Day three: keep on moving...

"Everywhere we look, he's on to us. Can't hang round here..."

We managed a bit of a lie in this morning (notwithstanding David's phone pumping out Radio 2's breakfast show) and had little to do before heading off to Morrison's in Bideford for our own breakfast at around nine. I had a few comments (once I had some signal) that wheresdennis.co.uk wasn't working, but this was purely down to me not running the tracker until I'd sorted out a better charging system for my phone. By nine however, it was back on and reporting our position.

During our hearty breakfasts, Lottie arrived and so as the designated back up driver he would follow us down. However instead of the usual white van, he'd turned up in his '68 850 auto, a real time warp car. That at least made 4 Minis on the run to Lands End.

"If we're not careful, we'll have a hell of a mess on our hands"

The usual loo stop at Camelford was reached in good time, though the state of the loos was sadly below par...

The run down to Lands End was largely uneventful, except for being a lot quicker than usual due to the number of cars. Lottie's auto was surprisingly good at keeping up with the others, though it was suggested that was because he was keeping it at 9000 rpm...

And so, before we knew it we were at Lands End, lined up with lots of curious (and confused) people wandering around the cars. Carol and Michelle had their photos done first then disappeared off to find more photo opportunities for the as yet unnamed bear, with some assistance from Michelle in her new role as Official Bear Steadier.

We had our pictures taken too, with the signpost showing wheresdennis.co.uk after which it was time to go tat shopping.

A short while later, after a lengthy discussion in the relative merits and lifespans of different sticker materials, it was time to head back.

"Got to stay alert now, don't want to miss anything..."

The run back was similarly uneventful, except for a couple of sharp stops with Tinker (Terry and Linda's car) marking territory with rubber. Terry and Linda were too busy between emergency braking to answer on the CB as their new album was just too good to stop listening to...

"Chainsaws. Nasty. But effective..."

We did stop on the way back to have a look at the work of a wood carver, who'd set up shop in a layby. While the quality of work was amazing, we were all too loaded up to take anything, even if we could have afforded it. There was another photo op for the bear though, on a log between two wolves.

"Do we need to lose them now, or later?"

Soon we were back at the campsite, with dinner plans at the Thatched Inn at Abbotsham, though Terry and Linda headed back to their house to sort out some bits. Not long after, word reached us that we might end up as a two car run, as Tinker had developed a nasty noise when turning.

"It's the little things that'll end up catching us out."

Terry managed to strip down the hub and the first thought was a dodgy wheel bearing. While I have one in the parts box it's a genuine (v expensive) one, so the plans changed such that Terry would get a cheaper one first thing in the morning, for it, then catch us up.

The diagnosis then changed to the CV joint, one of which I have again, but the symptoms still weren't matching up. Finally, Terry spotted the metal band on the CV boot had moved and was catching badly on the hub. Once replaced, it was all sorted and Tinker and crew joined us back at camp a short while later. Few relaxing beverages and the packing of what could be packed, and all off to kip awaiting the long drive on Tuesday...