Our second big trip of the year, to Gaydon via Ashwell, near Baldock, to drop off the estate’s gearbox for rebuilding.
As with the trip down to Cornwall the other month, this trip was to be during another heatwave. But we were taking the Herald/Viking combo…
With the rear seat of the Herald removed and put in the caravan, and the estate gearbox loaded in its place, the caravan hitched, and we were off. A nice easy run with the roof down, we arrived at Ashwell after a couple of hours. Grateful to have been breaking the journey to Gaydon in two. After unhitching at the campsite, we dropped off the gearbox at the repairers and officially switched into relaxation mode for a few days.
As the temperatures climbed up to the 30s, keeping cool came to be the name of the game. Paul made the mistake of falling asleep in the shade for the sun to come round the caravan and burn his legs while his eyes were closed. The coolest spot in the village turned out to be the natural spring (the source of the River Cam). 
Christina enjoyed a civilised paddle, while Paul got collateral-damaged by a young girl engaged in a high-stakes water fight with her friends. We also took the Herald out for a trip to Hitchin, where it seemed to enjoy not having the weight of the gearbox or the caravan on the back to contend with.
On the Friday when it was time to leave, we had cameras both sides of us which, while nice to be appreciated, did make us feel a bit self-conscious. The temperature was in the low 30s and, not wanting to be towing in the heat of the day, we arranged to stop mid-way at Bletchley Park to spend the majority of the day. A fascinating place with lots to do, although it was too hot to do it justice. We vowed to come back in the autumn for a proper visit (the ticket allowed for repeat visits). While on the way there, we had a call for help at Gaydon so didn’t stay as long as we intended and ended up leaving in the heat of the day…
All was good until around 30 minutes from Gaydon when the car seemed to be getting especially hot and started to stutter as we went up a hill. I did start to feel a bit guilty putting the Herald through it. After a couple of minutes it seemed to clear, but I took it as a bit of a moan that I was pushing her too hard in the heat. But she made it!
Thankfully most of the heavy work was done by the time we arrived, and it wasn’t long before we were set up and having a good natter to the other campers.
Friday night Paul went to take a look at the bar and didn’t get back to the caravan until quite late, but it was very nice (and at £3.33 a pint, cheap beer) apparently.
The fridge seemed to be having trouble keeping cool in the heat with the milk going off pretty quickly and the spread being runny, so on Saturday, while there was a drive out organised we decided to go for a short run out to make sure the Herald was behaving itself along with topping up with petrol and buying a few supplies, and again seemed to enjoy not having the caravan to hold it back.
Saturday night was the party night, and we splashed out and bought dinner (a great deal at the same £3.33 a portion, and very nice it was too). So they could finish before the England game, the band came on early, and while the first set was a bit empty, by the time the second set started the tables were full, and it wasn’t long before the dancing started. Not being overly fussed with the football, we retired reasonably early and let the others watch it on the big screen.
Sunday was the day of the BMC/BL Day and while tempted to take the caravan down to the display area, decided against it and just took the Herald down and then gave a hand getting the shop up and the marquee down.
We had a look around the museum, as last time, the most interesting place is where they keep the cars that aren’t on exhibit, upstairs above the red Jaguars. Lots of interesting stuff packed into what is, in effect, a car park of rare cars.
We decided to gamble on doing the journey home in a single run, crossing our fingers that the Herald wouldn’t hold a three-hour drive against us. Leaving around 4 (with a quick pitstop near Cambridge), we rolled into our driveway before 8 in the evening without a single hiccup. If only we could get the estate to behave the same…
A tip for the hot weather was to take the demister tubes off and direct them to the footwells, which helped stop our feet from overheating.
