We returned from another trip to Britain last Friday. This time for a combined holiday.
Walking in the Lake District and touring with ‘t Kreng while taking part in the
International Auto Ecosse. An event organised by the Caledonian Classic & Historic Motorsport Club and supported by Club Triumph. A report from the driver’s seat, and from behind the camera.
The IAE 2013
Day 1 in green and day 2 in red
It was again a top event with some fabulous driving roads! The official report of the event can be found here, on the website of the CC&HMSC. For me the highlight of the first day was chasing a Porsche Boxter-S and a (at that stage badly smoking) Chrysler Sunbeam rally replica over the Trossachs. Turned out that the smoke was caused by a blocked engine breather, as a result of which the engines oil was blown onto the exhaust. Luckily the owner found this out just in time before he ran out of oil in the sump.
The first day finished in Fort William, and as the start of the second day was also there, we had booked a hotel there. This turned out to be a big mistake. There was nothing wrong with the hotel, but Fort William itself turned out to be a pretty sad place. At least we were well rested for the second day! Which started with a test on an old disused looking kart track on an industrial estate North of Fort William.
After which we started on the second leg of our approximately 500 mile blast through Scotland. The second leg turned out to be even better than the first day, with one of the highlights being the 24 mile long single track road along the southern shore of Loch Awe. This stretch was also the scene off “The Tractor Incident”. We were in a three car convoy with one Mr. Ellis S leading the way in his Mk1 saloon. At a certain point, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, he crossed a narrow bridge and immediately turned sharp left at the end of the road. But the moment he disappeared from view behind some bushes, a huge tractor appeared from that direction, bouncing over the green shoulder of the road. Turned out that they just missed each other. Luckily Ellis' co-driver came well prepared, he had some spare knickers in his travel bag 🙊
From Loch Awe it was a short quick drive to the newly resurfaced Rest-And-Be-Thankful hill climb course. It was a brilliant drive up the hill, but sadly my navigator didn't quite manage to use the camera properly, or maybe I was just too quick!
The fact that all of the crews had a huge smile on their face when they came over the finish line tells it all. It certainly was very good fun!
After the "Rest" we carried on with the route at a nice pace, heading towards the finish in Scone/Perth. Sadly enough we were often hampered by various moving chicanes, mostly of the mouse grey euro-box/caravan/camper van variety). But in Killin we caught up with the Sunbeam again. This time without the smoke screen. And with this car as pacemaker we started on the last part of the route. At a rather brisk pace we headed along the Northern shore of Loch Tay towards Aberfeldy. And from there the traffic thinned out almost completely. This turned out to be an even better drive than the Rest-And-Be-Thankful, with some very spirited driving. Resulting in two well trashed cars at the finish in Scone!
And after the event's farewell diner, we headed to our B&B in Perth. And after signing-in at the B&B we headed into town for a few well-deserved beers!
How 't Kreng behaved
I had some doubts when setting of towards the ferry as I still could hear quite a lot of funny noises. But as everything was working as it should, I decided that it was better to ignore them and concentrate on the driving. But coming of the ferry and driving towards the Lake District all this was forgotten when I noticed that the volt meter in the dashboard didn't register anything (it is hidden behind the rim of the 13" steering wheel, so can be missed easily). At first all sorts of horror stories crossed my mind, but I decided to check underneath the bonnet first. Turned out the connector at the back of the alternator had come loose. So easy to rectify, but how did it come of ? Probably didn't fit it properly and then also must have forgotten to secure it with the locking clip. At least it cured that problem and I could enjoy the driving
even more! Though by the time we arrived at our B&B in Keswick it was clear to me that the car didn't like a fully laden boot. Luckily we liked the booked B&B, and they had a room available for the week after the IAE, which meant we could leave all the hiking gear there and travel lightly for the event. Nice!
During the first week I didn't use the car, as the B&B was strategically chosen from a walking point of view. But a routine check on the Friday before we left for the start location of the IAE showed what, at first glance, looked like a leaking water pump. It turned out that the coolant came from underneath the thermostat cover. But the leak stopped during the first day of the IAE. And while driving the IAE I soon forgot all the funny noises and gave the car a good trashing, which she took rather well. Nothing broke or fell off! And there were no excessive oil leaks, and everything else (suspension/brakes/transmission) worked as they should. I had to add 0,5 litre of engine oil though, to keep it on level. But taking into account the sort of driving I did, that is not very worrying. In the end she covered another 2200 kilometres from door to door. Again without any problems, and with an average fuel consumption of slightly over 30 mpg. It almost feels like a betrayal to even think about dismantling her (postscript: luckily 10 years after she’s still going strong as life intervened with the planned adaptations a few times).
Rest-And-Be-Thankful
Walking The Lakes
The week before and after the IAE 2013 were spent walking in the Lake District.
Some of the photographic highlights;
on the northern shores of lake Derwent Water
seen from Ashness Wood
Great Gable seen from Park Neb
Enjoying a well-deserved beer on the terrace outside the Mary Mount Hotel, Borrowdale
Along the eastern shores of lake Derwent Water near Low Strutta
Enjoying the fine weather in the Main Street, Keswick
Caught by surprise, Main Street, Keswick
Castlerigg Hall Farm, south of Keswick
View from Dalegarth towards the northern shores of Lake Buttermere
The south eastern shore of lake Buttermere seen from Crag Wood
View over lake Buttermere from Peggy's Bridge
The south eastern shore of lake Buttermere seen from Horse Close
Fresh spring green leaves in Burtness Wood
Cottage near Castle Howe
The Langdale Pikes sen from Fell Foot Bridge
Coins in a cut tree trunk, Howe Banks
Slightly misplaced road sign in Hag Wood near Baysbrown
Weathered Farm buildings, Oak Howe
Langdale Pikes seen from the Great Langdale Beck between Oak Howe and Long House
Langdale Pikes seen from Side House
And as the start for the IAE was at Heathhall airfield near Dumfries, we spent a few hours on the day before the event in Dumfries. Not the most inspiring town I have visited. But certainly interesting from a photographer’s point of view!
Friars Vennel Dumfries
White Sands Dumfries
Going Home
And to end this post a few pictures of the homeward journey
The Elk’s head in Hexham
Edited on the 28th of May 2023: 10 Years after we set of for a walking holiday in the Lakes and the 2013 edition of the “International Auto Ecosse” it was time to freshen up the pictures I took in 2013. I also added some extra pictures and edited the text where necessary.
