A Good Job..

A couple of posts ago I mentioned the minor rear shunt I had whilst hitching up Eva to the tow ball on the car.
There was no damage to Eva but the cars rear bumper ended up with a nice dent.....
I wrote that I was taking the car to a PDR (paintless dent removal) workshop and I did this a couple of days ago....
The before and after images can be seen below......

Before PDR

After PDR

 I would say that is a pretty good job especially when you consider the car was only at the workshop for an hour and the repair only cost a fraction of a new lower bumper which is the route the Honda main dealer wanted to take.....
My lesson learned is that I need to be more careful in the future when I hitch up....... 
As Anne said "You've got a motor mover so use it"

Dropped..!!!

Yesterday my mate Jason rode over to the Touring site from his home in Totton near Southampton.....
The plan was that he would ride over to me....we would than go for a thirty mile ride out from here and then following that he would ride back home......

He arrived here slightly ahead of his schedule having covered the 24 miles from home quicker than he had anticipated...

I have been bike riding with Jason since about 2008...in fact he was the first on the scene after I crashed at the end of our Atlantic Coast Challenge Ride down the French Coast to Spain back in 2009....

This past year he has been putting in some serious distance riding/training and it really does show in his current performance....
During our ride he dropped me everywhere... highlighting the effort he has been putting in and the lack of effort that I have managed to achieve over the winter.....

I can't remember any time during our riding together over the years when Jason has managed to drop me with such ease... so all credit to him for the leap forward in his cycling performance level.....
It just goes to show what can be achieved if you are prepared to put the mileage in.....

It was great riding out with him again and I look forward to our next ride together....
By the time he had returned home his total mileage was north of eighty miles.....
I also know that he added another fifty three miles to that again today....

Below are some pictures that Jason took during our ride....

Coffee and Cake Stop at the Chettle Village Stores

The Old and the New.... Jason wanted to swap his Felt for this Advertising Cargo Bike

Jason's Felt in the Foreground and my Tifosi against the Signpost

It Had To Happen One Day.....

Well the journey up from Devon went well and was without incident...... We had expected heavy rain all day but as it turned out we just had the odd light shower.... The trip only took just under three hours...we left the Okehampton site at about 1015hrs and we arrived here at Verwood New Forest at 1300hrs...

As I said the journey was without incident.... but maybe that was because the incident occurred before we left....
I was reversing towards Eva the Eriba in order to hitch up and for some reason I went too fast and failed to stop until after my car had made contact (with a bang) with the tow hitch....

All I can say is that I must have disengaged my brain before starting the manoeuvre....
 I usually ease the car back slowly to within a foot or two of the hitch and then use the motor mover on the caravan to complete the coupling of the ball and hitch.... 
I have no idea why I changed my normal procedure on Monday morning.... As Anne said "That was so unlike you as you are normally so careful- almost painfully so...I don't know what came over you ."

Anyway nobody was hurt..Eva the Eriba wasn't damaged and the only damage incurred was to the lower area of the cars plastic bumper. See Below:-

Bumper Damage is on the left

Close-up of the impact damage.

In the past whenever my cars have sustained parking dents etc on the metal panels I have used PDR (paintless dent repair) companies and I must say I have been impressed with the invisible and high quality finish achieved.... I have always found it amazing to watch the PDR operative remove a dent using a couple of shaped metal rods and a mirror....

Anyway the dealer who supplied my Honda CRV has given me the details of a guy that does similar PDR work on plastic bumpers etc. 
Today I popped over to his workshop in the Bournemouth area and I booked the car in for next Monday morning......
It will be interesting to see what the results will be like using PDR systems on plastic......
I will obviously post the results here on the blog......
  

It's That Time Again.....

After our thirteen day stay at our touring site near Okehampton it's that time again....
Time again to move on to our next site......
We will miss looking out of our window at the small lake here and we will also miss watching the wildlife that live around the lakeside area....

The view from Eva the Eriba

We have seen Moorhen...Canada Geese....Ducks with ducklings...... Carp....Tadpoles...Buzzard.... House Martins and more.....

Watching their daily comings and goings has occupied a lot of our time here and I must say we have had a very interesting and restful stay.....

Our next location will be back in Dorset and will be a bit more hectic I think....

As well as meeting up with family and friends.....

I have three medical appointments.... The awning needs to go to the tent makers for a repair on the front window.... Eva the Eriba has to go to the dealers for her annual service and water ingress test..... I also intend getting out on the bike riding some of my favourite cycle routes in the area.....

Still we will be at our next location for 28 days so hopefully there will be enough time and good weather to fit everything in......