Although I no longer own any Triumph cars, I had, last year, already booked up to do the Club Triumph RBRR with a good friend of mine, Richard Warr. Due to me no longer owning a Triumph, it was agreed to enter in Richard's Mk1 saloon.
In recent months our other friend, Colin Wake had joined us due to his co-driver letting him down and dropping out.
As a ritual, we all normally meet for a carvery in Knebworth before the 6pm start time. Unfortunately, our usual haunt was closed due to refurbishment, so we had to find somewhere else to eat. Fortunately for me, that was in Baldock where I'd also had to drop off my lotus Cortina gearbox and differential at Herts & Beds Transmissions.
After a good meal in the pub, we set off for the start at Knebworth House. It had been raining since I'd got up that morning and warnings of 'Storm Amy' doing her best to wreck the northern part of Britain were being broadcast regularly.
The rain was still coming down heavily but we made good time and before long we were at the first control at Wetherby Services in Yorkshire. A quick Latte and a top up of fuel and we were on our way again.
Around half midnight we were at the English/Scottish border. The wind was now very strong and none of us were looking forward to going even further north to see what storm Amy was up to in the highlands.
There was lots of evidence that Storm Amy had travelled this route before us as told by the amount of trees that were no longer vertical.
We took on more fuel at the next control at Skiach services and then pressed on for breakfast at John O Groats.
I took the driver's seat and did some 'spirited' driving and got us down to Tebay services (The next control) in under two hours. We were in for more disappointment here as the services were closing at 10.30pm and could only do us a cup of tea and a pie! Not impressed!
Richard and Colin shared the next stint of driving down to Wales while I caught up on some sleep in the back seat.
I took the next stint down the pitch black M5 towards Exeter and then the A30 towards the next control at Oakhampton in Devon.
Breakfast at Lands End was a nice un-rushed affair and provided us with a decent break away from the car. The next few stops would all be taking us in a homeward direction and after the torrential rain and gale force winds we had suffered all weekend, it wasn't a bad thing.
The queue for coffee here was a tad excessive, so we brewed our own with Richards cooker. All too soon it was time to hit the road again and my turn to be in the driver seat.
Popham airfield was our next and penultimate control and it was only 37 miles away, so only took just over an hour. We skipped coffee at this control as the satnav was predicting an arrival at Knebworth at 19.15, but we still had the M3 & M25 to battle with yet.
Richard took the driver seat for the last leg so that he would be driving when we arrived at Knebworth. (It's an unwritten rule that if it's your car, then you leave the start in it and drive into the finish in it)
After a little bit of traffic we arrived at the finish at the predicted satnav time of 19.15. Richard and I were staying in a hotel, but Colin was going straight home, so we said our goodbyes and then Richard and I headed for the Premier Inn in Stevenage.
Despite the awful conditions, (Hence the lack of photos!) we still managed to have a good weekend. The car never missed a beat and performed really well. Even the windscreen wipers coped with everything storm Amy threw at it.
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