Super Long Nose Ride

This guy is getting some proper nose time here!

Barcelona Night Longboarding

Barcelona is a great place and I'm lucky enough to have a good friend who lives there :) The last two times I have been out there, I have said that should take my longboard (skateboard) with me. There are some superb places to do it. This video has once again inspired me to make sure I take it with me. Hmm...I wonder what the odds of being able to get it into hand luggage would be?

Is the Oil Being Cooled?

Last night saw the new oil pump going onto the splitty. The night before was engine out and and new oil cooler going on. It went pretty smoothly to be honest. It also gave me an opportunity to clean the engine up a little -  the oily little beggar ;)

So, big thanks to Buzz for doing all the hard work on it and to Machine7 for being so helpful when I was getting the bits :)

This all started with an overheating problem on our way back from Devon the other weekend. Anything over 50mph and there was smoke bellowing out everywhere - oops! So the timing has been checked (and adjusted slightly), valve clearances reset, new oil cooler and a new oil pump. The fan is spinning nicely and he's had a nice new drink of oil. Proof will be in the pudding when we take for a run again (probably this weekend) to see whether it is still overheating or not - fingers crossed!

Fish Eye Lens for your Phone

Check out this nifty little lens to add to your phone: http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/cell-phone-lenses/. Also a macro/wide angle lens available too.

I do like the "do not pull" handle on the page - hehehe :)

New T5

Saturday saw us heading up to Manchester VW van centre to pick up our new purchase :) We finally got round to renewing our existing T5 for a newer one - an 08. It's pretty much exactly the same as the one we had, but newer.

So I spent Sunday afternoon (while Nic was gardening) getting the camping interior out of the old van. And with Nic's dad's help, planned the layout for the new one. More to come on that when it happens...

We also got the pirate flag hung behind the drivers seat - looking good :)

Plans at the moment are to get windows in the side and rear (privacy bonded) and to colour code the bumpers. Can't decide on wheels yet though. Fancy wheels would be nice, but the VW wheel trims would do just fine...

Devon Lanes and Splitscreens

This weekend saw our first outing this year (in fact since September last year!) in the Splitty. It's amazing how time drifts by, but due to a sequence of upgrades and failures we haven't really had a chance to use it too much. So having just recently passed the MOT and had the starter motor replaced, we packed it up and headed down to Devon for fun packed VW and surf weekend.

Th trip down was good. The roads were pretty busy but we managed to keep a steady 65mph all the way (except for the vast amount of 50 zones all over the place of course). The Little Fella ran just fine and sounded great. I, of course, needed the obligatory wee stop after about an hour, but other than that it ran all the way non-stop. We did the usual stopping over at the services on Friday night. It was full of caravans! Hardly a truck in there.

Through Friday night and Saturday we had rain nearly constantly. The breaks in the rain on Saturday were nice allowing enough time to get dry and a coffee and chai at the Wild Thyme cafe in Braunton. And we really did get soaked!

There was no surf at all! One of the flattest days I've seen there in a long time. Ranging from 0ft to 1.5ft. Certainly not worth getting the boards of the roof for. None the less, while Nic was tucked up cosy in the van reading her book, we were treated to a nice stormy sunset and frequent torrential downpours.

Before setting off, we'd brought a sun canopy from Just Kampers. Although the instructions didn't quite match the equipment, once we'd worked out what to do, it went up reasonably quickly. It proved to be a god send and just like an awning makes the van so much bigger. There are a couple of things that aren't quite right with it, but with a bit of Nic pimping that can be put straight :)

Sunday was a whole different day. It was sunny and warm! So the canopy was laid out to dry while we packed up the gear to get ready and go. We were hoping for a sneaky surf... We probably weren't quite as efficient at de-camping as usual, but I suppose we were a little out of practice. None the less, managed to get the morning cuppa in :)

We headed off to check out the beaches. Parking is such a rip in the summer! £6 at Saunton. Sunday was by far the worst day ever for surfing. I thought Saturday was bad. It gave us 0ft to 0.5ft. There were still people getting all their gear and going in - mad! Although, there was an old guy on a SUP who just managed 2 or 3 "waves". We, none the less, paid our parking fees and chilled on the beach for a couple of hours before heading home. We chatted to a couple from Weymouth who had the most perfect bay window - really good condition. It made ours look like a bag of nails and lead to the usual discussions of what to do next on it - this time, we might have a plan!

The journey home was a slow one. We couldn't go any faster than 50mph without overheating and bellowing smoke - oops! Will need to investigate that before our September jaunt.

It was nice to get the Little Fella out again - I've missed driving it. could have done with bigger surf and 65mph on the way home, but there's always next time :)

Beware the Great White

Jesus! Watch out for those Great Whites...

Electirc Motorbikes

Electric bikes have been around for ages, but let's be honest, they've been pretty naff! I'm not 100% convinced with the idea of electric bikes, but they really do seem to be coming of age recently. They were successfully run at the TT this year and Brammo are releasing the Empulse hitting around 100mph. This is their promo video for it...

So here are the top 10 bad ass electric/hybrid bikes (according to who I don't know, but they are pretty sweet!). This EV-o bike deserves a worthy mention, but it is a little bit spenny!!

Splitty's Happy

We finally got the split sorted late last week with it's MOT - hoohah! Slightly late but we've been busy bunnies what with Nic's Op 'n' all that caper...

Had a pretty early start this morning as after the MOT, I thought I would take the van out for a little run. So I cruised it up the road a little. By the time I got back - no lights, no indicators and no wipers. That was an easy fix with a couple of new fuses. Unfortunately, the need for a new starter motor was a bit more pressing!

I set off this morning at 07:00 heading towards Smethwick to take it to Kingfisher Kutoms. It ran like a beaut and cruised nicely at 65. Although most of the 1.5 hours was spent queuing!

The new starter went in and still no joy. Just a click, no motor spinning. At this point the mechanic was getting a little bit pissed with it. To cut a 1.5 hour story short - turns out the wire feeding the starter was going via an alarm system and the alarm was only allowing 6 volts through to it (rather than the expected 12). Once that was by-passed, the engine once gain boomed into life - phew!

The journey home was sweet, loads of traffic again, but happy cruising and couple of smiles, waves and peeps from other happy motorists :)

Yoyophoto

Check out Yoyophoto. A new photography site created by my good friends Sam and George. Some great photography to treat yourself to.