16 Jun, 3.43 PM - Nuremburg"Rob decided he wanted to go to the airport so we could concentrate on gathering the story. The trip to Nuremburg's outskirts was a quiet one. Goodbyes under such circumstances are never easy. In the end there are two farewells. One on camera which was resigned but upbeat, the other one a little less so. No one knew what to say other than good luck which didn't seem appropriate given Rob's abundant lack of it. A shake of the hands and he was gone. Airports are the venues of emotional extremes. Would we leave Germany rejoicing or commiserating? Determined to get to know Bessie as quickly as possible I took the wheel. She was totally unforgiving. i gear crunched my way for 2 miles when she stopped. Nothing could get her going. We pushed her onto the pavement and examined her. It looked terminal but those words and Bessie have been used in the same sentence before. We didn't know it but it was to be some time before we would feel the old girl's bumpy gait again. Steve and I had two problems. The first major, the second even more so. Firstly we had a report to compile for South East Today in 3 hours. And worryingly the place we had to send it from back to Tunbridge Wells was a mile away. We phoned for help. Our rescuers were Mick and John from the RAC. One was from Newcastle the other from Lancashire. It proved to be an awesome pairing. You have no idea how reassuring it is to hear a Geordie accent in the middle of a foreign city when you're in trouble. They stayed with us for six hours. They failed to breathe life into Bessie so they towed her to our BBC colleagues so we could file our story. They arranged a replacement vehicle before taking Bessie to a very clean looking car doctor. Patting the old girl was we left I did feel guilty. It was the second goodbye of the day... My relationship with the beleagered VW never got beyond the polite introduction stage. Look after yourself Bess!! we'll be back soon. Our knights in shining overalls then took us to Nuremburg airport where the hire care was waiting. After a third goodbye we were heading North - destination Rothenburg, more than 600 miles away. An hour later it was getting dark. We stopped in a town called Herzogenauer. This pretty settlement looked like the ideal place for a stop over. It was also festival weekend. The trouble was although it was easy to get a weissbier - it was impossible to get accommodation. A pork sandwich later and we were on the road again. But the patron saint of journalist didn't desert us entirely. There was a huge hotel up the road. It opened just 3 weeks before. It was midnight and it had space - I closed my eyes. The fourth and last goodbye of the day." 15 JunRob Smith is winging his way back to the UK with an eye infection but BBC South East Today presenter Ian Palmer with be taking his place behind the wheel of Bessie. Ian's diary updates will appear here... 14 Jun, 1.17PM - Bad BruckemauerWe are a couple of hours away from Nuremberg - theoretically. After performing heroics over the last week or so Bessie has suffered a bit of a break down. Nothing too serious, just the exhaust falling off, but Reinholv, a VW garage, is on the case and it should only be an hour or so. ("Vee heat ze iron and feex") Therefore me and Steve have taken the opportunity for a little Fruhstuck (breakfast) in the town square and very pretty it is too. We finally twigged that Bad in a German town name actually means they have a spa, so in England you would go to Royal Bad Tunbridge. In fact Bad generally means "good". Confusing but bad. Anyway, where have we been ? Well, we set off from Hanover to Rugemburg with the intention of watching the Soca Warriors train and then knock off a quick interview with Brent and Coxy (the Gillingham boys) and then drive back to Hamlyn straight after. But the T&T coach, Leo Beemhakker, had other ideas, banning all the players from interviews that night. Our tents were on a camp site 3 hours away, so we had to stay in a hotel overnight. What a hardship! In honour of the Caribbean connection Steve had the coconut covered chicken with fried banana, while I had the red snapper. Actually, food has become something of an obsession on the road. We've eaten a lot of schnitzel in the last few days, and discovered the Germans adore spargel (which is asparagus but grown in the dark, so it's huge and white!! Next morning the T&T boys were in great form. Brent Sancho especially is in dreamland after his powering performance against Sweden helped earn them the biggest international result in Trinidad's history. The mood in their camp is fantastic and even though they have no realistic expectation of holding England to a draw they're certainly going into the game on a high and will really give England a tough match. Mr Scally will no doubt be pleased with Sancho's performance as well, it will have added a least one nought to his sale value. After the morning training session we set out for Hamlyn to retrieve the tents and very relieved to find them all intact and to save Bessie from toiling too much in the afternoon heat, spent a couple of hours by the pool. We made it as far south as Bad Bruckemauer before stopping for the night. Now breakfast is finished Bessie is fixed so we're onto Nuremburg and the showdown with the Pirates of the Caribbean. | 
