AK mini drive out day to Stocbridge and Leckford

AK Stockbridge drive out May 14

5 of us headed out for a mini-drive out yesterday and Robbie turned up to say hi and see us off in his lovely 'Roman Trades pick up'.

We braved the grey start to the day but it soon brightened up into a lovely, sunny but windy afternoon. But as you can see from the first couple of pics the day didn't get off to such a  great start from a van viewpoint either.

Ron and Linda turned up first, but by the time we got there Ron already had got the back jacked up to check out the rear axle. Sounds like more IRS and rear axle problems and no doubt he will update us as soon as he is able to get Pete or Kev to inspect the problems and suggest a fix. Check out the forum for updates from Ron.

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Anyway, long story short Ron called for recovery and we all sheltered in and around his van whilst we waited for them to turn up. To be honest they were really quite quick (a local recovery driver) and by the time we had chatted with Robby and Owen  Ron had recovery there.

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So his poor van was soon up on the low loader and we took the by now obligatory 'Poor Ron with his van broken down pics'. I must admit I wasn't going to but he did, so I did for the story.

We followed the van home, got it put away, had coffee / biscuits and were soon out for the slightly delayed drive out.

We cruised out from Andover and onto the beautiful Leckford Estate, historic home to John Lewis and now owned by Waitrose. The scenic drive there and back was just perfect on the sunny, country roads and really not for away at all.

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We had a lovely afternoon. It was hard to believe we were less than 15 miles from Andover. We had cream teas at the estate farm shot, checked out the estate, farm shop and garden centre.

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We then did a loop back through Leckford, Stockbridge and back via the Clatfords.

Once we got back we chilled with Ron and Linda for a while, pooped to see Daz and Lisa, Ceara and Kimberley and then went for carvery to avoid cooking.

As we put the van away and got ready for work we remarked what a social, relaxed and chilled afternoon it had been. Even Ron, whose afternoon started with a recovery chilled and had a good time. We also managed to put a fair bit of planning time into future AK and friends drive out days. But more on that elsewhere.

Good write up Carl on the day out, braking down again seems to annoy me less and less as it's beginning to be a regular occurrence lol, Bus being collected by low loader Tuesday am to journey all of 2 miles to Peter Howard's garage, updates on cause/repair later tomorrow, I am hoping just the rear bearing is shot and an easy fix, to be fair Peter did tell me it was on its way out prior to leaving for Vicky farm but hey I just needed to get there and back so the bearing served it's purpose and luckily it went whilst still in Andover, I digress too much, many thanks to you Helen, Owen for allowing me to travel in his impressive bus and Linda, had a chilled time in the sunshine, bring on our future trips out.

Ps Brian's guys in Basingstoke happy to tag along on one of our ventures.

Ron

Just edited it to include the full write up but it took me a bit longer to get the pictures in. Thanks to Daz for the note on how to put the images in. I used to use Photobucket, but it has all changed since we did Forum pics in the winter and I had to re-learn it.

Anyway enough for tonight. Off to bed now as have a busy week. And tomorrow I'll share some of our joint ideas on AK and Friends drive out days.

Cheers Ron for the comments and update 

Great write up Carl..Ron, hope your van is not too tough to fix.  I just replaced all the boots on mine following the incident on the A34 last week. 
Cream teas at the garden centre = living the dream eh?

Sounded like a good day out, hopefully I will be able to make the next one.  

Great pictures and write up shame about your van Ron hope you get it sorted soon.

Daz