231. Rejected

Avignon

Cracking start, for me that is, to take the Disco in for its service to see where the coolant is going. Arrived on time to be met by the proprietor saying he is too busy and I need to come back in ten days time. This was after rebooking twice and checking twice. I was so disgusted that I forgot to collect the stay bar for the front locker that he was supposed to have welded up. 

Decided to go back to the Land Rover dealer however on arriving the service manager said the earliest they could look at it was May the twenty fifth, in twenty two days time! I have already been waiting a week. I pressed him for yet another workshop recommendation and then pressed him again to phone and book it in for me. He did so and found that they could see me immediately. I also entered the address on my gps and got him to confirm that it was indeed the correct location.

I set off to the set destination, just alongside the the city walls and there was no entrance. Eventually found a park and walked round the block and found a sign pointing to Garage Catto. Drove round and found a locked automatic gate into a parking building called Garage Catto. Phoned the number and it was answered and I heard the words Land Rover in amongst the french so I knew it was the right place. Waited an age for the gate to open with no result. Eventually while waiting I found another Garage Catto another five kilometres out of town which proved to be the right place though pretty much a junk yard but mostly Jags, Discos and Rodneys. When he gave me his card the address is for the carpark in town so who knows. Left the Disco and biked back into town into a very strong head wind which was tedious though I loved biking through the old town. 

Avignon, from the bridg

Back at camp I threw myself into welding to structural beams that will strengthen the cracked C section beams as well as supporting the back of the new floor.

At three forty I got this message   Bonjour  ton land river ok fin  which I correctly assumed meant the Disco was finished. Biked over, three kilometres down wind, half of it along the bank of the Rhone, lovely. Took a snap from the bridge and of the Monument du Comtat  (Triumph of the Republic) a fantastic monument now surrounded by freeways as so often happens to historic monuments. The Disco coolant consumption turned out to be the plastic thermostat housing which was cracked. Hauled the ball joints out of the boot and asked (Google Translate) if they could fit and re align the wheels. I had attempted to get a wheel alignment in Morocco where the technician spotted the ball joint movement. Picking the Disco up tomorrow, midday. Biked back into the headwind which was so intense that while biking along the bank of the Rhone I turned my head and it blew my spectacles off into the grass alongside thankfully. The campsite is strewn with green Plane Tree leaves, my weather app says about twenty five knots. On the way home I visited a tiny hardware store in Avignon and purchased a brush and Polyurethane for the plywood. Also went to a little grocery for meat for kebabs and reminded myself how much I prefer getting the groceries local by bike. Jacqueline prefers the big supermarkets by Disco.

Finished the seam welding, ran out of two millimetre rods and so tried some four millimetre rods that came with the welder and got a better result. Still lots to relearn, it has only been twenty five years since I did the welding course at Longbeach. Installed the beam and bolted it in with the threaded rod and pleased with the result.