Just a quick point - which octopus are we referring to here? Most of the time an octopus repair is putting off the inevitable, as if one section has rotted and perished away then some of the other sections may not be far behind it.
I also ask which octopus because while the large octopus is still around from a few sources (or was when I last looked), the small octopus comes in two varieties and I'm pretty sure it's nowadays a Citroen-dealer-sourced part. That probably means factoring-in a few days lead-time for any replacement, in France or in the UK. That assumes it's not been discontinued yet.
that negative camber at the rear just means we can corner faster
If a tad more imprecisely and noisily. I did take a BX with shot rear arms squeaky-squeaky down to near Biarritz a few years ago and then onward briefly as far as Bilbao, then back again. A leaky octopus cropped up along the way, which had to be replaced. All else was pretty much a known quantity as timing belt, cooling system, head, brakes and various other things had all seen a lot of attention beforehand and were a known quantity.
I did have a set of replacement rear arms waiting to fit back at home with new bearings already in place. These were the times when whole BXs were still a relatively common sight in a scrapyard, and I could therefore regard the old arms as sacrificial. I knew the arms were probably beyond redemption before I started, but time to do them beforehand had run out.
This is a point that provokes some debate in these circles, but a set of rear arms that at the end of your trip have a bearing housing area resembling a particularly savage moonscape, and have the outer section of the housing worn out to oval or worse are probably not the best raw material to fit new bearings to afterwards. Pleiades, in your neck of the woods, may possibly still re-con rear arms with a newly-machined insert for the bearing-housing area, but they will not be cheap.
Worse case scenario, but worth bearing in mind (no pun intended).
Indeed, a pair of not-so-worn donor arms might conceivably be sitting in a BX in a French scrapyard somewhere along the way, but you've got a tight schedule and there are other factors worth keeping in mind if you've already got a pretty heavily-laden BX, albeit an estate.
I guess my main point is whether you want to make your BX "sacrificial" in the name of BXagon, or whether you want it to continue to provide service after the event.
I'm not wanting to spoil anyone's fun, but forewarned is forearmed.
Back on two wheels and pedal power for the moment.
For me that applies to motoring in general, it would be very dull to drive around in a bland Eurobox. Although I've never been left stranded by my BX, or indeed any of my current fleet, there is always the feeling when driving an older car (perhaps Citroens especially!) that each journey is a little bit of an adventure! Am I alone in getting a sense of satisfaction driving past newer broken down vehicles?
