It took a while to get off the ferry in Rosslare. Once off the next step was passport control where a Garda officer asked us to wait out of the line because we didn't have EU passports. However, this turned out to be just until the chap with the correct stamp could mark them. Then it was to customs control. The lady there asked in disbelief if I'd brought the car all the way from Australia. I could see she was thinking that she should really ask the difficult questions and perhaps inspect the car but instead she smiled and said "Oh go on then".
We drove the Wexford and stopped for lunch and internet at MacDonald's. From there I tried a couple of shops for flasher units getting one at a tractor shop. Then it was a fairly easy drive to Wicklow where it took a long time to get a SIM card for my telephone so that I could call Philip and Marjorie Mold who we were planning on visiting. Marjorie is a relative of my mothers. We arranged for Philip to guide me up to their house from Enniskerry village.
There we were welcomed by Marjorie and one of her daughters and grandchildren. Over the afternoon the families of their three children came. I wont try to name them all as I'm bound to get it all wrong. My two boys joined in with the grandchildren and had a great time exploring the grounds and playing on bikes.
Then next day Philip and I got some radiator flush and tried unsuccessfully to get another flasher unit as the first had already burned out. I also bought a SIM card for the tablet computer in Bray. After lunch we gave the radiator a good clean out with a pressure cleaner and put the cleaning agent in.
On the Wednesday, the boys and I took a train into Dublin. We wanted to buy wetsuits and buoyancy vests for the sailing next week. It took a while to find the first pair of shops who's wetsuits were adequate but not comfortable. Then we had lunch and bought tickets for a tour later in the afternoon. We then got back on the train and headed to Sutton where there is a dinghy staining supplier. To get to the shop we were advised by a couple of old men that the best way would be to scale the cemetery wall and go up to the main road. They advised the boys to be quiet in the cemetery as they didn't want to wake those resting.
The chap at the shop, Shane, had already left the shop but another customer persuaded him to open up again to sell him something so we came in as well. Shane knew exactly what we wanted and soon had us trying on wetsuits that were just as warm but more flexible than those we had tried before. These were more expensive than those in Dublin but not by so much. I also got some rope for a jib sheet, a snap shackle and four ordinary shackles in case we needed them and Shane popped in some 2mm spectra and insulation tape before dropping us back k at the train station..
We were running late for the bus tour by the time the train returned to Dublin. We rushed back to the pick up point and made it with perhaps a minute to spare. The tour is called Viking splash tours and instead of busses they are conducted in world war two American amphibious vehicles. Everyone in the bus has to wear a Viking horned hat and the first thing the tour guide does is instruct us on how to do the Viking roar which we do, on his command, at unsuspecting pedestrians and cafe patrons throughout the city. The commentary is fun but the highlight of the trip is taking the vehicle into the water. This is done at a man made basin that lies between the Grand Canal and the River Liffey. It doesn't last long but its fun. From there we walked back to catch the train to Bray where Philip kindly brought us back.
We drained out the radiator cleaning agent and flushed it out with the pressure cleaner. We hoped to see lots of scale or sludge as this would explain the overheating. There was some but not that much. I then started fiddling with the indicators. I replaced all of the bulbs in case there were causing too much resistance but the problem persisted. On checking the wiring I found that the bullet connection used on the front right side had been replaced by modern crimp on connectors. These don't quite fit into the old sockets and so the connection had only been held together by the rubber surrounding the socket. I will replace this with a spade connection and see if it solves anything.
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