Exploring Copacabana in Bolivia, we saw a lot of decorated cars around the town. Further investigation revealed they had been adorned with trimmings in preparation for their blessing by the pastor at the town’s church. Turns out this is quite a thing. Each day at 10am and 2:30pm, and especially at weekends, vehicles assemble outside the church ready for their […]
Sometimes our posts make it look like our lives are exciting and extraordinary, but it isn’t always sunshine and roses, so I thought I would bring it all down to earth a bit.. Today was not a good day, mechanically-speaking! We had overnighted in a typical “panoramic-view” type of spot, with no-one around – just us and the stars. But, […]
The highest settlement in the UK is Flash, Staffordshire, at 463 m (1,519 ft) and the highest point in the UK is Ben Nevis at 1,343m (4,406 ft). The northern parts of Chile, Argentina and southern Bolivia are a lot higher and it was time to test our ability to travel at altitude. From the Chilean coast we climbed steadily, […]
And I’m still rolling along –The Cherokees are chasing meArrows flyRight on byBut I’m singing a happy song! Big Bertha broke down on a ripio (corrugated) road in Argentina in July 2024 and having made a temporary repair, we toured northern Argentina waiting for replacement parts to come from Germany. Six weeks after our order, they were finally ready for […]
There we were, driving merrily along a ‘ripio’ dirt track from the Salinas Grandes salt pan to San Antonio de los Cobres, in the middle of nowhere, when there was an almighty noise from underneath Big Bertha. We stopped quickly, expecting a puncture. But no, it was something much worse, the front propshaft, along with the transfer case output shaft, […]
Our new Starlink has been a bit of a game changer for us – internet everywhere. Pricey, but worth it. However, setting it up and putting it away each time we want to use it is a bit of a pain. So Dave researched what other overlanders had done, ordered parts whilst in the UK and, whilst stranded at the […]
Where to start? Dave noticed that Big Bertha has been consuming coolant (antifreeze) in the last few months. Around a litre over 1000km. Not a lot, but concerning nonetheless. It could be for many reasons – being a modern engine, the coolant circulates everywhere: in the EGR cooler, block, cylinder head, compressor, and the high pressure and low pressure intercoolers. […]
We stopped for a roadside pee and afterwards Big Bertha refused to start. Our toilet break lasted six days!! There were signs of our impending problem that morning – when we were a looong way from civilisation and had parked a few kilometres off the road! Big Bertha really didn’t want to get going and grumbled when we tried to […]
Do you remember when there was no Internet or World Wide Web? It hardly seems possible that we survived without it. It is now like a drug – we are almost addicted to it. Five days without WiFi and we are climbing the walls. Some days Francine and I actually have to talk to each other! We normally satisfy our […]
“But how are we going to wash our sheets and towels?!” – That was Francine’s first reaction when Dave suggested a life of living in a truck. “Oh, we’ll find somewhere. There are always laundries around, most of the campsites have washing machines and, if they don’t, you can always find someone willing to do your washing for you for […]