Arrived at Santa Luzia, Portugal

Sunday 17/07/22

What should have been a relatively easy 4-hour journey to the house sit turned into an all-day ordeal with Bokkie misbehaving (not her fault, really).  As we turned in for our first rest stop I found the brake pedal offered no resistance and dropped to the floor, something I had noticed briefly on one of the long legs through the mountains the previous day.  Luckily, pumping the pedal reinstated the pressure and we could stop safely but there was obviously a problem.  I checked all the wheels and found the one left wheel was scorching hot.  

Talking of scorched, some of the recent fires, still smouldering, were quite a grim sight.

I had replaced one of the rear bearing in the UK but now the other wheel seemed to have an issue, either another bearing failure or a binding brake but repairing at the roadside in the intense heat was not an option.  Unfortunately it was compounded by the fact that the wheel has the exhaust just in front of it and was facing the sun most of the time.  

We resorted to driving 50km at a time and then stopping to douse the wheel with water, waiting for it to cool sufficiently and then repeating.  It meant we ended up driving through the heat of the day which we had hoped to avoid, and spent a lot of time in motorway services, gently boiling in Bokkie!

Bokkie has no air conditioning so we resort to old-school methods.
Windows open, dashboard fan and a water spray bottle.

It was slow, difficult going and once we were about 12km from the house, along the smaller, rougher roads, the intermittent limp-mode problem resurfaced.  It got so bad that when we turned onto the long, dirt access road we thought we might have to abandon Bokkie and walk the final stretch.  I switched her off, had a few words and tried again, managing to limp the last mile to the house.

Definitely some work to be done before our return trip.

The area is desperately dry and has been scorched by the heat wave but the horses are all fine and we are joined by Molly, a stray cat that has made itself at home at the house during the previous sitters' tenancy.  It's nice to have some company but she is super-talkative, and does take away from the peace and tranquillity a bit.

Molly, our guard-cat.  We might re-name her Skollie!

It's lovely to be back here; hopefully it cools down a little and we settle into a routine in this lovely place.