Just thought post an update as to the state of play. As you can gather I dont post much these days as there is not much to post. Fell out of love with the bike, bought Val an eBike and love it.
This years Tour de France trip was probably the best yet due to a lack of planning. Never had a problem getting a space on a site. Tarn gorge is a place to return to in the future.
Missed the immigrant woes at Euro tunnel by an hour, passed burning French farmers tyres that were still smouldering and didn’t pay a Euro in tolls this year.
More to follow.
Frank Kinlan's Blog 
Hi Frank, I don’t know how many times I have used your invaluable site. Thanks for all the information that you have provided since I first bought my Edge 705 in 2007. I wanted to share this site with you: https://satnavrepairservice.com (I have no commercial interest). My very old battered and bruised 705 went there to be refurbished. It came back to Switzerland in less than 5 days. All working perfectly. New rubber port cover in place. (I think they swapped it for a refurbished model and copied all the settings, files and serial number). Such a great inexpensive service, I still can’t justify buying a new edge. And it sits on a out front support with a round (locking) adaptor. Perfect for another five years I guess. Thanks again.