Breakfast was at 9am – Sausage, 2 Rashers Bacon, Large cup mushroom, half a tomato, black pudding, and haggis. All baked in the oven we were told and despite the reluctance to have any, the haggis was lovely – really light and tasty.
We had packed the car ready to go before breakfast. I checked the oil level before we set off at 9:45am towards the Tesco’s at Annan to fill up with diesel. The price was 145.9p per litre and to fill up was 56 litres (£81.70 total) meaning that the Landrover did 32.23mpg on the way up.
On our way into Annan, there were 4 industrial looking buildings that looked abandoned. However, after we had refueled, the route back to the motorway took us right past the entrance and although there were people on site, the site clearly seemed past its operational past. The site was called Magnox Chapelcross. Looking up the details in the evening, it turns out that Chapelcross was Scotland’s first commercial nuclear power station that was built on the site of a World War II training airfield. It was originally used to produce weapons grade Plutonium!
Chapelcross Site (I will get a better picture when we return at the end of our trip)
The journey was all Motorway until we got onto the A9. We had rain showers off and on, but nothing like yesterday’s monsoon.
At 1:30pm we passed a sign on the A9 that said we had entered the Highlands and at 1:40pm we stopped at The Ralia Cafe for a 30 minute break.
Cup of tea at Ralia Cafe and the Highland Cow made from metal at the cafe.
Crossing the Firth from Inverness
We then returned to the road and continued until we stopped at the Tesco at Wick for fuel. We had tried to fill up at a local garage as we entered Wick, but they were completely out of diesel – later I realised it was because of the significant number of camper vans in the area. The price was 151.9p per litre and to fill up was 54 litres (£82.03 total) and that means the Landrover did 30.48mpg from Annan to Wick, but the terrain was far hillier than yesterday. Leaving the garage, I noticed that the Landrover was making a different noise to normal, but nothing to cause alarm at that point – or so I thought!
We finally arrived at John O Groats at 5:50pm and took a welcome break. The great thing about having a Landrover is that other Landrover drivers want to talk about them, and in the car park was a very posh fully kitted out TDCi model with an aluminium pop top conversion. The owner wandered over for a chat and we talked for about 30 minutes all things Landrover. Having taken the tourist photos at the “signpost” we then shared some chips before heading to our overnight stop at Thurso.
The sign post at John O Groats
Disaster! Upon arrival at Thurso, the engine sounded awful, really awful. Furthermore, it was doing it’s best not to stall, but was very close to stopping. There was no parking at the hotel and so I popped the bonnet in the hotel car park entrance and a few seconds later the engine stalled. I tried to turn the key to restart, but the engine barely turned over, similar to the symptoms of a flat battery upon starting. I tried again and nothing, wouldn’t turn over. This problem has eluded me for two weeks! It happened as described two weeks ago and the day before we left to travel up here and both times I couldn’t see anything wrong or find any cause. Thankfully before I came I had bought a cheap long handle 15mm spanner so that should I need to replace the auxiliary belt, I could back off the belt tensioner as it cannot be done easily with a ratchet spanner. Backing off the tensioner, I removed the auxiliary belt and tried to start the Landrover – it started immediately, no problems and no noise. That was a big relief as it wasn’t an internal engine issue that would have terminated the trip. I spun each of the 6 pulleys attached to the belt, with all of them spinning well apart from the alternator – it was making an awful sound and was incredibly difficult to turn by hand. I had to find somewhere to park, so reattached the belt and the engine just about started, but it wasn’t happy. I drove to a car park next to the bridge, where it stalled again upon arrival. I got Helen to start it whilst I was backing off the tensioner, but this time, as soon as I applied the tensioner, blue smoke started emanating from the alternator pulley, lots of blue smoke. The belt had also shrank from over heating and could no longer be removed by backing off the tensioner. I rang the breakdown people on my insurance and they said they would get someone out to me in about an hour.
Broken down – Thurso
I secured the Landrover and walked the short distance to the hotel to check in. Helen remained in the room and I returned to the Landrover to await assistance. The breakdown man (Daniel) arrived in about 40 minutes. Following a discussion and his investigation, he agreed that the alternator pulley should not make the noise it made when you span it and that the others all appeared ok. The belt was forced off by the two of us and is totally unusable. Thankfully I had saved the belt from the last service and had bought that with me – that is why I purchased the long spanner to change it. However, there was no point in currently fitting it with a seized up alternator as that would cook that one too. I looked up the part number on the fantastic LR Workshop website and informed the Daniel of the part number. He said that if they had one in Inverness at the supply shop they used, then he would have it at his garage by 2:30pm the next day. He is based in Castletown, the first place outside Thurso towards John O Groats. But the issue is that our ferry is to depart tomorrow at 12:30pm with check in at 11:30am. I asked him if I could drive it to the hotel car park as I had seen another car park for the hotel walking down and a possible place to leave the Landrover. He said that it would be ok to drive the short distance as it wouldn’t over heat. The problem is a known issue with overheating on 300tdi’s with any minor coolant issues. With the water pump is on the auxiliary belt system, I knew that this would mean no water circulation and I didn’t want the head overheating resulting in head warping.
The next problem I hadn’t considered was that the power steering pump is also on the auxiliary belt system (that doesn’t have a belt on now) and that trying to turn the Landrover without PAS was not easy. I managed to get to the car park only to discover that the space I had seen was now no longer available. I drove round the block to the original car park and thankfully there was a space available. I discovered too that when reversing, the steering is harder than going forward without any power steering.
Broken and parked up for the night
I joined Helen in the hotel room at 8:40pm and I am hoping that the part is obtainable or it will have been an expensive trip to Thurso. I watched the football match that night on my tablet before finally going to bed at 10:30pm.
Let’s see what tomorrow brings!
Route and elevation for Day 2
400 miles traveled on the speedometer.