TOTAL BRAKE FAILURE. Trapped on Spain’s Wild Atlantic Coast.

TOTAL BRAKE FAILURE. Trapped on Spain’s Wild Atlantic Coast.

Wow, I’ve got no brakes. Something’s 
wrong with my brakes. Yeah,   my brakes are going all the way to the 
floor. God, that scared me stupid. Oh no. Oh no. That’s freaking bad. Okay, 
I now have no brakes whatsoever. Yeah, look at this. Brake fluid everywhere. Oh,   that’s brake fluid. You can see here this is not 
good. Yeah, none of this is good. [Music] Oh man, you got to laugh because uh if you 
didn’t, you would freaking cry, mate. [Music] Got no brakes. Oh god. Oh no. That’s freaking bad. I can’t fix that. 
The brake line has been crushed between the shock and the chassis because of the orientation 
of the axle. Christ. Right. So, here we go again with the brakes. Oh, man. I don’t even know 
if I’ve got uh brake fluid. If I haven’t, I’m actually screwed. Eh, I searched through 
the entire vehicle, hoping to catch a glimpse of an elusive bottle of brake fluid. I 
don’t have any brake fluid. Basically, I’m carrying two bottles which look like brake 
fluid. One of them did. What it is is GL5 gear oil and limited slip gear gear oil. And I must 
have when I was in a rush to leave thought, “Oh, one of those is brake fluid. One of those is 
gear oil.” Uh, and not looked properly. Oh, dude. Freaking hell. This is one of those 
moments where I can’t really drive this car. Damn it. My current location is the far western 
reaches of the province of Galicia. Stuck out on a limb into the Atlantic Ocean, this is one of the 
most remote places on the Iberian Peninsula and probably Europe. That being the case, this is one 
of the last places you want something like this to go wrong. Galicia is a truly wide and wild 
land unlike anywhere else I’ve been in Europe. Its rugged and sparsely populated nature make 
wild camping and four-wheel driving opportunities plentiful, making this place an ideal destination 
for overlanders and adventurers. But that is exactly what’s going to work against me in 
this situation. In this land, help is far away, and what civilization exists tends to be small 
pockets of rural inhabitation. Small villages, towns at best, meaning that I’m likely going to 
have to battle through this problem on my own.   This issue began when I inverted my anti-inversion 
shackles. This bent my front leaf springs and knocked everything on the front end out of 
whack. So, I have contact between the shackle and the steering box uh pitman arm. These are 
anti-inversion shackles to prevent this exact thing happening. They should have gone the 
opposite way around. And what’s happened is   the shackle’s inverted and thus making contact 
with everything. So, it’s putting everything out of out of whack. Unbeknownst to me, this had put 
one of my front shocks in direct contact with one of the brake lines, and the friction of which 
had now caused that brake line to rupture and   fail. The brakes run on a sealed hydraulic 
system, and this rupture has now made it a non sealed system, eliminating the pressure 
needed to break and rendering me stranded. All right. So, I have kind of sat here and 
thought about what I’m going to do for a while. And there’s the nearest town to me is 7 
km away. It’s called Zove. And I think there’s an auto part center there of some kind. So, I’m 
going to go and stay the night in the town. I hate staying in towns, as you know, because you can 
get bothered by the police. But on this occasion, I think that it makes more sense to risk that 
than to find or try to find somewhere with no brakes off the road where all my brake fluid is 
possibly going to leak out overnight. Meaning I have literally no brakes. I have a bit of braking 
now, you know, like a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, I’m thinking if I go to the town and if my brake 
fluid all leaks out in the morning, I could walk   to the part store, get that, put it in, and at 
least be able to top it up throughout the day, even if my brakes are going to be terrible, and, 
you know, hopefully find a mechanic after that. Oh, this is just dumb thing not to bring brake 
fluid. I really really thought I had it and   uh this is just Yeah, screwed me. So yeah, we’re 
going to go down into the town really slowly now using engine braking at 6ks. I’m just going to 
have to kind of like go with my hazard lights on,   but I figure it’s better to do it now than in 
the morning with possibly no brakes. And also it’s nighttime now and so there’ll be more people 
in the day to possibly crash into. So yeah, best of a bad situation, I’m afraid. So yeah, let’s 
let’s do it. I’m not freaking liking this at all. [Music] Oh, and it’s raining as well. Class. 
I rejoined pave road for the first time in a long time and struck out into the rainy 
night. I still have some braking function,   but it’s weak and the pedal wants to go all the 
way to the floor. With the rupture in the line, I know that if I lean too heavily on the brakes, 
there’s going to come a point where I have no   braking function whatsoever. So, getting to 
this town is going to be a delicate endeavor of using engine braking and only relying on the 
brakes if I absolutely have to. Fortunately, the six-cylinder diesel is the very engine for 
this job. It’s a big old beast, and the engine   braking on it is super strong. With my hazard 
lights on, I made my way slowly down to the town, letting other cars pass me from behind. Well, 
I found a area. It’s called the outdoor service for uh auto caravans. It’s for like big rig uh 
tours and that with like you know bathroom and toilet inside and stuff. But I think that I 
will be okay here because yeah, it seems to   be accepted to kind of camp and park here. So 
yeah, I’m going to spend the night here. I mean it’s freaking bright. I’ll show you it. Like look 
at the freaking lights. It’s like brighter than the bloody sun. But there seems to be actually 
toilets there. Like a toilet block I think. So, yeah, pretty good. Actually, I’ve gotten down 
here, okay, and I just used engine braking the   entire time. Didn’t even touch my brakes, but when 
I pulled into here, I touched the brakes and yeah, they’re basically gone now. So, when I wake up, I 
think that I’m going to have no brakes whatsoever because the uh fluid will have leaked out. What 
a disaster. Yeah, I’ve just got like a full-on toilet block here, which is actually pretty bloody 
good. Raining quite heavily now. And the man, the brake fluid is pissing out the bottom of 
the car. So yeah, I’m going to when I wake up,   I’m not going to have brakes at all. Here’s the 
car illuminated like football pitch. Really? Yeah. Look at this brake fluid everywhere. You 
see all that under there? Oh, that’s brake fluid dripping out. Right, we’ll get set up man. And 
try and figure something out for the morning. Oh, you’re [ __ ] just to compound that as I can’t open my 
roof. That’s been smacked by a tree and I can’t freaking open that without hammering that 
back. Class. Yeah, man. You got to laugh because uh if you didn’t, you would freaking cry, 
mate. One thing after another after another. A god. I would now have to find a way to 
bend the clasp back. [ __ ] piss wet as well. All right, I’m in the car in the in the camper. 
Oh god, that was really really bad for the nerves. I just got absolutely soaking wet trying to knock 
that bloody thing back. It’s a freaking nightmare as well. Honestly, I need to put those at the 
back of the car so they stop getting hit by   trees. Okay, at least we’re safe for now and 
we’re all right. We can make a bit of a plan for tomorrow. What the hell? I’m going to do 
freaking have no idea. I’m probably going to have to hike back into town. It’s a fair hike 
as well. Get some brake fluid. It’s dot three as well. Mine. I don’t think I’ll be able to 
find any dot three around here. Freaking hell. All right. So, I’ve just woken up 
here in the auto service area. So,   I’m going to get out and figure out what I’m 
going to do next. I looked up last night. Uh there’s a mechanic in the next town over. It’s 
only about a kilometer. So, I’m thinking I could probably drive to the mechanic and just hope 
they can help me. Let’s see how much of this brake fluid has leaked out. This is the place in 
the light. Oh, Jesus. Yeah. Okay. So quite a bit. Yes. So this is all break fluid. Oh, that 
does not bode well. That one, mate. God. Yeah, it’s all around the sprayed all 
up on the underside of the car as well. You can see here this is really not good. Yeah, 
none of this is good. Not going to lie to you. Yeah, this has been the only I think the only 
time in this car in 10 years that I I actually cannot continue driving. And it’s my own damn 
fault. That’s the kicker of it because should have changed those shackles around. did not think 
it was a big deal really and I thought I would do it when I need to do some of the suspension 
work on the road and now I’ve paid the price for that. Well, this is today’s breakfast. 
It’s a little bit of sweet bread. I’ve got   nothing else left in terms of like normal bread 
or eggs or anything to have like a big breakfast which I usually have. So, yeah, sweet bread 
it is. It’s got the coffee on in there and   so that will do. Get myself caffeinated and 
then we’ll attempt this drive. All right, it’s time to figure out where we’re going to 
go. Try to get this sorted. So, I found this   place. It’s an auto parts center and mechanic. 
It’s 1.9 km away on a pretty busy road. I’m just going to take it easy. Put the hazard lights 
on and cruise in there and it’ll be all right. My thought process here was to drive to the 
auto parts center, get some brake fluid,   put it in the car, and that would buy me some time 
to hopefully get to a mechanic. There, I’d get the brake line repaired, and have the suspension 
shackles deinverted. But this is all conjecture,   and I’m about to be reminded of the truth of 
that old saying about the plans of mice and men. Okay, I now have no breaks whatsoever. I 
mean, last night I had a bit of it at least,   so I could kind of stop the vehicle, but 
now I can’t stop the vehicle. Freaking hell. I think I’m going to have to do something 
else. I’m going to have to figure out how   to how to manufacture brake fluid of some 
kind, I think, to get out of here cuz Yeah, this is just not an option. Beginning to run 
out of options, I decided to call around some local mechanics to see if there was anyone 
willing to help me around. Ahu. Uh, see This is the second of two local 
mechanics that I’ve called. So,   they’re too busy to help me. 
Apparently, the news was not good. [Music] [Applause] This is now my fourth 
phone call. Every shop I’ve talked to   so far doesn’t want to know. The place I’m 
talking to now is 40 km away. Realistically, too far to drive with the 
car in its current state. This guy’s telling me that he’s 
backed up with work for the next week,   but that if I want, I can come and wait 
for a few days until he has space to fit me in. This is far from ideal, 
but I’m well out of other options. Okay. So, that guy really didn’t want to help, 
but I guess I sounded so desperate to him that   he eventually relented. He was like, “Well, 
you can bring it and we’ll have a look.” So, now I just need to find brake fluid. I’ve 
realized that the only part store in this town is actually a motorcycle shop. So, 
it’s time to make another phone call. quatro. So, there’s a motorbike uh part 
shop in town. That’s the only place that is vaguely mechanically orientated. 
And they have DOT 4 brake fluid, which is good. It means that I can go into town. 
Well, I can walk. I’m going have to leave the Land Cruiser. Hope he doesn’t get robbed. 
Go buy a bottle of that and at least that   will get us on somewhere. Hopefully freaking 
hell. God, this is bad, mate. This is really, really bad. Okay, so we’re about to walk this. 
Yeah, I packed my valuables into a rrook sack and prepared to leave. Going to go get this 
brake fluid and top it off. And hopefully it’ll be enough to get us to a mechanic. So, 
let’s pick up the satchel. and get walking. Bye, cruiser. In 10 years 
of driving around the world,   this is the first time that I’ve had 
to leave the car and continue on foot. And the worst part is it’s mistakes that 
I’ve made that have led up to this moment. Just walking through this tiny 
little one-horse town. It’s a very,   very small town and not much going on by it. Okay, so this is the place. Motos Elmo. 
Yeah, if these guys have the fluid, then I’ll at least be able to get somewhere in 
theory. Inside the motor shop, I finally found what I’ve been looking for. I quickly got it 
bagged up, anxious to get back to the car ASAP. Okay, so we got two bottles of do four and they’re 
small bottles. It’s only I think 500 milll each, but it’s enough to hopefully get us on. So 
yeah, we’re going to walk back to the car now   and try and get that filled up. I struck 
out into the early afternoon on the long walk back to the car. Okay, so we’re almost 
back at the car now. Looks nicely unmolested. I’m kind of thinking that probably what I’m going 
to do is try and pull that shock, which will allow us a bit of room to look at it and use a bit of 
old fuel line to see that up for now. I mean, the brake fluid will corrode through that fuel 
line in no time, I would think. But at least get some pressure in that brake system, you know, 
I’ll be able to drive and retain fluid, which is the main thing, you know. So, this is going to 
get messy and horrible. And I hate working with   brake fluid cuz corrodes your freaking hands. 
But yeah, got to do it. So, here we go. Car, right? I guess there’s nothing else 
to do but make this happen. All right, so it turns out that I didn’t bring any fuel 
line with me either. I don’t know how that got taken out during the rush to leave, but it 
has. Meaning that I can’t seal up the brake line no matter what I do with what I have. I can’t 
believe I freaking left my fuel line at home.   That’s like basic kit 101. And goes to show when 
you’re rushing to leave on a mega trip like this, like just don’t skip the making sure you’ve got 
everything staged cuz there’ll come a point where you’ll regret it like I am right now. Stuck 
in the middle of freaking nowhere. All right, so it’s now long gone. Uh half past 1, 
so I’m not going to find an open tire. this side of Siesta time. So, I’m kind of not 
in a rush anymore, really. My only thought now was to fill up the braking system to be able to 
limp the car to that mechanic. All right, so this   is the brake reservoir. Obviously empty. At this 
point, just got to hope this at least gets us down the road. I look at these tiny little bottles and 
realizing I just got totally ripped off. I paid €20 for these freaking 500 ml. €20 for a liter of 
brake fluid. Like, right, let’s dump this 500 in. Okay. Well, the benefit of this rupture 
brake line thing is that I don’t think I’d have to do much to bleed it. I think that 
I will just have to literally press the brake   pedal because I’ve already got a lit like open 
bleed nipple essentially which is the rupture in the brake line. So silver linings. 
Let’s see about how this works. [Music] Yeah, that’s actually I mean 
it’s not actually working at all. Why would that not be working at all? [Music]   Maybe we turn it on. Try to pump it up. Yeah. Got brakes. I 
got freaking brakes. Hell yeah. Obviously pissing out here. Uh, that’s great news. 
That means we could carry on. Not far, but we carry on. Hell yeah. With a quarter of one 
of the bottles in the system, this development now meant that I could drive the car a short distance 
if I were to go slow, rely on engine braking,   and keep topping up the system. Let’s take a 
little drive around this Sevisio place. Yeah. So, I basically have to pump the brakes a 
lot to get any kind of braking. And so, holy [ __ ] that’s scary. That is not very 
nice. At least I can stop the car. It just takes a lot to stop it. [Music] Yeah, I do have 
some brakes. I do have some brakes. So, that’s all right. I drove the car into the town painfully 
slowly to catch my breath and plan my next move. All right. Some people on Instagram have suggested 
some fixes that I could try to do. So, I’m going to give them a go right now. One of the fixes 
is to bend over the brake line and seal it off, which would mean I lose the braking in that 
caliper, but the rest can retain pressure. So,   I’m going to give that a go now. See if I 
can bend that brake line over. At this point, I’m going to be needing to replace 
that entire brake line anyway,   so that’s no big loss. The other fixes 
are, which will be after the brakes, the inversion of the suspension. One guy was 
saying that I could tie a recovery strap around a tree and bolt it to the shackle and reverse 
backwards. It’s quite a violent method to pull it back into place and it might work. The 
other one is put a bottle jack in between   the spring and the frame and try that way. So, 
going to give both those things a try basically. I am no mechanic, just an amateur who’s learned 
a few things along the way. But once I’m pointed   in the right direction, I can often tackle most 
jobs. This is where the power of the internet comes in. I’d put up a post asking for help 
on my Instagram story earlier this morning,   and I’d had a bunch of really helpful replies. So 
helpful, in fact, that I’m beginning to believe for the first time that I might be able to 
resolve this issue myself. and can the idea   of a risky 40 km drive to a mechanic who may or 
may not be able to help me. The idea here is as crude as it is simple. Take the broken brake 
line and bend it over on itself, eliminating   braking to that one caliper, but effectively 
sealing the system again, reintroducing the hydraulic pressure needed to restore braking 
to the other three calipers on the vehicle. What the hell? This is true desperation mechanics. 
A crude and brutal bush fix that won’t last long, but will, I hope, get me on down the 
road to get this taken care of properly. Hey, man, that might have worked. There you go. Think that stopped that 
leaking. So, that’s now bent over twice.   I guess we’ll see if that works. I’m going 
to fill up the system with fluid again. Give this another blast with brake fluid. And I’ve got pressure. This is how we get out 
of here. This is how this happens. Right. Well, I want to bleed all these calipers. 
I really will. Yeah. All right. So,   I think I’ve got some level of braking 
back. It’s uh I bent that that uh line over, but I think it’ll get us out of here, which 
is the main kind of thing. So, you know,   even if I’ve got sort of 75% braking, which I 
probably won’t have, but even 50% braking on what I had earlier on is better than now. 
So, that’s good. So, now I want to try to use the jack to deinvert my my springs. Let’s 
see if I manage to make that a reality or not. Okay, so I’ve got the bottle jack set up. So, I 
don’t know whether this is going to work or not,   but I’m going to give it a try. The 
idea here is to use the bottle jack between the spring and the frame to use 
pressure to de-invert the shackle. As   soon as I got this set up, I could tell 
that the dimensions weren’t quite right, but I want to exhaust every option I have 
available to me. Yeah, I don’t think this   is going to do jacket. Apart from bending my 
steering arm, which it is doing. So great. That’s not going to work, is it? All right. So, 
the bottle ack method of doing that doesn’t work. So, I’m now going to go try tying a strap around 
a tree somewhere and reversing back and hoping I rip my front end off. That’s basically 
my plan at the minute, which is just mint. I guess we’ll see how we go. All right. So, 
I’m just testing the brakes now and honestly pretty good. They’re not amazing, but stop the 
freaking vehicle, that’s for sure. And that’s   the main thing. So, pretty happy with 
that. That means that we can carry on. I took a left out of the car park of a residential 
complex where I’ve been doing this work, which   led immediately into a four-wheel drive track 
that would take me, if I wanted it to, into a sprawling track network that would take me to the 
far western reaches of Galicia. I now have some form of breaking back. So, the immediate crisis 
is averted, but the suspension shackles are still inverted. This was the root of this entire ordeal, 
and it’s absolutely imperative that I get this sorted before I carry on. I penetrated deeper into 
the forestry area, gaining altitude on this track network as I look for a suitable tree that I’ll be 
able to use to try out this shackle tray. I need something strong and accessible from the track, 
and I’ve spotted what looks like just the one. Okay, this is the tree. Stout, strong, and healthy,   and close enough to the track that I can 
lash a recovery strap around it to perform this quick and dirty internet trick and see if 
it can save me from this nightmare situation. Okay. All right. So, basically the idea here is to 
deinvert these leaf springs. I’m going to try to tie this strap around the shackle itself around 
the tree and then reverse and hopefully it’ll pop the shackle back to the correct position. I’m 
really hoping this has the desired effect and doesn’t just do more damage cuz I’ve already got 
a lot of damage going on and we’ll deal with the consequences. This is an all or nothing attempt 
to fix this problem and the stakes here are high. If this trick works, it’ll mean that I can 
tentatively get back on the road. If it doesn’t, the consequences may be more costly than 
just an inverted suspension shackle. I looped the strap around the tree and 
secured it with a shackle. I checked   the strap positioning on the suspension and 
got behind the wheel. Let’s give it a crack, eh? Here goes nothing, as they say. [Music] I felt like something that might 
have done. Yes, it freaking worked. No freaking way. Now I just wish that I’d 
known this trick and done it for all the other damage I could. AI said you can move 
that rapid. That has been a huge success. Now I just need to flip the setup around to 
the other shackle. Do the same thing on the   driver’s side and I’ll be well on my way 
to being out of the woods. Okay, one more. Okay. See about this one there. [Music] With a violent clang, the 
shackle snapped back into place. Hey man, that sounded pretty good to me. Oh, hell 
yeah. They are back to freaking normal, dude. All right, this one goes out to Monty 
Bowen on Instagram who messaged me and   told me that this is a thing that you can 
do. Huge thanks, dude, because without that, I would have been in a worse world of pain than 
I already am. And I’m already in a world of pain. The only kicker is if I hadn’t had have known 
this trick earlier on, I could have literally just done it as soon as it happened and averted 
all this [ __ ] with the broken brake line. All of that could have been avoided. But you live 
and learn. That is the good thing about it. All right. Well, I’m going to lock the hubs 
in. Right. Oh, well, let’s carry on then, eh? [Music] That had been one of those days that you don’t 
forget in a hurry. Sheer brutality. No brakes, no suspension, and no easy way out. But 
the show must go on. And against the odds, I’m still rolling and still headed west. Next time I reach the edge. This is the far 
west of Galacia, a place so wild and remote it’s become almost mythical. This lost world is 
home to some of the most extreme isolated points on the continent. And we’re exploring it all by 
four-wheel drive. There’s a tree blocking it as well. Couldn’t have got up here if we don’t have 
wanted to. Abandoned villages, crumbling ruins,   and the rugged Atlantic coast where the cliffs 
drop straight into the sea. The mission reach the northernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula via 
four-wheel drive. This is Spain’s true wild west. No tourists, no tarmac, just storms, solitude, 
and the long road west to the edge of the world.

EPISODE 23 of the Iberian Trail Adventure Series // What happens when your brakes go out – completely – miles from help?

In this episode of the Iberian Trail, I’m overlanding the remote coastal mountains of Galicia in the 70 series series Land Cruiser through northern Spain, when a critical mechanical failure leaves me stranded and vulnerable. With my foot going straight to the floor and zero brake pressure, I’m left relying on engine braking and 4WD low range just to get out alive.

This wasn’t supposed to be a high-drama day. But out here, far from towns and tarmac, the smallest issue can become a full-blown crisis. What follows is a full solo recovery attempt, mechanical diagnosis, trailside repair, and a hard lesson in just how quickly things can spiral when you’re deep in the wild — with no safety net.

► Watch as I fight to stay in control on one of the most rugged regions of the entire expedition.

📍 Location: Galicia, Spain
🚙 Vehicle: Toyota Land Cruiser HZJ73 (DIY camper conversion)
📸 Series: The Iberian Trail – A 7,000-mile off-road circumnavigation of Spain & Portugal
🛠️ Mechanical issues featured: Brake failure, master cylinder diagnosis, fluid loss, trail repair
🎥 Filmed: Solo, with drone & handheld
🌍 Themes: Overlanding, mechanical breakdown, remote travel, solo 4×4, expedition life, wild Spain

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Subscribe, drop a comment, and follow along for weekly 4×4 episodes from the wildest corners of Spain and Portugal.

🗺️ Follow the full Iberian Trail series here: 👉 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4P6m3xql0MExFUc7B2b1tUi85k-5lqNJ

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🧭 About the Iberian Trail Expedition
This is a world-first attempt to drive a continuous 7,000-mile off-road route around the entire Iberian Peninsula. From the Pyrenees to the Atlantic, it’s a solo overland journey in a self-built 1993 Toyota Land Cruiser HZJ73 DIY camper, avoiding pavement wherever possible, navigating forgotten trails, and confronting the harsh reality of long-term remote vehicle travel in Europe.

This is raw, unscripted overlanding – from high-altitude mountain passes and hidden forest tracks, to mechanical breakdowns, wild camping, and real-time decision-making in some of the continent’s last remaining wilderness areas.

The vehicle: DIY-built, fully built Land Cruiser expedition rig designed for serious backcountry exploration and total self-reliance. The mission? To prove that true remote adventure still exists in Europe – and to experience every inch of it from behind the wheel.

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