On the way - heading west to Wales

I decided to split the journey out to Ireland, partly due to ferry times, partly just the distances involved, around 200-250 miles a day is a maintainable schedule, any more than that and fatigue starts to catch up with me. I'm also camping to make things a little interesting and keep the overall costs under control - the ferry to Ireland is somewhat steep!

No point rushing across the country to try and catch the ferry, especially on a Friday when I know I'm going to hit traffic at some point.

Lunch

No rush required, so the route is mostly avoiding motorways, lunchtime stop at a random pub in Wiltshire. The Royal Oak Wootton Rivers was ideal - quiet enough for a peaceful lunch after the noise of the road.

After lunch same approach - heading roughly west - satnav setup to avoid motorways. All good until I forgot what a traffic blackspot Gloucester is! Stuck in slow traffic for some time.

Cwmcarn campsite

Arrived at the Cwmcarn forest campsite just as the office was closing, but all pre-booked so no problem finding the pitch and setting up for my first night under canvas in probably 15-20 years. I remember why I enjoyed camping before - everything is pared down to its minimum requirement - no fuss.

A little enjoyable messing with the pressure stove and minutes later all set with a cup of tea while dinner cooks.

Car problems

After eating, my first issue to solve.

When the car was hot I the gearbox was crashing on selection of first and reverse. Especially reverse. 

I posted on the Zero facebook group to hopefully gather some insight/ideas, and in the meantime adjusted the clutch cable - i.e. simplest thing first, if the clutch was dragging that might show the symptoms I was seeing.

Then a wander around the campsite - losing the light now - nice and relaxed.

Camping is fantastic for getting tuned into the planet a little and synced up to natural sunset/sunrise to turn in and wake up.

All good so far, the gearbox problems are not showstoppers, my thinking was - worst case I can pull away in 2nd, and reverse only gets awkward when parking.