A very bad thing happens.
We left early yesterday to get to the ferry as our gearbox was on the blink. We had been advised to take the rally route, rather than the more direct way, because there would be no mechanical support for us otherwise. Bad call. As events unfolded, we would have been far better taking our chances the other way. We started climbing and climbing, the gear box just about holding out. The top just never seemed to appear. It was 12kms of steep, steep road to the summit of the snowy mountain. What goes up must come down and that's where our real problems began. You need to use engine breaking with old cars and, with a dodgy gearbox, that was problematic. It was all a bit less than ideal. Adrian was using the brake as little as possible on the 25% gradient descent, but the worst happened and we had complete brake failure. I like to think that I am a pretty strong person. I don't get fazed easily and just like to get on with things. But, at that m...