We only decided to go at the last minute as the Navigator had been pretty ill with a virus for over a week. Another last-minute decision was to go in Vee which is slightly more comfortable for the Navigator, you can see more scenery than from Bee with the hood up, and the hotel had no parking so the car was on the street overnight. In the event the West Shore of Llandudno is very quiet so no problems with the car. Saturday journey up wasn't as wet as we were expecting, although the traffic on the A5 was very busy. We actually got off that at Chirk and did one of our 'B-Road Britain' routes from home to the Shrewsbury by-pass and from Chirk to Llandudno. Saturday afternoon saw us strolling along the West Shore beach in classic 'British Summer' mode i.e. brolly up in warm drizzle.

Sunday morning was far worse - blowing a gale and driving drizzle, felt sorry for the poor Marshals standing out in it for several hours. Didn't hang around much at the start, weather not conducive to strolling along the prom looking at all the other cars. Filled up at a Shell station just outside Llandudno that was very busy, although with 'regular' traffic more than MGs. To a customers comment the chap on the till said there were 190-odd of us and the customer said "I didn't know there were that many left" - little does he know! Only our second time on this run but again we found ourselves on a single-track road between Llanrwst and the A5 just north of Betws-y-coed, and again it was chaos with local traffic trying to come the other way against nearly 200 MGs. Came to a complete standstill at one point behind another V8, and noticed it was steaming quite a bit. Then it started steaming a lot and out they got and up went the bonnet. Fortunately we were by one of the few bits of grass big enough to pull off out of the way, so I stopped as well to see if I could help. "No fans", he said, and a couple of minutes later I had diagnosed the Otter switch as failed. Left them to move the wire from the switch to some convenient earth somewhere so the fans would be running albeit full-time, and for it to cool down (you could hear the coolant boiling). Unless his temp gauge was faulty as well he really should have pulled over and switched off sooner.

A bit later between Capel Curig and Beddgelert I suddenly realised we were going to pass the hut where we stayed for the Snowdon climb last June, and stopped at a view point right above the hut to show the Navigator. Certainly couldn't see anything of the mountain, but the torrents of water rushing down all the hillsides in the vicinity, and the white-water rapids that the streams had become, were pretty spectacular. At one point near the junction with the Llanberis pass the hillsides were invisible, but you could see the torrents of white water appearing to come out of the sky - very spooky.

Shortly after that near Porthmadog was a very steep and twisty section, right at the beginning of which was a 'ping' from the back that I could feel through my seat. I didn't fancy stopping on a 1 in 2 with dozens behind me and no space to pass unless I really had to, so with nothing else untoward we pressed on. It wasn't until several miles later when we finally got on the straight and level at Pwllheli that I noticed the steering wheel was turned about 15 degrees to the right ... Pulled off the road and walked round the car, noticed the right rear wheel was a long way back in the arch, and looking underneath found the main leaf broken just in front of the U-bolts! Initially an 'Oh my gawd' moment, but then I realised that if we had completed the rest of that 4 miles or so section plus another 20 miles it couldn't be that much of a show-stopper. Nevertheless I couldn't risk any more mountainous sections and there was still another 30 miles of the route to go, we were about as far away from home as we could be (150 miles), but rather that wait hours for AA Relay we decided to head for home there and then keeping to main roads, as much to be able to tell the AA where we were in the event of total failure as reduce the stress on the remainder of the spring. In the event the rear shackle at full stretch was preventing the axle from going any further back and fouling the back of the wheel arch (a design feature?), so moving the big toolbox from over that spring to the passenger footwell to reduce the load, and with very gentle use of throttle, braking and steering (did wonders for the mpg) we got home with no further drama. To add insult to injury just as we started for home the sun started coming out and the car dried out, but then got greyer and greyer as we got closer to home, to find heavy rain on the M5 and M42 and the car soaking wet again. Took these pics next day.

So 348 miles and a broken spring, but it's the first serious problem in all these years and tens of thousands of miles, and it could have been worse. Now to struggle getting the old springs off, and finding new ones to the correct spec, but that is a subject for another page. Update: Amazingly everything came undone and off easily, the first time I'd touched them. New springs spot-on for ride height, so subsequently I changed the fronts as well.

I wouldn't normally have included this as it was a coach tour and not in any of the MGs, but one of our fellow travellers has a very definite MG connection. David was chief engineer at Laycocks many years ago and was responsible for designing the gearbox, overdrive and Banjo axle for the forthcoming MGB. Subsequently he moved to BL and was based at Abingdon in the early years of MGB production, then Triumph and Jaguar, finishing up with 22 years at Volvo in Sweden. David has the pristine MGB and TR6 seen above.

After lusting after a ZS 180 since their launch in 2001, a late 2004 face-lift 4-door in blue comes to the attention of a relative in the trade and becomes mine today. This one really does have my name on it, the three last letters of the registration are my initials - albeit in reverse order.

Once there I could get under it and with a bit of a struggle got the pump off, and fitted my spare. Turned on the ignition, pump chattered away, filter started filling, pump slowed down and stopped. Choke out and turned the key to 'start', and after very few cranks it burst into life! One problem was a leak from the pump, which I wasn't surprised at as one of the fibre washers had stuck and ripped a bit getting the old pump off. But I disconnected the pump wire and ran the engine till it emptied the float chambers, and soon after that it stopped dripping so was safe.

Next we had a look at the clutch. The master was full, but the slave piston was hardly moving at all when the pedal was pumped, and there was very little pedal resistance of course. Opened the slave nipple and Keith pumped the pedal, but all that came out was a couple of drips and lots of gurgling. Wasn't sure whether that meant a faulty master or not, and changing it would be an expensive way to find out it wasn't, so I decided to try bleeding it another way. Some years ago I had to replace the master, slave and flex hose on the V8 and having read so many times how difficult they are to bleed conventionally i.e. from the top, even with a continuous pressure device like a Gunsons EeziBleed, I decided to attack it from another direction and use the Gunsons to reverse fill the system by connecting it to the slave nipple and using very low air pressure. That worked a treat and gave me the full travel straightway, but since then I'd read others had clamped the slave piston all the way into the cylinder and bled successfully that way. Tried that, but no different. I'd also seen another recommendation of connecting a caliper nipple to the slave nipple and using the brake pedal to reverse fill or bleed the clutch. Really off the wall, but its quirkiness appealed to me, so that was what we tried next. I siphoned all the fluid I could out of the clutch master, interconnected the clutch and right-hand caliper, opened both nipples, and Keith pumped gently (too vigorous and you'll blow the pipe off one of the nipples) until the clutch master was nearly full. Being a 78 model with the large plastic brake reservoir this hardly lowered the level at all, but you would need to be more careful with the earlier metal reservoir or risk having bleed the brakes as well! With the nipples tightened back up Keith pumped the pedal, and the slave piston looked to have the correct travel of about 1/2". I started the engine again and tentatively selected reverse, and it went in sweet as a nut with no grinding. Later when the car was back down on its wheels I tested the biting point and it seemed fine i.e. not too near the floor, although it did seem a bit higher than I was used to. Another success, and probably less time to achieve than it has taken me to write about it!

With an MOT in mind we checked the lights, and the column switches were flopping around all over the place. Removed the cowling and reseated the switch assembly on its notch on the column and tightened the screw, and that seemed fine as well, the indicators were even flashing without the engine running, so the connections were obviously all good. The hazard flasher was working as well, but only the right side. Fiddling with the switch in the 'on' position got them to work occasionally, but not reliably enough, so I took the switch home along with the pump to see if I could resurrect them. Opened up the switch and cleaned the contacts, and although it was better it still occasionally wouldn't light the one side, so in the end we decided to spring for a new switch and be done with it. I dismantled the pump and found nothing wrong with the one-way valves, but did discover the bolt securing the air chamber cover wasn't even finger-tight. Removed and refaced the points - they were well pitted. Reassembled, reset the points, did a dry test and it seemed fine. Next day Keith had got the new switch and some fibre washers for the fuel pump so I went round and swapped the pumps over. Switched on, carbs charged up, engine started, no leaks, so another success. Fitted the new switch and blow me if it didn't have the same problem as before, but this time it only happened once and worked fine every other time we tried it so we left it as it was. It's now down to Keith to book an MOT, whilst underneath I'd been looking round and everything looked fine to me, but I thought there was no way it was going to pass the emissions test, at least.

A couple of days later Keith rings me to say it passed the MOT - emissions and all! He was well chuffed, and no wonder since he got the car for less than a song, nobbut a few notes. After that he'd taxed it and taken it for a spin, and says he thinks the clutch is slipping a bit just in 4th gear, which is the classic indication of a clutch on its last legs. Like I said above it did occur to be that the biting point was a little higher than I was used to. But no matter, he's not planning to thrash it round, so will live with it for a bit while he decides how much time and effort to spend on titivating it. Next job for me is to install the fuses for the fuel pump and OD, neither of which are fused, and shorting of these circuits (particularly the gear-lever mounted OD switch) is not unknown which can cause serious harness damage.

What a glorious weekend! Sunny and warm for the journey down, too warm for coats, and it was T-shirts by afternoon. We travelled via Dorset to see T.E Lawrence's cottage retreat at Clouds Hill where he more or less ended his days, and St Nicholas' Church, Moreton where he is buried. I was surprised at the amount of interest being shown, there must have been half-a-dozen other cars at the cottage, and probably 25 or more at Moreton, which isn't even a hamlet, just the church, a tea-room, and a couple of cottages. Dorset is a very under-rated county, countryside as good as Devon and Somerset, but with little tourism.

Staying at the Forest Park in Brockenhurst for the fifth time (3rd time on the run), and at least as good as we remembered if not better. In the heart of the forest, with beautiful grounds, and wonderful food. Sunday for the run was even better - T-shirts all day and very warm in the afternoon. A totally rural (although avoiding Lyndhurst on a sunny Sunday is recommended) run ranging over a large part of the forest areas for 80 miles. Started from Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum near New Milton via several scenic locations in the forest, plus places like Bucklers Hard, Beaulieu (originally beo-ley from the Saxon for 'bee meadow', and misspellt by the Normans (i.e. 'French') when compiling the Domesday Book, it is also spelt 'Bewly' on the original charter in Beaulieu House), and finishing at Exbury Gardens where we had been planning to visit at some time anyway. All very well organised by Southampton and New Forest MG Owners Club as usual.

Still sunny and warm at Brockenhurst Monday morning but didn't take long to cloud up and get cooler. Jumpers on at Salisbury, and coats on at Chippenham, only for the sun to come out shortly after. Lost the OD again on the way home but this time it was simply one of the wires had fallen off the OD switch, so easily replaced at some traffic lights while still belted in. Other than that Bee performed faultlessly as usual, 457 dry and mostly sunny and warm miles.

The run was superb - wending our way up the Devon side of the valley via places like Denham Bridge (very scenic with views of an amazing private garden just upstream of the bridge, Brent Tor and Lydford Gorge, crossing into Cornwall at Horsebridge, and finishing up at Sterts Theatre at Upton Cross. The verges and hedgerows were a riot of colour with blue, white, yellow and pink wild flowers for virtually the whole route. Brent Tor was amazing - a 'working' church perched high up on the top of the rock with superb views of Dartmoor and its western valleys. It's quite a steep climb up to the church on foot, and as I say it is 'working' with services, flowers and hymn books laid out on the pews. Amused to see the following notice in the entrance "Evensong 6:30, if wet in village hall". Lydford Gorge consists of two circular short walks to White Ladies waterfall at one end and The Devils Cauldron (best seen immediately after heavy rain) at the other, with a mile (each way) valley walk between the two. Because of time restraints we opted to do the two short walks and use the car to get from one to the other. After Horsebridge the roads became very narrow, steep and winding and quite challenging. Very well organised by John Hunt (no relation), excellent instructions with lots of additional information about places we passed through.

I'm sure we have never met such a friendly bunch of people as those in the Tamar Valley MGOC, and it was nice to see lots on non-MGs on the run. As soon as we arrived people came up and chatted about this and that, and at each of the stops we met more and more people. They were amazed (and very pleased) that someone had come as far, and took a picture of us at Brent Tor for the report of the run in their magazine. Just as friendly were people in the pub we stopped at for a drink around lunchtime, and at our overnight stop for two nights. This was The Weary Friar, its web site doesn't do it justice. As well as the owners and staff being very friendly and attentive the rooms were clean and comfortable and the food and drink (Press Gang cider!) excellent. Right next to the church in a very attractive village, situated on a ridge with superb views down into the valleys both sides. A definite future stop!

Monday for the journey home was wet so the hood stayed up and we opted to take the quick route home straight up the M5. Two bouts of torrential rain round Bristol but nothing leaked from round the windscreen, just blowing in between the glass and edge of the hood by the Navigators left shoulder, but not mine. Got drier and showery as we headed further north, and Bee was almost dry by the time we arrived home at 1:30pm, with sunshine and breezes to dry her out during the rest of the afternoon. 550 miles, the only problem was one of the struts for the windstop broke on the way down, the navigators side this time, jury-rigged it using the handle off my second jack and some wire. The alloy just can't take the battering especially when it is windy, so it needs something stronger. I had a look in B&Q and was surprised to see lots of different steel tubing and bars, and for a couple of quid and a few hours work have knocked up an alternative, with loads to spare for the other side when that needs it.