London To Brighton next week!

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aminorjourney
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Postby aminorjourney » Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:26 pm

What a brilliant day!

I even made it up to the top of Ditchling Beacon; In fact it wasn't the hill which slowed me down but the fact I was getting low on juice and wanted to keep the amps down. I reckon with a full battery I'd have been motoring up there at 30mph!

Checked the odometer when we got back and the City El did 61.7 miles today. Not bad for a car which a few weeks ago could only manage 10 miles before it conked out!

Brilliant day for everyone!
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield

EVangelist and Media Relations Coordinator, www.ZeroCarbonWorld.org
Host, www.transportevolved.com

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ChrisB
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Postby ChrisB » Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:46 am

Yep it was great to see some old faces and meet up with the new, great to see one of the C5 gang with a C5 8) I really wanted to have a better look over it Boo Boo :oops: but spent a lot of time gassing to the public about the Blingo :lol:

Actually a big thanks to Booboo for guiding us in to the marina in his C5 as Nikki seemed to have major navigation failure at the last part of the journey :lol: mind you I doubt I would have done any better :lol:

Not quite sure what happened to the so called green show :?: no sign of it when we arrived at about 4.30pm ??

Any how a great day had by all and lovely weather as well, considering how poor its been recently.

Couple of pics to wet your whistle , there were loads more taken on the day and they will appear over time I expect :wink:

The line up before we left

Image


The only problem I think we had was when Nikki after lunch desperately had the urge to climb under her EL ?? and look in the back of it, lots of cable ties where used but I'm not sure why ?? Nikki ?
Image

The ditchling hill re-charge point, the kind couple who live just off the hill have said we can borrow there side lane next year, which will make life a lot safer I feel.
Image

Waiting for batteries to charge is like watching a kettle boil, seems to take for ages as this member of the support crew was finding :lol:

Image

A fantastic day and my thanks must go to John who not only got up at some silly hour in the morning but trundled over to mine, picked up the Blingo drove to london, then drove to brighton and then re-loaded me and ran me half way back home as I had managed to grab about 60% at Brighton which meant he didnt have to come all the way to may place and saved about an hour on his journey time. Thanks John 8)

I wonder if Rob ever did get back home in his Blingo ?? he estimated he was going to get home at 5am this morning :shock: or is he still sat somewhere re-chargeing ?? Rob are you there :lol:

Right whats next :lol:

ChrisB
I reject reality and substitute my own !!!!!!

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aminorjourney
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Postby aminorjourney » Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:54 am

Well, the Bristol Balloon Fiesta on the 9-12 August!

It'd be great even if people came for the day to help! We're going to be very busy so will need lots of people to talk to the public :)

Then it's the Bristol Road Run. Guess I should sort out a route for that eh?

Nikki.
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield

EVangelist and Media Relations Coordinator, www.ZeroCarbonWorld.org
Host, www.transportevolved.com

http://about.me/aminorjourney/bio

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ChrisB
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Postby ChrisB » Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:14 am

Yeah cant do the Bristol one cos I'm away :cry: ah well.

I think I just saw Rob online so one presumes he did make it back then, I suspect hes getting some sleep now :lol:

ChrisB
I reject reality and substitute my own !!!!!!

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aminorjourney
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Postby aminorjourney » Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:18 am

Lol.

He made such an effort to get it there. Shame more BVS members can't put in that kind of devotion as we'd make such a bang at events if we did!


By the way, it was my car's Horn which decided to break. It's mounted on the motor housing which is a really stupid place. The metal strap holding it just got metal fatigue and died :(

I still can't believe the day. I want to do it all again! Now, how does next weekend sound?

*Grins, ducks and runs* :)
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield

EVangelist and Media Relations Coordinator, www.ZeroCarbonWorld.org
Host, www.transportevolved.com

http://about.me/aminorjourney/bio

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ChrisB
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Postby ChrisB » Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:07 am

Eh up ......so your cars got the horn eh :lol: or is that hasnt got the horn now :lol:

Ah I wondered what you where doing, Yeah I'd love to have a go at doing it on one charge, should be possible I recon as I used 50% to just beyond the midway point and then about 30-40% into Brighton.

But as John had so kindly got me there I felt it was only fair I got as much juice in as poss so he didnt have to take me all the way back home.

If I can get my braked A-frame sorted out then I'll try it next year.

ChrisB
I reject reality and substitute my own !!!!!!

arsharpe
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Postby arsharpe » Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:58 am

Hi All,

Thanks John for organising the event.
It was lovely to meet you all in person.

Everyone seemed to have a great time - including myself.

I was surprised to get home at all after dealing the catalogue of small disasters during the weekend.

Sat
-Top-up charge, before leaving for JP's, failed, so started out with 90%
-Thought I knew better than the GPS - bad move - which added about 15 extra miles.

Sun
-Charging cable blew on top-up at Clapham - lost an hours charge there - thanks Chris for fixing it.
-Underestimated the impact of the South Downs - should have listened to Chris
-The timer on the charging post finished without me realising it - lost 30 mins charging time.
-The B&B that I found that in Petworth double booked me. So I volunteered to let one of the boozing party have it when he came banging on my door 2am.
-Nearly took this guys mobile when I was grabbing my stuff - luckily he rang it just as I was leaving.
-Overly optimistic that I could get back with the extra 4 hours and combination of rain, headlights and a dodgy vacuum pump meant that I had a roadside sleep in the van until day break. Still could not make good headway even at 25 mph.
-Luckily found a haulage company open at 6am you gave me an hours top-up.
-Arrived home at 7am o/c, original ETA was Sun mid-night.
-Oh yes - then found that I had lost my credit card somewhen during this palava.

Personal things learnt - to do better next time
-Very regularly check charging situation - even better, make an alarm to warn about loss of mains before end of charge.
-Listen to people with more experience, especially Chris ;-)
-Do current measurements and impact of all accessories.
-Fix the damned vacuum pump - so it does not annoy me !
-Stop and check the GPS if it starts complaining rather than ignoring.

Personal things learnt -
-Taking a long shallow hill (I think the A23) rather than the short steep (Ditchling) hill saved hammering the batteries (Chris - I think it only had to go to mid-orange for a minute or so).
-Need a yellow rotating light
-Being on an adventurous trip like that means I get a nice hug from the missus when I got in ;-)

Thanks to everyone for allowing me to share in the 'the adventure'

Once I recover from this one, we will have to do something else.

Regards,
Rob

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qdos
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Postby qdos » Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:15 am

Great to hear you are as mad as the rest of us and want to do it again! :wink:

PS I was back home in Dorchester at 9pm after enjoying every mile of the journey from Dorchester to Woking to Twickenham for a gig (I was sound engineer for the band) then back to Woking and then Clapham Common for the L2B so quite a lot of miles done in my lil' open top Zest :D oh and no GPS but I did have John the Camera for the L2B ( We still lost the route but we blame Nikki for that :wink: )
Last edited by qdos on Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:21 am, edited 2 times in total.

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ChrisB
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Postby ChrisB » Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:17 am

OMG Rob what a catalogue of disasters :cry:

I have gota admit I thought you where being quite brave attempting to do such a trip considering you have only had her 3mths or so.

But still good on ya for sticking at it and showing us how determination can win through 8)

Might have been a bit of a steep (excuse the pun) learning curve for you but it looks like it hasnt put you off............well not yet :lol:

My one thing I'm on the look out for is a cheap chinese gen set to bolt in the back so I dont have to relie on trying to find any juice :wink: Looks like Ebay is the place for that.

By the way did anyone see this http://www.brightonsunnyday.org.uk/index.php

ChrisB
I reject reality and substitute my own !!!!!!

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qdos
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Postby qdos » Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:20 am

ChrisB wrote:
By the way did anyone see this http://www.brightonsunnyday.org.uk/index.php

ChrisB


Maybe that was us ????


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