As in the previous two years I entered this great
driving event. While ‘t Kreng didn’t sound very reassuring when I got her out
of hibernation after the winter months, I decided to take the DHC instead this
time. But when I took ‘t Kreng out for a spin, before swapping places with the
DHC in the shed, she took revenge on my decision. She sounded, behaved and
performed quite impeccably. I took the DHC nevertheless!
Day 1: Leaving for England
As with previous trips to Britain I took the night-time ferry from IJmuiden to Newcastle. From there I would drive down to Kelbrook to meet up with Martin Randle, my navigator for the event. And some of the other CT crews taking part in the event. With the meeting point, as usual, being the Old Stone Trough in Kelbrook. A photographic report from a driver’s point of view (well … not entirely!)
In good company, cueing to board the Princess of Norway, at the IJmuiden ferry terminal
Fishing vessel KW-34 Rosemarie (a beam trawler from Katwijk aan Zee) in the harbour of IJmuiden
The ferry terminal building seen from the Princess of Norway
The infamous Tata Steel blast furnace complex in IJmuiden, seen from the harbour mouth
Day 2: Touring the Dales
I came of the ferry in Newcastle early on the Friday morning, which gave me all day to play around in the Pennines and the Yorkshire Dales. The fun started just before the ford in Stanhope, were a rather large lorry turned onto the B6278 just in front of me. My first thoughts were rather unprintable! But it turned out that my worries were unfounded. As the lorry was empty and the driver clearly knew the roads very well, I made rather good progress, reaching my chosen lunch halt in the small market town of Richmond well before noon.
Lunch break at the Buck Inn in Richmond
After lunch I did my own version of the Dales Bramble, touring some of the very roads to be found in the Yorkshires Dales. The weather could have been slightly better. But luckily it remained dry all day, making for some rather good driving conditions and some nice pictures.
Just above the Surrender Bridge, on the lonely moor road between Feetham and Arkengarthdale
Sowry Head
View over the Ure Dale from the Cliff Gate Road near Sowry Head
After a few hours of fun in the Dales I arrived at the Old Stone Trough in Kelbrook, were most of the CT entrants for LCC would meet up.
The P&P P&S and BarBQ
Or the Pendle and Pennine Polish and Shine and BarBQ. It was (again I dare say) a good evening. With some socialising, some meat from Burnerboy’s BBQ and lots of beer. As a few pictures say so much more then my ramblings;
Paul (Burnerboy) Darbyshire enjoying himself behind the BBQ
Cueing for the BBQ
Le Carrera Caledonia
To reach the start in Gretna in time, we had to leave Kelbrook quite early. Which meant we had to skip breakfast. Together with some rather nasty weather on our way up north, this meant that our spirits could have been better when we arrived at the start in Gretna. But luckily McJim was in favour with the Caledonian Weather Gods! The sun came out and the weather remained rather nice for the rest of the weekend.
As for LCC itself. The driving again was so much fun that I forgot to stop to take some more pictures during the event. There were some rather strange folk around at the start though. And as usually there was some spannering going on during the planned breaks!
McJim, ready to flag of the teams
Man at work and a whole lot of supervisors.
A nice variety of cars taking part
My DHC during the lunch break in Carronbridge
It was again a top event, which was over far too soon. Needless to say that the socializing in the evenings was good fun too. And there were a few memorable encounters that did stick out during the event;
The “Ossie” coach driver
On the road along the northern shore of Loch Tay we encountered a rather large coach from the (former East) German town of Dresden. It soon became clear that the driver didn’t know what his rear view mirrors were for, as he refused point blank to pull over and let the cars queuing up behind him pass. Even when he had to stop to give way to oncoming traffic, he immediately pulled back into the middle of the road.
But in the end I did manage to squeeze past him. At the lights for the (narrow) bridge over the river Tay in Kenmore to be precise. This was also the point where the Ossie coach driver (at last I dare say) found some use for his rear view mirrors. While I overtook him, when the light changed to green, he clearly saw me coming in his mirrors and tried to push me into the nearby wall. But even that he couldn’t do properly. Shame I didn’t have a Dutch flag on the antenna of the car. But at least I now fully understand why the ”West” Germans have
a tendency not to like the Ossies!
Me concentrating on the driving, somewhere on the B709
The quad
A few miles after leaving the “Ossie” coach behind we turned onto the A826 in Aberfeldy. But this time it was me being chased over Glen Cochill and Sma’ Glen. Not by a car or a motorbike, but by a quad! Despite me not hanging around (...) it managed to more or less keep up with me. And when it overtook us when we had to turn left into a minor country lane, we could clearly see that it was standing on knobbly off-road tyres! The chap surely knew the road and he must have been slightly mad too!
The wildlife of Scotland
Judging by the amount off road kill scattered all over the roads, it looked as if there was still plenty of wildlife left in Scotland! But I am glad to mention that, safe for a few thousand insects that found an early end on the front of the car, I managed not to hit any other of god’s creatures. I only managed to clip a tail feather from a pheasant sitting on the side of a road (in mid corner and its tail sticking into the road of course ...) And there was this (rather stupid) sheep sleeping in the apex of a rather tight and fast left hand corner. I was surprised I didn’t find any parts of its woolly fur on the car afterwards. Luckily the sheep wasn’t hurt in the encounter!
Day 5: Heading down South
On the Monday morning, again in glorious weather,
we set off for the long haul south. From Aviemore to Barnoldswick to be precise.
And after a full days driving I dropped off Martin
at his home, and I returned to the OST in Kelbrook. Here I stayed for a few
more days, using the OST as a base to do some hiking in the Dales;
Day 6: Swaledale
The first day of walking took me on a round trip from Gunnerside along the northern slopes of the Swaledale towards Keld. And from there back along the opposite side via Muker towards the starting point in Gunnerside.
View on Muker from Ramps Holme
Dry stone wall on Birk Hill
View over the Swaledale from Kisdon Hill
Derelict farm building on the meadows outside Muker
The bridge over the river Swale near Ivelet
Day 7: Wharfedale
The second days walking took me from Buckden into the Wharfedale. Mostly following public footpaths via Cray towards Yockenthwaite and back through Hubberholme to Buckden.
View from Buckden Rake over Hay Close and Cray
Buckden Rake
Buckden Rake
Hay Close
Farm building at Hay close
View over Wharfedale Todd’s Wood towards Buckden
Strans Wood
Yockentwaithe
The George Inn in Hubberholme
Letter box in Hubberholme
Day 8: Leaving England
And all to soon this holiday was over and I was heading towards the ferry in Newcastle. But not before a nice de-tour through the Dales. And after boarding the ferry with the English coastline disappearing on the horizon;
Birkdale Common , Yorkshire Dales
Birkdale Common , Yorkshire Dales
Birkdale Common , Yorkshire Dales
Port of Tyne
South Shields harbour
Souter Lighthouse and The Leas, seen from the Tynemouth
Day 9: Going Home
And the next morning I was greeted by a lovely sunny day when arriving back in Dutch waters.
Waiting for IJmuiden roadsteads
Entering the mouth of the North Sea Canal, IJmuiden
Edited on the 5th of June 2023: 15 Years after I set of for the 2008 edition of Club Triumph’s “Le Carrera Caledonia” it was time to freshen up the pictures I took at the time. I also added some extra pictures, including a few from a short walking break after the event. And of course the text was edited were necessary.
An in fond memory of Martin Randle († 08-06-2017) and Paul Darbyshire († 19-02-2022) who both passed away far too early. You are both sorely missed!
