A Trip to the Dorset Seaside

Monday 20th July

I had a brief trip to the seaside in Dorset before all the schools broke up for summer and for a visit to the Swanage Railway. I stayed in Bournemouth which meant I could travel by train - Swanage is no longer connected to the national rail network - rather than sit in traffic heading for the coast. Most of the journey would be on a CrossCountry Voyager so I treated myself to a 1st Class ticket, Standard Class on those trains is hellish, livestock would get better conditions. At Reading I settled into a single seat at a table and just before departure was joined in the seat opposite by a guy who appeared to have been on “a very good weekend in London”. When the ticket inspector arrived he took ages to locate his ticket, emptying his entire wallet including a big wad of cash onto the table before having it pointed out that he was sitting in 1st Class with only a standard class ticket. “Oh, I hadn’t noticed” No, because the seats and doors with ‘First Class’ clearly written on them aren’t a clue, are they? The chancer was dispatched into the next coach and I got the full legroom back. After a nice complementary on-train lunch we arrived on time in sunny Bournemouth.

I had 45 minutes before I could check into my hotel room so walked the long way around via the East Overcliff before turning inland to Bournemouth’s “hotel land” to find the Langtry Manor Hotel.

Built as The Red House in 1877 Edward Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) provided the house for his mistress, socialite and actress Lillie Langtry. Prince Edward was, as the plaque on the wall outside states, “A Frequent Visitor”. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

I had a nice room, furnished in period style with a four poster bed and a large free-standing bath of the kind with sides so high as to provide a challenge to getting in and out. It also had a balcony with a chair and table on it overlooking the garden. This was accessed via three steps out of a window with a sign reading “Mind your head and the steps” above it. I looked at the mis-aligned unsupported ends of the balcony deck boards and decided I didn’t need to sit on a balcony :-)

Once the heat of the day had started to abate I headed into Bournemouth town centre for something to eat. It’s very “student orientated”, at least the end through which I walked. Also it has either gained a large South Asian population since I was last here (a long time ago and I was here for work) or it has become a favoured destination for such holidaymakers.

Having eaten I headed to Bournemouth Pier and then walked along the prom all the way to Boscombe Pier. It’s an even longer time since I’ve been to Boscombe. I finished my walk along the prom with a pint of cider in the Harvester overlooking the pier because there appears to be a dearth of proper pubs in Bournemouth, especially the Boscombe end. the sun was setting as I walked up through Boscombe Chine and back to Langtry Manor.

Tuesday 21st July

Next morning I was up, washed and ready by eight o’clock for breakfast, served (by the lovely Anna) in the Derby Manor Hotel a short walk across the road. I’ve walked further to the hotel restaurant when it’s been in the same building. Of course it was a nice sunny morning, if it was pissing down with rain it would be less ideal.

Off to the Swanage Railway.

This would involve a bus. I walked to the bus station to catch the Route 50 Purbeck Breezer, operated by an open-topped double-decker. I could have caught it a little closer at its first stop but going to the bus station proved to be the right choice - it was a very full bus that left the bus station, definitely no room for any more up top. It takes the bus about an hour and ten minutes to get to Swanage Station via Sandbanks and Studland, which means you have the novelty of being on an open-topped bus on the chain ferry. The £3 bus fare seems like a particular bargain since the ferry alone would be £1.18 as a foot passenger.

Swanage Beach was very busy as we passed, arriving at Swanage Station in good time to buy a ticket (Adult day ticket £27.50) and await the 1200 departure to Norden at the other end of the line, beyond Corfe Castle. This was operated by an Ex-South West Trains BR class 121 ‘Bubble Car’ No W55028 with two units from a Class 117 Diesel Multiple Unit to make up a three coach train. Unusually for a heritage railway the services appear on Real Time Trains so you can see it left 2 minutes late but made up 1 minute by the time it reached Norden. To my great surprise though by no means empty it was not a very busy train, nor were any of the other trains that day which made for a very pleasant day out.

The Swanage Railway at five and a half miles in length is long enough to feel like a proper train journey and runs a frequent enough timetable that you really can hop on and off at the intermediate stations and feel like you’ve got your money’s worth. From Norden I caught the 1320 to Corfe Castle, hauled by resident steam locomotive SR 2-6-0 - U Class No. 31806. Built in Brighton and a long way from its original working patches of Nine Elms, Basingstoke, and Guildford. It would be fair to say that it isn’t working as hard on the Swanage line. At 1405 having made good use of the Corfe Castle station cafe I took the diesel train to Harmans Cross, a peaceful rural station which happens to be where trains pass each other on the mostly single track line. So every so often there’s a burst of activity although few people seemed to alight. A German couple appeared from who-knows-where and since the ticket office wasn’t open had to buy tickets online. They must have been on a different mobile network to me, Three UK doesn’t acknowledge the existence of that part of rural Dorset.

At 1453 No.31806 took me back to Swanage where it was bloody hot. The Co-op next to the station provided ice cream and a cold drink before I went for a last round trip, catching the 1600 diesel to Norden, sitting in the “Bubble Car” along with a family, all three generations of which were equally excitable and noisy. The busy train emptied out at Norden, most of the passengers making a one-way trip back to the station car park. The handful of us going back to Swanage at 1640 were all in the “Bubble Car”, the other two units having been locked while it was standing in the platform at Norden. Even so it was a quiet run back.

I enjoyed the Swanage Railway. There’s a video too (on PeerTube). 

And a shorter video (on YouTube) as the full one might take a while to load. 

I went for a stroll along the seafront and then to the White Swan for beer (Purbeck Brewery Operation S.M.A.S.H. 4.2%, very nice) and dinner (liver & bacon with gravy and mashed spuds, food of the gods). The next bus back to Bournemouth wasn’t until five past seven so obviously I had another pint before walking back to the station. No trouble obtaining a seat on the open top deck, shame about the group of teenage tossers who also boarded, who carried on the argument with the woman they’d upset before getting on board, throwing insults and misogynist comments over the rail at the back of the bus. By the time we reached Studland the temperature had dropped a bit and once across the ferry it was breezy enough that I was glad I’d put a long sleeved top in my bag that morning.

It had been a long day. By the time I’d walked back to my hotel I was ready for bed but first copied the photos and video clips to my laptop. I backed up my photos to my Synology NAS at home too - by tethering my phone to the laptop because the hotel Wi-Fi was woeful. Then I slept like the proverbial log.

Wednesday 22nd July

I had no particular plan for today but over breakfast decided to visit Weymouth. I don’t think I’ve ever been to Weymouth though we might have driven through back in the 90s and failed to find anywhere to park the campervan. I could have gone by bus or train. Train would be quicker. Walked to the station, bought a ticket, discovered that the train before the one I’d intended to catch was running so late that I caught that and was still later arriving than if I’d been on the one I’d gone for. SWR have already paid out the Delay Repay. Weymouth was hot and busy. I stopped at a cafe in town because there were seats in the shade outside. Walked across the bridge over the Wey into the old town and all the way to the point below Nothe Fort.

I returned to the old town, near the former brewery. Mmm, brewery. Warm isn’t it? Important to stay hydrated and there are some tables outside The Red Lion which are shaded by trees. It would’ve been rude not to. (Otter Brewery Lifeboat Ale, 3.6%, very good)

Weymouth centre was filling up with the sort of people who think a narrow street is the ideal place to all stop and gather round to have a long discussion. I returned to the station and caught a train to Poole. I’ve only ever been to Poole for a brief work visit so decided to stop and take a look around while I was “passing”. I walked down the high street to the quayside, losing count of the number of vape shops, barbers, charity shops, and nail bars. So far just like any other high street then. The Quay was much nicer. Busy with boats going to and from Poole Harbour past the very expensive toys in the Sunseeker boatyard opposite.

I walked along the Quay to the old Lifeboat Station by the boat haven and back to the Baden-Powell memorial, surrounded by Scouts just back from Brownsea Island for a commemorative photo. I considered a boat trip to Brownsea Island myself but there was only one more round trip which meant no time on the island itself. That will have to wait until another time.

I found a seat in a shelter out of the sun. The Scouts were still milling about in a disorganised fashion. “Could you all quieten down and gather around?”, said the Scoutmaster, to no obvious effect. What happened to “Shut up you ’orrible lot and fall in by Patrols!”? It worked on us. Do they even still have Patrols? It’s been forty-odd years since I was involved in The Scouts.

There are some nice pubs on Poole Quay, it had been a long time since breakfast so I went to The Portsmouth Hoy where I had Haddock & Chips washed down by a pint of Fursty Ferret (3.4%, very good). Always impressive when you get two pieces of haddock. Crispiest batter ever too.

Back to the station and to Bournemouth. It had been another long day, which called for a soak in that bathtub. After which I couldn’t be bothered to go anywhere else.

Thursday 23rd July

One last full English breakfast then packed and at the station in good time to catch the 1045 to Reading. Which trundled so slowly along that it arrived 17 minutes late, at exactly the time my connecting train departed. Oh good, another hour sitting at Reading Station. Delay Repay claim submitted to CrossCountry, four days later it’s still “In Progress”. What’s the betting they try to wriggle?

Replacing the powered tailgate lifting struts on a 2016 Toyota RAV4 (XA40)

 This blog post is intended as a help for anyone else with a 2013-2018 Toyota RAV4 whose tailgate has developed a will of its own. 

Over the last few years the powered tailgate on my car has become increasingly temperamental. When opening and closing it made horrible grinding and graunching noises from the struts. Occasionally it would stick part way up or more often after a couple of inches when closing. Pressing the button again sometimes worked but often didn't meaning I had to force the door up/down against the motors which was undoubtedly doing more damage. Attempting to lubricate the struts was futile, they're sealed units with no lubrication points. The problem was exacerbated by cold weather, just when you don't want to be standing in the car park fighting with the tailgate.

It got to the point where I needed to do something about it!

The simple option would be get the dealer to replace the struts. That would also be the four digit bill option so I looked into obtaining a pair of replacement struts and doing the job myself.

RAV4 power tailgate troubles aren't uncommon so the parts are available, either expensive "genuine Toyota" ones or more reasonable after-market parts. I decided on the latter. Finding a pair rather than just the left one which seemed to be what most sellers had took a bit of research but eventually i ordered these from eBay seller The Retail Warehouse (8633)

 Electric Tailgate Gas Struts Pair Fits Toyota RAV4 2013-2018 UK Stock

Which arrived the next working day.

Changing the struts is not a difficult job if you are careful and methodical, have and can use the following tools:

1. A 10mm socket, extension bar and ratchet.
2. A 10mm AF open ended spanner.
3.  A small flat bladed screwdriver.
4. Small pointed pliers (what telephone engineers call 81s).
5. A prop to support the tailgate, preferably adjustable. (I used a window-cleaning extendable pole. Alternatively a second person with nothing better to do would work).
6. Something in which to collect small screws and clips so they don't go astray.
7. Rag for cleaning parts.

I watched this video by  The Car Care Nut on YouTube a couple of times:

 TOYOTA OWNERS! Power Back Door Problems and How to Prevent Them.

Yes it's from the USA but it's not the usual maniacal YouTube presentation and the guy seems to know what he's talking about.

Video instructions are no use when you're actually doing the job so I created this PDF version with step by step instructions and notes from actually completing the task.

Toyota Rav4 2013-2018 (XA40) power tailgate strut replacement. 

From start to finish it took me about an hour and a half, working outdoors (Kerbside Autos R Us). The tailgate worked first time and continues to do so. I didn't have any screws left over for a change. 

Walking the Capital Ring, Section 12, Highgate to Stoke Newington

1st July 2026

The train was late as usual and crowded with suitcases as usual. Two stops further on a hundred hi-vis-clad school kids were shepherded onto the train by their teachers/escorts ensuring that no one was getting off in a hurry at Reading. Just as well that there are frequent trains connecting Reading to Paddington. At Paddington the Purple Train platforms were demonstrating why the Elizabeth Line is the busiest railway in the country. Two stops in air-conditioned modernity followed by nine stops on the slightly less comfortable Northern Line brought me to Highgate Station, the birthplace of Jerry Springer. The late talk show host and 56th Mayor of Cincinnati was born on 13th February 1944 in the station while the German Luftwaffe dropped bombs from above when it was in use as an Air Raid Shelter. As far as I know there’s nothing at the station to mark this event.

I left the station through the Priory Gardens exit which sounds nicer than it is in reality and walked up the road to the right turn up a steep footpath between the houses into Highgate Spinney.

At the top of Highgate Spinney I turned right then left onto Archway Road briefly before taking Holmesdale Road to locate the sloping path down to the abandoned track bed of the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway which would have become part of the Northern Line had the little disagreement of 1939-1945 not intervened. I made a brief detour to see the portals of the tunnels leading to the abandoned Highgate “surface” station before turning around and heading eastwards on the Parkland Walk, a 3 mile long linear nature reserve which follows the former railway towards Finsbury Park.

I didn’t get very far. At Northwood Road the Rozzers were out in force and had cordoned off the Parkland Walk with blue & white tape, directing everyone down the steps to the street. The next access point in Milton Park was also cordoned off, resulting in a lengthy and hilly detour all the way to Hornsey Lane and back to the route at the footbridge over Stanhope Road. Could’ve done without that. It was nice to get back on the relatively peaceful (and level) former railway. I have previously walked all of the Parkland Walk but in the opposite direction, from Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace.

The old railway runs in a cutting passing under road bridges and between the abandoned platforms of Crouch End Station with the former station building now a heavily grafftied cafe and shop on the road above.

After passing under Crouch Hill the line rises onto an embankment and crosses several streets on railway bridges with views north and south, especially at Stapleton Hall Road where it crosses both the street and the London Overground Suffragette Line, better known as the “GOBLIN”. The new line names still mean little to me, I expect you need to be a regular user for them to have relevance.

There were quite a few lunchtime joggers out as I crossed the bridge over Upper Tollington Park to reach the end of the Parkland Walk where the abandoned railway would have connected to the East Coast Main Line just north of Finsbury Park Station. The Capital Ring carries on over the multiple tracks on a bridge that leads directly into Finsbury Park itself and after crossing the carriage drive passes close to the cafe and toilets. I availed myself of both, getting a coffee to go with my picnic lunch, eaten on a bench overlooking the boating lake.

A large part of the park was closed off behind barriers and fences for the three day Festival Republic event with Biffy Clyro, Kasabian and Wolf Alice headlining. Only the last of those appeals to me. The Capital Ring runs to the north of the festival site though so after lunch I resumed my walk passing through the Mckenzie Gardens and past the sports stadium then across the open parkland where Victorian Londoners would have come to escape the smoke of the city to the south.

Approaching the carriage drive near to the gate out of the park onto Green Lanes I found a rather grumpy tree.

Green Lanes at over six miles in length is one of London’s longest streets. How old it is is uncertain, it’s possibly an ancient drovers’ road and possibly dates back to the Roman occupation. You’ll have plenty of time to think about this because the Pelican crossing here must have one of London’s longest waits between pedestrian priority phases. A proper “is this fucking thing working?” wait before eventually the lights change and you can cross to the other side. On the other side of Green Lanes the Capital Ring joins the New River Path. The ‘New’ here in New River is a comparative term. It’s newer than Green Lanes but considerably older than say, The United States of America. The New River, in fact an artificial waterway opened in 1613 to supply London with fresh drinking water taken from Chadwell and Amwell Springs near Ware in Hertfordshire.

It has a fascinating history, originally following the contours of the land and dropping just five inches per mile to allow the water to flow under gravity it has over time been modified and straightened in places but a large section still serves as part of London’s water supply. It also provides a nice fairly level walk away from the roads. The New River Path which follows the water as closely as possible is 28 miles long. One day I will get around to walking all of it. The section which is also the Capital Ring I have previously walked, again in the opposite direction and at the time noted that it appeared to be home to a large number of Eurasian Coots. It still is. They’re still breeding.

I crossed Seven Sisters Road and rejoined the New River as it looped around (contours remember) past Woodberry Wetlands and the West Reservoir, the latter busy with people falling off paddle boards. The river here was an odd opaque blue-green colour but that didn’t stop it supporting Water Lilies, bright blue dragon flies, or four fluffy Coot chicks who were getting a lot of attention from the walkers and joggers on the path. By the time I reached Green Lanes again the afternoon had warmed up quite a bit and become a little humid. There’s a castle here on Green Lanes. It’s not actually a castle but a Victorian water pumping station in the guise of a castle keep. Where it used to house six large steam engines it now houses a climbing centre - rock rather than social.

I headed south and just before entering Clissold Park popped across the road to Sainsbury’s to grab a cold drink. The fifty-six acres of Clissold Park contain a large open space, two lakes, part of the New River, and Clissold House, now a cafe and events space but originally a home, built in the latter half of the 18th century, for Jonathan Hoare, a City of London merchant, Quaker, philanthropist and anti-slavery campaigner and then named Paradise House. The house and grounds passed through several hands until being purchased in 1887 by the Metropolitan Board of Works and opened as a public park. On this sunny afternoon it was being used by a groups of red-shirted school children for cross-country running, with as many short-cuts across the corners as they could get away with when no one was watching.

On the back of Clissold House is a memorial drinking fountain with an inscription which shows the value of correct punctuation. The three daughters of Wilson Yeates were not in fact 134 years old when they died but one, three, and four years old respectively. The dog cooling off in the bottom of the fountain was a temporary installation 😀

Leaving Clissold Park past the graveyard of the Old Church I reached Stoke Newington Church Street opposite St. Mary’s New Church, built in the 1850s because the congregation had outgrown the Old Church. Here I turned left and followed Stoke Newington Church Street east almost as far as the Fire Station before turning left into Abney Park Cemetery. This was again familiar ground, I’d finished up here after a random urban ramble once before. Abney Park is one of London’s “Magnificent Seven” early Victorian parkland cemeteries. Set out originally as an arboretum cemetery it found favour as a resting place for non-conformists and save for where individual plot-holders desired it is not consecrated ground. A wild tumble of trees and memorials, some at very odd angles, intersected by paths surrounds a disused central chapel.

Amongst those tumbled monuments there are some famous (or infamous depending on your point of view) names including William and Catherine Booth and a whole lot more from the Salvation Army. There’s a goodly number of slavery abolishionists although not William Wilberforce since parliament considered a state funeral at Westminster Abbey more fitting. There are people from far overseas and missionaries who went far overseas. Also fire fighter James Braidwood, credited with forming the first municipal fire brigade. Hard to miss is the grave of Frank Bostock, he was partly responsible for bringing Asian and African animals to the attention of the Victorian public so it has a life-sized marble lion on top of it.

I emerged from Abney Park at the top of Stoke Newington High Street where it becomes Stamford Hill. Here Section 12 ends, Section 13 carries on to Hackney Wick down Cazenove Road opposite but that’s for another day.

I carried on up Stamford Hill past The Egg Stores Ltd. with its distinctive signwriting on the front and at Stoke Newington Station I caught the Weaver Line (see I’m learning) to Seven Sisters, the Victoria Line to Warren Street, and the Northern Line to Waterloo. None of which were as hellish as the South Western Railway train that it took from there which had no working air conditioning - and of course no opening windows because air conditioning never breaks down does it? 😧

80 photos from Capital Ring Section 12 here (opens on a new page) or in a slideshow below if your viewer supports it.

 

 

 

Walking the Capital Ring Section 6, Kingston Vale to Richmond.

13th June 2026

For some reason I wake at 05:30 and can’t get back to sleep. I get up and check the weather, it’s going to be a fine day. I book a train journey, make a picnic lunch, and head out to complete Section 6 of the Capital Ring from where I left off last time in Kingston Vale to the finish in Richmond. At 10:05 after three trains and a bus I’m standing by a Capital Ring signpost looking across the busy A3 road.

The lights at the pedestrian crossing change and I cross the A3 and enter Richmond Park via Robin Hood Gate. Fifty yards into the park my ears are assaulted by the cacophony of dozens of bicycle freewheel hubs click-click-clicking from all directions as they sweep around the roundabout at the bottom of Broomfield Hill, the 10 mph speed limit apparently not applying to cyclists.

I manage to get across the road and onto a sandy track heading north west across the park and the sound of bicycles is replaced by that of Parakeets. The sandy track turns into a path across the grass as it climbs the flank of the wonderfully named “Spankers Hill” before dropping down again towards Pen Ponds car park. The fine weather has brought out many walkers and the family picnics have already begun.

A herd of deer lie in the sunshine some 500m off to the right which is good because there are signs everywhere warning people not to get within 50m of the deer. I’m not sure anyone has told the deer mind you.

That would explain why as I head across the open ground towards Pen Ponds I briefly spot a pair of ears twitching above the top of the bracken, just revealing the presence of a fawn hidden about half the requisite distance from the busy main path.

Pen Ponds come into view and I cross the causeway between the upper and lower ponds, pausing to take a few photos.

Past the ponds I begin climbing again on the main track but about half way up the hill I turn left to follow the Capital Ring on a much smaller path between Queen Elizabeth’s Plantation and Sidmouth Wood. After a while I notice that there is no one else around and the only voices I can hear are those of the Parakeets and Chiffchaffs. Both are mostly unseen, occasionally flitting about the ancient oak trees that edge the plantation.

I see people again as the route curves around Oak Lodge and I follow the tarmac drive to Queens Road. The road is busy with both cars and head-down-not-stopping-for-anyone lycra-clad men on bicycles. I wait for a small gap in traffic and cross the road. You can stick that bell where the sun don’t shine mate 😛 

I can’t help thinking there should be a pedestrian crossing at this point, not just for the Capital Ring but because of the busy Pembroke Lodge car park nearby. To which I divert for the “conveniences” before retracing my steps to rejoin the Capital Ring as it heads west down some steps and swings right. Here is the western flank of Richmond Park and I can see across to the Surrey Hills. I fail to identify Ham House despite having been there twice but I do spot Twickenham Rugby Stadium despite never having been there at all.

Where the Ring turns left downhill towards Petersham I take the worthwhile diversion right up the hill to King Henry’s Mound, from the top of which Henry VIII is said to have waited for sight of a flare that would confirm that Anne Boleyn’s body and Anne Boleyn’s head were no longer contiguous. Also from the top of the mound there is a protected view of St. Paul’s Cathedral 12 miles away in the City of London. Protected in that no tall buildings are allowed to be built that would get in the way. The trees are a different matter. I’ve put a red circle round it in the following photo. Only if you can get to the telescope on the mound and point it in just the right direction might you just about be able to see the dome of St. Paul’s.

The telescope was busy and I’ve seen through it before so I retrace my steps back off the mound onto the Capital Ring and head down the steep slope towards Petersham. A runner passes me four times as I walk down the hill, twice going up and twice going down. He’s obviously healthier than he looks.

At the bottom of the hill I leave Richmond Park through Petersham Gate, cross the road and the Pelican Crossing and duck under the low hanging tree into a shaded alleyway which runs around the back of St. Peter’s Church graveyard to a lane which leads to Petersham Meadows. As I walk along the path across the meadows I have to avoid several groups of walkers. One of those groups is brown, four-legged, and have bells around their necks. 🐮 That group is the only one that has mastered the art of walking in single file. Tarquin, Jemima and their friends (I don’t know if that’s actually their names but this is Richmond) should take lessons.

On the far side of Petersham Meadows I reach the River Thames at Buccleuch Gardens. Since it is almost midday and I don’t have much further to go and there’s a bench in the shade I stop to eat my picnic lunch. It seems that I was a bit liberal with the mustard in my ham sandwich earlier this morning and now everything is yellow. Fortunately none of the dogs gambolling in the gardens notices. After lunch I continue along the riverside into Richmond and my word it’s busy on the waterfront! I see there’s some waterborne event on with lots of Cornish Pilot Gigs being rowed back and forth. Well it’s a nice day for messing about in boats.

I weave my way through the crowds to the end of Section 6 at Friars Lane by the Capital Ring signpost.

Capital Ring Section 6 ✅ Since I’ve now completed Sections 1 to 11 further adventures will be in wildest Norf’ London.

The riverside pubs of Richmond are absolutely rammed so I make my way to The Tap Tavern in the town centre and sit outside in the sunshine with a refreshing celebratory pint. The bins behind the shops aren’t as scenic as the boats on the river but it’s not so far to walk to the station and get the train home.

My Flickr Album for Capital Ring Section 6 has been updated and nowcontains 64 photos, many of them from a gloriously sunny Richmond Park. (opens in a new page or as a slide show below if your viewer supports it).

 

 

 

A guide to replacing the touch screen on a Toyota RAV4 4th generation car (XA40, 2013-2018)

The problem. 

The touchscreen on my 2016 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid has become gradually less accurate and less responsive over the years until it finally stopped responding completely. This is, I have discovered, not an unusual thing to happen. I lived with it for a while, just streaming media from my phone via Bluetooth but I was finally prompted to try and do something about it when I got an incoming SMS message and the only way to remove the notification from the car’s screen was to turn the car off and on again.

I considered upgrading the head unit to something more modern with Carplay & Android Auto and there are plenty of units available, mostly Chinesium but from better known makes if you want to get spendy. Unfortunately trying to find one which will easily integrate with the car’s systems, particularly the reversing camera and steering wheel controls is a non-trivial exercise. It’s a confusing mess which will almost certainly require obtaining extra bits apart from a new head unit and Car Audio dealers are very happy to sell you 6” of wire with a couple of plugs on for £40 which might or might not work.

However while searching I discovered that replacement touch screen digitiser panels for the Toyota head unit (which is actually made by Panasonic) are available for less than £30. It seemed like that was worth a punt since I had little to lose.

I searched eBay for TOYOTA RAV 4 2013-18 HEAD UNIT SAT NAV TOUCH SCREEN DIGITIZER and placed an order from eBay seller siansmobiles (there were several other sellers too) which arrived within 48 hours.

User Remmerv on the rav4world.com forum has posted a guide to replacing the digitiser panel which I found helpful. It’s downloadable as a PDF.

Here I’m going to expand on that guide covering some other points and some issues that I came across while doing the job. I hope these notes will be of use to anyone carrying out the same task.

My unit is the version without a CD drive and with the navigation package, Toyota refer to this as Toyota Touch 2 with Go. The process for other head units will be broadly similar and in some instances simpler.

Tools required: 

• 10mm socket or box spanner. 
• Small Phillips screwdriver (actually the screws might be JIS but a Phillips works if you’re careful). 
• 8mm socket or ring spanner. 
• Spudger or thin flat screwdriver.

Optional tools: 

• Plastic car trim removal tool. 
• Small needle-nose pliers.

Removing the head unit from the car. 

The first task is to extract the unit from the car, you might even want to do that before ordering the replacement panel if you want to check the model number but I was confident that I’d identified the unit correctly. 

There are videos of varying quality on YouTube showing how to remove the unit, usually made by irritating Americans and mainly more about replacing the head unit with some oversized Android screen. It’s really not complicated to do though.

First task is to remove the long silver trim along the upper edge of the dashboard which has the Hazard Lights button and warning lamp panel behind it. This is held in by plastic retainers, just grip the trim panel with your fingers and pull it directly towards you, starting at the passenger door end and it will pop straight off.

Next remove the two air vents either side of the head unit. Again these just plug in to retainers and can be pulled/wiggled out with your fingers. I found pulling out the top a bit then the bottom worked best. If you don’t have strong fingers a plastic trim removal tool might be helpful.

Now remove the small hazard light switch & warning light panel above the head unit in it’s yellow plastic carrier, this is held at each end and just needs to be wiggled and pulled out. There is no need to unplug it, just flip it over and leave it on top of the dashboard.

You are now ready to remove the head unit. This is held in by four 10mm hex head screws, two at the top and two low on the sides of the unit. At least there are supposed to be four, in my case Toyota had economised by omitting the lower right hand screw at the factory. You will need a suitable 10mm socket or box spanner to reach and remove these screws. Be careful not to drop them when taking them out for if you do they will disappear never to be seen again.

 Place a soft cloth over the heater control panel to avoid scratching it and pull the head unit towards you to release it from the mountings. There is plenty of slack in the cables to allow the unit to come out far enough to be tilted down so that you can remove the wiring plugs on the rear. Remove all the plugs from the back of the unit except the two which link the two parts of the unit together which can be left connected for now. All the plugs have retaining catches which need to be pressed before they can be pulled out. All the plugs are different so they cannot be mixed up - they will only go back in the right places. I still took a photo anyway. On my car one socket was not in use, having the photo later stopped me looking behind the dash for a “missing” plug.

 You can now take the head unit out of the car to a bench or table to carry out the next steps.

Changing the touchscreen digitiser. 

With the head unit on the bench the first stage of disassembly is to remove the lower piggy-back unit if present - I think this is the “with Go” part. This is fixed to the side frames with four 8mm screws. These have hex + crosspoint heads. Two of mine were very tight indeed and they appear to be made of cheese. Seriously, use an 8mm socket or ring spanner, the cross point for a screwdriver will round out as soon as you apply any force.

 Disconnect the cables which connect to the main unit and the antenna cable on the front of the lower unit and put the lower unit to one side.

You now have access to two screws which need to be removed from the metal plate behind the front of the unit. One of these holds the socket for the antenna plug that you disconnected in the previous step. You will need to wiggle this socket out of its clear plastic holder along with its thin cable because it needs to be able to pass through the hole behind it later.

Six very small screws around the edges of the metal chassis plate hold the plastic front cover in place. Remove these and then carefully lift the four plastic clips, two at the top two at the bottom of the plastic front cover and easy the front cover away from the chassis. A spudger or thin flat screwdriver will help. Possibly two since the clips you undid will try to click back into place while you’re undoing the others.

Fold the front cover down away from the chassis taking care not to damage the two large ribbon cables connecting the front to the back of the head unit. All the ribbon cable connectors have a black hinging locking strip which can be opened by pulling it upwards with your fingernail going over the flat cable towards the connector. Disconnect the two large ribbon cables, draw the grey antenna cable through the hole in the chassis and place the chassis to one side to continue working on the front panel.

The next step is to remove the metal shielding plate which partially covers the printed circuit board. This is secured by four screws at the corners. Remove the screws noting that one of them also holds a small metal bracket with a screw hole in the top. Make a note of which way this bracket is orientated because it is about to fall off. Once the screws are out lift the metal plate away, you might need to gently lever the long edge up to clear the edge of the PCB.

With the metal plate off remove the ribbon cables for the side buttons and the digitiser panel. Undo the three screws that hold the left side button panel in place and remove it along with its rubber membrane. Ease the black antenna wires out of their metal hooks.

 Remove the four screws holding the metal plate carrying the PCB and the screen to the plastic front cover and lift the screen assemble away from the front cover. The digitiser panel is laid loose between screen and front cover so should remain in the cover but might with age be stuck to the screen and like mine will come out with it. Carefully separate the two and remove the old digitiser panel.

Remove the protective film from both sides of your new digitiser panel and lay it in the plastic front panel with the ribbon cable coming up. Spend a couple of minutes wondering why the panel won’t lay flat before you realise that the screen in the head unit is actually angled slightly towards the driver and the bezel that the digitiser is laying on is not the same depth on each side so not flat is actually correct.

Clean the display screen and replace the screen and PCB assembly on top of the digitiser panel making everything is lined up correctly and that the antenna cables are not trapped under the edge of the assembly before putting the four retaining screws back in.

Reconnect the digitiser ribbon cable ensuring that the slack in the cable does not interfere with the right hand side buttons.

Replace the left side button panel ensuring that the membrane is properly located. Reconnect all the ribbon cables and clip the antenna wires back into place. At least one ribbon cable will fight you because it’s in the nature of ribbon cables to do so, gentle persistence might be required. Reassemble the front panel to the chassis remembering to feed the antenna wire back through the hole.

Then reassemble the unit in the reverse order to which you took it apart, not forgetting to reconnect the cables linking the two parts of the unit.

Testing the repaired unit. 

Take the rebuilt head unit back to the car and reconnect all the cables making sure that the connectors click fully home.

Check that everything is working as it should before fixing the unit back in place and replacing the vents and dashboard trim. (Including the reversing camera otherwise you’ll be coming back out later to check because you suddenly remembered that bit half way through your cup of coffee.)

Once happy that all is functioning as it should push the head unit back into place on its mounts and fix with the four (ish) 10mm screws. Refit the hazard light switch & warning light panel. Refit the vents and then the top dashboard trim, both of which should just 'plug' back into place.

I did not need to enter any codes after reconnecting the head unit and indeed it had remembered the settings and phone book entries, messages etc. from before it was disconnected.

Marvel that your Toyota’s touch screen now responds to fondling again and you can even enter destination addresses into the years-out-of-date SatNav!

Then wonder where this was supposed to go 😀

 A PDF version of this guide is available here.

Walking the Capital Ring from Balham to Kingston Vale

31st May 2026

Bored waiting for a parcel to arrive that DHL appear to have lost instead I returned to Balham (Gateway to the South) to complete Section 5 of the Capital Ring to Wimbledon Park and then start Section 6 towards Richmond.

Finishing Section 5 

Leaving the railway station I passed under the bridge and back down Balham High Road to the large Art Deco block of flats, Du Cane Court where I turned right along Balham Park road. Balham Park Road was very long and straight and lined with large Victorian villas. Just after the postbox the road bent to the left and the Capital Ring turned left down an alleyway.

At the end of the alley I reached the first part of Wandsworth Common, a small wooded area alongside Wandsworth Common railway station called St James’ Triangle. A wide tarmac path led me alongside the railway and through the station ticket office to Bellevue Road which I crossed by The Hope pub to enter the second part of Wandsworth Common. Where the path turned towards the railway again I spotted a stinkpipe hiding in the trees so two points to me. 

A bit further on I reached the ponds on the common, which don’t appear to have a name. They did have one bench seat that was in the shade though so here I sat to eat my picnic lunch. I opened a packet of crisps and looked up to see every waterfowl on the pond now on a direct course to my location. A female Mallard came and stood before me staring hopefully up between my knees but eventually realised that no cheese and onion crisps or crab paste sandwich was coming her way and waddled off.

After lunch I carried on, crossing the common by the sports pitches to arrive at Trinity Road opposite the County Arms pub. Here I had my first déjà vu moment of the day. I recognize this place, I’ve been here before. I crossed the road and continued along Alma Terrace where I found the reason I’d been here before, HM Prison Wandsworth. No, I haven’t been inside but I have visited their occasionally-open museum in a building just outside the walls, on an Open House London visit in September 2022.

Today I skirted the prison and headed down the long straight Magdalen Road, taking the more interesting alternative path through Wandsworth Cemetery for most of the three quarters of a mile to Earlsfield Station.

More déjà vu here too as I passed beneath the green painted bridge and left into Penwith Road to cross the River Wandle which I’d followed on a walk in 2019. The Capital Ring does not follow the river though, instead passing along now sun-baked residential streets to Durnsford Road Recreation Ground. Here behind Wimbledon Farmers’ Market I found the only bench that was in the shade and sat down gratefully. So much for the weather cooling down a bit, it was 28°C.

I came out of the park into Wellington Road and turned right by the Wellington Works down an alleyway which brought me out opposite Wimbledon Mosque where I turned right along Durnsford Road and right again into Arthur Road. Here I took full advantage of the shops, getting an iced coffee and a Calippo. At the top of Arthur Road I reached the end of Section 5 at Wimbledon Park Station on the District Line.

Capital Ring Section 5 Photos on Flickr (opens in a new page).

The sensible thing to do here would probably have been to get on a train, so…

Starting Section 6

Section 6 starts outside Wimbledon Park Station and runs for 7.3 miles to Richmond. It seemed like a good idea to do some of that and then find a suitable break point, although none are given in the walking directions. I finished my iced lolly and crossed over the railway, turning right to follow the curve of Home Park Road to reach the entrance to Wimbledon Park. Viewed from the top of the steps inside the entrance the park was a bustle of activity. Tennis (obviously, although The Wimbledon Club is actually the other side of the lake), cricket, a busy kids playground and mass picnicking.

I made my way down the steps and through the park to the lake (via the well-kept loos) and picked my way along the lakeside path trying to avoid the worst of the goose shit. I’ll bet it’s like a skating rink when wet. I reached the end of the path by the lake and realised that I’d missed the right turn by the water-sports centre buildings so did a dog-leg to regain the route alongside the fence around the athletics track. from the corner of the athletics track I cut straight across to exit the park through the large gates into Wimbledon Park Road.

At the bottom of the hill I turned right into Queensmere Road which climbed fairly steeply past very expensive houses and apartment blocks to reach the A219 Parkside. 

Crossing at the lights a bit further to the right I entered Wimbledon Common. After a while the path seemed a little familiar and then I reached Wimbledon Windmill and yes I’ve definitely rambled this way before, in fact I would be retracing my steps for the rest of the walk.

I considered stopping for refreshments at the Windmill Tearoom. It had all the appearance of still operating under COVID restrictions, insisting on everyone ordering at an outside window covered by a sheet of Perspex with a small hole cut in it for contactless payment. The trouble was there was obviously nobody on the other side of the perspex actually taking orders. I have less patience with such nonsense than the two people already queuing so I gave up and moved on. Past the golf club the route turned right downhill along a straight and familiar track to reach the lake, Queensmere, currently all fenced off to prevent people or dogs taking a dip. Turning left up the steep hill I stopped to rest on a tree stump and was passed by a jogger heading up the hill. I say jogger, he wasn’t running any faster than I was walking and looked as if he might need an ambulance by the time he reached the top of the hill.

At the top of the hill I crossed the golf course (which reminded me of walking parts of the London Loop) and wombled on across Wimbledon Common, taking a very short detour to the War Memorial before carrying on along Stag Ride to meet the Beverley Brook by Richardson Evans Memorial Playing Fields. Now this was definitely familiar territory because in 2023 I walked along the Beverley Brook from West Wimbledon to its confluence with the Thames near Putney.

I crossed the Beverley Brook near the pavilion and crossed the next field to emerge from Wimbledon Common onto the busy A3 at Kingston Vale. It was five and twenty to six, still bloody hot, and I’d walked far enough (almost 7 miles as it happened). In case you're wondering no, I didn't see any Wombles.

I waited in the hot sunshine at the Vale Crescent/Robin Hood bus stop for a 265, trying to find shade behind the shelter but not wanting to miss seeing the bus come around the bend. Of course it was running several minutes late. At Shannon Corner I changed to the 131 which took me back to Wimbledon from where I had a train ticket home.

Not before I’d had a beer though. A pint of Guinness in The Hand & Racquet barely touched the sides so I ordered fish and chips which obviously needed another pint to aid the digestion. They were still in extra time when I left to get the train so I didn’t witness the undoubted dejection of the group of Gooners in the pub after the penalty shoot-out which ensured that the UEFA Champions League silverware remained in Paris.

Capital Ring Section 6 photos on Flickr (opens in a new page).