Opening Doors

The sick car saga just gets better and better.
The garage diagnosed the likely fault as being a module in the engine. This they said would cost £2000 to replace. However, lest we decided to go down that unlikely route given that the car is 9 years old, the replacement part would not be forthcoming until long after we had disappeared from this green and pleasant Isle. Meanwhile it lies in the car park at the garage
What to do?

His Lordship's cousin suggested we change our ferry booking from leaving Stromness to leaving Kirkwall which would have us arrive in Aberdeen where he could arrange a pickup vehicle to transport us and the car to his garage in Forfar.
The only ferry available to book is two days after we leave our rented accommodation in Stromness, which means we need to find accommodation in Kirkwall for two nights, and a means of transporting 2 bikes and too much luggage from Stromness to the car or the accommodation in Kirkwall.
Are you following so far?

The insurance companies we deal with will only act to take the car to the mainland if it breaks down en route to the ferry. The ferry leaves at 23:45. Any breakdown will be between 21:00 and 23:30. It doesn't need much life experience to know that any breakdown help is not going to happen at that hour, leaving us to board the ferry strung about with rucksacks and bags and wheeling bikes, while the wretched car lies abandoned by the roadside until such time s the insurance company arranges an uplift.

Still following?

However at least we now have some sort of plan of action and the remaining uncertainty is whether we ourselves can get the car to limp onto the ferry.
The only mild amusement was trying to get the English voice at the other end of the phone to understand the name,Orkney. ( Where is it? Can you spell that, she asks?)

The saga to be continued......