Disaster

Gosler, where I here you ask. So did we!

Turns out we're headed out of Holland to Germany. It was mentioned that there was an engineering feet worth seeing in northern Holland but it would add approx 60 miles on. It was a Dyke spanning several miles. Pretty cool we thought so a detour it was.

Gosler was a medieval town in the pine mountains. We were making good time so we could have a beer in the town when our route was blocked, road closed! Time to stretch the legs and consult the map and Satnav. New route planned so back in the car. Car dead!

We had all smelt an eggy smell for a while but explained it away to euro fuel. Turns out it was the battery over cooking. Thankfully Craig had decided to invest in a booster pack to jump Olly back to life. However, the question was why? Engine over revving too. Panic setting in. Was this a repair or going to end it before we had barely started.  Decision made limp to campsite and get a new battery tomorrow. In the meantime Craig was going to find out the answer to Why?

As it was Sunday we had struggled to stock up on supplies. The campsite was rustic and basic but I really liked the quiet Forrest location. Dinner was a "bitza" dinner made tasty by Lucy's onion and chilli. Craig set about working on the car and the cause thought be a wire that had shorted out. Now where to find it? Craig found what he thought it was and disconnected it but this took out the Hazzard warning lights. Clock and stereo. I said I would sing but they said no thanks. All other electrical addition's turned off.

Rain! Early to bed mulling over the potential outcomes of Olly's poorly state and coming to terms with decisions we may have to make.

Firstly, hoping we can make tomorrow's destination..................

Weymouth to..........

Amsterdam !

So, 9.00 departure from Weymouth heading to Dover was what we had known but now our destination of Amsterdam was a big task ahead. We had left home at 12.00, left Weymouth at 21.00 , drove to Dover and caught the 2.20 ferry to Calais and arrived in Calais at 05.00 (no sleep had, well by boys anyway!). Craig missed France, although only a small part of trip but (he was sleeping). That's 1 country, does landing in Calais count? Nik was driving and I was fighting sleep to keep him awake. Tiredness took hold and into services in Belgium where another Windy team were also catching some sleep. We said we would have a 10 min nap, 2 hours later we woke up! Onto Amsterdam we went. Torrential rain as we negotiated the ring road into Amsterdam but result, rain ceased as arrived at our campsite. Fantastic facilities and close to city centre-  Gaaspercamping. 25 euro but they forgot to charge for me so actual cost 19 euro, not bad for city accommodation is it?

The Coleman Tourer tent really came into it's own. Exhausted the tent really did go up in 1 min and camp set up achieved shortly after. By the 23rd day we'll have this supper slick just like putting up a Disco rig. I was dead on my feet as had stayed awake to make sure boys were awake while they swapped driving and snoring to get to Amsterdam. 600 miles done on stage 1 with 4 countries under our tyres.

Off to see the sights we did go. Metro, bikes, canals, prostitutes, waffles and canabis. Ph and don't forget a few beers. Pretty city but very busy, you don't see that on the picture post cards. We found ourselves in The Red light District before we realised it and I was not prepared for what I saw. It gives window shopping a whole new name. It was 15.30 in the afternoon and families were seeing the sights when all of a sudden an often not so attractive almost naked lady (loosely) summons you to her window. Nasty velvet chair and matching curtain. What shocked me. Most was that in the middle of the afternoon blokes were walking in like it was nothing odd and the red curtain was pulled. It just seemed strangely normal. I think it look very different at night but we didn't stick around to find out.

Lots of history but sadly too tired to make the most of it. I liked the architecture and found some rare and uncrowned opportunities to take some pictures. We decided to try and find a canal side bar to enjoy a beer in the sun (it was out an we didn't know how long for). We were avoiding the "cafe" culture. In our tired state we would most likely have completely spaced out and slid into a canal. However, as it stands there is no fresh air in city it's just Canabis fuelled. I do wonder if it's a case of "you can so you do". People were smoking huge amounts it appeared while drinking a beer and watching the speed people were rolling their joints and smoking 1 after another. Not our thing so we moved on.

More our thing Waffles and Nutella, freshly made. That's the money shot!

So my take (and only mine - my blog after all) is that glad I have been, seen and briefly experienced but don't feel the need to rush back. Very cosmopolitan and trendy culture, nice vibe but busy and friendly people many of which spoke very good English.

Nice first night and The Son of Hibatchi made it's first experience of many. Lots of interest in Nik's BBQ gadget, he was a happy man. Nice to get to know the people behind the teams. I found  in Steve from Team Mobster someone with a sense of humour like mine.  This will make for many a hilarious camp night's to come. Early bed as exhausted from day 1 & 2. Steve announced destination for day 3 and where were headed to.............

Interior modifications

We're now almost packed and starting to feel that the Windy 500 has actually started. It's time now to reveal Ollys interior modification's. As we are co-owners of Lets Go Disco along with Barry Newbury there was no other way to go than......................



LED lighting, glitter ball, interior sound system, 15" TV with  DVD player and..........................

Fully operational cocktail bar of course!

Complete of course with Optics, a cocktail menu, flashing mixer, umbrella's, morello cherries and lemon slices. You can even slam a shot if thats you're bag. We have Cocktail to get us in the mood on the DVD if it's raining and sitting in Olly is the preferred option.

We're planning to rock up to a campsite and share a cocktail in a very civilised manner with our fellow Windy travellers, if we can raise a bit more for our charities along the way our bar may be more help than we first thought. Maybe a cocktail or two can be swapped for much needed services from other Windy goers with talents much needed. A meal from Lucy for starts!

Olly is dressed in her finery

Well with 1 more sleep to go Olly has got dressed at last after much help from Barney with his expertise as a member of the Auto Glym Technical support team. He has given up his time to make sure Olly looks her best on the outside and Nik & Craig have worked on the inside with help of our good friend Aaron.

To top it off a local print firm has made us some additional signs to promote our Blog and to thank those who have helped us along the way to get to this point.

We would like to make a special mention of the following   =

Watermans Jewellers  -  www.watermansjewellers.co.uk

Lets Go Disco    -   www.lets-go-disco.com

Abyss Dive, Fuerteventura   -    www.Abyss.Fuerteventura.com

Rob Wheal Photography

We would like to say a special thanks to Bamboo creations, who have provided the extra logo's for us. 

  www.bamboocreations.co.uk

So here she is......................

It took some effort to get her name on and I don't think Barney was all that pleased with us in his ear. Hannah, his girlfriend also joined team "Auto Glym".

Team Newlywed did do some of the work but Barney supervised the job and being a perfectionist didn't let u get away with the "that will do" approach.

The rear doesn't look too bad either.

Even I had a go, notice I have a small corner to smooth out, they just don't trust me! Whats my job in this team, of course cook, bottle washer and photographer!

The adventure begins

Blog 17th of June

Delayed updates as strange and bizarre adventures................

Start at the start I guess. Packing of the car ready to leave was a huge challenge and Nik was not amused. Pack, re-pack and the nightmare continued. The debate on how to maximise the space was heated and as you know we have a Limo so there is plenty of space, or was till we filled it up.  Our good friends Dave and Kirstan were coming down in convoy and bringing Mum but arrived to enjoy the last minute stress.

We finally got away at 12 ish with an unexpected return of Az to wave us off. In convoy the Boyntons and Team Newlywed hit the road, southbound to Weymouth. We had a quick stop off at the Boyntons lovely Art Deco style hotel on the hilltop overlooking Weymouth beach. The Reveria looked a great place to stay. In character we changed clothes into our Newlywed gear. Nik in Tux and me in dress complete with veil and bouquet. Craig was supposed to bring his suite but forgot so as Team Newlywed chauffeur he had to borrow my Dads. Priceless!!!!! Tan and 2 sizes too big with his straw hat he morphed into Manuell our mexican driver for our tour of Europe, he slipped into character too well.  We hit Morrisons in character to stock up the cocktail bar in the back of Olly. We did get some odd looks.

The big send off started from 6.00 at Weymouth football club. We arrived to find most of the vehicles were already there and the starting grid was marked up with team positions. We are Team 27, the date we married. On arrival we drove the circle of the car park and Olly got to make her big entrance. It was finally great to meet the teams and check out everyone's vehicle of choice and modifications to make the journey comfortable and some extra's added just for comedy value. Team Mobster had their mob outfits on, think Bugsy Malone! Team Lotus took on the full James Bond in their Tux's with bow ties undone, very suave. Sleeping quarters were interesting! The guys with the Ambulance had done a great job of cleaning out the blood, guts and smell of antiseptic. Nice kitchen area where a stretcher would normally be. We were all surprised to see how The Morris minor would cope on the long drives and more importantly how they had squashed all their gear in such a small space. Especially as we had trouble with all the space we had!!!!!!

After photo's,  recordings for the local hospital radio and more photos it was nearly time for the off. We were very lucky to have had some great support to wave us off from both Dave and Kirstan who also enabled my Mum to come along too. My brother, Barney joined us to see the result of all his hard labour take to the highways. It was a photo opportunity he just couldn't refuse! Friends from work Caroline, Mel and Helen also made the journey and Nik made them a special cocktail from bar Olly. Complete with Glitter ball spinning and LED lighting, saving the horn until the off. The atmosphere was electric with all teams pumped and ready to go. In disbelief though that we were all at this point and almost on our way but to where..............

Kirstan Boynton we salute you

Dave Boynton we solute you

Mummy Dobbs we solute you

Craig rocks out his Manuell our Mexican driver

Nik raises his hat to you all,it's going to Ben an adventure

Caroline, Helen and Mel came down all the way from Banbury to wave us off

Steve announced the money. Raised so far was at £16,000 with more coming in so to this point the efforts to raise money had been immense. Following on Steve announced destination 1 was to be.....................

Thank you to those who have helped us get on our way

We're on the move, almost so time to say some thanks to the following who have helped to get us to the start!

Bamboo Creations   -    Bamboocreations.co.uk

  

Who have helped us with some additional sign's for Olly to promote our Blog

Rob Wheal Photography   -     Robwhealphotography.com

Who shot the pictures of our wedding and the amazing  picture at the start of our Blog. Rob has also contributed to the Fundraising on our Just Giving Pages.

Watermans Jewellers          -       Watermansjewellers.co.uk

David gave us a day we'll never forget where we made each others wedding rings.  So special and a really lovely guy. We definitely recommend it to anyone else becoming "Team Newlywed".


Who Abyss Dive center in fuerteventura  -   Abyss.fuerteventura.com

A great destination to learn to Dive with great instructor's. As an Occupational Therapist I'm very impressed,they have trained to be able to take someone who has a Disability and enable them to have an experience at Diving by finding ways to be creative to maximise ability.

Lets Go Disco     -   lets-go-disco.com

Our inspiration for Olly's interior modification's and has helped through gigs and events to be able to even take part in The Windy 500.

Raffi at Hinksey MOT centre, Oxford who has donated a free MOT to get us going

Mark Kershaw at  who arranged for Olly to get some new boots (wheels) to keep us stuck to the road on those mountain pass's

Karen and Paul at  RBCpetcare.co.uk

Their kind donation towards a tyre for Olly 

Huge thank you to Barney Dobbs for making Olly look her best for our wedding day, I don't think she will have ever looked that great in all of her 24 years. Barney has given us a lot of his time and hard graft and we all really appreciate it. Auto Glym should be very proud.

But most importantly our families and friends who have all helped and supported us along the way.

Lastly but in no means least is to thank those of you who have dipped into your pockets and helped us raise funds for our chosen charities. Every pound is a great help to enable The Air Ambulance and Julia's House Hospice deliver the services which we at some time in our lives may need to provide care for us or our loved ones.

And it begins.....................

 

Minus 3 days and counting

We have officially passed the marker of 1 week to go. We are now on a day by day countdown. The dining room is looking more and more like a jumble sale of things to pack but Olly on the other hand is looking awesome.

Once again my brother has come to put his skills to good use and got the Windy logo's on with us all lending a hand. Not so helpful when we're all shouting left a bit, right a bit! We left it to Hannah, his patient girlfriend to give the final opinion. She can take his death stare!

Craig was, as usual under the bonnet and doing some mean work on the wiring. Lots more needed based on the up grades!

Aaron and Nik have been working on the interior modification's and I am impressed, we are now super classy!

I was on camp kitchen preparations and on a mission to pack all domestic supplies into our 1 allocated box. I then had to make sure the seating arrangements were all fit for purpose. That takes time and dedication and a full review takes at minimum 20 min's per chair and in sunny conditions. In summary all passed and Hannah and Beckie  also took part in the seating assessment process. Good work seating testing crew.

Now to more packing.......................................................I am bored of packing now!
A pot noodle, pair of pants and a toothbrush will have to do.