Dave's escapade française

So it's that time of the year, time for Dave's summer holiday. So where to this year? After the last 2 years in Mumbles it was time for something different so Dave is off to the home of his French cousins. So loaded up with bikes and all the other kit we headed off, the first problem the M25, delayed for over 90 minutes and therefore missed our booked crossing time.

Thankfully the system at Le Shuttle meant we just got on the next train, phew!

After arriving in Calais we hit the A16 and spent a steady three hours before we got to our overnight stop in Caen. A great stop over and dog friendly, it's the third time we have stayed at a Campanile and have always thought them great value.

They appears to have been alot of talk about the lack of fuel in France due to industrial action, however we were able to top Dave up no worries in Caen.

Next part of the journey was going to be via the Normandy beaches, but we decided instead to visit Bayeux and see the tapestry which we both thought was amazing. Back on the road again and we crossed an amazing bridge near Le Havre.

So onto our final destination, a beautiful farm apartment near Dinan.

Looking forward to the rest of the weeks adventures.

Time for a brake break

So in a couple of weeks time Dave will be taking us off to France for a holiday, we have booked a lovely cottage on a working farm near Pluduno in Cotes-d'Armor. So stay tuned for lots of French adventures.

So having got an advisory at the last service that I would need pads and discs at the next service and having covered 6,000 miles since the service I thought I would check the pads. I found them a little low and although should be good for a few thousand more miles I decided to get the brakes sorted before we went away.

So a quick call to Dacia and a quote of £270 inc VAT fitted, I checked the labour time and was quoted 1.2 hours.

For many years prior to getting Dave I used a small garage in New Yatt called Storm Autos, run by a couple of cracking guys who always provided excellent service. So having checked my warranty I found that I could get them to carry out work on Dave as long as OE spec parts are fitted and they are VAT registered. Storm also told me if I wanted to source my own parts they are happy to fit them.

Thanks to a previous thread on DaciaForum I sourced a set of TRW OE Spec front vented discs for £15 the pair, I contacted my local autofactors and paid £27 for a set of TRW OE pads.

So off to Storm we went this morning, up went Dave on the 2 poster (also gave me my first chance to have a proper look underneath him) and 45 minutes later, new pads and discs fitted (Remember Dacia stated 1.2 hours).

After a bit of a natter about Dave, his plate, the EU referendum and a cup of tea I was back on my way home. And the charge £50 including VAT.

So that makes a total cost of £92, a massive saving over Dacia's £270!

Thanks guys.

Dave having a splash and a belated birthday present

Bank Holiday weekend saw us driving upto the Lake District after a quick overnight stop in Ironbridge.

When we arrived Saturday the weather was stunning and the lakes looked as beautiful as ever.

But in true Bank Holiday style it wasn't going to last and the following morning's dog walk was a little damp!

However the area still looked magnificent despite the weather.

All that rain did give me a chance for a little play though.

We also clocked up another milestone.

Back to the belated birthday, Dave was 2 years old at the beginning of the month.

So I bought him a little treat. I love these.

Bike, sprouts and coffee

Been a while Dave fans, sorry peeps it's been very quiet in Daveland, so here's a quick 'so far' in 2016.

Firstly a belated happy new year to you all.

For me my new years resolution was to get back out my bike a bit more and back on my diet and exercise, so a pretty standard new years resolution that lots of people make. Unfortunately my old bike was getting a little long in the tooth, so it was time to treat myself with some of my Christmas money to a new one.

My first new bike in quite a few years, great specification, rides a dream and looks good. The first ride was as you can see was a bit muddy, but the bike coped well, better than I did, when I ended up having an off and landed in swampy mud, I looked like a hippo wallowing in it!

The bike fits well on the rack, despite having large 27.5 inch wheels. It was definitely a great idea having the towbar fitted to Dave and the Mont Blanc bike carrier is brilliant.

January saw Dave hitting the 36,000 mile mark

22 months of happy motoring, no major issues (touch wood) and as much fun to drive today as it was on day one, infact probably better as the engine loosens up.

So Dave took another trip to Kaybee Motors in Banbury, once again absolutely brilliant customer service and I would highly recommend them, worth the 30 minute drive from home, despite having a more local dealer.

As always I got a courtesy car, I was early enough to have a choice, Jaybee are a Dacia, Renault and Fiat dealership and I've previously had a Clio and a Twingo from them. On this occasion I decided to try something else and as lots of people seem to rave about them I chose the Fiat 500.

The phrase a sprout squeezed into a pea pod comes to mind, but I was pleasantly surprised, quite nippy from the 1250cc petrol engine, but you had to keep the revs quite high, it was great to get Dave back and that 1.5dCi torque.

Finally on the drive back home we stopped for a quick break, a great little layby stop with a lovely fresh coffee.

Very quirky 3 wheeler coffee van and sit around the fire drinking it. On the subject of quirky how about this for an ingenious idea. A couple of old steel wheels welded together, a hole cut in the and the cut out steel used for feet, bloody clever.......now where's but welder.

Dave gets some new boots

Having worked in the tyre industry for many years I know the importance of having as much tread as possible, particularly with the approach of winter and the heavy rain, yeah I know, in England we get the rain all year around.

Those of you that have read my blog from the beginning will know that at the first service Dave had to have his tracking adjusted and they swapped the fronts and rears around. I'd also developed a slow puncture on the off side rear, which has needed weekly top ups of a couple of psi.

With all that in mind I decided it was time to replace the rears and rotate them with the fronts, I checked the depth and they were on 3mm, some would say that's too early and I've thrown away a few thousand miles motoring but at 3mm the water displacement is reduced substantially, the fronts that are now on the back have around 4.5mm so I'd expect another 10,000 off of those. In case you didn't know the rear wear on a front wheel drive car is very slow.

For many years I've purchased my tyres through Blackcircles.com who not only offer some amazing prices, but also bonus 'clubcard' points that have financial value. You can also have them fitted at a choice of local tyre fitting centres, I chose Kidlington Tyre and Exhaust who over the years have provided me with excellent quality service on both MOTs and tyre fitting.

I ordered a pair of Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance which costed less than £110 fitted, I've been so happy with them as they were fitted as original equipment and covered over 30,000 miles, I have noticed however that they have changed the design slightly and they don't have such high side wall edges and therefore look less rugged than they used to.

A nice drive out.....and last nights journey home.

I've had Dave now for just over 18 months and still enjoy driving him every day. He's become a great daily workhorse and he's not really been having much in the way of adventures recently.

However he does get out and about loads and gets some chances for some posing occasionally.

Yesterday when we were out with the family my father in law asked if we could find this pub as one of his bowling buddies had told him all about it. Unfortunately we got there just after they finished lunch, but we had a quick drink (soft for me) and we're definitely going back for a meal as the menu looks amazing.

Last nights journey home though clocked up another Dave milestone.....30,000 miles.

What an amazing little car he is.

Now that's a T-shirt.

I saw this photo online, I couldn't agree more.