By the time we had got up this morning Tuesday 7th July the bad weather had temporarily moved on and we got a nice view of Ailsa Craig.

The authorities at Girvan appeared to be ploughing the beach.

We eventually got it together to move off south down the coast but after only 20 odd miles our van's engine lost power and we came to a rest in a layby at Cairnryan opposite the P&O ferry terminal a few miles north of Stranraer.

We called out the AA and after about 3 hours a very helpful person turned up in a small van. He plugged a diagnostic instrument into our van and confirmed that it was sick as a pig. He then went away for an hour or so to attend to another job but did return. By then we had been blocked into the layby by a massive Lithuanian lorry which had stopped for a sleep break. Ann tried to negotiate with the driver but was unable to communicate.The man in the small van however persuaded the Lithuanian driver to move a little way back so he could tow our van.

The engine in the van now refused to run at all so it was quite interesting being towed without any power steering or power brakes.

We did however arrive without mishap at Edinburgh Hill Autos in Stranraer where we were assured our van would be receiving priority attention first thing tomorrow morning. So here we are camped in the garage forecourt in the pouring rain. Quite a novel experience.