Back To Work .....

 ..... well, not work work obviously as I'm retired, but looking round the Stylus there were a few odd jobs needed doing:-

Nearside Rear Wheel Bearing - It was weeping, I'd fixed the off side when I first bough the car, but didn't mess with the other side as it was dry & DON'T POKE AT IT! but a combination of pot holes & high lateral "G" had seen a small amount of oil escape. So I borrowed my brother's slide hammer & sorted that out - I think, I'll need to check it once in a while.

Camera - While we were away, one of the cameras was a constant concern, on day one it decided that after a coffee stop it was bored with video & instead took stills about two seconds apart for the rest of the day - just short of 6,000 of them! On other days it repeatedly switched off after about 15 seconds, on other days still, it worked perfectly all day. I gave it a hard stare in the garage when I got home & initially decided it had just broken & started looking at alternatives, but it seems it might be the memory card, swapping to another make seems to have bought it back under control.

Brake Lights - Duncan told me they weren't working on day one, I did eventually fix this while away & it was all down to my own stupidity, but though it's fixed, there's now only one switch on the brake lights again, so I need to look at adding a second one - not started that yet.

Tail lights - they're Fiat Coupe units & they're fine - they look better than most kit car tail lights (this is a bit of a bugbear of mine). As the Stylus is painted it cuts down my options, the Fury was gel-coat, so could be modified. I have come up with a way of "tunnelling" the light into the rear panel without cutting the body or damaging the paint. So far I have only done the stop / tail lights as the indicators are in an awkward place (when seen from the inside) & need a little more work, but I like the effect.

Front Number Plate - I like it, but it's a little too far inside the nose & in some lights doesn't show up well, also, the 3D printed mountings have cracked / split / delaminated, so as I write, there's another two being printed that will move the plate nearer to the front of the car & will be more resilient.

RogueRunners '25 - Epilogue

 

RR25 - what did we learn?

This was the most complex trip to date. Ten days, three hotels eleven people, but only five doing the whole trip & one of those didn't make it at all due to car trouble.

There were people who arrived after a couple of days due to personal commitments, there were people that left before the end, so it was an ever changing, swirling mix of people who just get on & like driving inappropriate cars. Did newcomers get left out? Did early leavers get ostracised? Of course not, we all just mucked in & had a good time with whoever was there.

That is the joy of the Rogues.

The Ecclefechan Hotel choice was a bit of a risk, as the owners hadn't owned it long & were refurbishing it, but they were true to their word on what would be ready for us & although we were the largest party they'd had for the longest period, they were more than up to the task, regularly changing the menu & making sure we were comfortable.

The roads were good - Ecclefechan looks to be "off to one side", but in reality it offers good routes to the west coast, north east towards Selkirk, east into Northumberland & south to Cumbria & the Yorkshire moors. Some of the smaller roads were potholey, but most were OK & the scenery made up for it - as long as you didn't hit a pot hole while admiring it.

And then there was the weather. We'd had a good spring, we had fantastic weather in Devon & I kept thinking "this won't last" - "this CAN'T last", but last it certainly did & apart from a very few spots on the windscreen the whole ten days was dry & most of it was wall to wall sunshine.

So, was it a success? I came home thinking it was the best RogueRunners trip yet & they've all been brilliant.

RogueRunners '25 - Day 10

Day nine had seen half the rogues head back to a hotel near Gainsborough, Day ten was very much "the parting of the ways". One was going home on the motorway, one was going to visit his daughter not too far away, so just Linda, Graham & myself followed the last of the route for a mere 70ish miles to a farm shop & café near Peterborough. But even then Graham set the controls for home before the refreshment stop. but that is the way of these trips, the last day is very much like the end of a Red Arrows display (bear with me on this) where each plane (car) heads off in a different direction in a spectacular(ish) finale.

So it was that Linda & I stopped at the farm shop, had a last cake & coffee, then bought enormous pork chops for our tea.

RogueRunners '25 - Day Nine

Time to head south, Our stay at the Ecclefechan Hotel had been fantastic, I heartily recommend it if you're touring south east Scotland & northern England, but one or two of us had jobs to get back to. Most of us were continuing with the route, one had already left to tour the rest of Scotland with his wife, one was going straight home, two were heading further north. The rest of us loaded our luggage & headed for our hotel.

To keep it simple we headed out of town on the A74 / M6 until just north of Carlisle, then we took to the A roads. There was an early fuel stop to make sure the sevens had enough to get across the moors, then after Raise 9where they should've been getting used the sight of us by now) we took B roads over the moors to the first refreshment stop at the lovely Brough Castle Ice Cream Parlour.

We did more moorland roads & passed the Tan Hill Inn - we could see it this year - then Masham, Pateley Bridge & the Toft Gate Farm Café

Next it was through the wonderfully named Blubberhouses & Otley, to another fuel stop at Pool-In-Wharfedale, we were heading mostly east, but run alongside the A1 for a while before arriving at Tadcaster & heading south on the A162, were passed the Drax power station, then got into the flat lands, so the roads got straighter, the A631 did its best, but we were almost finished by this stage, it was unfortunately straight 40mph roads with frequent villages at 30 or even 20 mph, if I was doing it again I would stick to the A1 for longer, but at Gainsborough there was a last fuel stop before we pulled into the hotel between Kexby & Willingham-By-Stow.

RogueRunners '25 - Day Eight

Route C - Hoik, Kielder & Hexam

Today's route headed out east, then turned north east on the B6357 through Mill Town & Evertown after which there was a slightly dodgy crossing of the A7 to get into Canonbie. We hugged the Scottish side of the border alongside Liddel Water (there may have been an Asda Water as well – I couldn’t say) through Newcastleton, which we’ve been though many times, but this very long, very thin village now has an interminable 20 limit. After that it was the lovely B6399, which we drove unimpeded to the outskirts of Hawick, then the B6088 to Bonchester Bridge & onto Saughtree where we take a minor road to cross the border at Deadwater.

There was a planned cake stop at Simonburn, which turned out to be delightful. There were two old coves taking tea as we bustled in, they asked who we were, Linda showed them a picture of the cars "Gosh" said one "they look like 1950's formula one cars". 

Next we found ourselves driving through Humshaugh & at Chollerford, turned onto the A6079 amid a cluster of Roman sites & a village called Wall. A brief spell on the A69 took us to a fuel stop in Hexham, then back on the A69 for a longer spell in the other direction to pick up the A686 though Bearsbridge to Alstone & Raise.

We were now reversing part of route B, going north to Lambley & across to Longtown where we turned north. At this point I was driving alone, so I said "Home James" to the SatNav & headed straight back.

The others briefly took the A7 to the B709 through Craigcleuch before tuning south again at Eskdalemuir to arrive in Lockerbie for a re-fuel & an easy run home.

RogueRunners '25 - Day Seven

Route F – It’s Just Called Route F, OK?

As you might've guessed I couldn't find an obvious name for this route. 

Today Mark left us to collect his wife from Edinburgh & tour Scotland in the Alpine, Duncan was resting a poorly foot & in Mark's place, Steve was with us from Dunoon in his Elise. 

We left EkkyFekky by crossing over the A74(M) & pointing north east, at Boreland we took a B road that more or less follows the line of the A74(M) before joining the A708 up the valley of Moffat Water, past the Grey Mares Tail waterfall & Wormy Sike, until just after “The Loch of the Lowes” where there was a very scenic coffee stop at St Mary’s Loch.

At one stage we were descending a long straight hill & I decided to pull out & overtake a slow BMW we'd been following for some time. As I got along side it & could see properly, a Land Rover pulled out of a quarry at the bottom of the hill & turned towards me - EEK! I hit the brakes, the BMW hit the brakes - which didn't help me at all - but it soon realised I was out-braking it & went in front so I could nip back in behind & thus avoid the now stationary Land Rover. 

Zoom in & you'll see Elises

In actual fact, everybody missed everybody else with a quarter of a mile to spare, but it was a little worrying for a few seconds. No-one had done anything wrong, the Land Rover couldn't see me when he pulled out, I couldn't see it when I started the overtake, we were all below the speed limit - it was just a little "exciting".

At Cappercleuch we took a minor road across the moors, which passed the Meggit & Talla reservoirs & is known to us as the Devil Sheep road – but still no Devil sheep! At Tweedsmiur we took the A701 south west to meet – but not join the A74(M). After a sharp right, we took the B797 for a few miles & after another very sharp right, up over the moor to Crawford John & the B740 south west.

At Sanquhar there was a fuel stop, but sadly the tea room had closed, we left town the way we came in & the A76 took us all the way to the B741 for Dalmelllington. South on the A713 through Eriff & Drumjohn brought us to Carsphairn where the café we’ve used in the past is also closed. So, we headed along the valley of the Water of Ken to St Johns Town of Dalry & shortly after that, attempted to have coffee at the Kenbridge Hotel as we had on one of the other routes. Today it was equally locked, but apart from someone mending the roof, there was no-one about, so some of us headed off in search of refreshment elsewhere, leaving Linda, Brian & I.

In the boot I had three bottles of water & some cereal bars in case someone broke down & needed a truck I could leave them with some sustenance. So we walked into the hotel back garden, sat at a table overlooking the river & had our snack, used their loos (it was open for the adjoining camp site) & moved on.

We headed to Bogue to find the A702 through Corriedoo to Moniaive where we turned west past “S. Snape Plant & Engineering” – I thought Voldermort killed him - obviously he just changed careers.

Soon after that we got to Dumfries, Lochmaben & Lockerbie for fuel - where a small boy cycled onto the forecourt to as Linda about the cars & finally back to EkkyFekky.

RogueRunners '25 - Day Six

 

Route B Brough, Hartside & The Wall.

We headed out of town eastwards on the B7076, crossing over a stream called Ewes Burn – they do if they’re left too long in the oven, we also passed over the A74(M) twice before Gretna Green, where we entered England. Running south alongside the River South Tyne, all the joining streams are either burns or sikes, we passed though Slaggyford & stoped at “The Nook” café / farm shop, before moving on to Raise where we join the B6277 past the ski tows at Yad Moss & the High Force waterfall – we’ve done this road a few times.

Next stop was the wonderful Brough Castle Tea Rooms, once refreshed it was the A66 & a petrol stop, tuning off immediately afterwards for the B6412 to Langwathby, the A686 & Hartside Pass. After that we’ll follow the Valley of the River East Allen.

There was more coffee at the Whitfield Village Pantry before we headed north east on the A686 past the delightful sounding “Carts Bog Inn”. After a while we crossed Hadrian’s Wall & took the B6318 through Roadhead & Cadlowdy, over the Liddel Water & back into Scotland. We crossed the A74(M) again, re-fuelled in ANNAN & headed back to EkkyFekky.

Well.......

That's what was supposed to happen & indeed for most of the Rogues it did, but first thing that morning my Linda's car had gone "wer ...... wer ........ wer" & failed to start. Now I could've made sure she had the number of a recovery truck, said "bye love" & gone out for a pleasant drive, but that's just not me. As the car had been fine up to that point, I wondered if an earth had failed, so I slackened the contacts & waggled them, tightened them back up, she turned the key & it span up & started - excellent, we would catch the Rogues at the first coffee stop. I jumped in the Stylus, but had trouble with the cameras & took a while, during which time Linda turned the Tiger off. I got myself sorted, she turned the key - "wer ....... wer ........ wer" - ARSE!

Having been led astray by the one successful start, we drove to Dumfries to find a motor factors - which took quite some finding - & returned with some copperslip to do all the connections properly, but to no avail.

After some time the Rogues returned & Matt put a jump pack on the Tiger & it fired up straight away, so that was the order of the day from then on. First start needed the jump pack, the rest of the day the Tiger was OK.

Of course as is traditional all the Rogues told us how that route was THE BEST ROUTE EVER - at some length.