Dave and friends at Dacia Day

An early start Saturday morning and an 8am meeting with fellow enthusiast at Chieveley Services just off the M4.

Then head south on the A34 before joining the M3 and the M27

Then cross country through the New Forest

Before finally arriving at Beaulieu.

What a great location for a car show, with lovely facilities and a great display area.

It was great to see such a good turnout for the first ever UK Dacia Day.

And a big thank you to Andy Hieron and his team from Dacia UK for their support, their cars and of course the goodies too.

It was really great to meet and finally put faces to the names from DaciaForum and exchange ideas and experiences with the various models.

The weather was amazing and everyone appeared to enjoy the show.

Camera crews were on hand filming the cars and interviewing many of the owners.

As the day came to a close it gave me a chance to finally look around the museum and the Top Gear displays while Lewy looked after Albert. I returned to a very excited girlfriend telling me to quickly go and get Dave as she had managed to get permission for me to bring him down to the museum area for some unique photos.

I would like to personally thank some of the Beaulieu staff Jon Tee and Chris Palmer for arranging the photo opportunity and Brian Wood for giving Lewy a special guided tour of the museum and a lovely chat about her favourite car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Dave in front of the Top Gear display building.

And with a beautiful classic bus outside the main motor museum

And another thank you for Chris for taking this great photo of me, Lewy, Albert and of course Dave

As you can see I was grinning from ear to ear.

What a fantastic day which wouldn't have happened without the hard work and dedication of D&M and Nick from the Daciaforum.

Roll on 2015 and hopefully a bigger and better show as the Dacia family grows.

Dave does Didcot......

Don't panic it's not a low budget remake of a dodgy porn film.

Since I have had Dave his daily commute to work has been up and down past the Didcot cooling towers, a great landmark that can be seen for miles around.

Didcot A was constructed for the Central Electricity Generating Board between 1964 - 1968 at a cost of around £104m, it was built on a former MoD ordnance depot and covered approximately 300 acres.

It ceased operations in March 2013.

So what has this got to do with Dave?

Well in the early hours of Sunday morning the three southern cooling towers are due for demolition by controlled explosions.

Dave will miss the landmarks particularly when driving north on the A34, so we have taken a few shots to remember them by.

Busy morning, new products and duck news

So those of you who read my blog frequently will know that Dave was dropped off at a secret location at the beginning of June for some research and development. Well today I revisited the company and I can now reveal what it was all about.

Those of us of a certain age will remember RGA bodykits back in the 80's, well the company have moved away from bodykits (although they do still have all the original moulds), have rebranded themselves, Richard Grant Mouldings and specialise in the design and manufacture of bumper protectors and sill guards.

Well Dave spent his overnight stay being measured and used as a basis for the newly designed protector for the 2013 onwards Sandero and Sandero Stepway, I got the call yesterday to tell me it was all finished and ready to be collected (and fitted).

Apparently Mr Grant wasn't happy with the initial design and suggested they redesigned it with the ridges to give it a more rugged look, they produce it in 4 colours, black, carbon fibre, brushed silver and plain silver, I went for the latter as I thought it would match the front and rear underbody panels. I think it looks quite good.

On the way back I thought I would pop into Tiggywinkles to see if they had any updates on Carl the duck.

Carl did have a broken wing and was very undernourished, they have been feeding him up and have this week released him from the hospital cages into the holding duck pond where he can be with other ducks while his wing heals and he continues to build up his strength.

Thank you to all the staff at Tiggys, you are brilliant.

They are back n black

Dave got his trims back today, I decided not to do it myself but rather pay for a professional job, glad I did they look stunning, well done RCS at Challow, top job.

Dave gets blinged

An early start for me today to drop Dave off at Bling Bling Tinting

Rear door glass, quarter lights and tailgate glass all tinted to 15%.

Great service by Andy, top man and a great job thanks.

Looking good at the back.

And looking good from the side.

Now those of you who follow Dave's blog may have noticed something else different in the photos.

When he finished the tints he fitted these side protection strips for me too, my eyesight is getting worse and I couldn't see the line properly that they were supposed to follow, once again Andy showed  he really knew his stuff and produced some very clever tape to enhance the line.

So if you need some tints give him a call......he does wrapping too......mmmm I wonder.

Water, wind and wildlife!

Well the water was me working on Saturday at the lock, the last day of the Henley Festival and lots of boats going through the lock, however the biggest job of the day was wildlife and turned out to be trying to rescue an injured duck that had come into the lock with a broken wing.

A quick phone call to St Tiggywinkles wildlife rescue based in Buckinghamshire and the sent a wildlife ambulance to come and collect him, easy you would think, he is in a lock and can't fly, nice simple enclosed space, no chance Hambleden is one of the biggest locks on the Thames and that little duck knew every nook and cranny of it to hide in. After about 90 minutes he was finally caught thanks to some quick handywork with the net by a boater.

It turns out that when they rescue an animal they name it after the caller while it is in the hospital recovering, so good luck to Carl the Duck and wish him a speedy recovery.

Of course Dave had to be involved and escorted the animal ambulance from the lock to the road.

This also gave a chance for another quick photo on the way back this time with the wier in the background.

And as for the wind, well actually wind deflectors, these fabulous Heko ones arrived from Poland during the week and managed to fit them on Friday, they are beautifully finished and very easy to install, like most things they need getting used to, they are very good with deflecting not only the wind but also stopping the rain falling inside the cabin if the windows are partially open.

My only gripe if any is they appear to increase the blind spot on the drivers side as they are smoked, something I will have to be extra careful with.