Our first breakdown.
16/10/12
Today's plan was simple. We pick up a hire car at about 9am, load our suitcase (well, we can't fit it on the bike can we?), and head to Bristol. Suzanne will drive and I'll ride. Once we reach Bristol we'll pick up out other cases, check out a tent, and then both go to Hemel Hempstead where we'll stay with Paul and Juliet for a while.
That's pretty simple isn't it?
Except the bike won't start. This is the first time I've had any problem with the bike, and it was my own fault. I'd left the sat nav on the bike and it usually turns itself off after a while. When I say usually, I mean every other time I've done it. It had a flat battery, so no go. We tried bump starting the bike. John pushed really hard as he wanted to see us gone : ) Then we tried jump starting it with two different cars, all without success. I called the BMW breakdown service and the earliest they could get there was 3pm. Time for a coffee then.
Around 3pm the BMW guy arrived, pulled out his jump start battery, and immediately fired the bike into life. I quizzed him about his little battery and explained that the cars we tried didn't work. He just smiled and said "This little battery will start trucks, tractors, anything. It's all in the amperage". Sure enough, a push of the button and the BM fired into life and sat there idling happily.
So a bit behind schedule we pointed our vehicles to Bristol. When we arrived we had a quick chat with Claire and Chris then made our way to Hemel, finally arriving at about 10.30pm.
What a day. We still needed to go back to Bristol the next day to pick up a delivery from the post office and to check out an ebay tent. Yes, an ebay tent. I've been watching ebay and Gumtree since our tent was stolen and a tent just like ours showed up on ebay, in the next county to Bristol where ours went missing. Coincidental? Will it be ours? We'll find out tomorrow when we go and see it.
16/10/12
Today's plan was simple. We pick up a hire car at about 9am, load our suitcase (well, we can't fit it on the bike can we?), and head to Bristol. Suzanne will drive and I'll ride. Once we reach Bristol we'll pick up out other cases, check out a tent, and then both go to Hemel Hempstead where we'll stay with Paul and Juliet for a while.
That's pretty simple isn't it?
Except the bike won't start. This is the first time I've had any problem with the bike, and it was my own fault. I'd left the sat nav on the bike and it usually turns itself off after a while. When I say usually, I mean every other time I've done it. It had a flat battery, so no go. We tried bump starting the bike. John pushed really hard as he wanted to see us gone : ) Then we tried jump starting it with two different cars, all without success. I called the BMW breakdown service and the earliest they could get there was 3pm. Time for a coffee then.
Around 3pm the BMW guy arrived, pulled out his jump start battery, and immediately fired the bike into life. I quizzed him about his little battery and explained that the cars we tried didn't work. He just smiled and said "This little battery will start trucks, tractors, anything. It's all in the amperage". Sure enough, a push of the button and the BM fired into life and sat there idling happily.
So a bit behind schedule we pointed our vehicles to Bristol. When we arrived we had a quick chat with Claire and Chris then made our way to Hemel, finally arriving at about 10.30pm.
What a day. We still needed to go back to Bristol the next day to pick up a delivery from the post office and to check out an ebay tent. Yes, an ebay tent. I've been watching ebay and Gumtree since our tent was stolen and a tent just like ours showed up on ebay, in the next county to Bristol where ours went missing. Coincidental? Will it be ours? We'll find out tomorrow when we go and see it.
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