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Brilliant thread You are now officially seconded to the Scottish Tourist board for highliting what a fabulous country we have .............Well done ........now I neeed to go and hang my head in shame as I haven't seen the half of it !!

So after months of anticipation Wednesday 27th May had finally arrived and time for us ( Michelle & I ) to set off on our trip to the St Goueno Hill Climb. We set off for our ferry from Portsmouth to St Marlo at 2.00pm, after an easy run down the A34 we’d soon joined the queue at the ferry terminal and could see ahead another member of Team WSCC Graham ( Windy ) Millar. Once checked in the three of us headed for the terminal bar to get in the spirit of the weekend while we waited to be loaded. The crossing was an overnight run so following an evening meal and a few drinks in the bar chatting to fellow competitors we retired to our cabin for a few hours sleep. In the morning we joined Graham in his commodore cabin for a complimentary continental breakfast before setting off on the short drive from St Marlo to St Goueno. Just over an hour later around 10.00am we’d arrived at the empty paddock hoping to drop our trailers off but not only were we turned away until 3pm we also noticed that one of Grahams trailer tyres had delaminated and lost a large chunk of tread, so out came the jacks and in true motorsport style the wheel was changed in no time. Many competitors camp in the paddock however following Grahams visit last year we opted to share a small gite in a village a few miles away and used our time to pop to the gite, unpack and have a cuppa. Time rolled by and no sooner had we sat down than it was time to head back to the paddock and set camp ready for the rest of Team WSCC. We quickly had our paddock area set up banners flying and cars ready, just in time actually as the remainder of the team had arrived, Tim Nunn & Karen, Richard Kerr & Lisa and Paul Morcom and then with a mass joint effort we organised the motorhomes and trailers ready for the weekend. Now the time had come for us to drive the hill for the first time, all be it still an open road but we couldn’t wait to set sight on the hill and see how it compared with the video’s I’d watch a thousand times before. With Graham taking Tim, Richard & Paul for passenger rides in his gorgeous orange MK2 Escort Michelle & I jumped in the Westy to get a proper view of the road. Wow this was going to be the most challenging hill climb I’ve driven so far, 2 miles of fast tight & twisty narrow road, steep banks to one side and armco to the other it became very clear there would be no room for mistakes here. So with the recky runs done and much debate about how to tackle this for practice on Saturday it was soon time to get ready for our first evenings entertainment in the Sal d fete in St Goueno. The hospitality here was exceptional with the organisers laying on evening meals and entertainment all weekend for drivers and their crew, they even provide a free Navette ( minibus ) to run everyone the couple of miles from the paddock to the village centre & back and also to and from our gite so we could all kick back enjoy a few beers blonde, cidre and vin rouge, bring it on. Friday was a nice relaxing day, as other than signing on and scrutineering in the afternoon we had no other motor sport duties so took full advantage and enjoyed a bit of a lay in ( we needed it after the night before trying to keep up with Tim & Rich in the bar ) followed by a walk to the village patisserie for croissants and pan aux chocolait . When we finally made it back to the paddock not much was going on so we took the short walk across to the Cheval hair pin to watch some of the local historic regularity cars running up the hill, a very enjoyable couple of hours drifted by and it was time to return for signing on. Friday nights entertainment was bigger and better than the night before with a live band playing and plenty good food and drink, again the Plays-kool boys were a bad influence forcing me to have one or two beers too many ;-) When we got home to our gite we had been joined by David Birch & his brother Alan, Ade ACW and a friend of Windy’s Paul who were all sharing the gite next door and spectating for the weekend. Saturday morning was beautiful bright and sunny, full of nervous anticipation ( well certainly on my part ) as our practice runs started at 9.30am. Unlike our British hill climbs the paddock was not laid out in competitor order, so to get everyone back in order before a run you first get called out to the pre grille. We had been divided into three groups of around thirty who get called out together, on leaving the paddock your given a pre grille number which you go find painted on the road and park behind it. Just as soon as the pre grille has all assembled your taken off in a convoy on the 2.2 mile drive down to the start line. Finally my group were called and off I set for my first proper run up the hill all be it un-timed, I quite liked that idea as it was a chance to sight the hill without the pressure of posting a reasonable time. It wasn’t far into my first run that the scale of this hill hit home, despite watching last years video’s a thousand times and driving the hill the previous day it only took a couple of corners before I was completely flummoxed as to what was coming next, that would be the challenge to driving this hill fast, memorising the course well enough to attach the corners. Well my first run was fairly cautious but completed without any dramas so I was happy with that. Back in the paddock we all chatted about our first runs, exchanged ideas on how to memorise the course and couldn’t wait to have another go and post a time. After lunch we were called again, wished each other luck and set off for the start line. Things all started to go a little wayward from here with delay after delay ( breakdowns and accidents that took an age to clear ) then at last it was my turn. My start was ok and the first half of the run went pretty much to plan ( I almost felt like I knew where I was going ) until I was Red Flagged just after the crossing ( a cross roads about half way up ), I pulled over to a marshall’s post only to be told the red flag was a mistake and I should turn around go back down to the start for a re-run. This was the last thing I’d expected and after a stressful 5 point turn I trundled back down to the start line, with one thought in my mind, I now had warm tyres and should take full advantage. This second start was much better and I set off at a faster pace, to my surprise the next few corners were all in the order I’d imagined, the run was going well I soon recognised the next section which is much faster and even managed to keep my foot half in through the crossing, the next two right handers went well ( including the nasty tightening one which was catching out a lot of drivers ) and I was heading down to the Cheval Hair Pin then just the last two corners and I was done, first timed run over and I thought went pretty well, just needed to see my time which was displayed on the return road, blimey 1min 46s I was very pleased with that. When I returned to our paddock all was very quiet, the girls had all gone to spectate as had Windy so I had a few quiet moments to re -run the hill in my head before I expected Tim & Richard to return as they were a couple of cars behind me at the start. It soon became clear more problems followed my run as no sign of Tim let alone anyone else, what I didn’t realise was it was Team WSCC causing some of the hold ups. Unfortunately Tim suffered a mechanical problem and had to quit his run half way up, then Richie rather enthusiastically clipped the armoc on the nasty right hander which he seamed to get away with only then to suffer steering failure on the very last corner and collided heavily head on into the water filled barriers, finally Paul returned in his beautiful Merlin having completed a successful run and we waited to hear of of Tim & Richie. Thankfully the Plays-kool boys escapades were not too serious, Tim’s air box had worked loose and was soon fixed and Richards off ( which looked spectacular on the big screen ) had left his supercharged Duratec unrepairable for the rest of the weekend but more importantly, other than a sore wrist ( no jokes about using the other hand please ) he was fine. A perfect example of why we should ALL be wearing HANS devices if ever one was needed. Due to all the hold up’s P2 was cancelled so that was practice over. Saturday evening was again full of good food, drink and great friends as we all reflected on the days events. ( I seam to remember even finding a bar selling hot dogs and chips somewhere, or did I just dream that ) ?? 5am Sunday morning I woke to the sound of rain lashing down on our gite roof, not good but what can you do, the bad weather looked set for the day. We arrived at the paddock with everything cold wet and soggy, while Michelle sat in the camper with heating on I set about drying out the Silver Bullet which although covered had not faired well overnight. Thankfully I’d done most of the prep for Sunday already so just a check of tyre pressures, get togged up and I was ready, leaving my time free to dry the car out and wonder what this hill was going to drive like in the wet. Soon enough we were called out to the pre grille, time for our first run. Well the conditions certainly slowed everybody, we all returned from our first runs having wheel spun, slipped and slided up the hill safely but non of us made it in under 2 minuets, this was now a very tricky and treacherous hill to drive. Before our next run we had lunch laid on, cold meats, bread & cheese and strangely cidre & vin rouge, shame we had to drive later! With lunch done time to return to the serious part driving the hill, unfortunately the weather had got a little worse over lunch and any chance of having a dry run looked off. Somehow we all improved for T2 ( maybe the wine at lunch ) and now Tim was leading our class, Windy second in his and Paul battling well with the other formula ford in his. We now waited in the drizzle to be called for T3, Windy, Tim & Paul were all eager for their final run but I was unsure, I had a few moments thinking I’d enjoyed my weekend, the car was still in one piece, the weather didn’t look like improving and maybe I should call it a day, thankfully I was talked out of that thought as T3 although still treacherous turned out to be all of our fastest run of the day and we all got round safely. The final results for Team WSCC were: Tim Nunn 1m 52.489s 1st in class & 9th overall out of 84 entries Graham Millar 1m 55.369s 2nd in class & 13th overall Paul Morcom 2m 01.828s 2nd in class & 24th overall Martin Harvey 2m 08.904s 7th in class & 36th overall Richard Kerr NTR With the cars and kit all loaded we headed up for the presentations and made sure Tim got the reception he deserved as he received his trophy, well done Tim. That just left the final nights meal which was a quieter affair, still loads of good food, great company with friends old & new and yep you guessed it all the vin rouge you could drink, in fact I think I had a few too many as I don't remember the journey back our gite, lol So how would I sum up the weekend for any of you thinking of giving it a go next year, hmm, well if you put our Blyton weekend and all your other favourites together your getting close to St Goueno experience, see you there next year!!!!

Come and join the Scottish contingent a week on Friday for our Applecross weekend - all welcome! Matt

Amazing, no info for 9 days and then they go from Germany to Holland to Birmingham to Chelmsford to Billericay and on the Westy in 30 hours! Happy days.

Morning Team. Here are some pictures of us in "travel mode". Poor Buttercup even made a great clothes horse for drying out our clothes.

Great write up Martin and you captured the ethos of the weekend. Well week for us as we left on Tuesday and returned on the following Tuesday - every day and evening a load of laughs and a bucket of fun. The hill was secondary to the fun, but we didn't disgraced ourselves on the hill with all showing that we were there to go fast.

Good to read another blog about the Westfield guys Well done everyone

Looks like our Cateringvan friends will be going down the Yaba daba doo route with these sorts of upgrades!

Good news, I wonder if they wait until they have enough orders as I had an attempted delivery from DPD today, hopefully I'll get them tomorrow.

me tooo

Yep, been wanting to visit in the Westfield for some years - it's part of the reason I changed cars. This thread just makes me keener than ever!

would these work with a DanST manifold for a mx5 head?

These are of Moine House. This would have made a great backdrop for pictures of Buttercup but could not get out because of the rain. These pictures are from a previous visit but wanted to show you as I have mentioned the house in previous posts. This house used to have a family of 9 plus travellers and consisted of two rooms downstairs and a loft.

These next two are Corrieshalloch Gorge. These were from my trip last year but if you travel up to Durness by Ullapool you will pass the little brown sign for the Gorge. It really is worth stopping for. You stand on a rope bridge that has a 150 foot drop below and there are signs saying the bridge will only take 6 people at one..[ that was me on my own then. ] If you look in the long distance shot, you can just about see the rope bridge. These next two are showing Smoo Cave. These are again from my trip last year but just showing you something from Durness. There is ample parking and eating at Durness and 24 hour petrol. Also do a google search for Sandwood Bay and Cape Wraith. Sandwood is a 4 mile walk from the car but is beautiful. Golden eagles live here and the sand is like powder. This is Britain's largest sea cave opening. You walk inside the cave and there is a wooden "tunnel" structure, walk through this and there is a hole in the cave ceiling that has a powerful waterfall dropping right into the cave. There is a small hole to the right and if the water level is right, then a chap has an inflatable boat and you enter the water, duck down under the small hole and go into further inner chambers. [/url]

You will love it

This really is an excellent and inspirational thread - I can't wait to get my reg number and follow in your wheel tracks. Thank you for posting so much info and pics!

I don't suppose you're at any Speed Series events up in the Midlands/North West over the next few weeks or so? Thanks Ian, much appreciated, knowing how close you are to needing it, I'll keep you as a last resort IFYSWIM! Thats great Kyle, if Marto's isn't going to be doable, I'll borrow yours if I may? Orange is no problem, I've got sun glasses!

Great thread and great to see you using the car in all weathers - never forget the first time you turned up at the workshop in torrential rain looking like drowned rats! I used to go on an annual motorcycle holiday to Scotland and drove many of the roads you have been on - fantastic stuff and well done.

Buttercup looks well here…looks like you had a good journey…regardless of the scottish weather...

Hello team. Here are a few pictures of our trip. I must apologise for the quality of the pictures as it as raining on some and on others I did not realise my exposure was set to high. A bit gutted really but I hope you like them. I took loads but they just look like mountains and lochs etc and you don't get the WOW factor as if you are there. Anyone who has been will fully understand. These were taken in Glenetive where they filmed Skyfall. Here is Carol and buttercup re-inacting the Skyfall scene. Unfortunately we did it from memory and we were in the right place but the idiot taking the pictures was in totally the wrong spot. This road is 14 miles long from memory and it is a dead end. The road is stunning and none of my pictures I took do it justice what so ever. This is castle AAArrggghhhh from the Monty Python films. These are the Three Sisters. I have walked right to the near top of the right hand valley. The valley on the left is known as the hidden valley and I have yet to get there. Was hoping to do it this trip but bad weather stopped me. THESE PICTURES DO NOT DO THESE JUSTICE. YOU WILL SERIOUSLY WET YOUR PANTS THE FIRST TIME YOU SEE THEM. More pictures to follow.

I should have seen it coming... I like to wear my blue "Here to help" WSCC t shirt when working on the Westie. However going to B&Q and Homebase in a shirt with "Here to help" on it did result in me being stopped 6 times and asked for help... Did people not see the WSCC bit..? However the absolutely stunning blonde who wanted to know about light switches did get some help...

Attendees places updated... Thanks to the Magazine boys for the flyer in this issue!

Loch Eriboll http://www.surf2turf.com/NorthCoast500/images/page13.html

I did the inaugural NorthCoast500 rally/trip in the Westfield. Yes it rained but for the worst of it a stop under a golf umbrella was sufficient. In fact we did the NC500 anti clockwise which maybe the wrong way around. Anyway a local Caterham mate and I are planning to do the NC500 in a day on or about midsummers day. Buttercup where are you heading after Durness? I assume you have been made aware of Cocoa Mountain there and the Smoo Caves are certainly worth a visit

Unfortunately didn't spot you today. I did call into the car park at Eilean Donan castle (about 2pm) in case you had stopped there for a photo opportunity or refreshment. I live a short distance down the road you used to get into the car park at the commando memorial. It would have been good to meet you there but unfortunately I had to be at Applecross for 10am. I was thinking of you when I went through Glen Garry at 8am this morning, it was so still and the reflections in the loch were perfect. I was thinking, you are going to love this! For your trip to Durness you might like to consider taking the route from Kyle via Strathcarron (where you turn right) to Achnasheen to Gairloch and up to Ullapool from there. (There is a petrol station in Gairloch). There is an alternative, Kyle via Strathcarron (where you turn left) and go to Kinlochewe via Torridon, then to Gairloch. You can add in the Applecross loop if you want. Of these two options the 1st takes in the best driving roads, utterly superb in fact! The roads of the second option are much slower but the scenery more dramatic. I'd take the 1st option and save the second for your next visit when hopefully the weather will be kinder. Unfortunately looking very wet for the first part of tomorrow. Have a blast! John.

HaHa! upgrade time when you get back then or the Gym

Skye - Brilliant (I named my son after Sgurr Alasdair) - I am sure you have a route planned , but as said before, the fairy pools, Glen Brittle (park on beach at end), Cuillins, Talisker distillery (bit touristy but worthwhile). In the North park at highest point on Uig - Brocaig road, and short walk to the Quirang, Good museum on NW coast (look out for basking sharks - quite common), good chippy in Portree. A day is not enough!! Good luck with the weather. Dave.

I might be up for that Terry, depending on dates (and reg arriving from DVLA!) - any more thoughts on this can be on another thread though - don't want to hijack Buttercup's most excellent adventure!

I'll be out and about on many of the for-mentioned routes today because I'll be working in Applecross, or more accurately at the top of the pass. I'll not be in the Westfield unfortunately. I'll give you a toot if I see you. Weather is looking a bit grey but supposed to be relatively dry and calm. Have another great day!

My approach to any holidays in Scotland and particularly when I'm in the Westie, is to assume it'll rain and dress accordingly. Then when it's dry, it's a bonus! In the last 3 or 4 years of Westie ownership, I can count on one hand the number of times I've been really soaked and one of these was south of the border (in fact, the worst one!). 11 hours of torrential rain without a roof when I picked up my second car on the south coast and drove it home to central Scotland. Matt