Tuesday, October 07, 2008

The story of the journey

I've already written about the two wonderful days we spent launching the big green bus at the Bradford Green Fair, but what I haven't said is that we arrived there on the back of a giant recovery truck.

We set off on Thursday early afternoon to give us plenty of time to get to Bradford-on-Avon for about 5.30pm. The maximum speed for the bus is 38 mph and we planned to stop for a rest every hour en route, so 5 hours for the 98 mile journey seemed like a good amount of time to allow for all eventualities. We had already had a two hour return trip to Hereford earlier in the week to get the bus to its MOT and we had checked the engine for oil and water before we set off so I didn't expect any problems.

Unfortunately for us, the universe had other plans.

About 10 minutes after we joined the M5 we heard a huge bang and pulled over onto the hard shoulder as the engine burst into flames. Andy (who was driving the bus) grabbed the fire extinguisher whilst I called the fire brigade, but as soon as the fire was out it was clear that there was no way the bus was going anywhere under its own steam; there was a big hole in the engine casing where one of the con-rods had shot through and smashed the alternator. Dead engine.

I was devastated. I'd been working towards this day for over 18 months and it looked like I'd have to ring up and cancel our presence at the event which meant letting loads of people down...not to mention the fact that I'd have to find a new engine. Everything looked pretty bleak.

Anyway, I had an hour or so to think about things whilst we waited for the recovery vehicle to arrive and I'm a great believer in ‘where there's a will there's a way', so by the time Roger arrived in his enormous Scammell recovery truck I was feeling more optimistic and was working on plan B. I asked Roger if he could possibly tow us all the way to Bradford-on-Avon and park us up in the school grounds rather than take us to a garage...and he very kindly agreed!

So, at around 9.30 that evening we finally arrived at Fitzmaurice School, were reversed into the spot already earmarked for us, and were able to carry on with the show the next day after all.

Thank you Richard for finding Roger for us. Thank you Roger for being such a good sport and towing us all the way to Bradford-on-Avon. Thank you Andy for steering the bus behind the recovery truck (horrible job with no power steering) and thank you Cally for the lovely parsnip soup and apple crumble you had waiting for us when we eventually arrived!

Thank you also to Thamesdown Transport who collected the bus this morning and took it back to their depot in Swindon where it will be fitted with a new engine as soon as we can find one....so if anyone knows of a Gardner (180 I think) engine looking for a good home please let me know!