Day 31

The terrain has changed today, we've moved from the dry plains of western Kazachstan to the hilly south east and we even had a few spots of rain.

The standard of the roads is a little better, but 80kmph is really as fast as you can go.

After suffering our second puncture a couple of days ago, we had the tyre removed from the rim to find an eight cm rip in the tube which had started at a rectangular imprint in the tube. There was no hole in the tyre.

This confirmed my suspicion that the tubes were rubbing against the inside of the tyre, so we had all the tubes removed and now have tubless tyres. All the other tubes had the same rectangular imprint. Total cost for 6 tyres removed and refitted with new valves £4.80 The tyre with the damaged sidewall has been refitted to it's rim and once inflated the distortion is minimal so we'll run it tomorrow on the rear and keep a close eye on it.

No repeat of the rough running today, so fingers crossed on that.

The Baja however is not well. Rachael and Tom collected it from the mechanic, but only drove 60km before the engine dumped all it's oil. So they returned to the mechanic but the news this evening is that they have abandoned all hope of getting it fixed, and are looking at other ways of continuing the trio.

Lat 43 06.51
Long 73 17.07
Distance 9845km
Nearest town Merke, Kaz

Day 30

Mostly a straight forward driving day for us, apart from a late afternoon poor running from the van. At one point it stopped completly and wouldn't restart. Good spark, smell of fuel from the exhaust but wouldn't start. Cleaned out the air filter, air flow meter, and air temperature sensor but no difference. A few minutes later, turned it over and it started.

I have read about a fault with this engine after driving at a steady speed for some time, it misfires and often won't restart if it stalls. (called Vanagon Syndrome after the name given to the van in the US) The fix is a mod to the wiriing to the air flow meter which I tryed to obtain before leaving the UK, but was told it was no longer available.

Or maybe it was simply some poor fuel. We'll see if continues.

One plus of having the engine cover off was that Simon spotted a small stone jammed in the water pump pully that had chewed it's way through nearly half the thickness of the belt, so we were able to avoid another stop an hour or two later.

Our driving target is to get to Almaty by Sat evening so we can spend Sunday being tourists, then head for the Chinese border on Mon/Tue hopefully with some time on Tue to check/fix vehicles before crossing on Wed and meeting our guide for the next 18 days.

Update on the Baja - Rachael and Tom hope to leave Aqtobe tomorrow early afternoon heading direct for the Chinese border to meet us on 5th. Given the distance and the roads, they won't be doing much sight seeing.

Lat 42 48.67
Long 69 12.56
Nearest town Shymkent, Kazachstan
Distance - worked out that we are under reading by 5.5% so total distance so far is 9410km

Day 29

Our days seem to be dominated by the search for the essentials of our humble existence - water, food and fuel, and the ATM to allow us to pay for them.

One or other seems to be a problem on a particular day, but today was the first day that fuel was the dominate issue. Having driven through the pretence of a road for 6 hours yesterday, and a further hour this morning, we expected to find fuel at Aral, but all 4 stations were out of any petrol above 80 octane.

In the end, we had driven 650km between fuel stations. Our thanks to the designer of the Jerry can.

Our ATM search was eased by our kindness in picking up a local guy who was hitching a ride from his house about 80km from Aral into town. This is very common here (we had accidentaly offered a lift to a nice old lady earlier in the week while asking for directions). The guy guided us into town, showed us where to park, and walked us to the ATM, even pointng out 2 alternatives if our cards didn't work for some reason. Nice people here.

Had our second puncture of the trip today, the first went flat while we were stationary, but this happened at about 80km. Think the tyre may be a write off, not because of the distance we drove while it was flat, but because once we had stopped, I moved the van off the road and that seems to have caused the rim to run over the inner side wall and put some creases in it. Not sure BFGoodrich import tyres to Kazachstan so may buy a cheap local version and try to get the real thing further along the route.

Camping tonight is the usual "wild camp" - pull off the road and drive a few hundred metres.

Lat 45 02.38 N
Long 64 22.00 E
Distance 8329km - will work out what the correct "adjusted" distance is tomorrow

Day 28

Overnight Simon repacked his trailer after most of it's contents had turned upside down and inside out. A perfect example of taking too much on your overland trip.

The day got off to a great start with tarmac roads for 350km, but then turned sour as we came across the road builders who were building the nice shiny road we'd been driving on, and in front of them were the potholes joined together with dust and sand. And this is shown as the highest standard of road in Kazachstan on our maps.

It may give us a bit of a problem in simply reaching the Chinese border on schedule on the 5th August if the road standard doesn't improve. It took 4 hours to do the last 100km today, and we'd planned to be 200km further on than we are.

No news from Rachael and Tom today on how they're getting on with the Baja, but mobile reception is only one level better than the roads. They aren't going to be very happy when they see the tarmac run out.

Simon is ditching more stuff out of the trailer tonight - 2KVA generator anyone? Collect from:

Lat 47 54.77 N
Long 61 18.09 E
Distance 7956km

Day 27

The day started with more sand and dirt, then after about 100km the luxury of tarmac, some without pot holes. Somewhere along this stretch the Baja developed an oil leak and we haven't seen them again all day as they searched for a mechanic in the villages we passed through.

Arrived in Aqtobe with the intention of finding a hotel so they could register us with the Ministry of Migration (a relic from the Soviet era) but were so unimpressed by the place we decided to find the office ourselves and leave town. Took 2 hours to register as they had to find a translator - seems like they hadn't registered any tourists in years as that should happen automatically at the border. So not only had we been ripped off for the cost of filling out a form that we could have done ourselves, but they hadn't registered us properly. Maybe it was part of a further scam to get us to pay a fine on leaving for not having registered - but it had cost us several hours in time, and around a 180km drive we wouldn't otherwise have
made.

As we left our campsite yesterday morning we passed 4 Spanish guys who were on the Mongol Rally (a charity rally where you give your car to charity once you have driven it to Mongolia). On the way out of town this evening they overtook us (with much shouting and hand waving) so they must have subjected their cars to the same punishment along the non-existent roads that we had.

Tonight we're camped at what will be our most northerly camp site since leaving Pat and Simon's in Holland, and it's all south from here.

Lat 50 17.46N
Long 57 49.85E
Distance 7503km (unadjusted)

Day 26

The day started with a quick fix to reattach the carburettor on the Baja which was moving forward each time the accelerator was pressed. This may have contributed to an alternator problem of 48 hours previously where a wire had melted through and was earthing on the carb causing the alternator warning light to come on.

The driving started OK with about 30km of reasonable tarmac, but as we attempted to fnd the right road out of the next town, we were directed onto a badly rutted track which had several alternative tracks across open ground to the east of the town. After stopping about 2km out of town to replace the previously welded front damper on the Baja and confirming with a passing car that we were on the right route, we returned to town to fill our fuel tanks and stock up on drinking water.

We then drove for about 220km at an average of 30kmph over sand, clay and the remains of a surfaced road with crators up to a metre deep. Tonight all the cars are coated inside and out with fine dust, and air filters clogged with the same.

Lat 48 27 N
Long 55 20 E
Dist 7160km

Will need to adjust distance travelled as odometer is under reading due to larger than standard wheels.

Day 25

Spent the day doing a few vehicle related things. I'd been concerned about the rear wheel bearings virtually since we left England as they have had quite a bit of play in them despite changing them soon after we bought the van.

While in Holland we bought another set of bearings which I was going to fit today. Once I had the rear hub apart, the existing bearings had no more freeplay in them than the new ones so I topped up the grease and put the hub back together. Perhaps they are designed to wobble a bit.

Early afternoon a motorbike came down our track, ridden by an Austrian guy who was taking 3 months to ride his KTM to the far end of Russia. He was looking for some tracks to ride instead of the rather dull tarmac route, but came back after an hour saying the track became very sandy and he turned back when he came across a car stuck in about a foot of sand.

Land Rover got it's first oil change of the trip and the Baja had the front torsion bars greased for the first time in a decade at least.

Fuel stations are not quite as plentiful here as Russia but we haven't yet felt the need to fill jerry cans. At 33p a litre I could afford run a V8 Land Rover out here.

Day 24

Stayed in a hotel last night for only the second time on the trip. Not quite a hotel as I previously understood it - outside toilets (hole in the floor), shower comprisng a bucket of water and an old pan with a small frog living in the shower tray and bedrooms you share with whoever else happens to be staying that night. But it made a nice change.

Kazachstan is a difficult country to sum up in a sentence or two. Very friendly and helpful people, bland countryside, officials from the old soviet era. An oil rich country with crumbling infrastructure.

Looked for a campsite this evening where we could stay two nights so we could do a few vehicle related things and have a rest day from driving. Drive down more or less any of the many gravel or sand tracks off the side of the main road and you'll find a suitable place.

Settled down for the evening and about half an hour later a bloke turns up from nowhere just to say hello. We offered him beer which he declined, but he did accept a cup of English tea. Language was a bit of a barrier but we did play some music from each of our home countries.

Day 23

An overnight fix to the Land Rover's headlight switch seems to have resolved the "no headlight" problem.

Made the Russia/Kazachstan border by 2:30pm. Russia side went OK but Kazachstan was a bit of hassle as the customs guys seemed insistant that we used the local "form fillers" to complete the declaration form at our expense. After quite a bit of ranting on our part, the initual £8 came down to £4 and we were into Kazachstan.

At the border, we noticed that the Land Rover's trailer (aka Titch) was siting a bit lower than normal. Turned that the trailer hitch was slowly tearing the Land Rover rear cross member apart. Not good news.

At the first sizeable town in Kazachstan we searched out a welder, who spent around 4 hours cutting and welding repair sections to fix the problem. (using a stick welder not only to weld, but also to cut steel) The job was finally completed at 2am.

Day 22

Onwards and eastwards. The flat land continued and slowly became dryer and less fertile. The field size grew and eventually became mainly barren.

The faces of the people have changed too, to more of that central Asian appearance.

And the police checkpoints have become more frequent and more of a pain. This morning I think I was accused of being drunk while driving, or perhaps the mention of vodka and beer by the officers was a request for me to donate them a bottle. Eventually they got bored and we were allowed to leave.

Later in the day, the other two drivers were pulled over at a checkpoint for overtaking across a single white line - something we had been seeing others doing all day long. The only word of English the officer seemed to know was "Dollar". So much for Russia not being the biggest fan of the US. The cost was $50 each.

Tonight we are camped about 300km from the Kazachstan border.

Lat 46 09.83
Long 45 20.46
Distance 6250

Day 21

The correct Day 21!

Continued NW along the very twisty coast road before turning east through the coastal mountains which became a very flat plain after about 50km.

The roads are very variable in standard changing from good dual carriageway to pot holed single carriageway without warning.

Not much to see so after a late start to catch up on sleep, we drove until 8pm. Had a "conversation" with a police officer after we inadvertently entered a petrol station via the exit - the only petrol station we had seen all day with the entry and exit marked. Camped on a bit of waste ground by a railway.

Lat 44 50.5
Long 41 19.8
Distance 5790km

Day 21

The epic Black Sea crossing is not yet over.....

Once we finally docked at 8am we walked off the boat to go through passport control and then sat around for an hour until we were called back to the boat to drive our vehicles off.

Another hour wait on the quay before they started processing the first of our vehicles, and a further four hours before we were finished.

To be fair to the officials, they were having loads of trouble with an Armenian diplmat who continually wandered off and couldn't be found when he was needed, and by the end of the ordeal they were as fed up as we were. We'd spent so much time with them and they'd all taken pictures of our vehicles to show their kids that they bearly even looked inside them when they did their search.

Glad there were only 12 cars on the boat. We spent 47 hours from offically leaving Turkey to entering Russia - a distance of less than 250km.

From Sochi we have to drive north west for about 200km along the coast before we can turn east again as there are very few roads through the coastal mountains. After failing to find the only camp site we'd seen signposted in 100km, we resigned ourselves to a night of wild camping and turned off the main road onto a side road. Searching down one of the gravel tracks, the Baja called over the radio to say they had found a suitable site, and it even had a bar. Not believing them, we followed, and arrived at a big camp site with at least 70 tents - and a bar! No signs for it anywhere so I think the owner was as amazed as us that we were there.

The toilets are not very pleasant but at £9 for the 6 of us, it's the cheapest site so far.

Lat 43 57.6349
Long 39 15.8304
Dist 5391 + Black Sea
Countries 14

Day 19 (3)

The saga continues......

Arrived at Sochi just before midnight but we aren't allowed to dock until 8am so will be spending another night on the m/v Guirguilesti at anchor 1km out to sea. Perhaps the price is good value after all!

Day 19 (2)

We left Trabson at 11:00, so expect to be in Sochi (Russia) by midnight local time. Not sure yet whether we will be able to clear customs at that time or will end up waiting at the dock side.

Day 19

The day dawns to find us still in Trabson docks. We're not sure why but at 10pm we we're told the boat wouldn't sail until 9:00 this morning. It's now 9:45 and we've not moved yet.

Last night was very hot and humid and none of us slept well. All the cabins are occupied so Beth and I slept in the van on the car deck. Simon and Pat started off trying to sleep in the Land Rover but found it too hot and moved back upstairs.

Happy birthday Sue - hope you have a good day.

Day 17

A very straight forward day. Left our mosquito infested camp site by 9am, stopped for fuel, drove to our planned destination for the day and found a suitable camp site.

No vehicle problems, no other dramas. Roads were better than expected and we'd set up tents etc by 3pm. We need a few more days like this.

Day 18

A fairly easy driving day after another camp on the Black Sea shore (with no hot water in the shower as usual).

Arrived in Trabson at 1pm and found the ferry office fairly easily but had our usual problem of turning up one wrong street and taking 20 minutes to turn round a Land Rover and trailer.

Ferry booking, customs clearance and boarding would have done any African state proud. Total chaos with nobody having the slightest idea what was going on. We are now on board and believe we will sail in about 6 hours to Sochi in Russia, 12 hours away. The only thing not typical of Africa is the price - US$620 for the van and 2 people.

Hope the food is good.

Day 16

Today we started heading east accross Turkey to be in Trabson by Saturday evening.

For a change the only vehicle issue came from the Land Rover when Simon reported that the oil pressure gauge had gone to the extreme right hand end of the scale to read 5 bar, instead of it's normal 2.5. Engine oil pressure is usually only a problem when it is too low, it doesn't suddenly jump to double it's normal value, so a faulty sender was suspected.

This was confirmed at the "wild" camp site in the evening. Oil pressure senders don't like the vibration from (diesel) engines very much.

Did I forget to mention yesterday's Baja problem? The children (as us older folks have taken to calling them) got a bit lost when trying to find our camp site and drove along a very rough track, probably at their usual "too fast" speed, snapping the top off a front shock absorber.

Day 15

Got a taxi from the campsite to the centre of Istanbul so we could do the tourist bit. Saw the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya and Topkapi Palace, had some dinner (Kebabs of course) then wandered along to the Grand Bazaar for some shopping.

And that filled the day. All that remained was the white knuckle ride they call driving to round off a good day.

Day 14

After a less than perfect night's sleep thanks to lots of wild dogs howling for much of the night we braved the outer ring road of Istanbul to try and find the only Land Rover dealer in Turkey.

After stopping at a very helpful petrol station we found the correct place and immediately felt out of place in our shorts and T-shirts. The dealership did not have any dealings with the Defender model (only the top end models) but was able to provide oil and fuel filters and fuel centrifuge.

We set off towards a campsite about 60km to the east of Istanbul intending to leave the Baja at a local expert to get the oil leak properly sorted, but as we headed down the slip road onto the motorway a call came over the radio to say it's engine had cut out. With nowhere for the other two vehicles to pull over we were forced to drive on and leave them to fend for themselves.

We continued to the campsite which has to be the best location so far - right on the Black sea with a sandy beach and it's own swiming pool. The only thing wrong is there is no hot water in the showers.

Some routine checks were done on the vehicles, including the brake pads on the defender, which was probably just in time as one of the rear pads was so worn it would have been metal on metal within the next 100km.

Received a text from team Baja to say they had got help with their engine problem and with the oil leak, and also got the engine running smoother. They had decided to stay in a hotel after another trying day.

Tomorrow we are getting a taxi back into Istanbul so we can actually see some of the sights instead of the motorways.

Day 13

The most eventful day so far....

Started with a search for a suitable mechanic to deal with the Baja's many leaks and a scout around the part dealers of Kesan for Beetle rear brake shoes and Land Rover brake pads and oil and fuel filters.

The first gave a diagnosis of a loose oil filler which was tightened at no charge. We weren't convinced.

The spares weren't very successful but LR pads were obtained.

So we left Kesan heading for Istanbul but only managed about 15km before there was clearly as much oil leaking from the Baja as before. Team Baja returned to Kesan for more diagnostics, while the other two vehicles continued east.

Lonely planet doesn't list any camp sites around Istanbul so we decided to go a little north of the city and try to find somewhere along the Black sea coast as close as possible.

During this search there was a brief return of the non starting problem of the van and a minor collision with a local who turned into the side door of the van. This meant sitting around for two hours while all the formalities were completed and the local military police completed their report (we are apparently in an area of Turkey where the military have policing responsibility).

The one upside of this was that we were escorted to a suitable campsite by them.

Meanwhile the Baja had a more thorough investigation and a leak around an oil pressure gauge was found and another below the now unused mechanical fuel pump. Both were fixed, and along with a can of engine oil stop leak, the total cost was €110.

The Baja then made a dash for Istanbul and re-joined the group at 21:30.

Lat 41 11 N
Long 28 55 E
Dist 4100

Day 12

The early morning swim was very good - desserted beach and warm water at 6am.

Continued east across northern Greece, stopping every hour to refill the oil in the Baja. Finding fuel proved difficult as Greece is closed on a Sunday.

Baja developed a further couple of problems, a slightly loose front ball joint and a strange noise from the passenger side rear wheel. Ball joint was fixed by tightening, but the noise meant removal of the rear hub and drum to investigate. Problem turned out to be the hand brake linkage having detached from the brake shoe and rattling around inside the drum. Caused some damage to the shoe retainer which fortunately is almost identical to our van, and we had a spare (or four). Baja now has hand brake operating on one rear wheel.

Now sitting in the queue to cross into Turkey, which was about 3/4 mile long when we joined it. 2 hours on and we are through the Greek side but not yet into Turkey. Must be the start of some kind of holiday as the queue seems to be entirely Turks driving German, French, Dutch, Swiss registered cars.

As I write, we have crossed the river marking the border and now have to clear Turkish immigration.

3 hours in the queue and we're about 15 cars from the front. To make it worse, we have just realised we crossed a time zone entering Greece, so have lost another hour.

3 hours 45 mins and we're in Turkey! An easy crossing by African standards, but this country wants to be part of the EU.

Now, find a campsite and a VW specialist for some Beetle parts/service tomorrow morning.

Day 11

Finished re-assembling the exhaust on the van and we headed out of Macedonia to the Greek border. No problems here and an improvement in road standards meant we were able to reach our planned destination of Thessaloniki and continue a little further along the coast.

Baja having fairly serious oil leak problems with more oil used for top up today than went in for yesterday's oil change.

This evening's campsite is huge with loads of space, right on the beach. Early morning swim looks likely.

Lat 40:45 N
Long 23:45 E
Distance 3526km

Vehicle Issues

A few vehicle issues have arisen. Low oil pressure in the warmer climate, a reluctance to start yesterday morning followed by having to crank the vehicle through passport control and immigration at the Albanian border on the starter motor as it totally refused to start.

We also have an increasing exhaust leak from number 2 cylinder where there is some corrosion around the cylinder head.

The plan was to have a half day on day 10 which turned out to be a longer day of driving than planned so there was a limited amount of time available.

So, we had time to rotate the wheels in the hope that the 6 new tyres might get us the whole distance, change the engine oil for 20w50 instead of the 15w40 used previously, and remove part of the exhaust manifold to use epoxy steel to fix (bodge) the cylinder head.

A removal and reconnection of all connections around the coil and distributor was the best guess at fixing the non-starting problem.

The result is a return to a quiet exhaust, oil pressure back up to the spec in the VW manual, and so far, an engine that starts first time, every time.

However, the Baja is not quite such a happy car. An oil change has led to so many oil leaks that it's getting through about a litre per 100 miles. I think there might be some more work required there.

The Land Rover has had a clutch fluid change, and a quick inspection for what might become an issue over the next 25000km. Main issue seems to be only about 4mm of front and rear brake pad remaining and no spare oil filters, so a full set of pads will be hunted down in Istanbul, and a few oil filters.

To be continued.....

Day 10

Dropped down off the dramatic mountains and straight across the Albanian border. (See vehicle issues post for why these posts are running a bit behind real time)

Headed for Tirane where we did a bit of city centre off-roading around a building site and up the side of a hilll due to a bit of spontaneous navigation on my part.

This was supposed to be a half day of driving to allow for some vehicle maintenance, but the terrain here is so severe that 200 km can take 8 hours, and we didn't camp until 6pm.

Day 9

Continued south on the coast road which deteriorated somewhat. Crossed briefly into Bosnia then back to Croatia - the way some of the former Yugoslavian borders have been drawn looks like a recipe for future problems.

Turned inland and crossed into Montenegro still with the same spectacular mountainous terrain. Decided to camp along the south of a lake but the only road took us so high up the side of the mountain we couldn't get close. If you thought the road over Long Mynd was dramatic this was at an altogether higher level.

Eventually stopped literally at the roadside for our first night of non-campsite camping.

One of the manzy small harbours in Croatia

Team Picture - Sion and Pat with "Tiny"

Team Picture - Rachael and Tom at Simon's

Team Pictures - Mark and Beth at Simon's in Holland

Off to a good start - Baja work at Dover camp site

Day 8

Continued down the amazing coast road of Croatia, which has to be among the best driving roads in Europe.

View out across the clear blue water to some of the 101 Croatian islands is great.

There are many marinas and small coves along this stretch and it would make an ideal area for a sailing holiday. I think we might be back here in the not too distant future.

Camped about 6 km south of Split and got a taxi back into the city to eat and see the old Roman palace at it's centre.

Will try and upload some pictures soon.

Distance so far - 2548km

Day 7

Crossed border into Slovenia via the Loiblpass which again tested our 1st gear climbing ability. The border itself was the usual non-event for EC countries. Slovenia looks like a less mountainous version of Austria, and perhaps a little less afluent.

Didn't realise we needed a vignette to drive on motorway's here and were followed off the motorway by a police car as we exited to try and buy one. Think they must have been on their way to lunch as they paid us no attention. Bought one at the local Spar shop.

Left Slovenia for Croatia and had to show our passports, and got our first stamp - well they stamped mine!

Now on the Croatian coast camping by the Med.

Km so far - 2239

Day 6

Spent the morning at Eagle's Nest (Hitler's hideaway on the Austrian/German border). 1 in 4 hill for about 3 miles up to the entrance was a bit of a strain on vehicles, especially on the brakes on the way down.

Travelled south to Austria/Slovenia border and camping by another lake to the east of Villach.

Distance from home 1987km

Day 5

Visited Rothenburg this morning - the oldest walled town in Germany.

Travelled south to Fussen on the Austrian border where Ludwig II built a Schloss, which is better known as the bad king's castle in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Carried on eastward along the German/Austrian border and camped by the lake at Tegensee.

Beth drove the van for the first time on the trip, and experienced the worst weather so far.

Took back wheel off the Baja this evening to check out a vibration on braking but all looked OK.

Day four

Southbound today, but stilll mainly motorways. Drove as a group of 3 for the first time so getting used to each other's driving style. Comfortable speed seems to be about 90-95km/h.

Tonight we're at Rothenburg - aparently the oldest town in Germany.

Clocked up 1248km so far.

Comment for Day two

John - can't seem to reply to your comment directly, so here's an extra post.

We're updating via e:mail mostly at the moment (curtesy of Uniq plc), but would like to use MMS so we can upload pictures. Can't seem to get the site to register the phone.

I'm actually writing this on a Panasonic toughbook, which sadly is not mine.

Still struggling with the "Where are we" map as it doesn't display at anything like the right scale.

Plenty of time to sort out the little gremlins.

Day three

Spent today "at leisure" at Simon and Pat's.

Well, not quite at leisure - we lifted the rear suspension on the Baja so the rear tyres no longer rub on the arches, and sorted out a few other minor issues.

Simon and Pat are moving out of their rented house so everything needs to be cleared out of the house in the morning.

Tomorrow we head south through Germany but will probably stop short of the Austrian border.

Day two

Arrived at Simon and Pat's in Holland this evening so have now met 7 of the 8 group members.

Belgium motorways were a pain with very heavy traffic, but van and Baja Beetle behaved OK.

4 countries in one day - not bad eh?

Day one

Made it to Dover yesterday!

No vehicle problems but a few small things left behind. On a Sea France ferry to Calais now then onwards to the Dutch/German border.

Sorry about the stuff below this message - can't be turned off apparently.

(Removed all this stuff manually - but future messages will still have it.)

The Van