THE COO CAME HOME, THEN DIED!!!

The coo made it back and even went to T in the Park. Collected a best of breed at the Angus show but since then has slowly deteriorated and once looked at by an MOT inspector was sentanced to the abbatoir. Took the Stereo and not much else, she served us well and I am parting with her very soon. Been offered £200 scrap which is a result but may manage to sell her for a little more. All cards and good wishes can be forwarded to us here. Thank you.

POST REMOVING & PHOTOS

I will be removing the posts shortly about the actual things we got up to as it is not to every ones taste who attends the rally and I don't want to get kicked out for next year before I have registered. But I will add we only battled with willing adversaries. I also lost a memory card for the camera so I awaiting photos from other competitors.

The Final Day

Up early and out to meet the guys for another convoy and I am sure more fun. I know we have been the topic of discussion for a few cars as an obvious target so I am glad we are stocked up. Find everyone down at the car and the 4 guys have discovered the fish, which is suitably stinking and that sets the tone for the day, oh and they did get their morning calls. Also joining in the drive is an Escort xr3i convertible, superb car. Couple of Farriers and a good laugh as we had met in with them in Nantes, the guys were concerned about my ammo dump and kept trying to nick some but couldn't get into the car, they also didn't have time to go and buy some, advantage the coo!! So off we head and Alan is still feeling the effects of his funny drink last night and is trying to catch some shut eye, it is not going to well for him because the guys had got hold of some eggs and let the fun begin. The eggs are going all over them but the real hit is the chocolate pudding, they also got Alan with a water bomb so we upped the anti and really off-loaded alot on them, pelting them at every opportunity to the point they flashed us down for a truce and into a lay-by. We were at the side of a round about with the truce called and they guys all stepped out of their convertibles, they were covered, seriously covered and couldn't see out either after a few bags of flour had been dropped to drive through as well. So we opened up a few sandwiches and had a break, the Pope joined us and had a chat, but cleared off when we weren't looking fearing the worst I think, then the army guys and starsky and hutch came by, they got a direct hit on one of the 4kof team but I was going round the roundabout myself at the time and missed them completely but even better avoided letting them get me. Time to even up the cars so into a supermarket, I thought it was only fair, how stupid and naive of me. Everyone went in and as we came out one of the guys had spread dog food all over our car grill and windscreen also adding some smeared brie to the mirrors, this was a nightmare to try and get off so back into the supermarket for a scraper. I didn't realise that when I was in the supermarket another truce had been called, so I came out and (before I tell you I need you to know that 4kof had a rule of Whatever goes in car, stops in car! They could throw nothing out and it was a tip in their of egg, pudding, beer, just anything) tipped a jar of mussels and it juice all over the car seats and put some dog food in as well. True to their word, like everything else it stayed inside. Ok now off into Andorra and up over the Pyrenees a true test of the car, still in convoy and behaving a bit now as border police can be quite strict as well we start on our ascent. All seems to be going well, and the 3 cars are ok, seen non abandoned bangers yet and we are getting close to the top, we pass a pug205 with its bonnet up but single lane and our lack of knowledge we kept going, they were not in the rally, the 4kof team decided to drop back and help them, something to do with them being 3 rather good looking woman having nothing to do with it I am sure, our convoy is now 2. But seeing others in the distance. We got through the borders no problem but with a few funny looks, saw a couple of teams out having a snowball fight and a Range Rover driving as hard as it could into a snow drift and just making it's way out. Some guys were BBQing at the side of the road as well but the funniest thing were the team who ripped off their sunroof and were snow boarding on it down the hill, superb imagination. We pressed on though and were making good time, took a minute after the Spanish border to make the transition on the cow to a bull, adding its new things to the back but forgetting to remove the udders I had actually managed to create the first transsexual cow. Now moving towards Barcelona we thought we would get the last moments of Sat Nav to set us on our way to the hotel. This proved useless and asking people at every roundabout was working a lot better. So pulling up at our hotel right beside the World Trade Centre in Barcelona Marina we parked right at the front door beside a Porsche, got our egg stained, yogurt smelling bodies out of the car and handed the keys to the valet, his face was priceless.

Oh god a good shower and space, superb. But no time to rest as we mucked around on the way here too much and the check-in time is 8pm at an Irish pub in Barcelona. We get a taxi there, now 4 of us as Anne and Suzanne have now flown over for a couple of days. We checked in and met a whole lot of happy people who had all made it (I think there were 5 teams who's cars didn't make it over). Allan and I were given our voting slip which was to decide the overall winner of the event, the criteria they were looking for was car, personality, helpful, basically entering into the spirit of things as the Bangers should be. Allan and I thought long and hard and it really could have been any of 6 that we had spent time with but we cast our vote. Later in the evening the results were announced and in the 3rd was Pope my Ride, 2nd was 4 Sheiks and the winner Comeonthecoo. Ha Ha, we had won the bloody thing. Not what we set out to do but gratefully and thankfully received. Angus college getting some credit as anyone who was just there for a quiet drive might have voted on car only credentials where I think we had an edge (plus a team of helpers who did it) although I still loved the Pope mobile, Lightening McQueen, and the Army Car. But what was nice was the amount of people who said to us afterwards that it was not all about the car and that Allan and I had been a right good laugh and they had enjoyed our company. Suzanne even confirmed this to me, well saying that I am ok in small doses but they don't have to live with me. Not sure what she meant, but Anne and her were tired so they headed off to the hotel and we stayed to do our final stint of being last from the bar. In this time there were noises of the cow coming home as it had been so reliable, the pope mentioned to Allan his wasn't a good drive, or a fast enough drive and would be willing to bring the cow home.

Nantes to Toulouse

Toulouse it is next and after being handed the challenge Alan and I agreed not to bother today as we were planning other things. 4 guys called 4kof in an Escort Cabriolet asked to convoy with us which we had no problem with, well no problem other than we didn't know how to get out of the town. So we headed off and after about 4 u-turns and some fraid tempers between driver and navigator we made the motor way and on the road we went. Seeing lots of other team cars this time as well at the start and feeling disappointed we had no armory and it seemed neither did anyone else. Ok, sign post for Cognac, that is it a Cognac in Cognac and time to get armed. So the cow and 4kof went into a supermarket, necked a cognac each and started to buy up some eggs and tomatoes etc with the agreement of the other team that we would not pelt each other.
As we headed down the road we were a little concerned as to the heat of our engine so decided to lift the bonnet and let it cool for 10mins, chatting with the other team we decided to get going and one of them kindly dropped our bonnet for us. 10miles down the road we were hotter than before and couldn't understand why but had better stop, really concerned we lifted the bonnet to find what can only be described as a cheese omelette cooked onto our engine the B******s, ok that was it game on! But Alan and I were laughing about it for a while down the road.
Now the driving entailed one of us hanging out the car flicking eggs at the other car as the driver tried to dodge their best efforts and if u got a good egg on the windscreen of their open top car it all swamped in and when the wipers went on it brought the rest in, we were also a bit faster uphill so could avoid them getting in front to much, but they got their fair share of hits on our car. In the passing we also took out The army car and Starsky and Hutch on the way, we were making a name for ourselves and having a laugh. Arriving into Toulouse we found a hotel only to discover it was the wrong one, still in convoy now of 4 we needed a little space behind us so Allan reversed into the Escort guys by accident obviously, which in turn made them slam into our considerably larger and more powerful Jeep. Allan then slipped reverse (again by mistake I am sure)moving them, Starsky and Hutch and also the Honda, good effort.
After dropping our stuff off and having a shower their was only one thing left to do before going for a drink, ammo. I went to spar of all places and purchased a load of eggs, yogurts, tomatoes, chocolate puddings, frozen fish fillets and a Black Forrest Gateaux. I took them to the cow to sit over night getting suitably warm and then took the fish fillets and managed to slide them between the lining and the cover of the Escorts soft top, also pouring some fish oil over the roof. Couple of 5.30am alarm calls made for their rooms and my work was done for the day.
We met at a pub called the melting pot and started chatting with most of the teams, some we had met and others this was our first meeting them, Allan had an adverse effect to a Yegermeister or something sounding like that and I am hoping to get copies of the pictures but apart from that it was a quiet night, well drinking and chatting plenty but no trickery, it seems the rules of that are to be only when with your banger. So after Allan had serenaded the bar with some buskers accordion we headed off for some rest before the final leg of our journey.

Calais to Nantes

So off to Nantes it is, hungover but up and getting ready in the car park. All the cars are there and their are some really good ones and everyone is optimistic. We receive our challenge for the day which is to obtain a maximum snooker break with colours of cars in order on your camera. Allan is driving the first leg so I wrote the last blog and started snapping cars as I could when on the move. The drive is going well and we are seeing other cars but everyone is behaving and we are just moving along nicely.
Sat nav isn't charged and won't for some reason so this causes some concern but the roads seem well signed and we will not do to much that should hinder us today so I think. Going through a toll we spot another jeep cherokee with its bonnet up so we stop to offer help (not really thinking that we know sod all about cars) but they were just needing to cool the engine a little. Asked them their plans for lunch and they were heading into the next big town Caen, we said we were going to find a village on the beach before that and they said they would join us.
So our first convoy, 2 car all be it, Kim and Simon joined us for a quick lunch, well 2 bottles of wine and a nice starter maincourse sit down to be truthful. This was also driver change time so I got a glass, great! Off we set, next stop Nantes and started to belt down the road, Alan now in charge of navigation and photos, the navigation was going well but the wine had had an effect on his aim with the camera.
But a relatively straight forward drive down to Nantes and to be honest quite a quiet one with the challenge completed and a score of 155 on the camera (went for the free ball maximum break) we drove past the hotel to see others out greeting and cheering arrivals. We submitted our entry but were given a 147 break like the others and were entered into a tie-break question and alas we were a close 10 miles off guessing the organisers tripometer on his banger.
So up to the room and down to the bar, then out to find a pub in the city. We soon met in with 2 teams on the street and headed off to the nearest pub. There were about 5 or 6 other teams there and all said that it had been a nice but quite quiet drive down and they were wondering when the fun would start. Unfortunately as we went back to the hotel we found that the fun had started for some of the locals who had smashed in lightening Mcqueens window, spiked the radiator of the Thunderbirds Sherpa and were on top of my cow when Rich from the Army car disturbed them, so I got away lucky. Anyway we helped tidy up the cars a little and headed off to bed as another long day ahead tommorrow. Oh by the way, lovely countryside?.?

Camera Problems But Will Sort It

So off we headed, early on Thursday morning on Eastjet to collect the car in Biggleswade.
Much to our amazement everything went smoothly and we didn't even argue to much, and onward to the Channel Tunnel we set.
Ross my 4yr old decided to phone just as our trusted sat nav was instructing us on where to go, so missing the information took us into and through the centre of London!!! In fairness it was a laugh as the looks and the reactions on some folks faces was superb.
Missed our first train but without extra charge they let us jump on the next one and in to France the Coo went. Must say that drive of 140miles gave me great faith in the car, hopefully not misplaced.
We arrived at the hotel to see some of the other cars and start meeting the other competitors, have to say the car was going down well and there also some other very good ones.
So drop the bags off, toss a coin to see who gets the double bed and who gets the camp bed, I win, excellent.
Down to the pub and start with the other reason we are here, on route we meet two army folk dressed and asking if we were the cow folk, their response was to us when we said yes was to say "oh god we hear you can drink" Dick Dastardly had been telling tales from his stay at the hotel.
Anyway into the pub, skipped food (I could probably miss a meal or 2 and not do me any harm) not a good idea considering the rate we were about to indulge at the bar.
Started meeting folk and really enjoyed the crack in the pub, everyone seems to be like minded and here for fun and a good time, that was until I spotted a pool table and we decided to have a few games, not sure if the others were good, or the lack of food was telling on me but I won a few and lost a few as well but had a good good laugh. Alan as a partner was like being handicapped though and sitting listening to him singing in the car now , his pool is not much better. Anyway Alan headed off a bit earlier than me, lightweight I thought, nope you guessed it I slept on the campbed, cunning b*****d. Driving Day 1 now and will post tommorrow.

Big Thank You Time

Hi, so many people to thank I am sure to miss out someone here, if I do then sorry but your help has not gone un-noticed just my brain has gone walk about. Also putting in a few pics here of the Steak n Shake day which was helped by superb weather. I even took my shirt off later on to reveal I had a red neck, as appose to the brass one I am normally accused of.

So firstly the thanks, Thank you to Lynda and her team at Radio Tay's Cash for Kids for allowing us to do this in their name, she has been so enthusiastic and helpful and encouraged us with everything we are doing (plus she is a lot better looking than Ali Brooks(I so hope he reads this blog)). Thanks also to everyone who has donated amounts large and small, every donation is helping and making this worth while, we have recieved a lot of donations offline and these companies haven't been able to leave a message, but I hope I will get my list and name them before we head off. If I can't please know it is because of being busy and not being ungrateful A huge thanks must go to Clark & Rose Removals for transporting the Coo down to the south of England and giving us a sporting chance. Micheal Beattie has arranged some strange things to be transported for me, bet he never thought I could top the 6ft Penguin he brought me 2yrs ago, I think I might have here. Thanks again anyway as this is a massive help. The Brechin Advertiser who have been giving us coverage and also STV who came and did a TV interview and shoot for the news. Billy at Whittons carpets for the carpet and of course Angus College again for the work on carpeting the car, a superb job. Bet they are worried as to what we decide next year ha ha, well we have 3days and 1000miles to think about it. One last thank you to David Swanston who stiched a tattie bag into a certain shape which will allow us to turn the coo into a bull if you know what I mean(see previous blog), not everyday u get asked for that i'm sure.

OK, the slideshow is in reverse I know, but I'm still learning. Enjoy!

Finishing Touches

WOW, I wrote one of these earlier today and deleted it by mistake, Doh!! But here I am, news is I have done the finishing touches to the car, it now has a PA system that even makes a cow noise, the CB works and our European driving regulation stuff is in a box in the boot. Next thing is this Sunday where we are doing a Steak & Shake day, where if u come to the hotel u get a free steak sandwich and a mikshake (cow stuff) and yes the donation buckets will be out so hoping to boost the money raised. The real reason for this blog is to move the bull balls from being the first picture you see when u log on. So here is a pic of me finishing the car, if your wondering what I am doing I am screwing a bit of tail on to the cow. OK the next post will be quick to follow I hope. Think the TV are coming to see us, superb. Hope to see u on Sunday. By the way I know those kids are showing no respect for the coo, terrible!

Sponsorship Coming in Now & Making My Own T-Shirts

So getting closer now and sponsorship money is coming in. The Steak & Shake is about organised and I will post about it after the weekend has passed here but keep next Sunday the 17th free at lunchtime.

Just got handed back my T-Shirts from the printer not able to complete them in time so I will be out with te iron and transfer paper this week giving it my best shot as I want everything packed off on Sunday with the car to save me taking it on my flight south.

The Coo, well I made a tail for it and just need a dry day without the wind to put the finishing touches to it, fitting the cb, mag mount & pa system next week as all the stuff arrived today (ebay rocks). Then final check of everything then send it on its way, still sourcing a charity in Barcelona mad enough to take the car from us.

May ask Charlie at Angus college if they can make a pair of Balls for the car, as when we cross the border into Spain we can rip off the udders, add the nuts and become a Bull. Maybe more appealing doing the bull run in Spain, will see.

Till next post, If you haven't donated (why not)

WE HAVE THE COO

Allan & I collected the Coo from Angus College on Wednesday and I must say it is superb, these guys have done a great job on it. The Courier was there to take a pic, but I must say the reporter hasn't seen it first hand and I don't think did their efforts justice in his article, this is a great effort and close up looks brilliant. It is getting closer now and I need to get Garmin out to see if it knows our route as we will probably get lost at some point. Our letters have gone out for donations and we are getting some good responses and they will get added to the site in due course. Not much else to add at this point, just getting quite excited about the whole thing. Oh yes there is a promotion day on at the hotel on the 17th of May for a Steak n a Shake. A complimentary Steak roll and milk shake and your chance to see the cow close up. Ok there will be donation buckets there as well but hey a free steak sandwich, come on.

Getting Mooooooving Now

Hi again,

Well the sponsorship is starting to pick up now and the intrest is getting higher. I just got these pictures from Chae and it is looking superb, loving the udders as well. I am collecting the car early next week I think and I am getting a little excited about it, just hope it doesnt rain on the way home. There is another cow on route to spain, they should not be mixed up with this one, different people, different charity and on Angus Colleges behalf, not as cool a cow (although they did theirs themselves it must be said). So just popping on a few more pics and hoping to get the final ones on soon. Please keep donating and we are going to submit our offline donations for people to see where we are at soon, but please keep it coming.

Not much to say really

Well the headline kind of says it all, this blog though I will dedicate to Brechin City Football Club. After a short break with the family I returned to work for a full day before embarking on a full day socialising. Allan (co-driver) 's company A.P.Jess were the match sponsor for a very important game at Glebe Park Brechin against Ayr Utd. But before this we went for some grooming at City Gents where we were treated to a proper cut throat wet shave, haircuts and even a few beers, early as it was. This place is superb and I would recommend it to anyone for even just a drop in spot as everyone is very friendly, but if u need a shave or haircut then they will do you a great job. Thanks to Fiona, Nikki, Trish & Louise for putting up with our pathetic patter. We had to behave though as owner Mike Ferguson was also there with us. Thankfully his business sense and Barber Shop are way better than his Showaddy Waddy dancing and singing (seriously I have just now remembered I got that on my phone, youtube here we go) his curling is on a par though hee hee. Oh must point out, met loads of folk involved with this as well on Saturday, Mike Beattie of Clarke and Rose was in for a haircut, we spotted plenty grey making its way through though. He is the guy transporting our car, and they will get a blog about themselves soon enough so u can wait till I get some more material on u Mike.

Then off to the Northern for lunch and a few drinks, and we bumped into Chae Carmeron from the college, they are back at work now so we will see some pic updates of the car soon I'm sure. Also met another guy who is on a rally now from Calais to somewhere south of Barcelona he left yesterday in a suzuki swift believe it or not painted like a cow (and everyone calls us sheepsh****rs up here when cows are obviously our fantasy) God I am struggling to remember his name now Ritchie springs to mind but anyway I hope they make it and give us a post to tell us about it.

The match, Brechin won and secured a play-off place which is superb and we hammered the directors room for drink, and once told about what Allan and I were doing they were brilliant in offering us sponsorship as well. Allan was previously the main sponsor of Brechin City but what they did was hugely generous and from their own pockets. Again, like Mike their football club running skills don't extend to Karaoke though as the directors belted out a few tunes and after hearing them it goes a bit to explaining the lack of Brechin singing at the football. Seriously guys though, thanks for your hospitality and donations.

The rest of the night was just a bit of a blurr and Garry, Sandy, Mike, Gordon S, Allan & myself found ourselves trying to recapture our youth before I decided I was done, and yes before midnight.

You understand this is all getting written down as training for the Calais 2 Barcelona marathon we undertake. We don't just want the best car, win the challenges, raise money, we also strive to be the most sociable team as well.

And you guys think this is all fun!?!

Easter Break

Ok, I know but it was the only picture of a cow and some Easter theme.

The cow is having a well earned Easter rest, I however am away to do a cover letter and print off a s**t load of sponsor forms and begging letters, so beware out there I will find you, you will donate. Anyway will keep you updated and need more cash, we haven't hit the big guns yet that is just about to happen, but any amount helps. Thanks

Showing the coo, and my team colours in one post

Here are some more photos of the jeep, wondering if to stop the photos of the car so as to add to the surprise at the event start. Tell me your thoughts on that?? There are 2 other classes helping here and doing a superb job, I am getting really quite excited about seeing it finished but not as much as my kids. Might have a last minute change of heart and drive the thing home if I am confident it will make it. We will see, again check out Angus Colleges efforts in the pics here. Also glad the 2 students in the Scotland and Rangers shirts aren't making any rude gestures with their fingers or I might have to give then a life ban from representing Angus College and suspend them from painting for 2 weeks hee hee, come on the Gers.

Oh My God, and he trusted these guys !?!

This is a couple of pics of some of the guys getting started, seriously 1 day after I delivered the car, superb effort. Charlie is going to keep emailing me pics as it goes through its transformation. This is it all primed (so I am told) and I believe he is getting everyone involved in some way or other so it is really becoming a project for them, big up Angus College. Cheers guys, and hey u 2 on the bonnet watch the paintwork lol

The Man Trusted With Decorating the Jeep

This is Charlie (Chae) Cameron who is Curriculum Manager for Arts, Craft & Design (to give him his full title) at Angus College. This is the guy who is arranging the decoration of the Jeep for us and I must say when approached about it he was very keen and has been superbly helpful so far. The college I know embraces the charity we are doing this for and I have heard already that the students who are helping are finding it quite amusing. Charlie also removed the bottle of 'comeonthecoo' whisky I am taking on my travels from the boot, I had left it there by accident and it was probably a good idea to take it out as the students might have gone and done something silly with the car if they had drunk it, like carpeting the outside or something ?!? Thanks Chae and all who are helping.

The Elusive Cow

I believe Radio Tay are after me now, sources tell me they are after an interview about this event and not offering me a job as a presenter. They must have already heard my dulcet tones, but if they knew me that well then putting a call out for me at 7.30am, yes A.M!!! was definitely a no brainer. But seriously I am glad the presenters are getting on board and I am sure they will catch this elusive cow soon. But till then I will just keep you in the loop here, keep watching and supporting please. Some comments wouldn't go a miss either, not rude please.

The Hide has Arrived & been Delivered

Well after 2 weeks of driving around with a people carrier full of carpet and other goodies I eventually got round to dropping them into Angus College. My first thanks go again to Billy at Whittons Carpets in Forfar for his generous donation of the carpets think he thought I was taking the P**S at first and just wanted to do up a cheap flat or something. Anyway he looked out some great cuts for us and they should look great. Now looking great, that is the challenge set out to Angus College and mainly to Charlie Cameron and his crew at the Art, Craft & Design Department. I know whatever they manage will be great, and more so 100x better than Allan and I would have done. I have still to drop the Jeep off there and will do so hopefully on Monday once the sender unit is fitted to the diesel tank. I really am indebted to Charlie (Chae) as this is the major part of this project and I think he is really enjoying the idea of it, well he was certainly laughing enough about it. Maybe that is just at the thought of us stranded on a mountain somewhere around Andorra cursing him for gluing the carpet on so well as we try to peel it off for warmth till we get collected. Oh tempting fate, no more negative thoughts. There are a few anxious people waiting to see the jeep complete but they will have to wait as the college breaks for 2 weeks at Easter, but I think we will have it late April and that should again create more interest and I hope more sponsorship.

The wedding that let this happen

Hi, I have been busy for a couple of days but still getting stuff done for the trip as well. I promised to embarres Steven and Julie on this site so here's a pic fo them the day after their wedding. Seriously though if you look carefully at the picture they are handing me a £50 to put to the charity, wow that was very generous and greatly appreciated. To give you a little bit of insight as to how they knew about the trip (i'm not boring everyone I meet honest) they had their wedding booked for the 23rd May 2009 and this being so I wouldn't have managed to do the trip. But on getting a call at the start of the year with a request to bring the wedding forward and I had to explain myself as to why I was so happy. Steven and Julie have been asking about the trip everytime we met and for them to give this donation was just so very kind and very generous. Not something that would surprise those who know them as they are opening their house to 2 Ukranian children (hope I got that right now) in the upcoming weeks to give them a short stay and just a taste of a nice family enviroment and a rest from the turmoil they have endured so far in their young lifes. Ok getting a bit heavy and this is a fun site, but fun with a cause and Julie and Steven show in so many ways what can be done. Thank you and good luck for the future.

Thanks to Dave on ebay

Ok so we decided that to take the risk on the half filling the tank was not a good idea off in search of a 1995 Jeep Cherokee 2.5 turbo diesel getting broken for parts. First port of call was the local scrappy which was fruitless, then onto ebay. I found 4 there and emailed a message to all of them asking for the sender unit and what the cost would be, and yes I did include a link to this site in the hope of getting a bit of discount. I got a reply almost immediatly offering me one including postage for £25, I called and spoke to the guy and he was going to remove and post it on Wednesday for us, superb! Imagine my surprise when I recieved a message from Dave (dalboy1000 on ebay) saying well here you read it :

From User:
dalboy1000 (226)
100.0% Positive Feedback
Member since 01-Jun-04 in United Kingdom
Location: Lancashire, United Kingdom
Activity with dalboy1000 (last 90 days): I have bid on 0 items from dalboy1000Activity with dalboy1000 (last 90 days): dalboy1000 has bid on 0 of my items

Dear ****** , hi, am i right in thinking you are driving this jeep to spain to raise cash for kids,if this is te case i will post it to you for £0, give me a ring on 0781737****, cheers, dave

- dalboy1000
Click Reply in your email or reply using eBay's messaging system


How about that then!!! (The stars are so you don't get our personal info ok)

So I phoned him and he is even goinng to get it a bit earlier for me so I can get it to the college in time before they break for easter holidays. This is the spirit of help Cash for Kids can generate, thanks again Dave really appreciate it.

Oh and yes I phoned the other guy and he was fine with it as he hadn't started to remove the part.

The weekend has past, but not without incident

Ok so a busy weekend has been had, working with a wedding and then Mothers day. Not much time to be here but still time for other stuff to do with comeonthecoo. Angus our cow has now gained a well earned pint of lager into his hand, still to be updated on here, and our Jeep has another problem. Drove away from the petrol station and diesel was p**sing out everywhere as I left. It would appear it has a hole in the top of the sender unit in the tank. So we will be filling it only half full now and hoping ha ha.

Oh and we have whisky now as well, 'The Famous Comeonthecoo' may try and hit them for a few more bottles, will need to try a water company for some sponsorship as well just to keep with the theme, lookout Strathmore Springs here we come.

Please tell others about this site and register for the news from it, and it is never to early to donate either.

Into get checked over

So into the garage she went to get a check up, good luck there. Intresting day as The Brechin Advertiser wanting to do a feature and also the Evening Telegraph. The more intrest raised hopefully the more cash raised. If anyone on here wants a mention as this begins to hopefully take off then please email us at the address given below (about 3 blogs ago, keep up!). You may be able to offer us somehelp or even better some donations. Sorting out our donation and sponsor forms this weekend which can also be emailed to you. I will hopefully get some more knowledge of this blog as I go cause I will happily sell links and ad space for the charity. Remember every penny you donate to us goes to Cash for Kids. We are paying our own way, and beer. OK real job now so will probably not have an update till Monday or Tuesday. Think of ways to help or donate, and thanks again to Mackie Motors Brechin (I hope) for getting Angus the jeep finely tuned.

We have our car (Take 2)

And here we have it, our car for the journey. Collected it from Balloch and drove it home from there 120 odd miles no problem, even used the cruise control. The seat was stuck forward and it wouldn't lock but a friend Kev McDonald sorted that for us. Oh and we now have a new boot door as well, well not new more old and dented. A local farmer needed one like ours as his was boot door was bashed, so he swapped it over as I dont care if ours is dented, and in return he is making it sound more like a diesel truck and less like a tractor for us. But it starts and goes well and I am confident it will make the journey. So into Mackie Motors Brechin next to have a little check over (thanks to Kevin Mackie and Ham (Head Mecanic)who will have to fit it in)). Then off to the art department of Angus College in Arbroath where Charles Cameron is challenged with the task of making it into a cow. Good Luck!!

We Have Our Car

This was short lived as the car wouldn't start afterwards. Think I may have loosened a wire trying to adjust the seat, but wasn't convinced. The guy was brand new and gave me my money back. Hope he got it sold. The search continued and this time further afield than Dundee.

Meet Angus

This is Angus and he will be our mascot for this trip. I asked Mark Candy of Ferburn Graphics if he could freehand draw us this guy in a few different situations and he did a great job. We are getting some t-shirts made for our trip and cards and Angus will feature on these. So everyone, say hello to Angus.

Contact and Content

we have an email address now and a youtube site. The idea is to keep updated all the way through this event, build up and the fun and games as it happens (well almost). But we will appreciate emails of support or just anything you want to throw at us.

so the email is comeonthecoo@yahoo.co.uk

and if you go to http://www.youtube.com/ and search for comeonthecoo we will have stuff uploaded soon, certainly during the trip. Untill we do search barcelona bangers on the site and get an idea of what we will be up to.

Not All For Fun

The charity we are doing it for is Cash for Kids Radio Tay, registered with Radio Tay and previously known as Caring 4 Kids. I have been involved with raising money for this charity now for about 5 years and have been at the presentation where people have recieved help and believe me it makes you feel very very humble, and lucky.
Cash for Kids boasts a percentage rating of donation to cause in the 90's and for a charity of this size to manage that is outstanding. You also get to see where this money goes and you can get involved very easily with helping in so many ways. The easiest of which is the auction in October which always benifits from a bid or a donation.
Allan and I are meeting ALL of the expenses incurred for this trip ourselves so any donations made will be given in total to Cash for Kids Radio Tay
(although any beer donated will be consumed by us).

The Main Idea

Welcome to Barcelona Bangers
Barcelona Bangers is a holiday with a difference! Imagine driving from Calais, down through Brittany and on to historical Nantes, then down through western France past Bordeaux and on to Toulouse, then on the final day we drive through Andorra, over the Pyrenees, past the beautiful Montserrat mountain and on to Barcelona on the Costa Dorada, sound like fun? Then come and do it in a car worth less than £200...

So Allan and I saw this website and thought it sounded like fun, plenty discussion and vodka took place after this and we decided on out theme and a charity to raise money for.

We are decorating our car like a cow with the help of Angus College Art Department & Whittons Carpets Forfar. Mackie Motors Brechin are going to look over the car to give it every chance of making it (I hope Ham remembers all the times I let him beat me at pool) to Barcelona. So we dont break down before making it to France Micheal Beattie of Clark & Rose is arranging to transport the car (cow) down to England for us which is a great help as we would have looked really stupid not even getting out of the UK.

So a glorified waiter and butcher are off and running, even this blogging lark is new to me so excuse any mistakes, especially spelling. I plan to keep this updated with photos and videos of our progress from now and during the event (censored obviously).