The first part of the trip was boring dual carriageway and a bit of motorway before hitting the two lane road south of Harrogate. Numbum was running well apart from a slight misfire at low revs going round roundabouts. This persisted for a while the suddenly became a permanent misfire and we were running on three pots. Unfortunately this happened on a part of the road where there wasn't anywhere to stop so we kept going till we came to a filling station.
I topped up the tank and investigated the misfire. Opening the bonnet revealed No.2 plug lead was off. Easy, I thought, and put it back on, but it wouldn't stay on. Then I noticed that the little screw on cap on the top of the plug was missing. It was still in the plug lead. It must have unscrewed itself, the first time it's happened in the 50 years I've been driving. I used a spare plug to get the cap from the lead, screwed it back onto the plug, fitted the lead and we were on our way again.
Even with this short delay we still arrived at the start for nine o clock to find a wide range of cars already there. We signed on and grabbed a coffee before wandering around chatting and viewing the cars.
On the drive home a navigational error (mine) took us on a scenic route but we soon found our way back to the planned roads. All went well until we were well on our way up the A19 when clutch problems reared their ugly head. The pedal went solid and wouldn't disengage the clutch. As long as we were moving I could manage but we stopped in Yarm for a takeaway and I couldn't engage a gear at all. I ended up starting in gear and managed to get home, empty the car and get myself wrapped round a Chinese. Investigation of the problem will have to wait.
All in all a great day, good company, great roads and glorious weather. Thanks to Paul and all those who made it happen.