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At Lake Brianne and Aberaeron in Wales

Weekend spent blowing the cobwebs away around the Yorkshire Dales.

The Wench outside The Dirty Duck in Stratford on Avon. The joys of being retired and going for a blat on a Monday afternoon.

Yeah - just call me Red Leader More pics from today - first one as we approached Lake Brianne - the car parked up on the right was one of about three we saw around the entire stretch - the roads were full of sheep but little to no traffic! Chasing my Brother - yet again, empty roads, blue skies - utter bliss! Changed the GoPro mounting position - noticed there were a load of trails in the sky - must have been some sort of air display on? This place is just brilliant.

You just lost driving privileges my friend

Excellent filming Geoffrey. You should be receiving royalties from the Scottish Tourist Board with quality like that. ......or even a BAFTA! (Buttercup Aerial Filming & Televisual Award). (have you looked up Runrig yet for your soundtracks?)

Once again superb! The thing is, you’ve quietly got so good at doing something that’s really difficult to teach, learn, or even just describe; that ability to see shots, and put them together smoothly in a way that doesn’t just flow, but actually feels like it’s telling a narrative, AND to have that fit perfectly to the music too, for instance the big dramatic change in the music partway through, you counterpoint perfect.y with a sudden change form rolling beach, to crashing surf.. I don’t think you realise just how good you’ve got! I completely agree with Ian, your mini films would not look out of place in the title sequences of any number of big budget movies, or for half the top end drama/documentaries from the BBC.

Back to Pembrey on the ‘Classic’ circuit for rounds 5&6 of the Welsh Sports and Saloons Championship. I stayed down the road at the usual place and with my trusty ear plugs in and had an ok night’s sleep despite my mates ridiculous snoring again. It was an early start with sign-on at 7.30am. Annoyingly we were the last race of the day as well at 5.30pm. It was going to be a long day in the hot sun….. Still, it was dry and that’s how I like it as these caterfields just don’t seem to go as well as the saloons in the wet (or is it just me!) Quali went well as I dialled ina tidy lap having cleared the traffic early on the session. I was very surprised with 3rd overall, albeit the grid was only 14 for this race, down on what it normally is. It was tight with 4 cars within a second of each other from 3rd to 6th and some powerful cars behind. Into the first race I had a shocker as I missed 3rd gear on the rolling start. That put me well down and my main championship competitor two cars in front. I just thought ‘get your head down’ and don’t panic as it’s class points that count – I won’t be winning any races outright. The two cars between him and I, passed him mid-race and on about lap 10 of 14 I managed to get past him, overtaking around the outside of the hairpin again. This car is great on the brakes! A class win and 4th overall was a result I was pleased with but a bit of a let off really as I screwed it right up at the start. The second race was looking interesting as I was on the outside of the grid. I also had some powerful cars ahead of me so I had it all to do on the brakes into the first corner. But… just before the 1-minute board came out, main my class competitors got out of his car. Turns out he had left the filler cap off his petrol tank located in the rear of the car. Sportingly, my mate gave him a hand and he started from the pits, setting off as the last car went past. He had a great race through the pack by all accounts. At the start, I got lucky on the brakes round the outside of one car in front of me, then managed to go round the outside of one other car before the back straight (I backed him up a bit before the straight as I thought he might just outdrag me otherwise) and before I know it I was second overall! It didn’t last! One very fast car that had a problem in the first race drove from the back of the grid and caught me on the second lap. Impressive stuff with only a 1.05 lap! Still, I managed to hold onto 3rd place overall, albeit with a lot of defending at the hairpin and doing my very best to get away in the twisty bits from the more powerful cars. 1st in class too. I was well chuffed to be on the podium (even if they don’t actually use it at Pembrey!). Fastest lap in both races was the cherry on top! In what must be the fluke of the century, I’m still leading the championship after 6 of 12 rounds. Rolly on Donny in July, one of my favourite circuits. Bad race start: Mid race shenanigans: Good race start (up to second - that's a first for me if you can excuse the pun!!!): Mike

The lighthouse is at the end of a fabulous, twisty single track road that is around 25 miles long. Clean toilets and a cafe at the lighthouse with free parking. Just make sure you fill with petrol at the local garage by the start of the road. Sango bay is a beautiful beach at Durness.

Day 3 - Tues 5th June Woke up to find it was raining steadily! After a good breakfast, decide we would venture to Giverny, Monets home town/village. Ventured out and took the cover off the car. Had put the half hood on before the cover, the night before! Then following phone sat nav, splashed our way to Giverny. The tweaking I'd done to the flat wiper blades I've fitted, worked a treat, and with the heater de misting the screen (that even worked in the mizzle when we left the Eurotunnel the day before, with no roof on!). Pulled into the free parking, and covered the car, and headed to the entrance to Monets garden and house. Naively we thought it might be relatively quite with the rain How wrong we were! A lot of people walking about. Armed with WSCC brolly, We wandered round the gardens and ponds, which were stunning, despite the weather. We then joined the que (I hate queuing!) and went through Monets house. Interesting to see his studio. Also went in the gallery, intriguing to see how some of the pictures "worked" from different distances, and not others. Rain stopped for our return journey, so we did a scenic loop around, south of the river Sienne, and ended up in a slow que to head north over the river to our B&B, via a supermarket to pick up some snacks and beer! More to follow!

I was in Harrow at the time. Heard them before I saw them. Turned to the girl(!) I was with and exclaimed "That's a spitfire" like an excited schoolboy. She looked at me blankly and continued drinking her coffee. Still, she has a nice bum so I forgave her

box ticked!

Another EPIC Production that wouldn't be out of place in the opening scenes of a Hollywood blockbuster. Having spent hours editing videos myself (Family/School shows etc). I'd be interested to know for example in the above clip, how many minutes of drone footage did you start with and home many hours did you spend editing! The choice of music is great too, you have a real talent! Where do you find you royalty free music? Good to see a glimpse of Buttercup in this one too.

Introduction: One of the ideas behind me building my 250, was to be able to do a few road trips with my better half Lucy. Had a few enjoyable days out after IVA, and getting the car on the road beginning of last October, but we both wanted to do some thing longer than a day out. Around Christmas we had the following conversation: "Where are you going to take me in your newly completed car?" "Where do you fancy?" "Versailles Palace and gardens, and Monets gardens in Giverny!" Quick look at map of France, both reasonably close, west(ish) of Paris. Realisation dawned on me that quite a bit of thought had already been applied to the trip already by Lucy, Should have guessed really! Consult the diary: Motorhome to Outer Hebrides May, Shelsey Walsh mid/end June, LeMans Classic early July! So gap early June! First up, check kennels can take our dogs, yep, no problem. Eurotunnel booked to go first thing Mon 4th June, return late evening Fri 8th. Holiday Inn Folkstone Sun 3rd, and Ashford Fri8th booked. Found a French B&B sort of between Versailles and Giverny. Looked to have secure parking for the Westie, which was a priority for me. So all booked by the end of December. Following recommendations on here, bought a Lomo waterproof bag, and bits and pieces to strap it on the back of the car. Only downside of luggage on the back of an FW is, it has to be removed to fill up with fuel. Bought some straps and sorted a way of strapping the bag down securely, whilst being relatively easy to remove. Headed to Scotland for three weeks Tues after Stoneleigh, didn't even have time to wash the car! Home from Scotland Tues 29th May, wash the car, fit new steering wheel and column (bargain from Stoneleigh), check car over, sort all relevant bits for our French adventure. Found home for everything, in and on the car, all ready to go.

Happy Birthday Andy @a15cro

Another great Westie trip to read this year. All good stuff. The only thing is I need a West country to English dictionary Adge

Day 2 - Mon 4th June Awoke to find it was grey overcast and misty in Folkstone. 10min run to Eurotunnel, checked in And we were soon. boarding an earlier train. 25min trip under the oggin, and were in France at 9.00. Drove out of train, to be met by Grey clouds and mizzle (mist and drizzle)! Not enough to need roof up, but enough to need wipers. We were aiming to head down the coast a way before heading south east(ish) to our B&B. However, soon decided to head inland, in the hope it was sea fog, no such luck initially. Took scenic route down to our B&B. Drizzle eased as we headed down, which was welcome. Stopped for a coffee in a little village, everybody fascinated by the Westie, and the fact I had the steering wheel on the table beside me! Soon found that virtually every French village now has speed humps, some with vicious ramps, but just about always over a cars length long. To be fair, they are always signed, and have a 30k limit posted just before them. Not convinced some the French drivers appreciated the gentle approach I adopted to both the up and down ramps though! Really glad I fitted the shallow sump! After 200 of miles, arrived at our B&B at about 17.30, great place, in lovely setting, remote operated gates (had our own controller for our stay)on quiet lane. Hump and a bit steep drop from road to gates, ok going in carefully, but grounded coming out. Found it was ok if Lucy got in after driving up and over hump onto road,

You must let us know when your going out. We're still delaying findings jobs as long as possible.

Day 1 - Sun 3rd June Up prompt took dogs for walk before going to kennels, one has an upset stomach! Could be a problem we thought. Off to the kennels, explained the upset stomach, not a problem, much to our relief. Left home in sunshine at 12.00 for ~210 mile run from Someset to Folkstone, across country avoiding motorways. Tomtom decided it didn't want to work not long after we left home, so Lucy's phone used for navigation for rest of week! Made good time to Salisbury, then headed towards Winchester. Got stuck behind a car that was dithering about behind a horsebox, gave the car some beans to get past both, just level with horsebox car makes a "pop" sound, hesitates briefly then picks up, albeit with less power. B----y hell, now what's happened! Car seemed to run ok, just down a bit on power, no "chuntering" from wast gate when I lift off, bit of a whistle when I accelerate. Brain in overdrive trying to work out what might have happened, thought it might be something to do with the waste gate. Stopped in Winchester, bonnet off checked small bore signal(?) pipework to waste gate, and cable and plug on solenoid, nothing obvious! Quick look at easily accessible air feed pipework from turbo outlet, nothing obvious, damn! Lucy suggests ringing one of the Dorset WSCC gurus, good idea. Call made to Wattune and disturbed their Sunday afternoon. Described symptoms, and in no time diagnosis was "you've blown off one of the air pipes somewhere between turbo outlet, intercooler and inlet header". Quick furkle with my hand up inside the nose, and sure enough ali pipe on outlet from Intercooler has blown off connecting hose, jubilee clip still on hose. Malcolm you're a genius! Thank you. After blowing the pipe off must have been running as a normally aspirated engine, sucking air in through the open ended pipe, amazed the ECU just took it in its stride and controlled the engine accordingly. Certainly no "limp home mode!" Connection was right beside top hose hockey stick, and expansion tank, so flipping hot to work on, not a lot of room under the nose of a 250 either! Managed to feed pipe back into hose, and tighten jubilee clip without burning myself, and without needing to take the nose off. Fired her up, all sounded back to normal, so packed up tools and had pleasant run to Folkstone hotel. Car cover fitted, and car put to bed for the night. Beer tasted good after an eventful day.

They don't check passports properly at border control. The chances of a minimum wage border control womble knowing the law on headlights is slim and actually giving a damn about them is zero... Been to Le Mans loads in the Westfield. I think I used beam deflectors once 'cos it was my first time...

MHR Andy.

I'm sorted now, but @Vogalogue is still looking if anyone has anything...

Hi @IanK (Bagpuss) From Memory I had only around 7 minutes of footage for the beach and around the same for the lighthouse. If I am going to a few locations I like to use my batteries as much as I can and try to limit myself to around 7 to 10 minutes filming at a location as I get around 22 to 24 minutes flying to a battery. I have to allow starting up, getting to the location, setting up the shots and flying back and landing. When I go somewhere I try and build a story in my head. I always try to have a "Start" shot and also an "End" shot and then I try to fill in the middle. Some films I already have the music in mind so its just about creating the mood. The film above took me about 90 minutes. Regarding the music, I sometimes google something like "free romantic music download" or whatever genre I am looking for and see what comes up. I also buy some of the songs from iTunes for about £0.70. Yes. I was listening to them last night and have a couple of ideas in mind. I thought they where really good.

Happy birthday

I've found another company that makes silencers called PJ Engineering . very helpful ok no the phone. The max diameter for a carbon can they can make is 127mm (5") So for a silencer approximately 750mm long x 127mm repackable with link pipe will be approximately £240 to £250 but he can give me a definite price once they see photos with detailed dimensions which I thought was a pretty price Has anybody used PJEngineering before ?

Have a good one mate!

Happy birthday Andy.

Not sure yet @syman84, my son and grandson were going to come, but i'm not sure if they will fancy a 5:30 start! If not then I'll go over alone on Saturday; ill let you know ASAP.

At aberaeron for fish n chips

Happy Birthday.

Many Happy Returns, Andy!

Shall I drive it so its a bit more exciting for him?

I crossed, on a car ferry, from south to north Ballachulish in 1971. I suppose it must have been on that vessel but I have to admit that the intervening years have caused a modicum of atrophy of the memory! We also crossed on the Kylesku ferry in the same year - that was free of charge I seem to recall. Both are now gone and replaced by bridges. The road around the sea-loch at Tongue is now replaced by a bridge too, and many of the single track roads that made touring Ross and Cromarty feel like a an adventure have been widened and surfaced. In 1973 we went to Gairloch in my 1970 MG Midget and they were widening the road along Loch Maree at the time. Slattadale is one one of favourite places in Britain; or anywhere in fact. We climbed Slioch on Loch Maree in 1988 I think it was. Must go back . . .

Yep of course he's welcome out in the Mazda for a bit of variety

Not sure how many I've already offered or will turn up. But otherwise @syman84ABSOLUTELY

One of my winter projects was to make a spare tyre cover - didn't start it 'til April and finally got round to finishing it last night, just in time for the McWestie run today.

God I love this weather 3 tanks of fuel today.

Had a ride over to meet up with the Northern Cobra Club today. Four of us met at the Red Kite for the drive over to the Corn Mill at Brighouse where only 2 Cobras were there, most had gone to Blackpool. We'll have to go again when they have more cars.

Ones from today. Can you work out where I have been ?

Cultural trip to France last week.

Bagpuss ready for Le Mans 2018 road trip

No need......

one from yesterday and one from the day before - can you guess where?

If there’s not something wrong with it, you’re not driving it hard enough!

It's a fair old drive to Wigan.... A transvestite moved up north - he had a Wigan address....

Bampton changes things somewhat, you're quite a bit further North, and on the edge of Exmoor just about! Some lovely drives up over Exmoor. Wimbleball lake north of Bampton is good for a walk with a dog, takes a couple of hours to walk right round if you're so inclined. Further north you'll find Dunkerry Beacon and Horner woods there's a couple of small parking areas beside the road, and some nice walks, giving some splendid views. On the north coast theirs a number of quaint places to visit such as Bossington, Porlock, Porlock Weir (which has a nice pub at the end of the road by the harbour) and the Porlock Toll road is interesting, just look out for potholes! Further west along the A39you have Lynton and Lynmouth, Come Martin and on towards Ilfracombe. Minehead is ok if you ignore Butlins, particularly if you wind your way through the town up to North hill on the west side. It's a no through road, but worth a drive along the top, where there are a couple of car parks, and nice walks with good views. There is a steam train that runs from Minehead to Bishops Lydeard (just outside Taunton), if that interest you. Dunster is quaint, if busy with grockles. The castle and its grounds are nice. Dunster Beach not far away either. If you head east along the coast you have Blue Anchor and Watchet. A little further east you have the Quantocks hills. Again some good walking, with views, just look out for sheep and deer with your dog! Exmoor is good to exlore, often go up there for a days run in the Westfield. If you go to Exford the Exmoor White Horse Inn is right by the river, and does good "pub grub". Dulverton is another nice village, Tarr steps quite close, nice river walk here, and again a good pub just up from the river. If you head west on the A361 you find Barstaple,, north from there is Braunton, Saunton Sands, Woolacombe, Morthoe and a favourite of ours Lee bay, where there's another dog friendly pub, The Grampus Inn which does good food, and has a micro brewery in the car park. It's a bit out of the way to find. But well worth the effort. The coast path from here road to Morthoe via Bull Point lighthouse is a bit hilly, but worth it on a nice day. Saunton Sands is a nice sandy beach, with dunes behind (where the army frequently "play"!). We prefer to get to it from the south end, which you get to by turning left as you enter Braunton and go down a single track toll (sometimes!) road to Crow Point. Usually much quieter that end. Alternativelythere is a car park behind the dunes called Sandy Lane car park, which is left off the Braunton to Saunton road. Further west you find Bideford, Appledore and Westward Ho, where you can drive down across the golf course, park, clamber over a pebble bank, and provide the tides not right, in a lovely beach to walk along. Just some random thoughts. Hope this helps. Enjoy your holiday. Just a small sample of places to visit, plenty more in the area as well.

Never had an issue getting rid of birds.. Getting a bird seamed to be a lot harder.

And now for something different, instead of a recent snap of the westy i've a recently snapped part of the westy. I've had the cycle wings break before where the flat is welded to the round section but this is a fracture through the round tube.

She said "I want something hot, red, that throbs between my legs." I said "BSA Bantam, ex GPO, that should do the trick." She said "I don't like two strokes."