Friday 23rd July

2 days to lift off and the light at the end of the tunnel still seems a very far off concept!

The car is still not complete. There are no carpets, unfinished wiring and spare parts all over. It's 2200 and I've just come inside from working on the car. If I'm honest it was one of those unsuccessful evenings.

I eventually threw the towel in while I was trying to fix the interior light. A few weeks ago I bought and fitted a relay which was intended to delay the interior light turning off for 10 seconds after closing the door. It worked brilliantly until a few days later I pulled off all the wires as I needed access in behind it. Stupidly I didn't note their positions and so I've been trying to work out the magic combination. Testing one such combination I pushed the interior light until back into the headlining. As I did so there was a big spark and rather rapidly smoke was pouring from behind the headlining. I managed to pull it out and cut the wires (burning my fingers in the process) but to honest I'm pleased the car didn't go up. Fearing where this unlucky streak was carrying me I stopped there!!

Still there has been some progress. As Sophie mentioned some 6x9s have found their way into the rear door cards. These are quite necessary so that you can hear the music over the road noise, leaky window seals and exhaust!!

All that is left to the car is to change the oil and spark plugs, touch up some paint and refit the carpets. Sounds so easy - somehow I doubt it will be!

We've got lists scattered all over the place of things to buy and pack. I'm hoping by some extraordinary miracle that all of this will come together by Sunday evening and we'll have an orderly and safe departure.

Fingers firmly crossed.

Good Morning

Good Morning 

I've hijacked Rob's internet and laptop after having a lie in whilst he got up early and left for South Shields (about 36 miles away) where he studies Nautical Science. He usually uses his stand-in-car the 'W' reg Fiat Punto (A.K.A. ‘The Yellow Peril’). However today he has gone in the Rapid. His plans were to take the Rapid to a garage where they have agreed to fit some better speakers to it for £100. I personally am not really a fan of modifying the rapid too much and we've had many an argument over front springs! However the man who is going to fit the speakers has agreed to do it in a tasteful way and frankly, driving around Europe with only Rob to listen to would potentially lead to a break up!


In other news..

The car made it all the way to Scarborough and back two weekends ago. 

The Skoda proved to be a good place to tie our new dog 'Estelle' to using a tow rope! Everything seemed to be running well and the new thermostat was really making a difference TOUCH WOOD. 

It's now only 6 days until we depart from Hull. Today Rob is doing his last exam (Navigation I believe) and then it is all hands on deck to get the car exactly how we want it. In other preparations... I've bought sun lotion! 

Sophie.

Wed 7th

Hi.

Working out how to use this blog by the minute so expect further changes. Bear with us though and we'll get there in the end.

Today's progress?

Well I spent this evening cleaning out my Skoda spares garage. Previously you could hardly get into the garage but now it looks much more respectable:

As far the car; well that is still in the garage having some corroded brake pipes changed and the speedo cable replaced - so that we can record the mileages throughout the trip! Should be back tomorrow.

Anyway, time for bed.

Introduction

Hello.

Given you're reading this I can only assume you're interested in our Skoda Trip. But, what is our trip exactly?

Well I'm Rob Norman and she is Sophie Parker. We're both 20 and were faced with 5 weeks off and nothing to do. Conventional holidays didn't appeal but neither did staying at home. The answer was obvious; a roadtrip!

The details:

• 1989 Skoda Rapid 136
• 5 weeks
• 9 countries

In this blog I hope to share with you the lead up the journey and how we get on.

Thanks.

Rob