Road Trip Part 1

The 2012 SKCC Road trip – not unlike “the girl with the curl – right in the middle of her forehead” really, in that when it was good as very very good, but when it was bad it was horrid. The driving was excellent, the car performed brilliantly, the team spirit was good, the route was superb, but getting run over & crashing put a bit of a dampner on it.

Day one to Bridlington was good, but a hell of a long way, the roads through the “bomber country” of the Fens were straight – but certainly not level, with the car getting hurled from side to side by the sudden dips & lumps in the other wise flat-for-miles road surface, then further north, with the scenery getting slowly more – scenic. We stopped for lunch just past RAF Conningsby after seeing Typhoons practising bump & gos. The weather being so fair that we ate outside – a welcome change from the persisting rain in the south east.

Nourished & refreshed, we set off again, but already we had made an unknowing error. When we Mr Mango & I both independently loaded the second route to the Satnavs, it warned us of tolls on the route – We knew about this, twas the Humber Bridge, so we both hit the “YES” button to accept. Unfortunately that wasn’t the question the little boxes were asking us, had we followed the age old computing adage “RTFS” we would have realised it was asking if we wanted to AVOID the toll. We headed even further north, & pulled onto a motorway – oh well, we’d been told there would be “link sections” where the fastest road was used, but the motorway miles racked up & still the satnavs kept us on them. Only when we were passing the junctions to North & South Cave did I realise our mistake, we had been diverted right round the Humber Estuary. We went across the bridge & back just for the look of the thing & quietly slunk away before anyone noticed.

After a very long time’s driving we pulled into Bridlington in bright sunshine & saw some of our compatriots re-fuelling, so we drove into the station to do the same. At this point one of the other cars failed to start – no electrical power. A lifted bonnet soon draws a crowd & the Tiger cognoscenti soon had the problem diagnosed, it seems all Tiger supplied alternators do the same & the control box at the back was all loose. This remedied We set to push starting the car. With three already pushing the roll bar, I in my over keenness to assist stupidly elected to push the front suspension. The car fired & leapt forward, I suddenly found I had nothing to lean on & fell – taking off the driver’s mirror, the car then got it’s own back by rolling over my leg. Fortunately the leg took the weight, but I broke the rear wheel arch, & I lost quite a lot of skin around my ankle. Still hurts now.

Having hopped about the forecourt & sworn quite a lot, I established I was still OK to drive, & we continued to the promenade where a photo session had been arranged, that done, we found the Hotel, packed the cars into the carpark & Myself & Mr Mango walked (hobbled) into town for some more food.

At this stage one of our number had to call in the services of the RAC as he’d blown the head gasket, so the following day we bid him farewell & headed for the Dales.