It was a big day for Kilo Golf Alpha, who would be hauling us North 400 miles to Yorkshire, via the Western Lake District. The plan was a week off work for some familial house-sitting and - as the house comes with garage - some solid time spent tinkering.
There were complications pulling out of a supermarket where we'd stocked up with supplies for the journey. Steering suddenly became very stiff as I reversed out of parking space and needed some serious wrenching to get the wheel around. I should have stopped there and examined things, but the steering lightened up almost immediately, so we headed on our blissful way with a tankful of petrol.
I hadn't realised that the stiffness was caused by the wiring loom to the new alternator getting wrapped around the steering column. The wrenching action pulled both leads out of their connections and left us without charge. The red light which should have told us there was no charge didn't, because the cable which powers it had been wrenched out of the alternator...
We drove merrily unawares up the M25 and M6, with no noticeable problems. Weather was foul though, and we had lights, wipers and heater going full blast. Eventually - some 200 miles in - the wipers started getting slower and slower, so the heater and light came off, but the wipers still slowed.
We pulled in at the next services where I found the dangling wires. Some emergency electrical squeezing got everything back together but the battery was totally drained. A passer-by noticed our plight, offered his very kind assistance and with a shove got us going again.
After another hour we needed to stop for petrol, but the fast motorway run had charged the battery and all was well. Many thanks to our unknown friend whose help was very, very much appreciated.
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