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121 lines
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<title>1988: Cambridge Underground report</title>
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<center><font size=-1>Cambridge Underground 1989 pp 15-17</font>
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<h2>Homeward bound (I wish I was) or. A Rover's Return</h2>
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<h3>by Tina White (and Mike Richardson a bit)</h3>
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<p>Featuring: Rover the Rover (age 32)<br>
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and: Little Min (age 14)</center>
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<p>We waved at each other cheerily as we left Gasthof Staud'n'wirt, thinking
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"we've got plenty of time, we might even get an earlier ferry!". Little Min
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was the first to have problems. The milo was dead, the speedo was dead, as
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was the fuel gauge and the temp gauge. We had an instrument-free panel. This,
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combined with a small, leaky petrol tank was not good. Little Min did her
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best but that wasn't good enough when the drivers kept overestimating how
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much petrol was left. Also, German autobahns sometimes leave awfully large
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gaps between petrol stations. Running out was OK we thought, we had two cans
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in the back. But on running dry a second time Little Min protested at being
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abused. She would not start. She was all clogged up and very heavy to push.
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<p>Then a green and cream vehicle went past. "Look," said Mike, "its Rover."
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"Nah," said Tina, "that's wishful thinking." "Oh look, its stopped, and who's
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that coming towards us?", said somebody. It was a good fairy in the shape of
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a hirsute caver who hadn't changed his underpants for three weeks. But even
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so, Adam was welcome. Little Min was bump started and with Rover travelling
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in convoy, just in case, made it to a petrol station in Luxembourg.
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"Hooray!".
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<p>It was a good job that Team Min was there because Team Rover hadn't got
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enough dosh of the right type to pay for the petrol. They'd got some French
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Francs and Deutschmarks, but the man didn't want them to pay with a
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combination. He was being awkward and demanded one denomination only. All was
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well, we bade one another guten tag and continued
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<p>Team Rover decided to slog on to the coast, hahaha! Team Min got too tired
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and kipped down for the night. The next time Little Min ran out of petrol the
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good fairies didn't arrive so we huffed and we puffed (rather, Mike did) and
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on the tenth attempt, she started. We were very tense, and considered
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changing roads, autobahns aren't made for Little Min, so off we went onto the
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B road. Luckily for Rover, we found a petrol station quickly, and
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reconsidered.
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<p>"That's Rover," said Tina, pointing to a service station car park. "Oh
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yes, and there's an axle stand under the back wheel" replied Mike. As we got
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close, we found Rover very ill. First, a big ball of flame had erupted out of
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his back wheel arch, causing Adam to decide to stop. The oil had leaked, the
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bearing had run red hot, the brake seals had failed, and brake fluid sprayed
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onto the bearing wooomph! Jared knew the French for "brakes" on the SOS
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telephone. The man who came disconnected the brake and told them to drive
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carefully. And all had gone well, until they tried to go round a corner in
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the car park, when the wheel fell off. When Team Min arrived, they had had
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breakfast and were thinking of leaving Rover and hitching home (aah, poor
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Rover).
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<p>Team Min to the rescue, drove to Dunquerque, and threw themselves on the
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mercy of a very nice French lady at the Sally Line. She must have thought us
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right idiots, coming in saying "we have a broken down Land Rover 20km away,
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what do we do?". She organised a man to move Rover, and a taxi to take us to
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the man, and she let us take Rover right up to the ramp at the ferry
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terminal. She interpreted our English to everybody. Rover only had to limp a
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few yards, with the brake shoes and drum as wheel bearings. Jared walked
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alongside to check that the wheel didn't fall off again. Amazingly, with all
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the drama we were still only four hours off schedule, but it wasn't over
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yet...
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<p>Meanwhile, back at the P&O (would you trust this ferry line?), where
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Team Rover was supposed to be, Adam tried to use his ticket. A cock-up on the
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way out meant that the vital bit was missing, and he had to buy another. We
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had wondered about getting help from P&O (sail safe, sail Sally!) because
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we thought Rover was booked on there. But in the end we thought the Sally
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Line was best 'cos it was smaller and nearer and that was worth an extra
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ferry ticket. It was a good job we did. We wouldn't have been happy Wombles
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turning up at P&O, having paid 'loads-more-money' on the recovery and
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STILL having to buy another ticket.
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<p>The RAC were called in Dunquerque. Unfortunately the RAC card got left
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there as well (take a bow, Mike). All was not lost. We rang them again in
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Folkestone using the phone no. on the RAC card that goes with the Mini. A
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little man came but he didn't do anything. He was just sent to check we
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weren't lying and had just ran out of petrol or something like that, and he
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phoned up the computer to check we really had got a card. Hours later the
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little man who does did. We were whisked back to Cambridge much faster than
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Rover is used to. Little Min had a hard job keeping up.
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<p>The story is nearly over. Only one more thing could go wrong, the
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alternator. Again we were lucky (well things could have been worse!), five
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miles from home the ignition light came on and a strange noise was heard. But
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Little Min managed to get home before she conked out which is more than can
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be said for Rover (sorry Mike).
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<hr />
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<!-- LINKS -->
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<ul id="links">
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<li>Cambridge Underground 1989,
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<a href="../../../jnl/1989/index.htm">Table of Contents</a></li>
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<li>1988 Expedition info:
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<ul>
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<li><a href="index.htm">Index</a> (more detail than in this list)</li>
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<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
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<li>Cambridge Underground Expo Report:
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<ul>
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<li><a href="report.htm">Austria 1988</a> expedition report</li>
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<li><a href="cavegd.htm">161 Description</a> to date (ie. 1988)</li>
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<li><a href="164.htm">1623/164</a> exploration</li>
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<li><a href="to1989.htm">And so to 1989</a> work for 1989 expo to date</li>
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</ul></li>
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<li><a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves & Caving Report</a></li>
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</ul></li>
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<li><a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1988">Index</a> to all publications</li>
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<li><a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a></li>
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<li><a href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a></li>
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</ul>
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