England and Wales and Limbo

Cardiff Castle in Wales

  

Our flight from Orlando to Boston was delayed by summer storms so we wouldn't have made the connecting flight to London. We hurried to reschedule through Detroit and our second flight was also delayed. Third time being a charm we made it to JFK, but then the flight to London was also delayed. When we finally landed, we had to lug our bags through the London train stations and make it to Bristol. Overall it was over 22 hours of traveling so I was very happy Dermot had booked a hotel room for the night. If you're reading this blog for tips to travel smarter, fly direct or make sure you have a minimum of four hours between connecting flights.  😏

Still a bit foggy, we picked up the campervan the next morning but that amber "check engine" light was back on again. Cue ominous/foreshadowing music. Our Fiat Ducato was living up to its unwanted moniker “Fix It Again Tony.” During our time in Spain and Portugal, that light had gone on and off several times but it was off when we ended our trip. After some discussion we decided to risk continuing on with our trip and getting it fixed in its motherland - Italy.   

Our Cheddar campground had these as rentals.

Additionally, the business to which we had shipped sheets and other necessities purchased through Amazon UK had forgotten we had made that arrangement. That was partially solved the next day but the personal air conditioner had been delivered to the wrong address and there were a few other issues. I won't bore you with even more details except to say that everyday problems are more complicated to get "sorted," as the Brits say, while traveling.

By Sunday we had a change of heart about traveling with that engine light on and intermittently going into limp mode but that meant we needed to wait until Monday to take it to the dealer. So Sunday we tackled a few van maintenance jobs and tried to enjoy our temporary hometown of Cheddar. Often campgrounds are remote, but this one was within walking distance of a grocery store and several restaurants which made waiting easier.

This is the glorious entrance to the camp restroom.

On Monday, Fiat Service informed us that though our engine had recorded multiple problem codes, they were “old codes” and no longer useful for diagnosis. They cleared the codes and said we could either leave it with them to check on when they could (a minimum of a week) or drive it until the engine light came back on so they had an “active code” to work with.

Fiat customer waiting.

Our experience was that it could be weeks before the light came back on so we resolved to drive, baby, drive. We drove it on errands for the rest of the day, all the while just hoping that light would come on. I even tried reverse psychology - stating aloud “It sure would be terrible if that engine light came on right now.”  Nothing. 

So we set our sights on Wales and drove into Cardiff the next day. More information on Cardiff Castle.  We explored the lovely and huge park in the heart of Cardiff that also includes Cardiff Castle. 

Our photos here, click i for captions.

By Tuesday afternoon driving around aimlessly hoping something would go wrong seemed ridiculous so we booked a campsite in Dover just outside the ferry port. Excitedly, we shopped for groceries and got ready to continue our trip. Yeah!

Wednesday morning we set out for Dover, BAM! The engine light came back on. Simultaneously elated and annoyed, we turned around and headed for the dealership.  More waiting and then terrible news. They were opening a “technical case.” The dealer can't start work until Tuesday and it will probably take multiple weeks to resolve the issue.

Hence, we’ve been here a week and we're stuck in limbo. We can’t go far and we’re just waiting to hear back from Fiat to determine our options. As Charlie Brown would say “Arrrrrgh!