ZigZag Wanderer

4th September 2025

It was all going so well.

We left the marina just after 10am, northbound for the Giants Causeway, filled the fuel tank near the border, and headed for Enniskillen.

And Enniskillen is where it all went wrong.

We’d just passed the city centre when M noticed the red battery warning lamp was on. Bugger. Fortunately there was a EuroSpar just ahead, so we pulled in, popped the bonnet, expecting to find the belt gone – but no.

It’s the alternator as far as we can tell.

Luckily, there is Western Cars Toyota nearby in Enniskillen, so I gave them a call to see if there was any hope of a fix, and, boy, did they come through.

Fortunately, although the battery had run flat by the time we’d stopped, the solar panel put enough back in to enable a start fairly quickly (I have a jump pack failing that), so we were able to follow the car they’d sent out to us the fairly short distance, but through sticky traffic, to the dealer’s premises.

We’re not out of the woods yet though, as we are currently sitting in the Service Reception (with tea!), awaiting news of the fix prognosis.

What they have said, though, is that they will attempt to get the alternator overhauled at a place a few miles away, otherwise it would likely be well into next week before a new one could be delivered.

So, it’s all fingers crossed, although I’m fully expecting we’re going to be camping in the customer parking area until Monday at least. Deep joy.

Home for the night – or more?

It could be worse though. We could have had to shell out for a very expensive local B&B for a few days, on top of a new alternator. At least with the folks here doing all they possibly can to help us out of a bad situation at as low cost as possible, much of the initial stress has now dissipated.

Thankful for small (all) mercies, and all that!

At least we’re a reasonable walking distance from the centre of Enniskillen, and it seems a nice place with plenty to offer. Here’s hoping the weather isn’t too unkind during our mooching and browsing – and it hasn’t been so far today.

Update at 3.50pm

We’ve just been given the incredibly welcome news that the altermator has been fixed (I’m assuming diodes, but no real idea as yet) and we should be on our way by 5pm! That’s absolutely amazing, and testament once again to Toyota and their dealerships’ commitment.

Obviously our original intended destination is now off the cards, but who cares? We have five weeks!

All we have to do now is pay(!) and then find somewhere not too far away to spend the night…

Update at 6.45pm

We paid (ouch). It turned out that the starter battery had some duff cells too (clearly evidenced, even though I didn’t ask to see it tested) so a new one added to the overall cost. To be honest, I sort of knew it was on its way out, as it had failed us last winter, and it seems it was only limping on due to the solar input covering up the inevitable (and that would probably not been enough in the dull cold of the oncoming winter).

So there we have it: A rebuilt generator and a new battery for it to play with. And I really can’t overstate how fantastic everyone at Western were/are, bending over backwards to get a good resolution for us. Very highly recommended!

Hopefully that’s an end to the bad luck. (Don’t say that you bleddy fool!).

Good luck, now, though – we’ve driven around ten miles north along the eastern shore of the Lower Lough Erne and found what appears, on the face of it, to be a perfect park-up. Peaceful (so far) and with a picnic bench adjacent, and lovely views across the Lough.

Even the weather is holding on. .

Plans change, and with all that’s happened we’ve decided to put the Giant’s Causeway back until Monday and see a little more of the northern and north-eastern coast of Ulster over the next couple of days.

Sometimes things happen for a reason.