# Over Ambitious??



## edd8ok (Feb 18, 2006)

Hi All

Reference my last post with regards to having to replace the engine in "The Bus" due to engine seizure, I should at some stage tomorrow know the way in which I'm to go forward. 

The options were; Second hand engine; New Long engine.

That aside it left me wondering about our itinerary.

The plan is that we board our ferry in Portsmouth for Santander October 8th 2013 and slowly work are way through Portugal into Southern Spain where we were intending to remain until just after christmas.

From there we were going to head slowly up the eastern side of Spain, into the south of France, Italy etc with our ultimate destination being Southern Bulgaria where we had hoped to spend some time "House Hunting". Are intention was to return to the UK towards the end of March 2014.

The mileage involved in making this round trip was circa 5,000 and that was without taking into consideration any major off route swarees.

It would now seem that I may have lost a little confidence in the "Buses" capabilities and that the fact that as we speak we are engineless isn't helping matters.

The reasoning behind our agenda was to hopefully catch the best of the weather in Portugal/Spain prior to their winter before going north to the less attractive temperatures of Central Europe which is going to be a first for us.

The relative straightforward and better quality(?) of roads during the pre christmas part of the trip I have no real problem with. Its when we hit the relatively unknown to us roads, post Italy, of Central Europe across to Bulgaria that is causing me the worry. Any of you with experience of that route please feel free to advise and suggest.

5000+ miles in any untried and untested vehicle would be a quite unnerving under normal circumstances but having had to reduce our trip budget to account for the pre-trip engine fiasco has left us feeling a little "financially vulnerable" in the event any further major mechanical surprises.

I keep trying to convince myself that my sense of adventure is still very healthy but t's tough at times.

Any input on any aspects of this post would be appreciated and welcomed.

I guess the bottom line is that I'm asking how you feel as to whether this trip is becoming a little over ambitious.

5000+ miles in 6 months or shorten the trip and if we were to shorten the trip how would we do it? Go for the couple of months of better weather or head straight for the colder climes of C.Europe and do some house hunting????

Thank You

Eddy, Lynda, Maggie the Springer and Button the Mad Working Cocker


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

5k in 6 months seems rather leisurely to me, only a couple of hundred miles per week, I could do that in 1 month around Scotland, so not over ambitious at all, I'm not one for sitting still, but my fuel bills would be a lot less than yours I imagine.

Re the engine I hope all goes well with whatever cure you opt for.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

I would have it repaired and test it with a good run here in the UK before crossing. Keeping a close eye on temperature and oil pressure. If you don't have an oil pressure gauge I would have one fitted. A good day or two of long motorway runs should reveal and problems and you can always be recovered to your repairer if anything does go wrong.

Modern engines are generally quite reliable. I think you have just been unlucky but it would be nice to know what caused your problem, Alan.


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