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We briefly met at Matlock where Andrew did the 'panorama dance' that we are eternally grateful to Trevor for teaching it to us. He was running up an appetite for later. Disaster struck, the toilets were shut, 'not to worry, the mens are open' said Paul. Oh great I thought, I will use the mens when they have finished, huff, Paul went off to the nearest bush didn't he! We took the short journey to the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, a largely unknown heritage line. Andrew, Matt, Paul and Margaret, and Ali and Gail. Matts yellow stripe contrasted great with the yellow cars in my rear view mirror. After a snack, a brew and a look at the steam engine, which is better viewed arriving than leaving, we went for our drive through the Peak District. We wiggled all the way up, down and round to come back to a point about 10 miles down the road at The Peak Rail. The first fix was Paul's indicator followed by Gails idle speed. The steam train arrived on time We had lunch, where Glen and Ali got naughty, some derogatory comment about women, followed by looks over to Gail and I, lots of oooo's, then ruddy Ali finished his sentence with 'and there were 5 of them strapped together' and laughed. Goodness only knows what they were talking about, the male of the kind will probably get an answer to that one Then Andrew treated us all to cake, what a wonderful guy, thank you very much Andrew. Needless to say nobody refused. We all cooked nicely in the hot sun until it was time for everyone to make their 1.5 - 2 hours journey home. You all are so brilliant for travelling the distance to make today happen and I really cannot thank you enough, you are all great. Actually you all probably got home before us, because it was such lovely weather we went to check out a pub with a view, up on the tops. It was very nice and we must all go there, perhaps next time, we will see.

Home. Thank you and goodnight zzz got to be up at 630!

If you love history then you will love this place on the Orkney Islands. 100% worth the trip.

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

On display at our village fayre

On my way!

And video number 1... Wow. Very moving. Its funny, I remember some of the conversations in the early days when you were trying to get certain pics, but just hadn’t quite found the technique. You always did have a great eye for the shots though, landscape especially. Boy does it now show in your videos, it’s not just the individual shots though, you’ve really developed a flair for putting them together into fantastically evocative pieces. I just wish we could put moving pictures in the Club Mag, so that more people could see!

So now I’ve had a bit of chance to chill out - was it worth it (yes) , would I do a day trip (yes) in the interest of full disclosure - the start point was my friends house in Cambridgeshire - To get there and back in a day from my house up north would have been borderline suicidal. For timings - we didn’t hit any traffic. The days of getting from Calais to the ring in under 4 hours are firmly filed in ‘mispent youth’ . Need to allow 4.5 hours and even then there’s no hanging around having coffee breaks. We arrived around 2 and the track didn’t open til 1715. We ended up doing 4 laps without letting the car cool down at all and just to swap seats. It was a rush and we had to leave by 1830. Next time, I’d pick a Saturday that the track is open all day, pitch up at 2, lap, then head back a touch earlier. We’d have been home by midnight if we had managed to catch an earlier train than the 2330. Based in two in a car (diesel) all in cost each inc crossing, fuel, laps, snacks and lunch was just over £200. (Laps are 30 Euros each now). The Honda had fresh front pads before hand (coincidentally) but other than that zero prep. Standard road tyres obviously. In terms of pace, the 120 horsepower beast made a good account. I spent most of my second lap hassling a focus ST. Dave was much quicker, he’s a better driver than me. Knowing the way round makes a huge difference. The complete lack of power only really showed on the long uphill between bergwerk and the karrussel, I can’t remember the name. It was painfully slow up there but chance to take a breather. Had a bit of brake fade toward the end but not too bad (probably because the car was so underpowered) So in conclusion. Would I day trip it again, yes, but not for a first timer. Absolutely no time to do anything else other than laps, and it’s a pleasure to soak in the atmosphere up there. Would I take the westie? Probably not - that said if you took it steady it would be fine. I just can’t take it steady. A lot of people say it’s on their bucket list. Just do it. Book a crossing and go. You can make all the excuses you like, but hopefully this shows it’s closer than you think and you don’t need a super fast car with loads of track prep to have a great time with some mates.

To be honest I never believe the weather forecast until a day (or maybe two) prior - so here's hoping!

Will do! Just arrived here’s how far the pub is!

Nice evening.

Early heads up that the July meeting has been moved to the 2nd Thursday in July - the 12th - due to so many members being away on the area trip to the Le Mans Classic. It will be 8pm at the Crown Inn, West Bay Rd, Bridport and the landlord has assured us that the renovations will be complete and there will be section in the car park reserved to allow us to all park together. I'll repost before and after Le Mans to the time to remind everyone. Jon

The MV Glenachullish was originally built in 1969 for the Ballachulish crossing prior to the bridge being opened in 1975 The boat is the last operating manual turntable ferry in the world. The roads to the ferry are absolutely fantastic. Fare is £15.00.

This is the Jacobite Memorial at Glenfinnan. There is a carpark that costs £3.00 and there is a prowling attendant who is very keen so make sure you pay. Gift shop has clean toilets and a cafe that serves reasonably priced food. Behind is the viaduct that was in the Harry Potter films and you can still ride over it in a steam train. I have included a video of the viaduct I made last year.

True. Maybe FAQ should be renamed 'Sometimes Asked Questions With Brilliant Answers That You'll Want To Find Easily'. Or something

Yeah I found that and all the similar stories from June last year, but since then it seems to have all gone quiet. The web sites are all down, which considering they bought the name/reputation isn’t the best of signs. The doesn’t seem to be much current information, if any, about them, sadly.

What can we say but another lovely day seeing old friends and meeting new. It was great to meet @AndrewBClarke who took second place in Julie's "Battle of the Ods" last year. Better luck this year as we can't enter . Also @MattV who only got his first Westy last October ish. Slighty more bizarrely when chatting with @Paul Hurdsfield and Margret the fact that we had both been in Luang Prabang this year, it's the former French capital in The Laos People's Democratic Republic. Also that we had visited the exact same goldsmith in Mandalay as @MattV parents this year as well. Talk about small world. Indeed we compared pictures. There was the usual banter and a close shave for Glen with his quick wit and me being pulled up for a bit of naughty language, we just love it when Julie's in charge! Thanks for a lovely day and see you all soon.

Or the FAQ section which already exists and no one seems to look at anyway, preferring to ask the question again in Tech Talk, not that there’s any thing wrong with that!

Take some tape with you, but if you arent out at night dont worry.

I've done circa 4 trips in tin top to Northern France and one trip to Le Mans in the Westie. Never had lights checked. Did get a tug at a toll booth in the Westie but only wanted to check my docs and breathalyse me. I'd worry not!

Sent it to Northampton gearbox center on the recommendation of a friend. Engine is now out, but found a crack in the frame behind the engine mounts. Gonna weld it and patch it.

As part of the SSOT's effort to promote the Speed Series in general and also the great anniversary event at Shelsley organised by Graham Frankland, and also to give something back to our sponsors, we have run an article in the HSA's Speedscene magazine to hopefully spread the word a little further beyond the immediate club. Mark Anson SSOT

Excellent work producing the article Mark and underpins the success of the Speed Series and hopefully will entice more people to join in

The ship is one of the block ships that where sunk in WW1 to provide barriers around Scapa Flow. They where not successful as during WW2 a German submarine entered the harbour and sunk the Royal Oak. Following that Winston Churchill ordered the barriers to be built that you can see that now carry the road.

I would be up for that too..

They had a good week.. lap records in every race? Senior was a cracker. 135mph average!

Hi chaps. Very excited, pickup date is the 14th July. My garage is being finished which is why the date is 5 weeks away. Deposit paid and I'm very excited.

Cough Nurburgring cough

And we thought you came back off holiday especially to come out with us today!! Have a good day. Will miss your company.

Hard braking at Bedford Autodrome the other month

Prospecting campsites for my Duke of Edinburgh's Award group.

Looking for more power in Northumberland, and how brave do you feel ?

Nice 140 mile drive round the great North Wales roads today. I averaged a faster speed today compared to yesterday when I was held back terribly by @CosKev

Work stopped me going to today's Anglesey track day, and such good weather SO.... sod it, downed tools and off for an afternoon 40+ mile play

Had a good circa 130 mile run today around mid Wales with @CraigHew and @Wingnuts Dad You deffo need to get over the road from Llanidloes to Machynlleth passing Llyn Clywedog

Hoping to have her back on the road by end of June......can’t wait!!

Need to change swap the tyres for a different profile.

Not Westfield in the wild but more a wild thing in my Westfield!

Still hoping it will be running in 2 weeks time !

Recent 'school day' at Gurston down. Photographer was Rob Webb who took some great pics. Mart.

Only on the drive, but 'getting there'

Stephen’s XI with “hood” deployed!

There's an image for a health and safety poster!! Eek