Monday 2nd September - Sunday 8th September - The ClubTriumph 10CR

 Monday: The long awaited Club Triumph 'Ten countries in five days' was finally upon us. The ten countries being England, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Lichtenstein, Germany and the Netherlands.

Mike Bishop was my co-driver for the trip, so once he arrived we set out for a snack bar not far from Dover to meet up with Richard and Roger who would be piloting Roger's Triumph Stag and running with us all trip. After a quick coffee and bacon Sarnie just off the A2, we completed the journey to Dover to catch our Ferry. 

Our sailing was delayed by an hour, but once we were underway we had a smooth crossing. We had purchased club class tickets, so this gave us unlimited free access to food and drink, so that was our lunch sorted out.

Once off the ferry, we made our way to our apartment in Rouen, but made sure we avoided the 'Ulez zone' that they have around the city. There were no restaurants near our beautiful apartment, so Mike and Roger went and found a Lidl and bought some beer and Pizza. Perfect! 😉

Tuesday: This morning, we went to the official start location to book in and were moaned at for being late. (Even though we weren't!-Chief organiser Ellis likes to moan at people!) We said hello to a few others that we knew and then got started. 

We did start off by sticking to the official route, but after two hours of encountering tiny villages on D roads (Our equivalent of B roads) with 30kph (18mph) speed limits and severe speed bumps, we diverted onto N roads (Our equivalent of A roads) and did some proper driving. Today was a long day with 645 kms and 10 hours 15 minutes to cover, so why we had been plotted onto D roads, god only knows!

Our stay tonight was on a farm just north west of St Etienne. Again, it was out in the sticks, so we found a Turkish restaurant in the town and had dinner before we checked in. We also bought some beers to take with us, although they had some local brews on the farm that we also sampled. The farm was beautiful and also pitch black and very quiet. All we could hear when sitting outside was the sound of the crickets. Lovely! 

Wednesday: We set off this morning after a breakfast of bread, cheese and ham as today was another long drive down to the Mediterranean. We encountered some torrential rain and storms on our journey, and again because of the distance we had to cover we diverted onto to the motorway to make up some ground. By the afternoon, the storms had disappeared and we had made it to the south of France. 

We didn't stay long in the Med, as our overnight stop was some 124 Kms away and by now, it was late afternoon. We arrived at our hotel at Saint Julien Du Verdon around 8pm and settled in for dinner. Mike decided on Tripe and pigs trotters which the rest of us thought was disgusting! 

Thursday: The following morning was raining again, so after a couple of hours we stopped for coffee. We were all feeling quite tired at this point due to the mileage we were being expected to cover. Only one day for the whole week was under 300 miles and that was today at 290 miles!

With Coffee consumed we carried on and eventually crossed the border and into Italy. We made a group decision at lunch time to actually stop for a sit down lunch for once instead of eating on the go and stopped in a town called Demonte, just east of Cuneo. Being in Italy, it had to be Pizza for lunch and very nice it was too. 

The sun had made an appearance by now and the day was looking good. We still had quite a few miles to cover, so this was our last stop before heading for our rented house in Dormeletto in the provice of Novara. We arrived around 7.30pm and after parking the cars, headed off for dinner. We found an Indian restaurant this time and so enjoyed a nice curry with a few beers. 

The name of the house was called 'Lake View' as it's not far from Lake Maggiore. However, the 'Lake view' was somewhat deceiving! You can just see it in between the buildings in the pic below!

Friday: We left Dormeletto quite late and therefore had to push on to meet our targets today, hence not too much time to take any decent pics. I did get a couple of the lake though. 

Our next bit of driving was over the Simplon pass and up to the Furka Pass in Switzerland. These are great driving roads, but unfortunately, the Simplon pass wasn't as good as it should have been due to the amount of road works going on. We must have a lost a good hour on the Simplon. 

The Furka pass was beautiful though and we couldn't resist stopping for a 'brew with a view' half way up. Also, as two years before at Timmelsjoch, we found that our crisps had inflated due to the altitude! 

With the Furka pass completed, we drove on and by 7pm that night we had reached our German destination in Singen. There were quite a lot of 'Triumphist's' in town, so we were able to catch up with a few well known faces. 

We also managed to find a really weird bar that was playing some brilliant music and stayed in there far longer than we should have! (You've got to have a least one night to let your hair down!) 😉

Saturday: Today was the last day and by now everyone was feeling quite knackered. It was another long day though, so it was a case of 'heads down, lets get it done. We didn't stop for lunch, or a brew with a view, but we were rewarded with a decent finish time at the final location at Rolduc in the Netherlands. We filled up with fuel in the town, so that we wouldn't have to worry about it in the morning. 

After chilling out a bit and having a shower, I went down for dinner and joined the others. I didn't drink much as I was just so tired, plus I wanted to get away early in the morning to make sure we didn't miss our ferry. It was a good night, but we did hear a lot of people saying that the days were too long and the mileage was too high. Will the organisers listen though? Who knows. 

Before the night was through, we finished as we started by getting moaned at again for not signing out of the event, (I didn't even know we had to!) so at least there was some consistency there. 

For the record the mileage for each day was:

Day 1-404 miles

Day 2-355 miles

Day 3-290 miles

Day 4-327 miles

Day 5-340 miles

Sunday: Just a three and a half hour drive up to Calais today, so quite a rest from the other days. We made sure we got clear of the Brussels ring road in Belgium before stopping for coffee. We were ahead of time, so we carried on up to motorway at a leisurely pace and arrived at Calais 90 minutes before our boat sailed. (although customs checks reduced that to about 45 minutes!) At least it still gave us time to get some duty free's! 

The crossing was a slow 90 minutes, but luckily we were the first car off the boat and made a quick getaway out of Dover. Richard and Roger were stopping for fuel, but we had no need to, so we said our goodbyes and separated just outside Dover. We had a clear run home and arrived back at mine at 3.30pm. We then emptied the car while having a good old fashioned cup of English Tea! 

It had been a brilliant trip, but would I do it again? Probably not. I've done it several times now, and I feel it's gone as far as it can. 

As others had said, the mileage was too high and the days were too long on this one, and if I had known how much mileage was involved from the start, I wouldn't have booked the event. (The organisers seem to like to keep the route a secret until the last minute for some reason!)

The scenery was fantastic, the company was excellent and the car performed exceptionally, so I did have a brilliant time, but I've also never felt to so knackered as I did when I got home on Sunday night. I think, for the future, I'll start looking at planning my own run with less countries and less mileage. 

Sunday 1st September. A drive out for breakfast

 There wasn't much going on today show wise, so Gavin and I decided to have breakfast over at 'On the Latch'. It's a cafe situated in Latchingdon in Essex. I also needed to give the Triumph a run before setting out for Europe tomorrow, so it seemed a good excuse to go there.

Both cars went well, although the slight knock on the offside front suspension that I thought I had cured was still there. It wasn't enough to worry about though and it was also too late to do anything about it before my long trip, so it will have to wait. 

Breakfast was good and the drive was pleasant enough with plenty of sunshine on our side as well. All in all, a good morning out. 

Sunday 18th August. Battlesbridge Breakfast Meet

 If I'm honest, I had no idea that this meet was on today. I had decided to take the Green Cortina out for a run as it hadn't been out for a while. I'd also wondered if there was a problem with the steering on the Cortina as when I'd been shunting it about, the steering felt a bit stiff, but this just turned out to be low tyre pressures. 

So, while I was out on my drive on this fine Sunday morning, I started seeing a few other classics. I then decided to follow them and then realised they were going to Battlesbridge. I decided to tag along and go myself. 

It was a beautiful day and as usual there plenty of other cars there. A lot of my friends were away at other locations today, so my car was the only Mk1 Cortina there. There was a couple of other cars that caught my eye though, such as an early Mk2 Consul and a Mk2 Lotus Cortina. 

It was a nice morning, but without my friends there it was a bit boring, so I made tracks at about 11.30 and headed home. I was glad I had taken the car for a run though, it doesn't really get used enough and I need to use it more. 

Sunday 11th August. Continued fuel pump efforts!

 I recently purchased a new fuel pump set up for the Triumph and also set about relocating it to the boot area. These Triumphs generate a lot of under bonnet heat, so I decided to fit it somewhere cooler. 

I had purchased a Facet fuel pump and a filter king fuel pressure regulator. I also had to buy a few extra fittings and an on/off tap as well. After a couple of trial fits, I was pleased with what I had and then set about running a live wire to power the pump. 

I still need to make a false floor so that the pump is protected  from any potential moving objects that might dislodge it, but other than that I'm quite happy with it. 

Saturday 3rd August. Fuel pump investigations

 Following the recent breakdown on the border raiders tour, I was certain that the Huco fuel pump was the culprit and set about investigating it. 

 So, I removed the Huco fuel pump and tested it on my work bench, but it was showing absolutely no sign of life at at all. My mate Andy had lent me a cheap electric fuel pump that he had bought for one of his cars, but not used, so I fitted and tried this just to ensure that it was only the pump that was causing the issue and nothing else. 

With the new pump fitted, the car started up straight away proving that it was only a fuel pump issue. I had also decided that I was going to totally revise the fuel pump set up, so I then set about draining all of the petrol out. I'm now going to have the fuel pump in the boot, so this means disconnecting all of the fuel lines and re-routing them, so the fuel tank needed to be completely drained. 

Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th July - The Border Raiders tour

 I had been looking forward to this event for some time as it would be my first break away this year. It was a driving event (non-competitive) across the borders of England and Scotland. It would give me a chance to do some fine tuning on the recently rebuilt engine and also a last good run before the European tour in September. 

So, with the car packed and ready, I left my house around 10am Friday morning and headed for Derby to collect co-driver Dave Harvey. As usual, I caught a bit of traffic on the M25 and M1, but I arrived at Derby at 13.30, so not too terrible. 

After a quick coffee and cake we set off across the A50 only to meet horrendous traffic at Uttoxeter due to the horse racing. Once we were past this, we then met even more horrendous traffic on the M6 around the Manchester area. We stopped around Lymn to change the coil as we were starting to get a slight mis-fire. 

This made no difference so we carried on and eventually reached our hotel at Lancaster. Once here we met up with good friends Richard and Roger and enjoyed a few beers. It wasn't a late night though as we had all travelled long distances and were quite knackered.  

Saturday morning saw the start of the event and around 40 cars lined up ready for the off. Because we were setting out from England, we were flagged off by Valerie with her Union flag and right on que, the rain started.

My car was wearing it 'summer bonnet' for this event. (Its my Louvered bonnet so it can expel under bonnet heat) I was going to fit it for the European trip as well, but seeing as it was supposed to be really hot this weekend, I thought I may as well fit it early. 

Saturday started off raining and we encountered some huge puddles, but by the afternoon, it was bright and sunny. We had quite a lot of driving to do today, so there wasn't much time for photo shoots or even lunch stops. We did stop for a cuppa twice though. Or, as we call it now, a brew with a view. 

By Saturday evening we were at out hotel in Tinto in Scotland and it was nice to get out of the car. The hotel was lovely and old fashioned and had some nice period features, such as the original telephone kiosk and stained glass windows. We also had a very nice dinner there and a few beers to follow. 

Sunday morning saw some more glorious weather and we had some beautiful drives. Scotland is such a lovely place, but it really needs to spend some money on some road repairs. The potholes on Saturdays route had been bad enough, but todays route was absolutely full of them! So much so, that we cut the last part of the route and stuck to main roads. Roger's car and mine are both travelling around Europe in five weeks time, so the last thing we needed was suspension damage! 

(Being flagged away from the Scottish start point on Sunday morning)

By Sunday night we were in Darlington and again, a nice dinner followed by a few beers was the order of the day. We were sensible with the beers though, as we all had a long drive home on the Monday.

Monday morning we set out in the sunshine again and Dave and I turned off the M1 at Derby so I could drop Dave off home. My clutch pedal had gone a bit 'spongy' the night before, so a new seal kit was fitted at Dave's to make sure I got home. (Or so we thought.)

I was doing well for time after leaving Dave's and should have been home around 5.30pm. Unfortunately, the Huco electric fuel pump had other ideas and decided to give up the ghost at Chelmsford. Also, unfortunately, I had lent my spare fuel pump on a prior event and hadn't got round to replacing it. So, the rest of my journey was made on the back of an AA truck. 

The really annoying thing is, that the last three breakdowns that I have had, have been nothing to do the parts on the 56 year old car, but the 4 or 5 year old 'upgrades' that have been fitted to them. It would appear that nothing is built to last anymore. 

It was still a great weekend though, and it was good to catch up with good friends. We also completed our fine tuning on the new engine and up until the fuel pump gave up, the car was running absolutely fantastic! So much so, that I'm now not even going to book it in for a rolling road session like I was going to. I just now need to get the car fixed for the European trip! 

Sunday July 21st - Battlebridge breakfast meet.

 It was another beautiful day today, so the Zetec Cortina was dragged out again to attend the Battlesbridge breakfast meet. I had a bit of fun on the way down there when a lady in an Audi TT thought she could cut me up and then make good her escape. I think she was a tad surprised to see my 'little old car' stuck up her exhaust pipe no matter how fast she went. 😂 

I met Gavin outside Battlesbridge and we drove in together. We both get there early as we like to be gone by about 12pm, so we can get stuff done at home.

After a few hours there was a good selection of old cars there. I came across another Cortina GT, that I remembered seeing for sale on ebay just after I bought mine. I managed to meet the owner and have a good chat with him. 

Shortly after this I returned to my car to find someone looking over it and who then asked if it had a Lotus engine, to which I replied 'no it hasn't'. He then said 'but its got a Lotus badge', I replied 'No it hasn't. Take a closer look'. When he did, he saw that it was very similar to a Lotus badge, but has been made to suit the car. ☺