SS-tagalong, then Wharfdale non starter.

Saturday, O and me went out to Bottle Lake with the tagalong. nice spin, fun with him. start of inside loop, then out to beach, then back along beachside track, and in the old (blown out connector) then on round. surprised at permafrost bits, frozen puddles and patches of frost in spots.

Put the Soul back together (using the derailleur i scored off Mel on Vorb), tuned up and ready to rock.

Finally thought we were gonna get to do the Wharfdale again, after well over a year since any of us had done it, yesterday. but disaster struck... drove all the way out to Oxford, and round Woodside to View Hill, towards the Wharfdale. Headed in the Wharfdale gravel rd, hit the first ford, entered it, it got deeper and deeper, pete had an “oh shit” moment, and the engine conked out.

So, there we are sitting in the middle of a river, water all up round the doors, all of us going “this is bad” and “holy crap” etc. Nothing to do but get out and let all that water in. Tried to push the car, it were too heavy (falcon v8). Got the hell out of the water cos the pain was too much to bear. Formulated some plans. I said I’d go get help, but of course needed to get bike off the rack. Tony’s first, then a couple wheels, then my frame. All the while YOWCH YOWCH YOWCH in the cold cold water. Headed back down the road, first house, older lady, said they're just a small holding and dont have anything capable, but try Derek the farmer down the road. So biked to this guy and said to him “you must get this all the time, but my mate has parked his car in the middle of your ford. Lady down the road there said you’ve towed people out before. any chance of a tow?” he said yep. So I rode back to the boys and in due time the farmer came along and pulled the car out with his hilux.

Then we sat and waited, and scooped water out of the foot-wells, and got rained on, and ate some bacon and egg pie. Matt was came from chch to tow us home. It was looking like a very long trip home… Matt arrived, hooked up, started out. and then a few hundred metres up the road pete signalled to stop. Brakes (being power assist and being wet too) and steering were very very bad, meaning matt was gonna have to take it really easy… also, being an auto, we were gonna have to tow slow anyway. But then Pete tried starting the car up. And amazingly he got it going. It was a bit sluggish at first, idling really roughly, but revving out okay, blew a good gallon or two of water out the exhaust (that had flowed in whilst in the river), then ran beautifully. A few of the warning lights were on the dash, but it ran fine. so we headed for town. Stopped half way down South Eyre Rd to check pete’s oil, which had a little water in it, but other sodden carpets, and upholstery, car seemed alright. Insurance will take care of everything. So, Wharfdale, if you're listening, we'll be back.