Scotland Trip

[dhdove]

Dear All

Libby and I have just got back from a ten day tour of Scotland. The car went magnificently (with only one small glitch - more of that later) covering a total of 1749 miles.
En route we stayed in County Durham for a few days at the Hardwicke Hall Hotel at Hesledon, allowing me to visit some old haunts.
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We also took in the Maritime Museum at Hartlepool which is well worth a visit. On the way to Hartlepool going down the A19 a van passed us beeping its horn and with a gesticulating driver "must be an XJS fan" I thought.........it was............ Mark Pearson!!! The odds of us happening to meet like that must be thousands to one - small world!
Up the A1 to Scotland stopping at the Angel of the North.
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On to South Queensferry and the Hawes Inn situated directly underneath the Forth Railway Bridge by the old ferry slipway, you can see the bridge overhead in this pic.
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That evening there was the most lovely sunset which made for a beautiful view of the bridges in the evening light.
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We toured Scotland for six days altogether ending up at the Kyle of Lochalsh for the last three via the Mallaig to Isle of Skye Ferry - here's the car jammed into the ferry going over the sea to Skye.
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Whilst staying on the Kyle we took a day trip to Applecross, the road there passes over the highest tarmaced road in the UK at 2053 feet above sea level - three miles of one in five and hairpin bends, the only "alpine pass" in the UK.On the way up thetemperature gauge started to rise and got over three quarters of the way to the red.
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This is a spectacular route with precipitous drops. Unfortunately we ended up in the mists at the top.
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The journey home was broken by an overnight stop in the Lake District. On the M6 motorway coming back I noticed the temp. was running high again, but switching off the air con improved matters. At the M6 in Birmingham we hit a massive traffic jam and sat for three quarters of an hour on the hottest day of the year so far - this time the temperature gauge really did rise, eventually I had to open the windows and switch the heater to full hot blast to keep it out of the red.

I have concluded that the radiator is not what it should be . Undoubtedly in the usual state with missing gills and blocked with crud. With the posibility of a hot summer approaching and my own hatred of cars overheating I have purchased a new rad from Jaguar (MHE 4190 AA). This allows a fast turnaround and also means that the replacement rad going in should be A1. This will be fitted next week so I'll report on any improvement.

Overall for the 1749 miles the car averaged 27.82 mpg with the lowest leg being 24.28 and the highest 31.98. I think that this is good going and certainly this is the car to do a trip like this in - it was luvverly

Best Wishes
DH Dove

[PaulE]

Hello again and nice to have you back - not a lot been posted recently and now we know why, nice pics too. Yes, do please tell us more about your old rad condition when removed and be sure to use the right cooling additive in the new one, and no Barrs Leaks despite its use by Jag main dealers when the cars were new. They are nice on a long run aren't they, and the experience confirms what Sir William saw as his future market and why they should not be compared with the E type. Another very complimentary article in the July 'Octane' by the way What is the max mileage you have done in a day?

[steveww]

Some great pictures. It must be the rad as my XJS 4.0 is fine in traffic in high temps. Last year while touring France we got stuck in traffic going through Sarlat in 30C. We were baking so I put the roof up and the a/c on. However the car remained cool as we crawled through the Saturday market traffic for half an hour.

The XJS is the best grand touring car, at home on the open road covering great distances. We drove back from Bergerac to Caen in one go; 8 hours no problem.

[dhdove]

Paul
As this was a holiday(!) I kept the daily mileages down to comfortable amounts. We never did more than 280 miles in one day and only then on the initial run up to Hardwicke Hall (South Glos. to Co. Durham via M5/M42/M1/A1M/A19). Once in Scotland we did about 150 a day, so about three to four hours max. in the car.
Worst fuel consumption leg results included the Applecross pass one day and a day touring round Skye the next (mainly single track with passing places), the best leg Lake District to home via M6/M5.
All mpg figures obtained by brimming tank before departure and then at all subsequent fills.

Steve
Yes, I do think the rads at fault, well I certainly hope that's the case having shelled out for a new one .
I'll try to get a couple of pics of the old one when it's taken out to post here, the work is being done on Thursday.

Thanks for comments re pics. I intended to take many pics. of the beautiful landscapes offered, but it quickly became apparent that there was another more beautiful vista around every corner and it would have been impossible to stop and capture them all!

Heres one of Sligachan Bridge on the Isle of Skye
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Regards
Tony

[PaulE]

Looking again at the pics, I love the one with blur on the wipers and rain bouncing on the bonnet - real Scotland weather. You 'have the eye' as is said in photographic circles.As an ex met man I watch the forecast charts and it is amazing how often the blue bit is there, although a friend now with a second home in the Black Isle sends only pics with sun and claims that Scottish weather is good. The memory of early hols with my parents spent driving through damp swirling mist reminds me otherwise.