2018 Event Reports

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Select an event Sharnbrook Breakfast Meeting CKC Cars and Coffee Tulip Map Run Tulip Map Alternative view Dutch Road Trip Stoneleigh Kit Car Show EATOC Norfolk Run EATOC Cromer Run EATOC Lincs Run Kimbolton Sporting Bears Parson's Drove Car Show Tiger Open Day EATOC Wales Trip Little Gransden Air Show Peterborough Classic And Vintage Festial Derbyshire Run X Fish and Chip Run Rutland Ramble

Sharnbrook Breakfast Meeting by Giles Cooper

First off a quick summary - it was one of the coldest events we have attended as a club.

Now back to the normal program. The Friday before the event had been a lovely spring day with temperatures over 10C, this boded well for the weekend. On the Saturday I went to a photography show at the NEC, again not too bad on the weather until we got to coventry where there were drifts of powdery snow in the morning and then it was clear in the afternoon.

However all changed on Saturday night, depending on who you trusted for the weather (the BBC app has gone hopelessly inaccurate now they have changed from using the Met Office, the Met Office app is a lot more reliable) it was either light snow showers or constant snow all night.

Upon waking up I was greeted with a car covered in snow, very grey skies and the prospect of more snow the Tiger was left at home and I took the tintop. The roads through Peterborough were still fairly slippery and it was better to be safe than in a ditch!

I arrived first at Brampton Hut, followed a few minutes later by Peter and Jenny (in a white Audi rather than an Avon), then came Griff and Rachel (Blue Mocha not an Avon), followed by John and Gail TVR not an Aviator), and Dave and Lorraine (4x4 not an R6). As we stood chatting we heard a familiar exhaust note, Steve and Paula arrived in their Tiger (well they only live 2 miles from Brampton).

Both the Simons (Noble and Light) had dropped out and Neil Anderson living in Bedford wasn't going to make a start point further than his journey to the venue so we started off.

For some reason my Satnav took us via Easton so it was an interesting drive down some icy single track lanes - sorry, but we all arrived at the hotel in one piece which was the most important thing.

We arrived just before 8:30 - now the venue tickets stated a start time of 9AM but the breakfast wasn't open until 9:30 so we spent a rather cold hour waiting around - if the weather had been more seasonable then this wouldn't have been an issue but with temperatures around -1C and a bitingly cold wind it was raw out there. Neil Anderson arrived a bit later in his Tiger but as he only had a 15 mile round trip it was a bit easier for him.

Still there were a few cars to look around then more arrived as it got closer to 9:30 when we got into the breakfast room for some reason everyone headed for the full English (probably just to warm up).

Whilst having breakfast the hotel went through some of the events they have planned for this year - 3 night trip to Ireland £3000, 5 night trip to Italy £5995 (all per person!). Slightly out of my price bracket.

Finally it was time for everyone to leave - most of them were heading for Sywell as part of the drive out whereas the EATOC members were heading home. However before we left we made sure to get loads of photos and Griff shot a video (using my new tripod so it should be very stable..)

Finally we all left for home.

It wasn't a bad day - just wish it had been warmer so the Tiger could have got a run out.

A selection of pictures are below - I took almost 200 as everyone left but haven't really go the room to put them here

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CKC Cars and Coffee by Rachel Collins

Yet again, the Kit Car world had been kindly invited by Adam, Complete Car Magazine to attend his premises at Grantham for Coffee & Cake, on 31 March (Easter Saturday).

The weekend prior to the event had been sunny, dry and mild. Yet the forecast for Easter was a typical Bank Holiday one, wet and gloomy! On Good Friday, the weather deteriorated and a decision was that we would make the decision on Saturday morning.

Arising Saturday morning, it was not raining, woo hoo but the weather app said that it would rain heavier after dinner. Ady & Mandy, were soon round ours for coffee, before we all set off to meet up with David & Lorraine at Market Deeping, to be honest, we travelled to Grantham with hardly any rain falling down but loads of moisture coming up from road spray and puddles.

Arriving at Grantham, we found parking space with ease, as I believe the weather deterred people from arriving in their kits, there was a fair selection of people having coffee, who arrived in their tin tops. Shortly after, our friends from EAKCC arrived, these guys had stopped for a Full English Breakfast. Grabbing a coffee and delicious slice or slices of cake, soon everyone was chatting away all huddled together in Adam's unit as heavy showers fell.

Yet, again, many thanks to Adam for the invitation, we headed to the pub for a wonderful carvery, where yet again, people stared at us, arriving in open top cars on a wet and chilly day. The Gap pub yet again, provided us all with warmth and hearty food. The journey home, was not so kind as it did rain but it felt good to be back on the road again.

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Tulip Map Run by Suzy and Angus Grooby

The tulip map run was scheduled for Sunday 29th April, spring appeared to be in the air and we were looking forward to a child free morning. That was until the day before when we had a full day of heavy rain and my enthusiasm was starting to wane. I was promised that should the rain not stop we would be taking part in the tin top and much of the day was spent comparing weather forecasts from different sources. Despite these promises and waking up to rain I found myself on the way to Werrington in the Marlin in the drizzle with as much of my winter clothing on as I could find.

We arrived at the meeting place and met Giles, Kev and Rachel (Kev's rendezvous with a young lady in a lay-by having been a sucess). We waited for everyone else to arrive, with the main topic of conversation being the weather, before piling into the At Last Tea Rooms for a good breakfast served with very good tea (so I am told by Liz and Angus). Fueled up (both us and the car) we were ready for a quick briefing from Giles, where I learnt that a tulip map is a thing and we were not orienteering around the bulb growing regions of the fens. After some adjusting of roofs and the braver amongst us getting into their wet weather gear, we were off.

Missing the first turn off to the Paul Pry was a strategic move to catch the others out, and it was only marginally longer and gave us the opportunity to wave to Kev and Rachel and Mandy and Ady as we approached a roundabout and passed from a different direction. We were in front at this point but we knew it would not be for long! The route took us from Peterborough through Marholm, Ufford and Barnack to Stamford, where Giles was waiting with his camera. Rachel and Kev had already passed us and we also caught a glimpse of Tony and Liz ahead in their Morgan.

Coming out of Stamford we soon entered the countryside and open roads again, we lost and caught up with Kev and Rachel several times. There was a lot of late indicating going on, with many debates in our car at least about whether or not they were going to turn at the same point we decided to. Turning off at Rhyall we followed the road through to Corby Glen, which is not a road we have ever driven before and will definitely do so again - just not when it has been raining, some of the puddles were so big they nearly met in the middle of the road. There was also a stretch where a thoughtful farmer had spread the road with mud, to make it just that bit more interesting for us.

From Corby Glen, the turning towards Grantham caused some controversy, some turning too early, some too late and some taking the correct turning but just not being believed, so we had to pull over to discuss it and then watched the others shoot past us! On the outskirts of Grantham we took the A52 to A15 towards Bourne, we did seem to be travelling in convoy at this point, with Tony and Liz in front, followed by the red Skoda of Paul Lilley, then Kev and Rachel and Angus and myself. we commented several times about how funny the people in the red skoda must be finding it to be surrounded by kit cars - not realising until the end they were part of the run!

Through Bourne and on towards Deeping we still followed Kev and Rachel but we had lost the red Skoda and Tony and Liz at the traffic lights in Bourne. Looking ahead at the route on the map we realised where the route was taking us and we discussed alternative routes through Deeping which might have given us the edge over the others and allow us to cross the Deeping St James bridge ahead. However, as we all know cheats never prosper and we became stuck behind a Sunday driver. It also meant that we missed Giles with his camera who was waiting in the centre of Market Deeping. Unaware of this though we did think it had worked as we headed through Peakirk to Newborough and there was no sign of Kev's orange car. That was until we pulled up next to them at the Van Hage car park.

Everybody did make it to the final destination and I don't think anybody got too lost. We all had a great time and much thanks must go to Giles for organising the event, especially for laminating the maps, so no-one was lost in the Lincolnshire countryside with a soggy ball of paper.

A note from the organiser

I am actually suprised how well this event ran. A few days before I had to change the start location due to being let down by the Paul Pry, just after all the maps were printed and laminated - hence an extra page tacked on.

The most remarkable thing was that we didn't lose anyone (well not too much) on the entire route.

A big thanks must go to the At Last Tearooms for accommodating us. It was also good to see a few new faces doing the run (Paul Lilley and Paul Seaton).

Would I organise another one, yes - but I need a rest first.

Giles

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Tulip Map Run by Mrs Mandy Spriggs

When the Tulip Run was announced at the planning meeting, I knew that we (Adrian & I) would what to do it but decided it would be best for me to drive. As previous experiences of map reading have not been good - don't chat to Griff about this!

We arrived At-Last Tearooms and consumed a fantastic breakfast. Most of us put our waterproofs on before we left. We had a fabulous time and the route was too, some roads we had never been on before. We were sure (well I was) that the end point would be the At-Last Tearooms - I had eyed up a piece of lovely looking cake before leaving.

Then thought Crowland but no, it was Van Hage. We all enjoyed lovely coffee and some sweet treats, When we come to set off, I realised that I had not got my handbag, Adrian went to check the car, others checked the floor and with some thought, I remembered I had left it on the toilet door. David Sneesby persuaded me to check the toilet but I was not surprised that it was not there.

Went to customers services, with a very heavy heart to ask, if a hand bag had been handed in. To my surprise, the Customer Service Lady (turned out to be Paul Dudley's wife Sarah) asked my name and out came my handbag, with all its contents - phone, purse (money and cards). Moments, like this restore your faith in human nature. Great to think that there are some honest people about. !!

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Dutch Road Trip by John Aylward

A select band of EATOC members joined up with our friends from the North West Kit Car Owners Group (NWKCOG) for a long weekend road trip to the Netherlands. The purpose of the trip, aside from the driving and socialising, was to see a kit car collection and the famous Dutch tulip fields.

Day One involved all the drivers heading to the port of Hull from various parts of the country. Myself and Andy Dunn met up at Allan Griffin's (Griff) house in Wisbech for a leisurely drive to David McKenna's (DavidM) house in North Lincolnshire. The A16 was, as usual, boring because of the lorries and farm vehicles, but we made good progress in surprisingly good weather and arrived at DavidM's house for lunch. We were treated like visiting royalty by DavidM and his lovely wife Heather and we tucked into rolls and cakes while waiting for our fifth EATOC musketeer David Thomas (DavidT) to join us. Cue the first issue of the trip. DavidT had already called DavidM to say that he had a problem. Only 200 yards after leaving his house, DavidT ground to a halt with a decidedly worse for wear fan belt. It seemed that DavidT would have to do the trip in his tin top. But wait, what is this, a hero in the form of Tiger's Jim Dudley rides into view. After DavidT's call, Jim immediately drove over and fitted a new fan belt so our fifth musketeer was back on track and arrived for a (late) lunch with us at DavidM's house.

Suitably replete, and having recovered Andy's car cover which made a bid for freedom down the street in the strong wind, the five set off for our next destination, a pub near the Humber Bridge where we were due to meet up with the NWKCOG contingent. Again we made good progress in decent weather and arrived early enough at the pub to have a relaxed cup of coffee. Too good to be true? Yes. A message arrived from Trevor Harmer - esteemed leader of the NWKCOG crew - that they were stuck in a jam on the M62 and would be arriving at the pub 15 minutes after the time we had planned to leave for the ferry. Not wanting to miss the ferry(!), the EATOC boys said they would be leaving at the time planned come hell or high water. Five minutes before pub departure time there was no sign of the NWKCOG guys but, wait, what is this? DavidT cannot get his removable steering wheel back on. Much head scratching, pushing and clicking failed to solve the issue. The rest of the EATOC crew contemplated doing a "Top Gear" and leaving their stricken colleague behind. But then DavidT actually followed some advice and changed the orientation of the steering wheel and, lo and behold, it went back on. Hooray! So we climbed in our cars and ... trumpets sounded - the NWKCOG guys arrived at the pub. The whole team now together we set off to the ferry in Hull and, after a slight kerfuffle paying the toll to cross the Humber Bridge, arrived safely in the queue to board in plenty of time.

Getting on board the ferry "Pride of Hull" went without incident and we all set off on a wild goose chase to find our cabins. The cabin numbering seemed baffling but we all found our gaffes for the night. The evening weather was glorious, although a bit windy, and we all decamped to the Irish Bar for a Guinness or two - as you do! Trevor handed out pre ordered tour t shirts which sparked a debate about who had ordered what! Then Griff handed out a key ring to each driver which had been inscribed specially for the event. A really nice touch Griff - many thanks. After liquid refreshment we headed to the restaurant where we enjoyed a pretty decent, all you can eat, evening meal. A couple of bedtime snifters later, we headed off the the land of Bedfordshire. Sleep, however, was elusive! The cabins were comfortable enough but consistent vibrations through the bed meant some bleary eyes in the morning when we were called to breakfast at 6.00am!

Day two started with a large breakfast duly dispatched. We returned to our steeds and, eventually disembarked. But this was not before Pete Jacklin got a jump start because he had left his engine fan on all night! First stop on the trip? A petrol station inevitably! The plan was to follow a route recced by Griff which was due to wind a circuitous route from Rotterdam to our hotel in Sneek to the north of Amsterdam. All started well. There were some great tunnels going past the Hague and we, of course, made best use of them to deafen the local drivers. Griff took us to the seaside but we couldn't park because it was King's Day in Holland, a public holiday.

Then came issue 3 of the trip. A set of traffic lights broke the group of 8 cars up, and the 5 strong EATOC team lost touch with the 3 NWKCOG cars. We pulled into a service station for fuel and coffee. The coffee machine was not very welcoming - see photo! We also discovered that you have to pay to go to the loo wherever you go in Holland! I called Trevor to see where the NWKCOG group had got to. His reply was almost unintelligible - we discovered why later - but managed to work out that we were required to meet at 'The Monument' further along the route. As I put the phone down, the three cars blasted past us in the service station!

We got going again and the gang was reunited at the aforementioned Monument on the Afsluitdijk. The Afsluitdijk is 32 kilometers long and on average 90 meters wide. It connects the Province of North Holland and the Province of Friesland. The dam was built to separate the IJselmeer from the Wadden Sea and to protect the land from flooding during storms or bad weather. The Afsluitdijk is also an important road for traffic and transportation. Every day thousands of cars use this road - including Tigers. After lunch at the Monument's Lunch Room - yes it is called that - we returned to our cars for the onward journey to the Hotel Sneek. A dribble of oil under Adrian Jarvis' (AJ) car was noted but dismissed by AJ. He wouldn't be able to do this later! Oh and we found out why Trevor's phone message was so garbled earlier. The specially made ear defenders with bluetooth and radio plumbed in that he had brought with him had taken off and flown down the motorway to be run over by a following Pete in his Cobra!

Due to a misunderstanding involving pointed fingers by Trevor, several of us missed the turning off the roundabout to the hotel right next to us, and we ended up doing a further 10 kms up and down the dual carriageway to get back to the right turning! Finally, we all arrived the hotel, checked into our impressive hotel rooms - the bathrooms were bigger than most hotel bedrooms! - and retired to the bar. As you do. Because it was King's Day there were a lot of people dining in the hotel restaurant, but DavidT bravely went and asked if they had a spare table for 8! As it happens, they did, so we all enjoyed a very nice meal, before having some more pre bedtime drinkies and then sloping off to bed.

Day Three began with a hangover. Well, it did for some of us anyway! Breakfast was taken including some bespoke omelettes and cold toast - Trevor couldn't find the on switch for the toaster! Duly refuelled we all wiped down our cars - it had rained during the night - and set off for our visit to the Netherlands Kit Car Collection. Issue 4 didn't take long in coming. It turned out our navigators had the wrong postcode so we ended up in a tourist resort amusing the visitors. Eventually we got the right postcode and set off again. Then issue 5 occurred. Trevor's Tiger was sparking underneath and making a hell of a racket as it went down the road. We stopped and inspected the underside of his car and discovered that his tea tray, sorry diffuser, had come adrift of its mountings. As we were so close to our destination we all limped behind Trevor for the remaining few miles. Then we arrived at the Kitcar Collection and wow! we weren't disappointed. While the proprietor, Bas Ki, helped Trev get his car on the ramp to fix his diffuser - supervised by DavidT with a pop rivetter - the rest of us tucked into coffee and delicious biscuits, ignored Trevor and went off to look at the amazing collection of cars that Bas has. The collection is very eclectic including many kit car marques and it was all we could do to keep our wallets in our pockets. A bright orange GTM Spyder drew a lot of attention, as did a couple of very nice Marlins. We were joined at the Collection by a very enthusiastic Dutch Westfield owner, Erwin Kuipers and his lovely partner, Meriem. After a discussion with Erwin, and Trevor's diffuser being reattached, we set off to find some tulip fields.

Several kilometers into the drive and after seeing banks of tulips from a distance, we suddenly pulled up outside a random person's house. Erwin jumped out and spoke to the owner, who he didn't know, but who happened to be a farmer with some tulip fields and we were all invited to drive our cars onto his property to see his tulips. The farmer's kindness did not stop there, he even got out one of his machines and swept the roadway so we wouldn't get our cars dirty! We drove in and parked up right in the middle of the tulip fields and allowed our budding David Bailey's to take some terrific snaps of the cars and the flowers. As a reward, AJ took the farmer's young daughter for a ride around the fields and then the farmer himself. It was a lovely afternoon and so nice to meet such welcoming friendly people.

As we got ready to leave the farm issue 6 occurred. There was a distinctly unpleasant metallic sound coming from under the bonnet of ... Trevor's car. Yep, our leader was in trouble again. The crowd's opinion was that his alternator was f*****/broken. It was determined that the best option was for all of us to go back to Bas, see his collection again and drink tea and eat biscuits .... Oh, and fix Trev's car. Turns out it was the alternator which had random pieces of metal swishing around inside it. Fortunately, Bas had a selection of alternators which enabled Trevor and Pete (rubber gloves) Jacklin to get on with a fix. This did take some time, however, and Erwin and Meriem offered to get us some Dutch fast food. We accepted! They soon came back with meatball thingies and spring roll type thingies with a selection of dips. The assembled crew set about demolishing the food as quickly as possible while also partaking in a few beers also supplied. The fix dragged on even longer so Erwin and Meriem went out again and got us some more Dutch fast food including the biggest bag of fries you have ever seen. They also had a Dutch delicacy of mayonnaise mixed with sweet curry sauce - I wasn't convinced! Of course we soon demolished all this food as well! Erwin and Meriem would not accept any payment for the feast they put on no matter how hard we tried. A nicer couple you could not wish to meet.

Eventually a new alternator was installed in Trevor's car and he was, once again, operational. After thanking profusely our new Dutch friends, we all set off for the return drive to the hotel where we arrived safely, tired but happy. A shower was followed by another trip to the bar and another fab meal before bedtime.

Day four promised to be wet according to the weather forecast. To be fair, we had been lucky that we had not yet seen any real rain and it was also not too cold. So, after breakfast, checking out and loading up the wagons we rolled out on the trip back to catch the ferry at Rotterdam. We stopped at the Monument's Lunch Room again for comestibles and a chin wag before setting off for the beach! The promised rain soon started and we arrived in the seaside resort of Scheveningen in The Hague very wet! We all cheered up with an ice cream and had a good laugh at DavidT who hadn't realised he had had his fog light on for nearly 2 days. While most of us decamped to a very nice cafe on the beach for coffee and to dry out, issue seven of the trip was dealt with. AJ had been losing oil during the trip and did not have a lot left in his engine so he went for a top up. We told you AJ!

The rain had not stopped when we got back into our cars and the drive to Rotterdam was quite hairy as the rain got heavier and the Dutch tried to kill us by swapping lanes randomly in front of us. Fortunately we all got safely to the ferry and got even more wet waiting in the queue to get on board. When we did finally board, we sluiced out the very wet cars and set off to find our cabins. DavidT and DavidM took one look at their assigned cabin and dashed off to get an upgrade of a cabin with a double bed(!), TV and mini bar. How the other half live! Standing out on deck was not an option because it was still raining and there was a howling gale. Messages from home suggested that we were in for a rough trip home and there were some glum faces. However, the Captain came on the tannoy and said that they were expecting an uneventful trip across the channel so that made drinks in the Irish Bar go down better! After another all you can eat buffet dinner we all retired to our cabins where we did sleep well because the crossing was reasonably smooth and we were all cream crackered!

Day five dawned to a very grey looking River Humber, but it was not raining (hooray!) and we enjoyed a quick breakfast despite the crew chasing us around the ship claiming that we hadn't paid for all our meals the night before - we had! Getting off the ship didn't go smoothly. The high winds meant that they couldn't use the normal gangway so we had to wait for everyone to work their way down to the freight exit. Then we had to queue for another 45 minutes to show our passports which led to issue 8 of the trip. I was on empty as we left the ship and leaving the engine running for 45 minutes brought on the red light and that sinking feeling that I wouldn't get to a fuel station! We all got through and said our goodbyes and I went in convoy behind Griff and Andy. Sadly, less than a mile out of the port, my engine coughed and signalled that it was on vapours. A second cough had me looking urgently for a safe spot the side of the road. Not surprisingly Griff and Andy ahead of me didn't see my frantic waving, but I was saved by the NWKCOG crew who had left after us. They graciously went and got fuel for me and spotted the David's also frantically searching for a petrol station! Anyway, we got going again and went our separate ways after crossing the Humber Bridge. Personally I got home 3 hours' later with a very sore neck because I was driving at 70 mph (ahem!) into a 30 mph headwind. At least it didn't rain.

In conclusion, what a great trip! Everyone enjoyed the driving, the socialising, the laughs and the new friends we made. The cars performed (almost) faultlessly. Roll on the next European road trip!

John Aylward

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Stoneleigh Kit Car Show by Rachel Collins

Counting down to Stoneleigh, the weather app on my phone, suggested sunny, dry weather, the media, saying it would be record breaking temperatures. Was I to believe that this was to going to be true. With me being a lady! I packed all sorts of clothing from thermals, winter parka, gloves, woolly hat, welly boots, dress and shorts. Wow, they were right. The weather was superb.

As usual, arriving on the Saturday to camp for the weekend, it was good to meet up with friends made over the years from various parts of the UK. During Sunday at one point we had 35 cars parked on the Tiger Owners pitch, a great sight. Monday as usual was down to 15. Overall I believe the attendance in Kit Cars was great as always on the Sunday but somewhat disappointing on the Monday. Especially if you were a member of the public turning up to look at Kit Cars and there were lots of empty spaces amongst the owner pitches.

The halls where exhibitors were, ranging from Kit Car suppliers, Insurance Companies, Spares etc had taken a downturn in attendance and often smaller pitches, in some places looking very sparse. Are the Exhibitors being charged too much?

Since arriving home, I have emailed Stoneleigh Park to complain about the condition of the toilet/shower facilities and asked if they were being included in the building work that was taking place on site. I have received an email back from 1 department, stating “that this facility was managed by Events Business”, to which I am still awaiting an answer.

Also noted on Facebook, a discussion took place asking for suggestions on how, the show could be improved. Various people from different walks of life wrote their views, including me, to which, I stated that the format was tired and maybe overpriced for the suppliers etc to attend. The show does not include anything new yearly to attract people. But saying that, there are a lot of people happy with the format who turn up with their kits, socialise and mooch around. I am led to believe that originator of the discussion is to meet up with Grosvenor Shows and show them the discussion. Keep watching this space and I will keep you informed.

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EATOC Norfolk Run by Giles Cooper

The Norfolk run started out for me with a journey in my dad's BMW, this was due to the fact my Tiger was in Wisbech after being repaired.

Once I had arrived at Tiger I found the car sitting freshly fixed and ready to go, unfortunately stuck behind several other cars in the garage so getting it out would be an issue.

The Norfolk run is usually very popular and this year was to be no exception, so in no particular order we had the following people arrive at Tiger.
Ade and Mandy Spriggs
Allan Griffin and Rachel
Andy Dunn
Angus Grooby
Dave and Jane Sams
Dave and Lorraine Sneesby
David Fiske
John Aylward
Jem Knight
Kev Greeves
Martin and Debbie Pidd
Mike Ramsdale
Neil Whitehead
Paul Lilley and Sue
Peter and Jenny Hinton
Simon and Ali Noble
Steve and Paula Tuck
Richard and Meghan Gaze
Tony and Liz Haggie

The most important member of the Tiger staff (a tan and black spaniel called Arthur) thought that all the people were there to make sure his ears were scratched enough.

So after getting everyone together and finally getting my car out of the workshop then filling it with fuel I joined the back of the run as we left Wisbech.

The first part of the run was a simple drive out to Downham Market, off to Mundford, and then onto the lunch stop. This is a route we have used many times previously and so wasn't expected to cause a problem. There were a couple of holdups for some reason the police had blocked one of the roads and were only letting traffic through slowly, and then some roadworks also slowed us down. In front of me were Tony and Liz and we had got left behind due to the traffic - didn't really matter as both of us had the route on the sat-nav and I had driven it only a couple of weeks before. At some point on the route (it was ahead of me) we picked up Dom Eaves as well.

We picked up one straggler David Fiske and then went to the pub stop. Now bear the following in mind - I was running last on the road, we got to the turn off for the pub and both Tony and Dave drove on ignoring the satnav telling them to turn right, I did - so now I would expect to be 3rd from the end. Nope I got to the pub and parked up (made harder due to a village fair being in the field next door), after I arrived about 10 cars turned up, for some reason they had gone a different route to the rest of us. This was strange as we deliberately checked the route using a mixture of TomTom and Garmin sat nav units to ensure they both routed the same way - which they did. No idea how that happened.

After a good lunch and a brief hunt for a certain Miss Gaze (who had gone off to make a daisy chain) we set out for the fuel stop - now at this point it was drizzling a bit. After we got to the fuel stop (using some very narrow lanes - I really felt sorry for people encountering us as there were now 21 cars they had to let through) we all made it to the fuel stop. At this point David Fiske's dodgy starter motor (it has been like this for a few years) gave up and we had to bump start him.

It was now raining steadily, so rain suit out and it was more comfortable to drive. After the fuel stop it was back to Fakenham for afternoon tea. This was nice easy driving straight down the A1065 with low levels of traffic we made good time.

When we got to Fakenham it had changed to proper rain, there are some interesting ways of keeping Tigers dry when parked and some of the more unusual are in the pictures.

Originally we had planned to stop again at the Sandboy in Gayton, but due to the weather this was ignored and everyone made their own way home. I stayed with Neil and Angus and at Kings Lynn we had the first mechanical failure of the trip - a mudguard stay on Neil's car broke which was repaired with the old standby of duct tape.

The rain slowly eased off and by the time I was home in Peterborough it was just a light drizzle. It would have been better had the rain stayed off all day, but nobody had any serious problems and the everyone made it home without the use of recovery services.

EATOC Cromer Run by Giles Cooper

This event had a huge turnout and this caused a few problems with it.

For a minor run out we started off with some problems with the route for the run. There were a few mistakes with slightly misallocated markers on the route. We fixed all that we thought were wrong and then it took a few hours for Richard Gaze to spot another mistake, at the end we had people with 3 or 4 different versions of the route - not really ideal. The last version was emailed out around 7PM on the Friday evening before the route started on Saturday morning.

So this would be a fairly low key event? - not a chance! I arrived at the Tiger factory around 9:45 there were already 5 other cars there, and they started arriving at the rate of one every couple of minutes by 10:15 we had around 18 cars and at the start time we had 25!

We also had the situation where only a few of us had a copy of the route (any version - not just the latest).

We started off as one group, 25 cars so it was a minimum of 1/2 mile long convoy, keeping this lot together was impossible. Griff was out front and I was at the back, whether anyone in the middle had the route was anyone's guess. So we got split up before the first stop, with Paul Ashby and Paul Lilley missing the turning into Swaffham. At the fuel stop we lost Tony Haggie and Jeff McCall who missed the petrol station completely and sailed on by.

Leaving Swaffham, I was running last and watched about 10 cars going down what was effectively a dirt track whereas I continued and took the main road about 100 yards further up. I then caught the others up and ended with 10 cars behind me. All went to plan until driving through the centre of Holt I missed a turning and we went out the town looped round and picked the route up again. We will change the route archive to avoid Holt town centre as it doesn't really add anything to the route unless you have a built in homing instinct for Fat-face branches.

We all finally made it to Cromer, all the cars got there, and we were parked in one location. After stopping for lunch and having a wander round the town we could then head home, the next part of the route hadn't been formally planned, but as it was a straightforward run to Burnham Deepdale it wasn't that hard. I ended up waiting for Simon to get the remaining tickets for Kimbolton, and then we left last of all. A quick blast along the coast road and we soon arrived at Burnham, where for some reason a number of club members had found a Fat Face branch. After a bit of a break I headed home after a long day. Apart from a load of loose chippings around Hunstanton the run back was nice and quiet.

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EATOC Lincolnshire Run by Giles Cooper

So the previous run had been a bit of a logistical disaster. This was mainly due to the number of people and a lack of those who had the route available to use. So behind the scenes the committee did their best duck pond act (on the surface serene and calm - underneath loads of extremely busy people trying to ensure it runs smoothly).

This resulted in new instructions to get routes out to people and a changed method of running the route. But did it work....

Well for a start we had only 11 cars start out from Griff's house instead of 25 and most if not all had the route in some form or other. We also split into two groups, Griff took the first group and I led out a second group a couple of minutes later, deliberately slowing them through Leverington to increase the gap. This worked perfectly with only a small number of cars behind each group leader we all stayed together and got to the fuel station meeting point without losing anyone. Griff had picked up a few strays along the route (Mike Ramsdale, Ade and Mandy, and at the meeting point we picked up Angus Grooby, Martin Hospole (not a member - yet). A bit more work with the routes gave Angus access to the route so he had a way of navigating and we were off again. Or were we first Neil Whitehead hadn't appeared (he was at a different petrol station although we weren't to know that), then just as we were about to leave Tony disappeared to the toilet and we had to wait 5 minutes.

Getting out of the petrol station and back onto the A17 was fun, with the roads a lot busier it was impossible to keep everyone together so driving slower than normal I kept the speed down until we had crossed the railway junction at Swineshead and turned off. At this point I stopped and waited until everyone was behind me or so I thought. It turned out Angus was a few cars further back and I hadn't realised this but he soon caught up. The rest of the journey to the fuel stop was without incident - apart from the bracket for one of my cycle wings breaking due to fatigue and ending up flying off the car, it landed on the road behind me and fortunately nobody ran it over - as it contained a large steel bracket that was probably very lucky. Angus who was at the back of the group stopped and rescued it so it got stuffed in the passenger footwell for the rest of the journey. We then made it to the fuel stop and then the lunch stop without further incidents.

At the lunch stop we met up with Neil Whitehead and the newest club member Oliver Rising, we then had lunch and set off for the afternoon session. Off to Mablethorpe we go, now we triple checked the waypoints on this section to ensure we wouldn't go wrong. Nope a few of them missed the turning into the town (I had set the marker 200 yds off the junction so I don't know how that occurred) then a few drove into the wrong car park. But eventually all of us did get to the right location just some were a lot later than the others.

Anyway after consuming ice creams we went to leave. Due to a problem with the route map the car park in Mablethorpe was missed off, it must have been deleted due to a mistake. So due to this we ended up going a slightly different route which meant we had to jump past a route point. I somehow told the satnav to jump too many points and ended up missing a section out which meant as I drove through Boston I ended up with everyone else behind me. Still we all made it to the final stop and after a break headed home. Fortunately I don't have to plan any more routes for a few weeks... but I do have to repair a cycle wing stay or two...

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Kimbolton Sporting Bears by Giles Cooper

Despite or even in spite of the new ticketing system Kimbolton had decided to introduce we still had quite a few people going onto this event. But more on that later.

The first drama occurred the night before the show, I got a phone call from Ricky Holman letting me know that the road from Spaldwick to Stow Longa had been resurfaced with loose chippings, not really ideal for a group of kit cars with very sticky tyres. Fair enough I said I can bring the group in via the Graffham Water /Perry road instead. No came the reply they have done that road as well. The only real choice was to take the single track road via Easton, not ideal but it didn't have the loose chippings so was the safest option. There then followed a load of calls around to those who weren't meeting at Brampton services to ensure everyone got the updated instructions.

So onto the day itself, we met as planned at Brampton services, I arrived to find Peter and Jenny Hinton already there, then we had Dave Thomas, Richard Gaze, Tony and Liz Haggie, after waiting a little longer we decided it was time to move on.

The route down was fairly slow as the road is narrow and twisty, behind me Dave's car was apparently bottoming out on the bumps so causing the rest of them to slow down. We all got to the end and then drove in. The new ticketing system proved farcical and it got better when it appeared that EATOC and EAKCC had both been allocated the same parking area, it turned out they were next to each other but we were short on space, with the cars parked in the trees somewhat. There wasn't much we could do about it so set to using the most of the space that we could. Shortly after more members arrived and we had completely filled the space available, as I still had three tickets left in my bag I am not sure what we would have done if everyone had turned up..

Still once we were all there and parked up we split up to go exploring, occasionally at kimbolton you can turn up a few unique cars there were plenty of nice ones but for the unique ones you need to wait for the parsons drove show pictures.

Overall it seemed that the number of cars was down on last year with the area near the entrance quite quiet compared to previous years, also someone commented that the plant stalls were missing from the traders area - not sure it would make any difference to Tiger owners as you can't fit large plants into a Tiger and get them home in one piece anyway.

The only area I didn't venture into was the craft fair as it doesn't interest me at all.

It was a good show although with nobody setting fire to grass or dropping a 3 wheeler through a trailer this year a little quieter than some.

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Parson's Drove Car Show by Giles Cooper

This will be a fairly short report.... I only went to the Parson's Drove show for a couple of hours, this is down to a couple of reasons, the first being it was a hot day in an open field with no shade, the second that I had to work that evening so needed some downtime before doing a four hour stretch in the office and staying at a show till 5 then getting home and back to work for 7 wasn't going to help.

Due to the way the show is structured you can't get a parking area for a club unless you know exactly how many are turning up and/or you all arrive together. It did turn out that we had 4 Tigers in various locations mine, Paul Lilley, Dave Thomas and Dave McKenna. I thought I spotted Ricky Holman walking round but could have been mistaken. I also saw the cars of both Paul and Jim Dudley but failed to spot either of them in person.

Now if you read the Kimbolton review I commented on the lack of unusual or plain bonkers machines. Not at this show there were some unique creations here just have a look at the photos.

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Tiger Open Day by Rachel Collins

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EATOC Wales Trip by Liz Haggie

We set out from March in reasonable weather to the first meeting point at Wansford lorry lay-by where we met up with more of the EATOC & EAKCC cars everyone was on time.

Left for Corby service station to meet more cars and comfort break, then onto Market Harborough where we missed a turn in the town centre after getting separated at the traffic lights. We found ourselves heading via satnav down to the A14. A phone call from Ade told us to go onto the A14 then M1 turn off at Lutterworth and he would wait for us.

Somehow we missed them in a lay-by and arrived before Adie and Angus at Hinckley. The pub had had an upgrade and gone upmarket no pub grub so we had to eat in restaurant.

We arrived at White Waters Hotel and were welcomed with lovely rooms and excellent food. After a shower and meal we were grateful for our beds.

Saturday: after a good breakfast we were up and out by 9am short drive to Plas Newydd for a photo shoot in the hall garden, then off down narrow twisting lanes. Trouble reared its head when Neil Dutton damaged the diffuser on the rear of his car which had bottomed out on the road - swift application of a screwdriver levered at the rivets by Kevin removed the affected part and we journeyed on to the Cross Fox for lunch.

Then we drove on to a craft village with lots of small shops & gin sampling which went down well! It was then a run back to hotel by an alternative route as the planned route was misty and wet. After a great evening a group of us had a walk into town to stretch the legs and lose a few pounds.

Jenny and Peters car needed a jump start a few times while we were out due to a bad connector on alternator. Angus was there with jump leads.

Sunday: Up and off again at 9am with rain coming down we headed of to Portmerion what a lovely place, all our cars were allowed the privilege of driving through the village in threes for photo shoot, felt really honoured to be allowed to go through, spent a few hours having coffee and walking round well worth a trip. Trevor Harmer bought a prisoner "I am not a number" T shirt for his collection, a wet journey back to hotel for shower dinner and bed.

A great weekend with a smashing lot of guys and gals.

A BIG Thank you for everyone who organised it and making it a great weekend.

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Little Gransden Air and Car Show by Giles Cooper

Well what can I write about for this one...

The day started off dry and reasonably warm with most of us meeting up at the A1198 services before driving down to the airfield. Now at this point the roads were dry and in reasonable condition so after a quick fuel stop it was off with me in front. I then took a wrong turn (I will blame it on the official signs) which meant it took a bit longer to get there but we were still in time.

The first problem of the day occurred when we found people putting up shelters and gazebos. This was an issue as we had asked if they were allowed and told no, but others didn't bother asking and just put them up. I personally think the organisers should have told the others to take them down but they weren't prepared to do that, or at least put them up against the side of the hangers, so they didn't block the view.

Out of the 10 cars booked in for EATOC members we had two no shows, Jeff McCall decided the weather looked too bad, and Nathan Neal had a problem with the brakes on his car. They probably made the right choice.... there were a few of the EAKCC not turning up as well.

Now about 11:15 the first drops of rain started to fall, it was only light rain but it soon got a lot heavier, to the point that lunchtime was interesting as you can see in the pictures. It was announced that none of the aircraft who were flying in would be able to make it, so almost half the flying program was cancelled in one swoop.

About 1PM an aircraft went up and did a shorter display, due to the cloud base they couldn't go that high so a lot of the display manoeuvres couldn't be performed.

There was then a pause until a suitable gap in the weather presented itself for a couple of planes to do a display. The rain kept coming down harder, and the bins were filling with broken umbrellas. Finally a third aircraft went up, but the weather was so bad that at 3PM it was announced that the flying was to be abandoned and those who were left (most of the public has already gone home) packed up and left. There was a final casualty the club flagpole snapped at the top where the fibreglass section meets the tubing. But this has now been repaired.

It is a real shame, especially as the day before it had been good weather, and the bank holiday Monday was also dry and bright. But an air show can't be moved.

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Peterborough Classic and Vintage Festival by Mandy Spriggs

We set off from Sutton Bridge with Michael Ramsdale at 8.15. We had a lovely ride across to Peterborough. When we arrived Tony and Liz, and Angus were already there. So our group was complete, as Giles had issues with his alternator, so would not be able to come. Though he may pop across later. We were all surprised by our position at the show, miles from anywhere, at the back. Perhaps our reputation had preceded us as there were a load of empty spaces in front of us!

After talking amongst ourselves we decided, to take it upon ourselves to change posts with another stand. Adrian and Liz Haggie, chose to swap sticks with the TVR stand (who never showed up). So we moved our cars. We were happy with this, and all in good spirits. So Michael decided to attach EATOC flag to his car. Adrian then had an idea, Michael should have a little ride around our stand which he was more than happy to oblige, whilst Adrian videod him, (for all of you on Facebook, you have probably seen this).

We all then went for a stroll around the show, we did feel it wasn't so well supported this year, which is a great shame for the organisers. After walking round the cars and trade stands we got a coffee, and headed back to stand. We were quite popular with the youngsters, especially as Adrian, let them sit in our car. Then started it up for them, so they could rev it up. This proved even more popular and they formed a queue. They loved the noise. Later on, we thought perhaps we should have asked for a donation towards a charity. Trust us to think of it after the event.

We had a red Westfield add on to us, the man said, okay if I park here. Then disappeared, he must have returned a few hours later, as we noticed it had gone. Strange really never gave us the chance to have a chat, and possibly get a new member. Perhaps he knew our intentions!

After lunch, we were joined by Kevin Greaves in his car. So we had a nice little social gathering. We then went for a little stroll. When we got back, Adrian had been speaking to Kevin about his car, as they jumped in, and went for a ride round Peterborough. We had spoken to him at Wales, as it fascinates us both, with having a R1 bike engine in. As we both have ridden bikes in the past. When they got back, Adrian described it as ferocious! After discussing if seat would be comfy for me, I decided to try, climbed in, felt okay, did harness up, said come on then. So Kevin obliged, took me round Peterborough. It was a strange experience, as noise, gear change, was so like a bike, but I was in a car. I can vouch that Adrian was right it is ferocious, but great fun, loved it, thank-you Kevin. Kevin was so proud of his engine, powder coated, and shiny, ( as can be seen in pictures) he was thinking of trying to attach the bonnet to his car, so on the journey home he would show his engine off.

I'm pleased to say he didn't, wouldn't want any harm to come to his car, as I'm hoping to be able to have a ride it, for some of the Derbyshire run! About 3pm, Giles popped by, but cars were disappearing and we had a chat. Then Giles asked about magazine, which is how come, I've done this write up. Alison, Tony, and Liz's daughter also came to visit us. The things you learn about people. Like if Liz has got some missing ingredients, for a recipe she is making, she will add anything. So people be aware of Liz's cooking. Only joking Liz, I would give anything a go.

Half past 3, Michael left, so by 4pm, we all decided time to make our tracks back to our homes. Which by this time, there was about only 10 other cars left in the whole ground.

In attendance was
Tony and Liz Haggie (Morgan)
Angus Grooby (Marlin)
Michael Ramsdale (Locost)
Kevin Greaves (MK Indy)
Us in Tiger Super 6, which made us all chuckle, as we were the only Tiger, on the stand.

All in all we all had a good catch up, and an enjoyable day. Perhaps next year, we can get a few more of you to attend, if the event is held!

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Derbyshire Run X - part 1 by Allan Griffin

This year's run would be the first without the help of Ian Welch as for last year's run we only had to compose the first half because the second half was a run that Ian had previously written which we had not completed because of adverse weather. So, without local knowledge, Giles and Myself, set about mapping a route. The first half of this year's run was composed amongst lanes/roads that Rachel and myself drove whilst away camping in the Ashbourne area in July. The second half was completely unchartered territory.

In attendance, were Ourselves, Giles, Tony & Liz Haggie, Ady & Mandy Spriggs, Kev Greeves, David Sneesby & Lorraine, David Thomas, Andy Dunn, Steve Quenby (who joined us for his first ever run out with EATOC), Simon Light, Richard Gaze, Paul Ashby, Steve Tuck, Paul Lilley, Neil Whitehead, Derek (Delboy) Oakes, Justin Garland ( who joined on the day) Also, joining us from the North West Kit Car Owners Group, were Trevor Harmer (our host in Wales), Peter Jacklin and Neil Dutton.

A large group of us met up at Oakham Services, here we had a leisurely chat and then headed off to Derby and Burton services for 10am. Reaching Derby exactly at 10am as planned, here we meet the rest, taking in refreshments for both humans and cars. Last to arrive was Trevor, who's car when he filled up with petrol would not start. Surprise, surprise. When sorted, he left it running till we were due to leave, which was at 11 am as scheduled. To meet at 2 places and leave/arrive on time with such a large group, must be a record.

I lead out a group of 10, followed by Giles who took the rest. In my opinion, the first half ran well the highlight probably being the Wetton tunnel, and arrived at the pub with my group in good time for lunch. The second group was not so successful in arriving together. Ady, Mandy, Tony & Liz arrived separately, followed a while later by the rest minus Steve and Justin who informed me when they arrived that Neil's car has died and recovery was on the way for him. Apparently he had a very nice pub lunch with his steering wheel, and was home at the time we were about to leave Derbyshire for our return journey.

After lunch we set off again as one group, all is going well until we reach Longnor and the road is closed, so I follow the diversion signs and the second diversion sign never seems to appear so I make the decision to do a left, to try to get back on route. Here whilst down a lane which had grass growing down the middle, cleaning all the undersides of our cars I meet a local who informs me, the road works are miles away and to continue on down the lane, take a right and low and behold we are back at the road diversion signs. Here we continue on route until we meet the closed signs where taking a right followed by a left, the problem was bypassed, the sat nav has us back on route again.

Further on along the B5056 heading for the A5012 at Longcliffe Quarry the road is blocked and closed again. One road closure yeah but two on a route Giles and myself sorted about 6 - 8 weeks ago what are the chances. Here we swing round in the quarry entrance and head back the way we came. At this point there are 15 cars and Myself. Here I think no problem just take the next left, left again head in the direction we need to go and the sat nav will put me back on route. Well that was the idea but somehow this did not work and we seemed to be going around in circles again. We all pull over and make the decision, due to the fact that some needed petrol, to head back to Ashbourne. Andy Dunn takes the lead and off we go. If the route had been driven as planned then this would have been the end point. So we made it to a nearby fuel station the end instead and all fill up. The girls had to be ferried back to Ashbourne for the toilets because the fuel station did not have any. Then we were ready to head off home.

Before leaving we ring Giles to see where he is as no one had seen him after lunch it turns out, he is at Ripley with Paul Lilley and Justin. Well done Giles at least he started and finished at the correct locations. When we set off for home I thought we would be together as a group but somehow Richard Gaze was drawn to the bright lights of Nottingham and along with Kev, Delboy and Simon they headed home along the A52/A17 whereas the rest of us went back to the A50 onto Melton Mowbray, Oakham and home.

Yes, there were some hiccups and snags along the way but the weather was kind, lunch was good, the driving superb and the company excellent and I had a wonderful day. Thank you all who came along.

Derbyshire Run X - part 2 by Giles Cooper

The day started off warm and dry with the prospect of the same for the whole run - this being a Derbyshire run that was to be taken with a pinch of salt. This year instead of meeting at a pub in Langham we took the decision to start from the services on the Oakham bypass. This allowed those who needed to get fuel and also gave us a fairly large parking area without causing a nuisance to other road users.

Now as Griff states in his report we left the services on time and got to the start point of the run proper on time as well. This has to go down as a unique occurrence probably never to happen again.

The groups left the start point and all started off well.

All runs smoothly until just after the JCB factory. We were scheduled to turn right onto Dove Lane, Paul Lilley who was behind me followed me but nobody else - at the JCB roundabout there were 10 cars as I checked my mirrors as I came off.

So we waited 5 minutes, then Richard Gaze and Derek Oates arrive - ok there are 8 cars missing now. Still we will wait a bit longer during this period a man driving a Vauxhall Astra turns up. It turns out he owns a Westfield and wanted to know more about the cars well I did the only sensible thing and gave him an application form for the club.

Eventually a few more cars turn up, just not the ones I was expecting. Well after about 20 minutes I decided that we couldn't wait around any longer and the rest of them would have to find their own way, so the smaller group continued down to the lunch stop. Some of the roads were rather narrow and very steep there was one section when I don't think my foot came off the brake for a mile or so.

When we got to the lunch stop we found that Neil Whitehead had had a problem and gone home on the back of a recovery truck. Also someone had been wearing sunglasses through the Wetton tunnel and lets just say had a slight positioning error...

So after a good lunch we get to the afternoon run.

When leaving the pub I was the last but one, but along the road we caught up with Justin and Peter Jacklin (cobra). At Longnor there was a sign saying road closed, so we had to divert - now at this point I lost the rest of the group and couldn't work out where to go. The satnav was trying to take me back up a closed road, so I overrode it and told it to skip a couple of points and head towards Ferry Bentley. The rest of them had vanished but all I could assume was that they were ahead of me.

Further along towards Longcliffe Quarry there is a sign saying road ahead closed, the route tells me to turn off soon so I chance it. As it happens we get next to the quarry entrance and it is closed just 1/4m before our turn.

Only thing to do was to back up, override the satnav again and head back to Cromford and then Ripley for the end point.

We arrive at Sainsbury's to find no other kit cars - where are they all? A few calls later and they are at Ashbourne, apparently they got lost then some were low on fuel so had to fill up. It was suggested that I came over to Ashbourne to meet them before going home - sorry but that is 25 minutes in the wrong direction for me. So rather than head back Justin goes home (Ashbourne) Pete Jacklin also heads home and myself and Paul Lilley come back to Peterborough.

I finally got in 11 and a half hours after setting out....

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Fish and Chip Run by Giles Cooper

A cold early morning run got me the short distance from home to Tesco Hampton. I arrived in plenty of time for the 8AM departure. A few minutes later Dave Thomas arrives - but the other two cars we are waiting for haven't arrived. checking my phone revealed a text from Paul Lilley that he was running late and would be at March instead.

So at 8:05 I made the decision to leave for March. When we got to the main Hampton roundabout Dave starts flashing his lights as he has just seen another kit head for Tesco, so we turn back to find Del Oakes has arrived - I didn't know he was coming but it gives us another car, whilst he is refuelling Neil Whitehead arrives having been running late. Neil had arranged for his wife to meet him in Southwold with a towing dolly in the car just in case the Cub played up he didn't then have to wait for the RAC again!

So now we have 4 cars as we head off to March. The trip there was uneventful but when we got to March things start getting interesting.There was a crowd already waiting to meet us, Griff and Rachel, Ade and Mandy Spriggs, Dave and Lorraine Sneesby, Paul Ashby, Paul Lilley and Sue, Mike Ramsdale, Kevin Greeves, Simon Light, Angus Grooby and Tony and Liz Haggie. We found that John had driven from home with a flat tyre on the Aviator fortunately a borrowed compressor soon fixed that one. Then Neil's car wouldn't start - the battery was a bit duff, but a set of jump leads soon sorted that out. Upon leaving I made a mistake instead of leading the cars out, I take a scenic route round the Tesco car parks - don't ask why or how but ended up 4 cars from the back, instead of out the front, the rest of the trip to Ely was uneventful.

At Ely we had a quick break and picked up more cars Richard Gaze and daughters (in a unique Tiger C-Max), Martin Pidd, Peter and Jenny Hinton, Steve and Paula Tuck, Andy Dunn and Dom Eaves. This time when we left the car park Neil's Cub started. Now leaving Ely, Griff got stuck behind a foreign lorry that couldn't work out why a sign diverts high vehicles to avoid a low bridge (mind you it was better than if he had tried to go under the bridge) and has to spend the rest of the trip trying to catch up.

I was in the lead but got overtaken by a few cars so left them to get on with it as hopefully they knew where they were going. When we got to Newmarket town centre everyone was soon separated which is why we planned to regroup at Long Melford.

At Long Melford we picked up another member Iain Jones and all dived into the pub for liquid refreshment (and a slice of Bakewell tart for me). Now this is where the fun started. I had prepared two route maps one was the original full length the other should have just had the first few points knocked off so that it was easier to start from March. Er no.... something went wrong.

The master route took us out of Long Melford via Bull Lane, the March route bypassed this and drove out via the main road.

So a fast group shot off, the rest followed me, apart from two at the back (Griff and Peter Hinton). It appeared that they went out of Long Melford using the main road, overtook the 13 cars that I was leading and then thought they were playing catch-up when they were ahead...

We only realised what had gone wrong when we pulled into the fuel stop and realised they were missing. Steve Tuck had had a call asking where we were.... on the road following the route map was the reply.

Still as they were ahead we didn't have to wait for them and drove on to Southwold where confusion reigned with trying to find the correct car park, eventually we mostly all parked together and we met the last pair coming on the run Carl and Carolyn Lumley who had planned on meeting us In Southwold all along.

We did find that the fast group ended up in Dunwich and not Southwold, apparently John was using a copy of the 2016 route instead of the 2018 one... but they made it to Southwold just a little later than planned.

We all got to the right chip shop and had a good lunch and chat before making our way home. Now by the time we left the car parks it was about 4:30 and the sun was starting to get low, we had some slightly odd directions in Havenhall where the satnav sends you circling the same roundabout a couple of times.

The biggest problem on this stretch was the low sun, every time you ended up facing due west effectively you were blinded. As Tigers don't really have sun visors it is quite hard to see where you are going, so it is difficult to maintain a steady pace.

Everyone made it to Diss without any issues, however upon arrival Griff's mudguard mount gave way and so had to be removed for the journey home. Neil's car then decided the battery had had enough, four of us pushing it failed to bump start the car, a set of jump leads did the job instead.

Now as these happened at the end of the run I am going to declare it an incident free trip.

There was also someone having a problem with the starter motor on their Fiesta, not a problem with us around as she was bump started so could make her way home.

The last section was a simple drive home via Thetford back to Peterborough, once the sun started going down and it was dusk it became a lot easier to see where you were going.

For most of the journey home I had Angus directly behind me, but at the A47 Guyhirn roudabout I lost him as other cars got in the gap between us.

I finally got home 12 hours after starting off. A good day helped by some lovely late summer sunshine.

Rutland Ramble by Rachel Collins

Probably not many of you are aware that Griff and Neil work together, during one of their daily conversations regarding Tigers, Neil was interested in learning more about the 'My Route' app navigation software which the Club uses. So Griff suggested, that Neil has a go at plotting a route using his local knowledge which Griff could then proof read, after a few tweeks, Neil's Rutland Rambling was born. Both Neil and Griff thought only a handful of cars would turn up

Even though it was the middle of October, the day's forecast was to be lovely warm and dry. Arriving at the meeting point, it was lovely to see some cars already there. Standing around waiting for the departure time, we watched the rain storm pass through the valley which was was simply amazing. Further cars arrived and eventually, 17 cars were ready to leave, Neil asked Griff to lead the route, only as he thought, he would be more suited in the second group of cars. So that he and Basia would not feel any pressure. They secretly had their fingers crossed, that the car would survive the trip.

We left the Petrol station and travelled around some lovely twisting country lanes heading over to Rutland Water taking in some beautiful scenery. Crossing the main road to take in the second half of the figure of 8 route which passed under Harringworth viaduct. Yet again, lovely roads, taking in many villages and admiring glances from the villagers.

Sadly, Griff & I witnessed an accident, in which a motorcyclist sadly broke both legs badly. It was at this point, Griff realised that he had several missed calls from Giles on his mobile. our thoughts immediately, were Oh No, Neil has broken down again!! Unfortunately, it was not Neil but Giles, who's clutch cable had snapped and he was waiting for the recovery truck.

After setting off from the accident scene a few shot off for the pub and the finish point at Elton. When the rest arrived and parked on the village green there was no sign of the others a phone call later and we were all back together in the same pub as they had gone to another. Most people took advantage of the food on offer in The Crown Inn whilst basking in the brilliant sunshine on the patio. The day had turned out to be one of the hottest October days on record.

Big thank you must go out to Neil who not only wrote the route but test drove it a couple of times to ensure it ran smoothly.

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