Zedster's Swansong

 In what may turn out to be my last trip in Zedster, the Rogues repeated the trip from last year - a short, 3 days in Devon. Originally, my wife was due to come with me but with my daughters A-levels imminent, my wife didn't want to leave her alone. More honestly, I don't think road trips are her thing, despite her trying last year. She wants to see the sights (and there were a lot of them in Devon) and that's not what our trips are about.

The weather forecast was ominous but I've said it before....NEVER base a trip on a weather forecast. As it turned out, we had the best weather in the UK this weekend; windy but hardly a drop of rain and even a bit of sun - it was perfect. My roof stayed off the whole time.

We met up initially for breakfast near Andover, 90 minutes from home for me and I took an enjoyable route to get there, taking 30 minutes longer than the motorway would have taken but much more fun. The group consisted of 8 cars and 9 people (Duncan's wife, Alison, is made of sterner stuff than most); Zedster, 2 Caterhams, a Tiger, Elise, Stylus, MX5 and a Fiesta (Rob's Quantum is awaiting work).

From there, a gentle meander through Wiltshire and Somerset, with the required coffee stop:

Traffic was reasonable, road conditions dodgier than last year (more potholes) but some of the roads were lovely and Zedster continued to make me feel guilty as he swooped and roared round the tight bends. Linda's Tiger had a wing stay failure which left her with a naked front wheel for the rest of the trip but no other mishaps occurred.

We arrived at the B&B in Illfracombe (same one as last year) in time for a relaxing power nap (I was knackered) and then a meal in the same restaurant as last year. In our defence, it was still early in the year for tourists and it was almost the only place open and could seat 9.

Map of the route, day 1:

Day 2 started off very badly for me - half a mile from the hotel and Zedster died completely. Fortunately, after 5 minutes, a loose wire to the fuel pump was found to be the cause. Initially, just wiggling it seemed to be enough but at the first coffee stop, and with the aid of numerous tool kits, a new wire and terminal was added and no further problems occurred:

With slightly different routes to last year (far fewer tiny lanes - a very good thing), we had a blast as we headed south. However, the weather did seem worse that way and we luckily started heading back north before we hit the rain.

The A396 from Tiverton to Dunster is 20 miles of sublime; twisty, foresty, mostly well surfaced and little traffic, we had a great thrash up there. Dunster is a very quaint town with a castle - but it's not visible from the road, so I had an excuse.

Second coffee stop of the day was at the Blue Anchor on the coast:

The run back along the coast again and via the toll road (name forgotten) that snaked around the cliffs, was superb:

Being a Sunday night, The Smugglers was again the only place open but their roast beef was excellent and reasonably priced - they've done well off us.

Map of the route, Day 2:

The final day was a bit darker but the weather improved as we drove east and home. We all made it to the first coffee stop at Portlock Weir:

Duncan left early as he had a long trek home and the rest of us, after a very slow coffee service, carried on to repeat the wonderful road between Dunster and Tiverton in the reverse direction - just as good, unsurprisingly. 

We set off for the lunch stop at Chew but it dawned on me that my satnav was telling me I'd be home by 7pm if I stayed on the route, so I said my goodbyes and re-routed for home. Most of my route back was on the very dull A303 but I managed to find an interesting new route after that and got home at 5.30pm, pretty knackered.

It was another brilliant road trip; the weather turned up, the people are a great bunch and you can get enjoyable roads in congested England.

And what about Zedster? Apart from a little hiccup, he was faultless, fast and fun. The problem I did have with the fuel pump wiring was fixed in 10 minutes for zero cost. The fuel pump on a Boxster is almost inaccessible and takes several hours of expensive garage labour to get to. Lots of people stared at Zedster and made positive comments - no-one looks twice at a Boxster.

BUT....I feel Barry would have been just as fun on those twisties and MUCH more comfortable on that A303 back home and I could have listened to some music.

In 2 weeks, I go to Wales in Barry - that is the final, acid test. Wish me luck...

Another year, another Wales

 The annual Rogues tour of Wales came round again and it was only slightly less great than previous years; the weather wasn't stellar and politicians are conspiring to ruin the country (more than they normally do).

Yes, the weekend we had booked for our trip became the weekend that Wales introduced 20mph limits in all towns. Personally, I'm not a religious follower of speed limits (if there's a school and/or lots of people, I'll happily do 5mph but when the 20 zone extends half a mile either side of a village in the middle of nowhere where we don't see a living soul, I'm less keen) and we never spend much time in towns but it was the new, average speed cameras that were the real party-poopers.

Anyway...the trip started on the evening before, with a drive to the hotel in Cardiff. For me, an uneventful and remarkably clear run saw me there at about 8.30pm, the last to arrive and to a surprisingly nice Premier Inn. A stream of fluid from underneath Zedster caused a slight panic but it was my windscreen washer bottle which had come unclipped and fallen over in the engine bay - took a few minutes to clip back on.

Day 1 - Cardiff to Mold, 243 miles

Getting out of Cardiff seemed to take forever - the huge road schemes that were there last year are still not finished and some weird satnav shenanigans from the start meant it was a good hour before we were free of traffic. And then the first shock of the trip; average speed cameras on the Black Mountain road!! It's like painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa....disgraceful; ruined one of the best roads in Wales. I was so annoyed, I flew up as normal and slammed the anchors on before the cameras to drop my average down, just to be difficult (this rebellion may backfire if I get a message in the post soon). Interestingly, on the other side there is only 1 camera at the bottom and the top one is before the car park we always stop in:

....so you can happily drive that like normal, as long as you start/stop in that car park - result. Also, the cameras have scared everyone away - the road was very quiet and we were the only ones in the car park, so it is even easier to drive like a lunatic on the road. Well done, speed campaigners...

As you can see, the weather was great; dry and partly sunny. I'd taken my drone this time and we stopped to do some filming - would have been great if I'd remembered to put an SD card in the drone! Recorded nothing - great.

The rest of the day up to Mold was great, through the Elan valley as always. However, there were some new average speed camera sections to annoy us, although strangely, some of the average speed cameras on the Horseshoe pass have gone - they weren't making enough money from fines?

The Beaufort Park Hotel is well past its best but vaguely reasonable because of it and the evening meal was pretty good.

Day 2 - North Wales loop, 227 miles

The weather wasn't quite as good today, grey and cloudy but at least dry. Many lovely roads to the west and this year, I finally got to see Harlech Castle!

Our usual stop at the Conwy Falls cafe:

...and our usual stop at the Ffestiniog railway was cut short as the cafe was shut for a wedding:

At one point, we stopped and I tried the drone again, this time with SD card. Looked pretty good (see the video later):

The usual satnav confusion meant I drove the last few miles alone and was one of the last back.

Day 3, Mold to Paincastle, 265 miles

Almost a reverse of day 1, we returned back through the Elan valley and the wasp-infested 2 Hoots cafe at Devils Bridge.

We stopped again at a lake for a drone shoot and while doing an arty flyover, I flew into a tree! The drone survived to fly another day...

For the last 20 miles or so, the rains came and the hoods went up, before our arrival at the remote Roast Ox Inn in Paincastle and a spectacularly good evening meal:

Day 4, Mid-Wales loop, 228 miles

The weather looked bleak at breakfast, so hoods were left on except for one brave soul. This rash decision backfired badly as the Heavens opened with some of the worst rain I'd ever driven in - at one point after a truck went past the other way, I couldn't see a thing for a few seconds until my poor, over-worked wipers had cleared the screen.

Lake Brianne looked very pretty, even in the rain:

The Elan Valley for the 3rd time on this trip was as enjoyable as ever and the 3rd visit to the 2 Hoots cafe where the continuing drizzle of rain hadn't deterred the wasps. The roads were very wet, with lots of huge puddles that actually helped to wash the sheep shit from the first few days off Zedster - silver lining and all.

The rain finally stopped before another visit to the Black Mountain road from the opposite direction and our knowledge of the cameras made it almost as good as usual - a little chirp from my tyres round the hairpin and I screeched into the car park, narrowly avoiding a 3 man trike just about to leave (it seems you can book guided tours by trike - not a great choice on this wet day).

Continuing satnav hilarity this time meant I was first back to the hotel, just before the rain started up again.

Day 5, Paincastle to home, 210 miles

Always a sombre day as we headed for a garden centre near Gloucester for a last coffee and cake before we all went our separate ways home. I stayed with the others about half the distance before I was forced to divert for petrol (the others had filled up the night before).

After our last goodbyes, I followed the original planned route back to the M4 on a fun, last blat before the usual route home that was surprisingly clear - I pulled up home at 3pm, knackered and immensely proud that Zedster had survived another marathon trip.

A wonderful trip overall, despite officialdom doing its best to screw it up - so much so, there are rumblings of next years trip being somewhere else. Personally, I can't think of anywhere better unless we go to France or Scotland, which need more time and money.

In the meantime, I have another of Roger's excellent coasters:

Video of the trip (in true Marvel style, don't leave before the credits end):

Cars in the school

 Another weekend, another car show...this one was 20 minutes down the road at Copthorne prep school. This was only the 2nd year it was on but it was very impressive; food places, a few stalls, bouncy castles and some beautiful cars...

I had a school friend back in the 80s who had one of these Alfasuds and it was awesome:

You wait for 1 Lambo and...

McLaren 720s - possibly the most lovely design of all modern cars:

A range of Corvettes from old to new:

A lovely old Elan:

A rare 4-door Aston:

I had to step well back to fit this in the frame:

A wonderful Honda S800:

A car built from scratch, Chevy chassis, part MG body work, 8.2L engine, plus a mini version built from a mobility scooter:

Don't see many Marcos's these days:

Once again, car of the show, chosen by popular vote (of all the people that came to talk to me, possibly they were pressured into it):

The organisers were trying to spell out something from a drone POV, hence the way I was parked up - not sure if it worked.

A fun day out, sweltering hot and I had a little blast down some local fun roads on my way home.

The annual Rogues trip to Wales next week...looking forward to it.

Cars in the Square

 Today was a car show which was initially supposed to be in Winchester City centre but the council obviously thought they were single-handedly going to save the planet by not having the show, so it was moved to Southampton centre.

An enjoyable 80 mile drive out there and my wheel didn't fall off even once, so that was nice...

The weather was stonking and there were some cool cars on show...

This straight-piped Testarossa sounded much better than the original - the owner of this has 40 other cars in his collection!

This guy had squeezed a K20 with turbo (just) into his Mini van:

Great paint job:

When I was younger, this was one of my dream cars - Alpine A10:

Beautiful 3.0 CSL - the owner had another one which had been trashed by a woman who fell asleep at the wheel of her car! She got a payout in 2 weeks, this owner got a broken leg, his wife broke her spine and it took 2 years to get a payout:

McLaren GT:

Obviously, the best car on show:

Lovely run back in the sun, although too much traffic to have much fun and they've put average speed cameras on one of my favourite roads!