Tour De MG

B33 ENGLAND’S BEAUTIFUL LAKE DISTRICT

Posted on July 22, 2011 by detoprod

It isn’t an easy trek from the Cotswolds to England’s beautiful Lake District so we chose the rather unromantic M5 and M6 motorways to help us cover the ground. We threaded past the manufacturing city of Birmingham and headed directly into a cloudburst that caused a panic stop at one of the rest stops to erect the top.

“Might as well have a Starbuck’s while we’re here” was the unanimous vote and gave us a chance to e-mail our hosts, Jude and Chris Bratt, that we’re on our way. Louise was rather trepidatious about our stay because I’d met Chris only once for lunch in London years ago. She knew neither and was concerned about compatibility with total strangers for several days. “We’re waiting dinner on you,” was their prompt response.

On the way we encountered an unexpected problem with the MG. The rainy and extremely windy day, coupled with the buffeting pressure of a very large tractor/trailer truck, caused the driver’s door to suddenly pop open. Not a big deal on most cars but the MG’s are hinged at the rear thus earning the name “suicide doors.” With the side curtains acting as a large airfoil, the door flew wide open, popped the retaining stop and pinned itself to the rear fender. In the process it broke the steel window frame of the side curtain. Not much damage done to the door already damaged on the boat but it scared the hell out of both of us and I quickly found a way to attach the bungee cord to the side curtain with the top up. We limped on to Arnside. Read more »

Categories: Arnside, Castelerigg Stone Circle, England, Kendal, Lake District | Comments Off

B32 WATCHING MEN MAKE A MORGAN

Posted on July 18, 2011 by detoprod

A visit to the factory where they make Morgan sports cars was second best to our original plans some 53 years ago. At that time I whispered in the ear of my new bride, “At one time in his life a man has to own a red MG.” Happily she agreed and we bought one. What she didn’t know was there was another part of that wish list. It took some time before I whispered the second part. “Then, just before we go back to the States, we’ll sell it and buy a new Morgan.” I must have caught the moment right because, again, she agreed. Unfortunately, we spent so much of our meager income careening around Europe during that year, then when the time came we had no money for a new car. In brief, that’s how the MG became such a large part of our lives. Today that early dream was about to be revisited. We were on our way to tour the Morgan factory.

At this point some of our female readers may be rolling their eyes, thinking “Not another car guy thing” and Louise reminds me that the women on the tour were beyond boredom. She maintains it was “interesting.” Read more »

Categories: England, Great Malvern, Morgan, Morgan trike | 2 Comments

B31 COMBING THE COTSWOLDS

Posted on July 15, 2011 by detoprod

One of our loyal readers, Benny Brown of Radio Luxembourg, pointed out that we’d driven past one of the better motor museums when we left the town of Beaulieu. He’d alerted us to this gem long before we began the trip and we were tempted but we have to get serious about finding a new home for the MG. Visiting Beaulieu Motors made business sense. Besides, we had to make it to the Cotswolds before we lost our reservation. With that purpose in mind we decided against the quaint little country roads, small villages and roundabouts and headed for M5, an equivalent of our freeways.

We arrived in the Cotswold village of Stow on Wold and headed for our B&B when we spied three vintage Austin Healy’s lined up outside a pub on the town square. With one Healey you’d wave as you passed by; with two you’d slow down, wave and maybe toot your horn but with three you must stop and have a beer. So we did. Read more »

Categories: Chipping Campden, Cotswolds, Cross Keys Cottage, England, Stow on Wold | 2 Comments

B30 RETURN TO THE MOTHER COUNTRY

Posted on July 13, 2011 by detoprod

The English Channel crossing from Le Havre to Portsmouth went as smooth as glass. We drove our car onto a triple decked catamaran…two decks for cars, one for passengers. Because of the catamaran design, it fairly knives its way through the water cutting almost 1 1/2 hours off the travel time of regular hulled ferries. After going through light customs the officer directed us to a gas station just outside the gates. “Left at the roundabout, right at the first street, right at the light and you can’t miss it,” was his promise.

Unfortunately, on entering the roundabout, I turned right instead of left and found myself facing four lanes of traffic all headed toward our MG. Fortunately, Portsmouthians are familiar with cars from the Continent doing the same but there was a certain amount of horn honking and digit pointing toward the sky. My initial reaction, on seeing all those grilles pointed toward ours, was to say to Louise, “Look at all those women drivers.” forgetting, of course, that everything was flopped. Read more »

Categories: England, Fox and Hounds pub, Lyndhurst, Penny Farthing B&B | 4 Comments

B29 HONFLEUR – A FADED BEAUTY

Posted on July 11, 2011 by detoprod

It was a beautiful day to drive along the coast road and pass through resort towns with such famous names at Deauville and Trouville.

We stopped for the night at the small fishing port city of Honfleur, just across the bay from the shipping port city of Le Havre.

Honfleur is not the typical cutsey poo resort town. It has an active harbor where fishing boats are tied up next to luxurious yachts and when they sail to sea they pass this ornate and active merry-go-round on the jetty. The surrounding buildings have the look of harboring serious small businesses and not just junky souvenir shops although there are many of those too. Read more »

Categories: France, Honfleur, Hotel La Diligence, MG | 2 Comments