!

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