Archev's adventures in the Berlingo

[MG Clive]

The guy who made the original film has done that - I received a copy second hand from a mutual friend.
Check out u tube under Ayr Air show for last weekend to see this and other brilliant film clips.

 

[OriginalBigAl]

I first saw the Red Arrows when I was 10 in the early 70s when they had the Gnats and were allowed to low fly over the crowd. As the multicoloured smoke descended over the gasping audience the commentator said the dyes were mixed with kerosene and injected into the exhaust/tailpipe , which soon became apparent as the gasps of exhilaration turned into, gasps of where's the ruddy oxygen gone. Even at that age I thought the RAF were there to protect the population, not poison it ! That's the 70s for yer, never knew where the next threat was coming from.

 

[Archev]

I first saw the Red Arrows when I was 10 in the early 70s when they had the Gnats and were allowed to low fly over the crowd. As the multicoloured smoke descended over the gasping audience the commentator said the dyes were mixed with kerosene and injected into the exhaust/tailpipe , which soon became apparent as the gasps of exhilaration turned into, gasps of where's the ruddy oxygen gone. Even at that age I thought the RAF were there to protect the population, not poison it ! That's the 70s for yer, never knew where the next threat was coming from.

Well well they now use planet friendly smoke materials apparently- I fervently hope so ‘cos they used an awful lot of it on Friday and Saturday almost over a huge crowd in Ayr.

 

[Archev]

With a full battery I left home on Wednesday and drove to Ayr. On Thursday I topped up at Arnold Clark’s and yesterday (Friday) set off to take a friend to Aberdeen Airport. Things went a bit pear shaped as we neared Glasgow on the A77. A bus had been rear ended and when we eventually got close to the scene of the accident, found it slewed across our carriageway partially blocking it and causing almost an hour of a tailback for us.
After plodding on we stopped at Broxden near Perth for a splash ‘n dash only to be thwarted by either a recalcitrant Tesla charger or a very awkward Tesla app /on archev’s phone. Anyway between them they wouldn’t fill Berlingo’s battery. I moved to a CPS unit in the next lane and managed to coax some miles from it eventually.
Next stop was Church Street, Brechin where the CPS charger just stared at us with its blank countenance and proffered no Wattage whatsoever from its limp copper arm. The coffee in the nearby Auld Bakehouse cafe was as good as ever.
We finally arrived and parked up at the Airport an hour before
The flight to Norway and with precisely nine miles predicted range remaining.
I did as a gent should and carried the ladies bags to the scales at the check in then tried to retrieve Berlingo from the car park. Having tried three times I hit the panic / assistance button and asked the voice why I couldn’t pay and get my beloved Citroen back. He asked what the reg number was and asserted there had been no 24 reg cars spied by the NPR cameras that whole day - was I sure I had the correct number? Could it be a 74 reg ? Quick as a sloth I saw where the problem lay, typed in the proper number and was allowed to collect my vehicle on the minimum £7.00 parking charge even though I was well over the minimum parking time. I suppose I gave him a chuckle at the old dodderer not remembering his car details

Next problem- find some power for my onward journey. A car park with CPS units just round the corner had 2.1 metre limiting bars over the entrance and my roof box carrying my tent etc is 2.15 from tarmac level so I carried on with my search.
I found some Tesla chargers but couldn’t convince them to increase my level Wattever. I’m sure my Tesla app on my phone is suspect- I’ll check later.
By the time Berlingo was screaming low low battery at me I turned in to Arnold Clark’s chargers at 4 miles to go. Hooked up and charging away my thoughts turned to stomach (and bladder). Straight over the road shon a big yellow M and all was good. The double fish burger was grand.
Leaving with my freshly stuffed battery I drove with a happy light heart sure I was homeward bound. Diverting through Dundee because of roadworks on the Kingsway caused no pain. Only when crossing the river Tay at Perth and winding up through Glenfarg I glanced at the GOM and it hit me. The electricity was leaving my battery store faster than I was anticipating. I might not reach my home. I may be stranded on the middle span of the Queen’s crossing bridge o’er the wonderful river Forth.
Hang on, my passenger, who by then had landed in Stavanger, had switched on the heater and it was still working away. I was also by then using the lights and hadn’t added that to my rudimentary calculations . Heater off but lights still needed, I knocked a few mph off the urgency of the home run and eventually crept in at about four miles left -again !
I plugged in, had a coffee and went to bed worn out after a long day. I dreamed a dream of diesel Berlingo’s of times long ago but grand though they were I couldn’t go back - why ? Well didn’t one of them, fine though it was, run out of fuel and left me bereft of get home power. That had necessitated a fair ol’ walk to a farm and me reduced to begging for some diesel/ red diesel/ cooking oil - anything to get home
Electric Berlingo pulled through against all adversity (mostly self inflicted) and brought me home safe and sound.

 

[MG Clive]

Nice one @Archev, for a minute there I thought we'd lost you when you started dreaming of diesel Berlingos.

 

[Archev]

Nice one @Archev, for a minute there I thought we'd lost you when you started dreaming of diesel Berlingos.

I did waver for three point two seconds but sanity prevails

 

[Gomev]

An interesting adventure. Have you sorted the problem with the Tesla app ? Has it lost any of your details ? I once had a problem with them refusing to give me any electrons until I realised the card I had associated with the app had insufficient funds in it to cover the holding charge. D'oh. I was and still am using a Chase bank card/account I have to pre-load with cash as it's not my main account. I used it for the cashback Very embarrassing.

When I'm doing a journey other than round town I always set Google maps to navigate me there even if I know the way like the back of my hand. I set it to mute and totally ignore it unless it comes up with an alert about a hold up ahead and it wants to divert me. This saved me just the other week after we'd done a day trip to visit a friend up near Whitley Bay. On the return as soon as we hit the A1 there were signs saying A1 was closed ahead at Durham between junctions 60 and 59 due to an accident. Google had already an alternative route even though we were a long way short. As we got nearer to the new route it found an alternative that was now quicker and offered us the choice, which we took. I have been saved several times over the last few years, unlike my s-i-l and daughter who got stuck on the M62 for 2 hours with 3 kids in the back.

 

[Archev]

An interesting adventure. Have you sorted the problem with the Tesla app ? Has it lost any of your details ? I once had a problem with them refusing to give me any electrons until I realised the card I had associated with the app had insufficient funds in it to cover the holding charge. D'oh. I was and still am using a Chase bank card/account I have to pre-load with cash as it's not my main account. I used it for the cashback Very embarrassing.

When I'm doing a journey other than round town I always set Google maps to navigate me there even if I know the way like the back of my hand. I set it to mute and totally ignore it unless it comes up with an alert about a hold up ahead and it wants to divert me. This saved me just the other week after we'd done a day trip to visit a friend up near Whitley Bay. On the return as soon as we hit the A1 there were signs saying A1 was closed ahead at Durham between junctions 60 and 59 due to an accident. Google had already an alternative route even though we were a long way short. As we got nearer to the new route it found an alternative that was now quicker and offered us the choice, which we took. I have been saved several times over the last few years, unlike my s-i-l and daughter who got stuck on the M62 for 2 hours with 3 kids in the back.

Thanks - no I’ve still to have a proper look into the Tesla / phone / me problem. I’ve a couple of weeks in hand before I’ll be doing the return journey Aberdeen to Ayr and back home.
Meanwhile I’ve just received my Electroverse card so I’ll head off on an adventure or two to test that out .

 

[Rolfe]

I have had a bad experience with the Perth Tesla chargers the only time I went there, and now I go to the Ionitys instead. Also, the Ionitys are right next to a Starbucks while the Teslas are up at the top of a car park miles from the McDonald's. Hang the expense.

I'll be there tomorrow as the good weather forecast has prompted me to get itchy feet (or rather wheels) again, and I'm heading for Inverness. First camping stop Dores again, to get my own back on the bike for not giving me any assist on that road up the side of Loch Ness in July. Fortunately it will not be so hot. Thoughts about the Corrie Yairack floating around again. I want to try a recce from Fort Augustus to Laggan a' Bhainne to see how steep/rough it really is. Might do that on Wednesday (or Thursday) DV. I mean it's only about four miles (eight there and back), how bad can it be?

I also have thoughts about Glen Roy, and maybe Glen Dessary/Glen Peann. Maybe even a second recce up the Corrie Yairack from Melgarve to the bottom of the zig-zags. I'm not slogging up the zig-zags until I have some plan to go all the way over, and that realistically involves enlisting Archie and the Berlingo to come and get Hilda and me and transport us the 60 miles by road back to Caliban. Might be a project for next year. On the other hand if things are looking terribly promising over the next week or two I might make inquiries.

I wonder if the Berlingo's depleting power resources were due to the colder weather? I've had a great range from Caliban over the summer, but I'm starting to see it shrink a bit now. Since I'll be camping in overnight temperatures as low as 4°C this time (it's forecast to go down to 2°C here tomorrow night so I'm not getting it any worse by going north) we'll see how much this takes out of Caliban's battery to keep me warm. I may have to take time out of my day some days just to top up on charge for the night.

The good weather seems set to go on for a fortnight or so, give or take the odd isolated wet day, so I may just stay out. I can replenish provisions at local Co-ops, and if it's really too cold to do too much cycling I may just head even further north and have a crack at the NC500.

 

[securespark]

We get on well with Instavolt, but I don't know how many there are in the land of the sweet furry haggis.

The "yellow M double fish burger" doesn't ring a bell, all the ones I have seen are single. Do they do a double now?

 

[siteguru]

I've never had any issues with the Perth Tesla superchargers, other than the leads are short so you have to reverse park right up against the bumpers and right over to the left of the bay else the plug will struggle to reach the charge port in my MG4. (Tesla charge ports are a little further back than in the MG4).

 

[Rolfe]

I don't remember that being an issue. I just remember Caliban charging at about 10 kw or something ridiculous like that. It eventually ramped up to about 30 kw and I just had to sit and wait for it. The chargers weren't busy at the time either.

 

[Archev]

We get on well with Instavolt, but I don't know how many there are in the land of the sweet furry haggis.

The "yellow M double fish burger" doesn't ring a bell, all the ones I have seen are single. Do they do a double now?

I have indulged in the single fish filet burger before and really enjoyed it. The double was therefore very enjoyable, just for a bit longer . The downside was due to the liberal application of tartare sauce causing excessive slippage within the whole tasty ensemble. Half way through consumption the whole thing split apart in my hand and landed on the fries. These latter were rather long but proved insufficiently strong enough to utilise as chopsticks. So I’m afraid my elegant table manners deteriorated. Luckily the serving lassie had the foresight to supply a bunch of serviettes to the auld guy on table 511 .

 

[Archev]

I have had a bad experience with the Perth Tesla chargers the only time I went there, and now I go to the Ionitys instead. Also, the Ionitys are right next to a Starbucks while the Teslas are up at the top of a car park miles from the McDonald's. Hang the expense.

I'll be there tomorrow as the good weather forecast has prompted me to get itchy feet (or rather wheels) again, and I'm heading for Inverness. First camping stop Dores again, to get my own back on the bike for not giving me any assist on that road up the side of Loch Ness in July. Fortunately it will not be so hot. Thoughts about the Corrie Yairack floating around again. I want to try a recce from Fort Augustus to Laggan a' Bhainne to see how steep/rough it really is. Might do that on Wednesday (or Thursday) DV. I mean it's only about four miles (eight there and back), how bad can it be?

I also have thoughts about Glen Roy, and maybe Glen Dessary/Glen Peann. Maybe even a second recce up the Corrie Yairack from Melgarve to the bottom of the zig-zags. I'm not slogging up the zig-zags until I have some plan to go all the way over, and that realistically involves enlisting Archie and the Berlingo to come and get Hilda and me and transport us the 60 miles by road back to Caliban. Might be a project for next year. On the other hand if things are looking terribly promising over the next week or two I might make inquiries.

I wonder if the Berlingo's depleting power resources were due to the colder weather? I've had a great range from Caliban over the summer, but I'm starting to see it shrink a bit now. Since I'll be camping in overnight temperatures as low as 4°C this time (it's forecast to go down to 2°C here tomorrow night so I'm not getting it any worse by going north) we'll see how much this takes out of Caliban's battery to keep me warm. I may have to take time out of my day some days just to top up on charge for the night.

The good weather seems set to go on for a fortnight or so, give or take the odd isolated wet day, so I may just stay out. I can replenish provisions at local Co-ops, and if it's really too cold to do too much cycling I may just head even further north and have a crack at the NC500.

The Berlingo is poised with tentage aboard and I’ve a keen eye on that weather window too. My Electroverse card came flying through the door yesterday so I’m almost about nearly ready to hit some trail or other. Cycle recoveries always available

 

[Rolfe]

I'll see how it goes. I might be irresistably compelled to have a crack at it, or I might feel that it's better left for the spring, maybe lose a bit of weight and get a bit fitter.

I'm currently eyeing up the very minor road from Loch Garry to Kinloch Hourn, which is a 44-mile round trip if I did all of it (it's drivable by car), but isn't a challenge as regards gradients. The Corrie Yairack is barely 12 miles one way (no way am I going back over it, as I said), but it's not tarmacked and it has some absolutely vicious gradients. Most of the original culverts have collapsed, too. I need to do the northern section to get an idea just how bad it is.

 

[securespark]

I've lost loads of weight recently, but I wouldn't recommend the method!



I still have loads more to lose though...

 

[Archev]

I've lost loads of weight recently, but I wouldn't recommend the method!



I still have loads more to lose though...

Coffee planning meet required byob

 

[Archev]

Bring Your Own Bike - yeah

 

[Gomev]

I have had a bad experience with the Perth Tesla chargers the only time I went there, and now I go to the Ionitys instead. Also, the Ionitys are right next to a Starbucks while the Teslas are up at the top of a car park miles from the McDonald's. Hang the expense.
...

I think I'd stick to the Tesla's, I prefer Maccy D's coffee to Starbucks.

 

[emmrecs]

Slightly OT, but I see a number of references here to owners at least considering attempting the NC500 route. This morning's BBC news website has this article which is worth a read, at least!