Oily's MG Blog - Oily Hand's Life with MGs

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Hamsterley Hoppings 2012

26/8/2012

The weather looked good as we set off with two cars to this great annual event. Pam & I in the TA and our daughter in the 1971 MGB GT with the grandchildren. The first time these two cars had been to the same event.

We made good time on the 35 mile journey and were the first two cars from the MG Car Club to arrive.

It wasn't long before the space started to fill up and we had a good attendance with about a dozen cars from the club and probably around 100 altogether.

This is a typical village fete with tug of war, decocrated house competitions (Scarecrows and sunflowers this year), sheepdog trials and duck herding. Great fun!

Thankfully the good weather stayed till the end of the day but we had a wet ride home.

The Lincolnshire Poacher Concours Show

18/8/2012

This was the event we'd planned to visit yesterday but we wouldn't have seen much as it was today the event took place.

We parked the scruffy MGB GT at the end of a line so it wasn't an obvious thorn amongst the roses.

It was a scorching hot day in the grounds of the Bubble Car Museum so we went into the museum to try our hand at the quiz that Geoff & Vicky organised. This kept us out of the blazing sun but it was still warm inside this excellent museum.

After doing as much as we could of this fiendishly difficult quiz we went to hand our paper in and wander round the field to look at the stunning cars on display and have a chat to the owners.

The day drew to a close with the presentation of awards, not only for the cars but for the quiz too. I was amazed to find that we'd won the quiz and got a rosette and bottle of wine for our efforts.

The raffle draw was good to us too with 3 of our 5 tickets being winners. I got two £25 vouchers for NTG and a pin badge. Super!

As the day drew to a close dark clouds appeared in the sky and folks started to head for home so we made off too. A big thanks to Geoff and Vicky for allowing us to invade their event and to everybody else who made us so welcome. It was truly a great day which symbolised all that's good about the Marque of Friendship. I hope you got all packed away before the rains came.

As we left we heard thunder and saw lightning in the sky but managed to avoid the rain until later. The lightning took it's toll though as we had trouble finding fuel and food as there was a power cut across quite a wide area.

Eventually, fed, watered and refuelled we hit the road home and the first serious rain we'd seen all week. Just south of the turning form the A1 to the A168 we ran into the wet stuff. Pam managed to get the sun roof shut so we stayed dry.

We arrived home having covered 1150 trouble free miles in the time we'd been away. I've no idea how much fuel we used (I daren't add it up) but the good old motor only took a pint of oil to bring it back to full.

Heading for Home - Almost

18/8/2012

This morning saw us loading the MGB GT to leave after the last great breakfast at Aldercarr Hall.

We had planned to visit the Lincolnshire Centre of the MG Car Club today, but somebody who shall be nameless got the day wrong so we headed off to find another nights accommodation before the visit tomorrow.

We had a steady drive up to just outside Boston where we booked into our hotel and chilled out for the rest of the afternoon. After our evening meal we went out to find the location for tomorrow and we spent a happy hour or so chatting to Lincolnshire members who were camping overnight.

A take it as it comes day

17/8/2012

We set off with nothing planned, saw a windmill marked on the map, but when we found it, it wasn't a visitor attraction, just a mill in a field. With no refreshments available there we travelled on and ended up in Eye, a charming small town where we found a coffee shop in the front lounge of a house. Very quirky.

We eventually found Eye Castle, despite the by now typical fashion of only putting one signpost up and leaving you to guess the rest. There is a 360 degree view from the top of Eye Castle and it shows how flat the countryside is.

After a quick sandwich for lunch we moved on and ended up at West Stow Country Park where we spent a relaxing hour with coffee & ice cream before heading back to the B&B.

The Noflolk Coast and North Norfolk Railway.

16/8/2012

On Monday afternoon we drove along the Northern Coast but didn't see much sea. Today we decided to try the middle part and headed for Cromer. To get there quickly, or so we thought, we decided to take the major routes which led us through Norwich. Big mistake! The roads were horrendously packed with traffic exascerbated by the bus lanes we found so useful when on the bus yesterday.

After what seemed like hours of stop start driving we eventually reached the coast but still couldn't see much sea from the roads. The towns were busy and packed with traffic, nearly as bad as Norwich.

To escape the traffic, we headed inland again and ended up at Holt Station, part of the North Norfolk Railway, where we spent a pleasant afternoon watching the trains and chatting to the people running the miniature railway.

It's great to get up close to live steam and I took the opportunity to get a couple of video shots.

After leaving Holt we pointed the MGB GT towards Tinley all Saints where we met the members of an MG Car Club Lincolnshire Centre Natter at the Coach & Horses. We arrived early and had a great meal before spending a couple of enjoyable hours discussing MGs. Some lovely cars in the car park, including some American iron.

During the day we had the cam running in the car.

A long, but enjoyable day.

Norwich

15/8/2012

I've only been to Norwich once and that was for a job interview and I didn't do much sightseeing.

We'd been told about the traffic in Norwich and were advised to use the Park & Ride, so we only had a short drive and caught the bus on the outskirts for the drive into town. It seemed to be a good move as the traffic was heavy but the bus lane made our journey easy.

Norwich is a mix of very old and very new buildings living side by side.

Nearly everwhere you turn there seems to be a church. The old buildings suffer damage from traffic as the corner of the house shows.

Gift wrapping trees doesn't seem normal behaviour to me.

We spent hours wandering around with no fixed plans. The locals were very helpful. Every time we stopped to study the town map, somebody asked if we needed help. This was great as the street names didn't match with the map so we would have been slightly stuck without the help. Everybody must work for tourist information!

Being an MG fanatic, I couldn't pass up this photo.

A lot of the eating places were what we would call arty farty food, two lettuce leaves and drizzle of something or other for exorbitant prices. We eventually found a pub with good honest grub at fair prices and enjoyed a good feed.

It was a long hot day but enjoyable.

Bressingham Steam and Gardens

14/8/2012

Pam & I both like steam engines so today we continued our Norfolk trip by pointing the MGB GT to Bressingham Steam and Gardens to see what it was like.

What a great place!. We spent all day there enjoying the train rides and the exhibitions.

As usual, I shot some video.

While we were there, a locomotive turned up on a low loader. For overseas readers, this is not unusual in the UK as a lot of the steams enthusiasts lines don't have a rail connection to the main railway system and road is the only way to move the locos.

I've seen locomotives on the road and never given much thought to how they get them back on the rails again. Today I found out.

The arrival.

The unloading begins

Some help arrives. You'll see what this does later.

Some rails are laid and some chains released.

Some more rails laid.

Support chocks being placed.

Just about ready to go.

The winch is hooked up

Last chains removed

It's on the move

The help we saw earlier comes into play

Away it goes.

I was fascinated by it. A two man crew who knew what they were doing unloaded this loco in about half an hour. Brilliant!

Visit to Sandringham Estate

13/8/2012

Today saw us heading the 1971 MGB GT North from our B&B to the Queens Sandringham Estate. The gates were locked when we arrived but we eventually found a way in.

Entry to the estate woodlands is free but there is a charge for access to the gardens and house. The gardens are great and the house visit is made better than most by the members of the household being available to answer questions.

The major attraction for a petrolhead like me was the museum. Many fine cars, most of which are still in use. There were also superb childrens cars which had been given to the family. As an ex firefighter, the fire appliance was a bonus.

When we left Sandrigham we decided to drive round the coast. Traffic was horrendous and the road doesn't go close enough to see the sea. We were low on fuel and thought we'd fill up in Wells next the Sea, but no filling station there. The nearest one was Fakenham which meant an anxious drive through contry lanes, but we made it OK. By this time it was late afternoon so we headed back to the B&B for a shower and change before going out to find somewhere to eat.

BTCC Snetterton

11/8/2012

The British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton yesterday and today were the main reason for our Norfolk trip. We follow the championship on TV but have never seen a live event.

It's much different from the TV as you can only see part of the track and the action always seems to be somewhere else. Finding a good spot to hear the tannoy is also difficult. We had a good spot on Saturday but not on Sunday so we were a bit in the dark about what was going on on race day.

I managed to get a few photos.

And a bit of video.

With the B&B being only three miles from the circuit we didn't put many miles on the 1971 MGB GT this weekend

240 Hot Miles

10/8/2012

We pointed the 1971 MGB GT southwards, heading to Norfolk. We made good time for the first 200 miles or so, maintaining the speed limit easily.

This car normally runs with a temperature guage reading around 170 - 180 degrees. The high speed running pushed it up to the 190 mark. We stopped for fuel and the temp increased to 212 as we were stopped, but it dropped down to 190 once on the move again. It stayed there quite happily until we hit stop go traffic for the last 40 miles. At one point I switched the engine off and saw the guage reading climb to peg at 130,but once I fired the engine up it dropped to 212 and once on the move again came down to 190 ish, where it stayed till we reached our destination.

We got a great welcome when we arrived at Aldercarr Hall, our B&B for the week. Because we were staying a while we got upgraded to a suite which is great as I'm an early riser and the lounge area means I can get up without disturbing she who must be obeyed.