Or get a large chess piece set. 
General Murphio's Meanderings
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General Murphio's Meanderings
OP
OP
Or get a large chess piece set.
Quite appropriate as the current hood is letting in draughts!
We are on the middle of a two day journey of almost 300 miles. This is mainly on the minor roads which are the most direct routes to the top, centre of the Scottish mainland. I know a "shortcut" from Helmsdale along the most obscure and most minor road through a place called Glen Loth. There is a sign warning that the snowplough and gritter never go through. Only one vehicle had been ahead of me, but it was a sunny day and the snow was soft. Murf amazed me with the good grip and handling. But as the road got higher I chickened out....bad memories with the modern a few weeks ago. The photo is taken by phone from the back of my proper camera, so poor quality, but you get the drift!
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OP
OP
It's not me it's Murf! I had to doff my own cap today. I had an unusual constant headache. Finally worked out that it was putting pressure on my temples Someone's going to be annoyed when I tell them the cap doesn't fit.
It was a birthday present and handy with the sunroof open in February.
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the hobbler
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It doesn't surprise me that Pete got as far as he did with the 500. As a 'callow yoof' doing his apprenticeship, all I could afford was a 500D, followed by a 500F when I started 'proper' work. We lived in North-west Kent, which often got snow, and as long as the underside of the car only left a slight pattern in the snow, the 500 would get through! A case of skinny tyres and the engine weight over the tyres. I even won a pint of beer one Christmas day by repeating my run up the hill to the local pub and parking at the top, passing a lot of my mates cars that were stuck at various stages up the hill--and to win the pint I had to do a standing start at the bottom of the hill (I had some momentum on my initial run up the hill)---my 19stone mate was bouncing up and down quite enthusiastically in the back on the last part of the hill, but the 'wee beastie' made it, much to the chagrin of all my mates with more powerful cars--and that beer tasted mighty good!
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OP
I ended up using the rocking technique today when I was doing a U-turn on a narrow road and the back wheels went slightly into some thawing peat.
We made it back home covering 310 miles in two days and using about six gallons of petrol. Murf is happiest when scooting along after hours of driving at 50mph
We had lots of that but with satnav stuck on kilometres it was a bit daunting to see 156 of them ahead of me.
It was -3 C last night so the engine took a few spins to get going. The rubber washer button froze solid as there mustn't be enough additive in it.
It was a superb day spent mainly around the Kyle of Tongue which has fabulous scenery
The car is now desperately needing a clean but I have more work tomorrow and may even take Murf on another journey of almost 200 miles.
We made it back home covering 310 miles in two days and using about six gallons of petrol. Murf is happiest when scooting along after hours of driving at 50mph
We had lots of that but with satnav stuck on kilometres it was a bit daunting to see 156 of them ahead of me.
It was -3 C last night so the engine took a few spins to get going. The rubber washer button froze solid as there mustn't be enough additive in it.
It was a superb day spent mainly around the Kyle of Tongue which has fabulous scenery
The car is now desperately needing a clean but I have more work tomorrow and may even take Murf on another journey of almost 200 miles.
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OP
OP
An added bonus is that the car now seems to be sitting straight at the back. Yesterday there was a heck of a cracking sound under the car which I took to be a large stone hitting the floor. If it was then I don't know where it came from on the smooth road. But I think my messing about has loosened something and somehow everything has fallen into place.
More pics
More pics
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OP
OP
I did go to Ardaneaskan today, which is 80 miles west. We took a diversion up my favourite Alpine pass, the Bealach Na Ba. This time we made it round the hairpins in 2nd gear and I have some dashcam footage to prove it.
Also suffered our first puncture.
A lovely old lady (well, older than me) even offered to take me to the garage and to make me a cup.of tea.
A happy day.
Also suffered our first puncture.
A lovely old lady (well, older than me) even offered to take me to the garage and to make me a cup.of tea.
A happy day.
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Certainly clocking up the miles and great scenery. I am beginning to wonder whether Murf actually exists and you are fooling us by carrying a model of a 500 around in your pocket and taking photos of it???? Surely that's a Dinky Toy 500 in the picture above???
Do you run tubes or tubeless Peter?
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OP
It's just that the Kyle of Tongue and Beinn Hope are exceptionally big, as is the car park.It's really quiet on these roads before the tourist season and when even many local folk are a bit wary of potential road conditions.
The only thing is that Murf is now flavoured like a salted peanut and needs a thorough scrub this week.
I wish I had proper internet (I hate you Openreach) so I could upload my video of the great ascent. Who else would drive up the most challenging road in Britain and then straight back down again, just to have done it?
Murf is one of the 5 and a half million best cars ever built.
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OP
OP
Peter,
have you tried converting your video?
I use a free program called handbrake
It allows you to reduce the size of the file and converts it to a video format that loads quicker on youtube
have you tried converting your video?
I use a free program called handbrake
It allows you to reduce the size of the file and converts it to a video format that loads quicker on youtube
OP
OP
By the way, the mountain the Fiat is looking at from the car park is Ben Loyal...I don't know where the other name came from.
The tyres have tubes so I can fix them myself. I think I might have had the puncture for half of the day as I had earlier decided the wheels needed balancing as a sight vibration (now gone) had setup. Also, on the tightest and steepest hairpin corner of the hill I had a lovely moment when the wheel later found to be punctured spun on the tarmac, rally style...it was probably already half flat.
I'll try to upload the video on the neighbour's internet. I have about 20 mins of fun footage and it's hard to know where to edit, so maybe I'll just upload the full five mins on the steepest bit. Even compressed to phone size it would be quite an upload.
The tyres have tubes so I can fix them myself. I think I might have had the puncture for half of the day as I had earlier decided the wheels needed balancing as a sight vibration (now gone) had setup. Also, on the tightest and steepest hairpin corner of the hill I had a lovely moment when the wheel later found to be punctured spun on the tarmac, rally style...it was probably already half flat.
I'll try to upload the video on the neighbour's internet. I have about 20 mins of fun footage and it's hard to know where to edit, so maybe I'll just upload the full five mins on the steepest bit. Even compressed to phone size it would be quite an upload.
OP
OP
I did some random editing and had to compress it a lot. I guess it plays best on a phone.
[ame]https://youtu.be/2pDXpCM12Og[/ame]
[ame]https://youtu.be/2pDXpCM12Og[/ame]
I have days like that when you get so far and remember you forgot something and turn around and go all the way back.
Great video and Murphio sounds great.
Great video and Murphio sounds great.
OP
OP
.....we just went up there because it was there. Could have gone on for miles but I had to remember, I was at work and had an appointment later.
He does sound good..... the new, standard exhaust helps, but he just putt-putts away all day and instantly goes to a perfect steady tick over when stopped. The engine seems (accidentally) very well balanced.