Bank Holiday Breakdown

You probably weren’t expecting two blogs in one day, but the title probably gives away the ending to this trip.

The morning started like all others, somewhat overcast, the same sweepstake as to who would be the first one up and out of bed (it was me!), taking for dog for a short meander, battening down the hatches, making coffee and getting on the road.

When Monty lost power

That all went to plan, I hopped into the drivers seat and off we went – excited for the next adventure. We had driven down a couple of gnarly B roads before joining the A39, I think we had done about 30 miles where we hit our first bit of dual carriageway and trouble.

I stuck to the slow lane, as I do in Monty, and we had climbed half the hill and we just lost power, no acceleration at all – there was no warning light, no noise, nothing.

We managed to pull over to the side as much as possible, probably still taking up half a lane and switched the engine off. We gave it a couple of minutes and tried again and still nothing. 2 minutes later still nothing… It was time to clamber out and call GreenFlag.

The dog was fantastic as we hid in the bushes on the side of a very fast road! He sat the entire time, occasionally being bribed with biscuits, but just seemed to cope with what he was being asked to do. Legend. Me on the other hand; blubbering mess!

Recovery to Quarryfield

I cannot fault GreenFlag in the slightest, we were on the side of the road for just over an hour before recovery showed up.

Plan of action was to get it loaded and take us to our campsite for the night (we had rung ahead and told them what had happened) they were really helpful and told us they would change the pitch to suit the recovery truck.

Quarryfield camp site just outside Newquay were really accommodating both on the phone and when we got here. They found us 2 pitches for the driver to pick from and were just so sympathetic to the situation.

Also want to say a huge thank you to Braefel Garage for recovering us, Brian was really great just chatting to us the entire time. Can’t complain about any service we received whatsoever – even more so with it being a bank holiday!

The difficult decision

The sun was shining and we were trapped, all plans scuppered, me still in tears, trying to figure out what had happened, how had we gone from such a high to such a low and just not knowing what to do next.

GreenFlag said that they would try to find a local garage to fix the problem the next day, however both Brian and Quarryfield confirmed that garages are packed at the moment and the likelihood of that even being a thought, was slim to nil.

We made the decision. Cut short the holiday – certainly not an easy decision to make and if it hadn’t have been a bank holiday, perhaps not one we would have had to make.

Michael set about cancelling the remaining sites we had booked before we decided to explore what was now on our doorstep.

A silver lining at Crantock Beach

If there was a ever a silver lining this was it. We found a fantastic walk down to Crantock Beach and were welcomed by these amazing scenes:

We let the dog off for a good run around, which was both needed and deserved, before following the coast round and back to the campsite, taking in all the breathtaking views and fabulous weather.

Good old fashioned fresh air certainly made us both feel better about the decision we had made and one we had started to embrace. We got back to camp, played some cards, enjoyed the sun and relaxed as much as we could.

Also took the opportunity to take some more photos of the van – which we don’t hate, this could have happened anywhere at anytime.

Tonight will just be a shower, some dinner and time off our phones to relax before we come home tomorrow. The van needs to get ready to be recovered back to our garage in Milton Keynes and we will be given a courtesy car to drive us and the dog home.

It’s a shame the holiday, the adventures and the blog were cut short so soon after it started. We are devastated, it’s been a tough decision to make and an it has been an emotionally exhausting day.

Cornwall, we don’t have the best luck with you but we will be back (mechanics depending!) soon. This is just a hiccup in a lifetime of adventure. Stay safe all.