Haha, Yeah it's crazy! My first alarmed sighting of the English version of canola was when Heather and I were walking near the back of a restaurant and there was a 20litre container of "Rapeseed oil" sitting there! I said "let's not eat in that restaurant!!"
Now for lots of updates! we had a wheel bearing go after a long trip (~290miles) here I am spinning wheels to find out which one it is:
It wasn't the front, turned out it was the left one. Heather pointed out that I don't have to say "rear left" as there is no "front left".
All the mechanics shops were busy for days. No one could fit us in unless I could pull the half shaft out and take that to them, so all they had to do was press the bearing off and on (we had the bearing, it came with the car). The place we were staying at "Beacon farm ice cream" let me use their shed (moved out their JCB) and tools:
Before I pulled the brakes off:
I got the brakes and things out of the way but no matter how hard I whacked it I couldn't move the half shaft. So I put it all back together and we went to the pub.
The owner of the pub chatted to us and we told him our issue and he said "hang on a minute", made a phone call, his sister's boyfriend happened to be a mechanic who lived across the road!
He managed to do the job the next day. He also managed to pull the gearstick out of it's correct position, so when we went to leave we had only 3rd gear. A quick call to our Reliant expert friends and we sorted that out and off we went.
While in Whitby we came across another replica car:
Back on the road again with a fixed bearing! The Angel of the North, near Newcastle. if we get a chance we are going to drive right up to it next time, we are already on a footpath in this photo but there were kids up at the statue so we went back to the carpark:
Dropped in at my mum's clan museum, near Blair Atholl (Scotland):
Right up the top of Scotland now, Duncansby head. Looking out towards the Orkney islands:
And here we are at John O'Groats! Completing the traditional journey. Thought it would be funny to have a photo near the famous sign pretending to push the car:
The car didn't find it funny and chose to not start:
A quick tap on the starter motor and an apology and we were on our way.
Dunnet head, the most Northerly point of UK mainland:
Drove for miles across the top of the country for this joke photo:
Bumped into the East Sutherland Rotary Classic Car Tour, an observation rally (you get given clues for things to find or figure out as you drive along). so we joined in! This La France was cool:
Parked with the sporty cars at the first stop on the rally:
Our main rival, the 3 wheeled Heinkel:
One of the tougher clues to find:
Back on the road again, heading south, Ben Nevis; the tallest mountain in the UK:
The actual most western point of UK mainland is Ardnamurchan. We thought it was Land's End but a couple of cyclists at John O'Groats told us about Ardnamurchan being 20miles further west! So we went there too, very narrow roads, great views!
Cool Scottish highlands scenery, our car got heaps of photos taken here by a bus load of tourists
Heather took this photo from the back seat while we drove her friend around in Edinburgh. Our latest car addition is the "fact a day" calendar, fitted neatly between the choke and heater controls and on top of the ash tray:
We made it back to Bromsgrove (near Birmingham) for the National Reliant gathering:
Set up a display on the parcel shelf with a few interesting things from our journey:
And we won trophies! Best non-member Reliant and hardest working Reliant. We have travelled more than 4000 miles in about 3 months!
Next prize we are hoping for is world's longest forum post