Usually, when we’re on holiday, we’re wanting to come home at the end of our time. We miss our cats and our house, and on this trip, I miss Indian takeaways ;-).
However, we both felt that we could have managed more time. I don’t think I could permanently live in a place as isolated, but the peace was nice (and in fact, the crowds around Durness at one point felt uncomfortable).
However, we had a pre-booked overnight stop somewhere nice on the way back, so back on the road.
An uneventful journey back towards and on the A9 saw us conveniently near Blair Atholl at lunchtime and a drop into the Bothy Bar at the Blair Atholl hotel got us lunch. Onwards got us to Callander, a town we’ve driven through, but never stopped, and a very nice hotel indeed as a close to our holiday and a treat for a special occasion by around 3:30pm. (241 miles, 5:26, unknown mpg)
A nice hotel
Callander was nice. We’d stayed up the road in Killin before now, but never here. We had a short hobble around the town before dinner, a drink in the lovely bar, and settling in to our suite for the evening (we’d got a complimentary upgrade!).
A positively lovely breakfast saw us back on the road around 9:30 with a brief refuelling stop just up the road, and clearly something was wrong: a bank holiday weekend, and a easy journey back (4:56, 312 miles, 54.5 mpg. Back to our kitties.
Many miles, for a start. The whole trip was over 1300 miles, averaging around 53mpg. Considering there was a lot of single track, and a reasonable bit of ‘spirited’ driving, that’s pretty good.
We finally closed the loop we’d started back in 2008 by going round through Durness and Tongue to Bettyhill, meaning we’ve now done the NC500, even if it took us 18 years to do so.
We also visited the most northwest point, Cape Wrath, which took 2 attempts, a very small ferry, and 22 miles along a very bumpy track in a minibus.
We drove about, looked at scenery. We had a few meals out at some varying hotels, and mostly, we relaxed.
Scenery was stunning, roads were quiet (and the Leon proved to be great in sport mode for a bit of fun), and there was a very pleasant lack of crowds. The NC500 campervans were a slight pain some of the time, but not much (we were strategically based just off the route) and the high diesel cost and NC500 inflation meant this wasn’t a cheap holiday, but it was a nice one.
We’ve done a long way north before, of course, a good long time ago. Oddly enough, diesel had gone up in price a lot that time we drove hundreds of miles too, though 2008 prices would seem cheap now.
This time, we were heading west, eventually, but highland roads meant that Mr Google directed us up the A9 Road of Death just past Inverness, then west. But wait! I’m getting ahead of myself, we’ve got a long way to go yet!
We left at a sociable 09:30, and got on the M6T and M6. A quick stop at Tebay, and onwards on the M6, M74, M73, M80, M9 and A9. No serious traffic until we reach Perth, and even then, only a few minutes, and we reach Stanley and our overnight stop.
5:24 driving time, 335 miles, 52.8 mpg.
We went for a hobble down to Stanley Mills before tea, a place we’d been completely unaware of, had an evening meal and settled in to our room for the evening.
Stanley Mills
The next day: breakfast and back on the road. A brief stop for fuel, then onwards on the A9. The “Road of Death” is much tamed now: there’s much more dual carriageway, fewer hazardous junctions, and average speed cameras. We pass Inverness, and before too long turn off.
The roads get smaller, and at one point we have a over 40 mile stretch of thankfully quiet single-track road. We’re lucky though: there’s not much NC500 on our route.
We reach Kinlochbervie and our holiday let after another long drive: 4:20, 201 miles, 58.2 mpg, no hold-ups.
The place is beautiful and peaceful: just the sound of flowing water, sheep, and birdsong. There’s a big fishing harbour, but that’s out of sight.
The view from our cottage
Apart from said harbour, there’s a hotel, a hardware shop/filling station (with one petrol/diesel pump), 2 cafes, and a Spar shop. That’s about your lot, facitities-wise. As it was, the hotel was OK for a bar meal, the one cafe we tried was excellent, and the Spar was well-stocked, which is a good thing.
The cottage itself was warm (it might have been May, but it’s a good bit cooler up there), a decent size, comfortable, and unexpectedly had a decent Internet connection, and it proved to be a great base.
We’ve been bringing some infrastructure up to date: an elderly VMWare install was migrated to Nutanix– because since Broadcom bought VMWare, pricing just got stupid, a legacy application with its roots in the 1990s, running on a very old Server 2003 box finally got retired, and at this point, we could start to address issues like a Windows Active Directory also running on Server 2003 that literally couldn’t be altered until the legacy application was retired.
The legacy application also meant an old desktop OS: it literally wouldn’t work on Windows 10 or 11, and was unsupported (but did work) on Windows 8.1. This meant old hardware for the users- in some cases purchased secondhand.
So, first of all, a Windows 2016 domain controller was introduced, this being the newest that was still compatible with the 2003 functional level and servers. This had been tried before, but the legacy server promptly shat itself: the mistake was patching the new server. Backing it out, then rebuilding it unpatched worked just fine.
Services were migrated- DNS, DHCP, RADIUS. The 2003 servers were removed, more services migrated from the 2008 Domain controller. A second 2016 DC came in, the 2008 server was removed, and finally, we get to raise functional level and remove the need for SMBv1 (an easily exploitable protocol). We might still have unsupported OSs, but at least now we can use supported ones on the network!
Now we were in a decent place to deliver new hardware to users, users that have been justifiably clamouring for workstations from this decade, which is why, last week, I found myself waiting for my non-driving colleague near a flyover in South Birmingham at 05:40 in the morning (and why I’d found myself at another colleague’s house at 06:00 just before Christmas) with a boot full of Thinkpads and a long commute ahead of us.
It’s your job to keep me awake!
This time, the target was an office south of the M25 in Surrey, so it was on to the M42 and M40, a short trip round the M25, and then the A3.
It never ceases to amaze me that in places, once you leave the M25, things can look almost semi-rural, and this was the case here: we drove through Ripley and it felt almost villagey, though admittedly a village with a Bentley Dealer.
We found ourselves onsite by 08:20, and after a quick drink got underway: all done by 14:20, which was a result, and then it’s just a return journey. I drop off my colleague, and drive home with a bootfull of antique computers, encountering the only really bad traffic of the entire journey at the top of the M5 as per normal.
There remains much to be done: Exchange has to be brought up to date (kind of) and there’s new Citrix to build. Some of my colleagues still have bootfulls of Thinkpads to dole out elsewhere in the UK, but at least we have a significant chunk done.
For some years now, I’ve very occasionally used SEAT erwin, an online source for the official workshop manuals for Seat cars, and also the VW version.
Erwin is brilliant: you can get all the same information the dealers use, tailored you your car exactly, for a few euro to access for a time period. Wiring diagrams, official repair procedures, details of recalls.
Which made it annoying to get this email:
Dear erWin User,
We would like to inform you that, as of 18-12-2025, the erWin Webshop will no longer be available to private customers but exclusively to business customers.
Of course, you may continue to use your active flatrate subscriptions until the end of their contractually agreed term – even beyond the above-mentioned discontinuation date.
Should you have any questions, please contact our support team at https://seat.erwin-store.com/erwin/showRequestSupport.do .
Thank you for your understanding.
Kind regards,
Your erWin Team SEAT/CUPRA
https://seat.erwin-store.com
The reason given to a forum user was:
thank you for your E-Mail.
Due to stricter legal requirements, additional documentation obligations, and increasing support efforts, continuing the service is no longer economically or organizationally feasible. Significant adjustments to contract terms, liability regulations, and information obligations would have been necessary, which are no longer justifiable for the private customer segment.
Back years ago, it was common to buy the equivalent thing, elsawin, as a pirated bit of software on multiple CDs from Ebay, and I do wonder if someone will find a way to pirate erwin and sell it, but it’s a backward step: the pirate copies of elsawin were always a bit limited as they couldn’t be tailored to individual VINs, and of course, they weren’t up to date (and no such thing exists for recent cars).
What I have done is (legally) downloaded and printed to PDF some key sections for both our cars: this seemed worth the less than £10 cost for an hours access.
I chose to go to Cornwall, when we’d usually go abroad in November. This was an error.
It was shit. Really Shit. I picked up a really unpleasant cold that arrived the Friday before we left, then my dear better half got it, so we spent the only days with good weather feeling like shit, then got the shit weather. When we did venture out, it wasn’t great- St Ives and Penzance were still busy enough to make parking near impossible.
Our holiday property was great, thankfully, as we spent a lot of time in it, but driving over 500 miles in total for two meals out and getting frozen at Land’s End wasn’t great.
I don’t much work on cars these days, compared to the days of changing clutches and gearboxes, to the degree that I’ve never actually laid tools on this Leon (well, apart from VCDS).
I changed that, firstly by scraping the passenger mirror on a wall when parking. I was lucky, and got a replacement in the right colour from Ebay for a fraction of the price of a new mirror and paint.
Fitting wasn’t so bad: remove the door card (the clips are tight and need a surprising amount of force to remove and refit):
The passenger door, less the interior trim
disconnect the cables, remove the speaker and a bit of foam for access, and undo one nut. Job done.
The second bit was the washer pump, which had decided to expire. Gratifyingly, this is the only actual component failure since I’ve owned the car, but it had done this once before, logging this code:
one morning on the way to work (for once, the timestamp is correct). Last time, clearing the code brought it back to life, but no such luck, and the ECU locked out the headlight washers too.
Not too bad to fix: jack up and remove the front nearside wheel, remove part of the arch liner (8 T25 screws), and the pump is there and just levers out, and the connections unclip.
The washer pumps: Headlight (left) and screen (right)
The new pump was just over a tenner, and fitting wasn’t hard.
We’d last been around here in 2010, visiting our friend in Totton, and we were meeting up again, as well as doing some R&R on our own.
We had a good journey down- just over 3 hours driving, and no serious arseholery, and got into our holiday property, which was considerably better than May’s (but not cheap).
We got to the first of the pubs. The New Forest area has quite an alarming number of really very nice pubs: the only slight duffer was in nearby Southampton, and even that wasn’t awful.
We drove around the New Forest, we went to Milford-on-Sea a couple of times as it was such a nice place:
Milford-on-Sea
We got chauffeured around Southampton, saw the Titanic exhibition, and parts of the old walls. We saw some lovely gardens, and we totally failed to find any foraging pigs.
Surprisingly, despite being in a car a lot, driving standards weren’t at all bad. Is this indicative of having expectations lowered by the Midlands?
The week went quickly: catching up with said friend meant time flew. The return journey was OK too, about 3.5 hours driving.
I decided to wash the Ibiza, and found the hatch wouldn’t open.
Like many VAG cars, the 6J Ibiza has a hatch release which is electronic and can be released by a button on the key, by the handle (which is just a switch), or via the diagnostics.
The first two didn’t work, so out with VCDS.
1 Fault Found:
00329 - Control Circuit for Unlocking Rear Lid
011 - Open Circuit - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00101011
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 11
Reset counter: 168
Mileage: 50565 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2017.11.14
Time: 12:00:55
[Note: Dates on VAG control modules are usually wildly inaccurate]
and surely enough, an output test on the release produced a very quiet click from near the fusebox, but nothing else.
Looking at measuring blocks for the Central Electric Module, the switch in the handle works OK- this box (highlighted in red, measuring blocks channel 8) shows “Activated” if you pull the handle:
A screenshot from VCDS. The value on the right shows the state of the hatch release switch.
Of course, you could just check this with a multimeter or test lamp, but this does have the advantage of checking the whole circuit up to the CEM, and by balancing the laptop where it can be seen, this only needs one person.
So now there’s the possibility of a broken wire or connection, maybe a fuse blown, or a failed release. A check of the manual reveals there’s no seperate fuse for the tailgate, so that rules that out.
To get the tailgate open, you have to crawl into the back of the car (it’s an SC, so no rear doors), folding the rear seats, climb over them, and release it from inside by sliding something flat, like the key, from right to left in a slot in the boot trim, so I did that, removed the boot trim (two T25 screws and a good pull (and who doesn’t like a good pull?)) and got a multimeter on the cable. Operating the boot handle gave a pulse here, so it looks like the release itself is faulty. Happily, I also have the XZN spline bit needed to unbolt it.
The OE part is £30-something, plus carriage, and a pattern part is £22 delivered next day, so as this isn’t a terribly critical part, I got the pattern one.
Which didn’t fix the issue.
A bit of research took me here, and it seems likely there is a intermittent connection in the tailgate, one that irritatingly remade itself, then failed, repetitively.
The connections to the latch are simple: one ground, two switches (one so the car can tell if the tailgate is open, and one for the boot light), and one drive to the release motor.
Tailgate wiring diagram.
The green cable is what we want. It starts at the Central Electric Module, has a joint in the boot, then another in the tailgate. Putting a meter on it showed 5 volts: this is how the diagnostics detect the open circuit. Triggering the latch release pushes this up to 12v to drive the motor.
Here’s an important lesson when using a multimeter that I learnt years ago: a meter is really high impedance, so even a poor connection can show 12v when off-load, and this proved to be the case here. I did consider making a test lamp with a sidelight bulb to give it a load, but in the end, I just pulled the wires out of the block, and joined them with solder and heatshrink tubing (easier said than done with a small soldering iron outdoors). The cable wasn’t broken, it was an issue with the connector- probably oxidation.
The green cable is the trigger for the boot release- removed from the connector and spliced together.
That done, all the error codes go away, the tailgate release works again, and it’s just a case of putting the trim back together.
Back in 2005 I bought a VCDS cable for my then car, and because I bought the right, CAN-compatible cable, that’s done me well for 17 years, and pretty much copes with any VAG car up to 2018.
Then I bought a 2018 car, and started seeing this issue:
----------------------------------------------------------
Address 4B: Multifunc. Module
Interface not compatible.
Please upgrade to a current Ross-Tech interface.
The interfaces aren’t cheap, as they also act as a key for the software, and eligibility for lifetime upgrades and support. The original HEX+CAN USB was, i think, around £200 or so, and its replacement, the HEX V2, comes in at £225-£450, depending on how many cars you need to do the more advanced stuff on.
Interfaces can be traded in for upgrade, but after asking the nice people at Gendan about it, the only way to trade in against a 3 VIN or 10 VIN licence is to send my old cable back to the USA, with the associated hassle and carriage/customs charges that incurs, all for £100 trade-in.
Added to this is that the original cable works completely on cars up to 2018, and has no VIN limitation, and actually, the sane option is either to just keep it for older cars, or sell it. I think it’s most likely I’ll retain it for the older car in the household and for doing people favours, leaving me with 2 spare VIN slots for future use with the new cable.
