We are having a smashing time in the Dordogne!
18 days and 800 miles and all is going well! We are driving through the Dordogne on a particularly hilly section winding our way up and down the road to our chosen camp site for the night. We are on a downhill section, but I'm keeping it slow; 3rd gear and under 20mph. As we go round a left hand bend I notice a wing mirror making its way towards us. I am vaguely aware somewhere in my brain that there is a great big motor-home attached to the wing mirror, somewhere on the the other side of the road. But at that precise moment in time that was not very interesting. What was very interesting was the very large wing mirror which was most certainly on my side of the road and rapidly approaching.
Now, we weigh in at just over 3 tonnes. And just over 3 tonnes going down hill at 20 miles an hour in the middle of a left hand bend has its course pretty well set. There was not much I could do.....
Still, wing mirror was gliding slowly out of my peripheral vision, sliding slowly past..... I wonder if we will make it....... a tenth of second passed and... nothing. Hmmmm, might be OK..... 2 more gloriously uneventful tenths of a second passed, I wonder if......... a split second later Wallop!!! A mighty explosion indeed!! One last wonderfully quiet tenth of a second snuck past trying not to be noticed.... I scan the van – all seems OK, until; I became aware of several things at once: had to finish driving round the corner, missing wing mirror, someone was screaming...... There is a passing place on the right half way down the next section, a few hundred meters away...... Indicate, work my way down through the gears, talk to wife and start calming her down.... Parked! Emergency lights on!!! OK, ¾ of the van is parked, the rest people will get round – it is suddenly a very quiet road – empty in fact!!!! Now Breath........
Wife is covered in shattered mirror and bits of plastic. Quick scan reveals the van seems fine, but notice some bleeding – that would be wife, damn! I am throwing bits of broken mirror out of the window, I then get out and basically sweep her off on the the road, then move her to the back of the van. We role her clothes of to trap the glass in it and keep it off the floor. She has a cut to her upper arm, only a couple of inches long, and not too deep, but it needs the first aid kit to patch her up.
I sweep out the front of the van. The glass came in as wife had her window open, and I even find some between the drivers pedals. We get going again soon enough, and 20 minutes later we arrive at our camp site. Wife showers to get rid of the glass which is still pretty much all over her. I clean the cab and van out again, and chill for a bit. It is 25 Degrees at least, so we are hot too. I dress Wife's wound when she is finished in the shower, and head for the bar! Beer and Pizza for dinner tonight, while we realise what a close scrape we managed to come through, relatively unscathed. I have moved the wing mirror from my side of the van to replace the broken one – there is no way you can drive on the right with no mirror on the left, especially in a right hand drive vehicle.
It's next morning now. We are both OK, and enjoying 25 plus degrees and cloudless blue skies. We have decided to have a second night here in the Dordogne before we go to visit some magnificent caves and tunnels tomorrow. After that I want to head for the coast, and some wider roads!!!
Anyone know where I can get a replacement wing mirror for a 1990 Merc 208D mid France? We are heading West and then South from here.
18 days and 800 miles and all is going well! We are driving through the Dordogne on a particularly hilly section winding our way up and down the road to our chosen camp site for the night. We are on a downhill section, but I'm keeping it slow; 3rd gear and under 20mph. As we go round a left hand bend I notice a wing mirror making its way towards us. I am vaguely aware somewhere in my brain that there is a great big motor-home attached to the wing mirror, somewhere on the the other side of the road. But at that precise moment in time that was not very interesting. What was very interesting was the very large wing mirror which was most certainly on my side of the road and rapidly approaching.
Now, we weigh in at just over 3 tonnes. And just over 3 tonnes going down hill at 20 miles an hour in the middle of a left hand bend has its course pretty well set. There was not much I could do.....
Still, wing mirror was gliding slowly out of my peripheral vision, sliding slowly past..... I wonder if we will make it....... a tenth of second passed and... nothing. Hmmmm, might be OK..... 2 more gloriously uneventful tenths of a second passed, I wonder if......... a split second later Wallop!!! A mighty explosion indeed!! One last wonderfully quiet tenth of a second snuck past trying not to be noticed.... I scan the van – all seems OK, until; I became aware of several things at once: had to finish driving round the corner, missing wing mirror, someone was screaming...... There is a passing place on the right half way down the next section, a few hundred meters away...... Indicate, work my way down through the gears, talk to wife and start calming her down.... Parked! Emergency lights on!!! OK, ¾ of the van is parked, the rest people will get round – it is suddenly a very quiet road – empty in fact!!!! Now Breath........
Wife is covered in shattered mirror and bits of plastic. Quick scan reveals the van seems fine, but notice some bleeding – that would be wife, damn! I am throwing bits of broken mirror out of the window, I then get out and basically sweep her off on the the road, then move her to the back of the van. We role her clothes of to trap the glass in it and keep it off the floor. She has a cut to her upper arm, only a couple of inches long, and not too deep, but it needs the first aid kit to patch her up.
I sweep out the front of the van. The glass came in as wife had her window open, and I even find some between the drivers pedals. We get going again soon enough, and 20 minutes later we arrive at our camp site. Wife showers to get rid of the glass which is still pretty much all over her. I clean the cab and van out again, and chill for a bit. It is 25 Degrees at least, so we are hot too. I dress Wife's wound when she is finished in the shower, and head for the bar! Beer and Pizza for dinner tonight, while we realise what a close scrape we managed to come through, relatively unscathed. I have moved the wing mirror from my side of the van to replace the broken one – there is no way you can drive on the right with no mirror on the left, especially in a right hand drive vehicle.
It's next morning now. We are both OK, and enjoying 25 plus degrees and cloudless blue skies. We have decided to have a second night here in the Dordogne before we go to visit some magnificent caves and tunnels tomorrow. After that I want to head for the coast, and some wider roads!!!
Anyone know where I can get a replacement wing mirror for a 1990 Merc 208D mid France? We are heading West and then South from here.
