Wednesday 7th July 2021

 

After a brief visit to Glen Nevis for breakfast we left the Fort William area and travelled south to Oban where we hoped to find a parking place with good TV reception so that we could watch the football match tonight. Having failed to find such a place we did a supermarket shop and continued south.

Someway south of Oban on the A816 we stopped in a layby to see if there was TV reception. We thought this would be a nice place to stop for the day and watch the match later.

When we found there was no TV reception and decided to move on we could not start the van's engine. It just kept turning over on the starter and would not start. We continued trying to start it till the battery went flat.

We called out our breakdown service who were with us in less than an hour. The mechanic diagnosed a faulty ignition barrel receiver which was activating the immobiliser and stopping the van starting. He "cured" it by giving the ignition key barrel a thump and starting the van with a power pack! He advised us to drive for a while to recharge the battery. He also advised us to have the immobiliser system overhauled at a Fiat commercial vehicle dealer.

After trying a few more places for TV reception we finally found it at Lochgilphead and stopped for the day in a small car park on the A83. Here's our view from the van.

Because Ann doesn't want to drive the van, empty the toilet, fill the water and diesel and empty the waste water she refuses to allow me to do any cooking or washing up! I'm sure passers by must think I'm a right pig when they see her slaving away and me sitting around drinking beer!

European Championship semi final result: England 2 Denmark 1

Today we travelled 106 miles (171 kilometres). We are at: N56.03740 W5.44002

Lochgilphead                     Street View