(1,870 km)
A whirlwind of visits to catch up with people before "the big off" has left me behind (still!!) with the paperwork I so desperately need to finish before leaving the UK at the end of this coming week. I have until Thursday to make any UK phone calls, after which I will have to pay totally inflated mobile phone call rates... so I'd better get a bit more organised!
We have unpacked, sorted and repacked all the contents of the lorry and made some minor adjustments, improvements and mended the odd thing that fell off during the trip south. It has been brilliant to be able to do this at the farm as there is space to spread everything out and also the tools to fix things (thanks to Richard and Carl for loaning us the odd tool here and there).
Oz left last Sunday to visit his mum (Linda), Jen and Alan in South Devon and I joined him on Tuesday. Yummy home cooked food straight from their small-holding combined with great company meant that we were reluctant to leave but we had a date with a welder in Liskeard so we crawled south along the country lanes on Wednesday evening.
Once in Liskeard and nestled into the fabulous workshop of my friend Pete, we rolled up our sleeves and set to work on fabricating a wheel carrier for the back of the Mog. Pete is a master craftsman and has machines and gadgets for all sorts of metal work along with a remarkable talent for creating precisely what is needed from a pile of assorted bits of metal!
I really feel that this process is best illustrated in pictures... click on each one to enlarge.
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Pete sets to work cutting 45 degree angles to create the frame we designed. This incorporates the storage of three water containers (empty only as they will be too heavy once full) and also a hinged bar with clasp to enable it to be padlocked for security. |
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After TIG welding the pieces together the bars need minor tweaking to get them back to the 90 degrees we need. Oz and Pete have welded lugs onto the bottom of each leg to allow it to bolt to the Mog body. |
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Pete taps each bolt through the body having drilled the holes earlier - this is a trial run for the frame as the top half hasn't been added yet. Inside the Mog garage big metal plates and washers stop the weight of the frame pulling the bolts out of the body when traversing rough terrain. |
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Oz makes some adjustment to the curved plate at the bottom of the wheel carrier as we need to be able to access the towing bar which lives under the lorry. |
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The (almost) finished article with two of the three water containers inside. The clasp needs fitting and a lick of red oxide paint before two blue hammerite top coats. |
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Pete passes the bolts through the frame and into the garage where Oz puts on the washer and lines up the metal plates before tightening the whole thing up. |
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The finished wheel carrier in situ! |
A HUGE thank you to Pete for all his hard work and also a special mention and thanks to Jake and Kate (Pete's kids) for allowing us to steal their dad away from them for 2 days!
We left Liskeard and headed back to East Devon on Friday where we were joined for the weekend by my brother, Ru, his wife Lou and their sweet kids Xan and Willow. Oz has managed to get in a day rock-climbing with Andy and I have traipsed around Exeter getting photocopies of things and other useful stuff... I really hate shopping and crowds so it was nice to escape back to the farm to play with the kids.
We are leaving tomorrow and are hopefully catching up with friends at Granada Service Station in the afternoon before heading off in the direction of Eastbourne.
More soon... Kate and Oz (soon to be on the road again)