Today we were graced with the presence of the good Doctor Johnson, Consultant Land Rover specialist. We spent the first hour on a guided tour. Johnson hadn’t seen The Duke since we picked it up from Witham, so some getting to know you time was required.

Having discussed where everything would go when we drive to Africa, what type of roof rack is best, whether you need to be able to sleep and cook inside the ‘drover and other down to earth topics, we set to work on the back brakes and electrics.

Both back brakes were jammed on and the drums took far more effort to remove than the front ones did. However, we managed to work out a few tricks (I say “we”, but I mean “he”) to make things go back together nicely. Also, the doctor has diagnosed nothing but a severe case of hypochondria with the brake system. Everything is ceased, but in good working order when freed up. Clearly The Duke has done little but stand in one place since his brakes were last serviced. So the cylinders are a bit stuck together but otherwise fine.

The grease spiders were back in force within the back wheels. I managed to dispatch one to the big greasy web in the sky but sadly one got away. Reading could be overrun. We may all be killed.

More success with the wiring too, but little of interest to report.

Finally, another tiny clue in the quest to Date The Duke: I found an ancient Dime Bar wrapper jammed behind the dash with the wiper motor. Sadly, there’s not a lot of information on the history of Dime Bars on the Internet, so it’s proving hard to match it to a specific year!