Wasn't impressed with the telephone manner of the company my insurance obliges me to use. They wanted me to go to them, leave it with them for half a day, in an industrial estate miles from anywhere. And I could imagine going to pick it up to find the wrong tint and no shade band, but having to pay the £50 excess or not getting the car back! I was all set to drive off if they were as bad in the flesh as on the phone, but they were OK so left it with them. They did ask me if I was going to wait, so I said I would, then they told me they had another one to do first! So off to find a bus into Brum (they did say they would come and pick me up), walk across the city to the Art Gallery, which I had had enough of in an hour. Contemplated the library but mobiles are banned, so then contemplated catching the train home and coming back in later. But rang to check on progress first, to be told it would be done in about 40 mins - good news. So walk back across the city, can't find the bus stop so start walking out until I reach the road I want and find a stop, and the right bus is approaching (my bus pass gets a rare outing). Watch out for the gasometers which are next to the industrial estate to see when to get off, and another walk. Waited another 20 mins or so for it to be finished, looks OK, and I'm home for about 1pm after traffic chaos on the Cov Road at Sheldon. It's only then I see some stress cracks in the anodising of the trim across the bottom of the screen, looks like they tried to pull it out and it buckled, but at least they straightened it well enough, and the cracking isn't really that noticeable.

The start at the White Horse, Scales, is only a few miles from Keswick and we were ready to start by about 10am. Weather windy, and just the odd spot of rain, but better weather forecast for later. Increasing steepness at the start (like most of these fells, it seems, a feature of glacial erosion) but not much more than an hour later we reached a ridge within sight of Sharp Edge and Scales Tarn - decision time. By now it was really windy, and without any encouragement from me the others all decided to bypass it, so a steady plod up the other side of the tarn to the ridge (the saddleback) between the top of Sharp Edge and Blencathra peak itself. Once there I wanted to circle round to the top of Sharp Edge to have a look at it and take some pictures. I have to say the final scramble, and the flatish bit I could see, didn't look too bad, and I could see the path that is just below the peak on the northerly side, so there didn't seem much where the exposure would be unavoidable. Two of our party decided to descend, then come back up again (despite the guide book saying "No one would want to do it twice in one day"!) so the rest of us left them to it and plodded on to the summit. By now it was blowing a gale and pretty cold, I was glad I had my woolly hat, but had no gloves. Ironically the edge itself was completely sheltered, and there was virtually no wind on it.

The peak is described as having a 'curious ring-shaped trig point by the summit cairn', and we found a ring, but no cairn worthy of the name, and only 11:30. "The next peak along looks a bit higher" so off we plod, but once we get there it obviously isn't, and no ring or cairn. So back to the one with the ring to meet up with the two who did the edge, although they said they'd had enough about 1/3rd the way along as it was very slippy, turned back, and had enough trouble even from there. There is supposed to be an 'obvious' path down from Blencathra along Narrow Edge, not so challenging as Sharp Edge. But getting as close to the edge as we dared - with a gusty wind coming from behind us, and peering over, we couldn't see anything at all, so that was out as well. So we proceeded in a Westerly direction (again!) to the top of GateGill Fell, then Blease Fell, and the easy path down. Across here it was blowing a gale and very cold, straight onto Blease Fell, so no respite as we were coming down. We stopped half way for our sarnies, and I could barely hold mine or open my crisps or choccy bic as my fingers were so cold. By now we were in sight of Keswick and debated walking back there, picking up my car to take the other driver back to his car at Scales. But my car keys were in the room, and my room key in his car, and it would have meant a long walk back by road, so that was knocked on the head. So near the bottom we turned Eastwards and followed a very pleasant path now we were out of the wind, across the foot of the fells past Threlkeld to Scales. A nice sting in the tail at Scaley Beck, with a significant scramble down and back up again before descending to the farm and the pub. Got back at 3:15, so a couple of hours drinking, before back to Keswick, then out again for the evening's entertainment.

Sunday morning and homeward bound the weather was dreadful, glad we weren't walking in that, but we drove out of it halfway down the M6 and Vee was dry by the rime we got home. 420 miles, the only problem being on the way up on Friday when a huge stone, or it could have been a wheelnut, came over the central reservation just after we had joined the M6, I drove into it at about 60mph, and got a huge opaque crater and series of circular cracks right in front of my eye-line!

... and the attached owl and bird of prey centre (a bit odd to find this so close to a working airfield) and the Swiss Gardens. Very good flying display at the owl centre, one of the best we've seen, enlivened by a couple of independent Kites passing though at one point, and especially the stoop from a peregrine cross.

Got to Duxford for the 'Spitfires, Merlins and Motors' event about 10am, a Spitfire flew in about 11 to join three others lined up on the apron, then from 11.30 or so it rained for an hour but no problem as we wanted to go in the British and Commonwealth hanger again anyway. Just after 12.30 two Merlins on trolleys fired up and a pretty impressive noise they made too. 1pm was supposed to be Spitfire flying, then 2pm, but they didn't finally get airborne until about 3pm. A good display from two of them, then an early Mk1, but it was all over in less than an hour. A bit disappointing, and a bit of a con given the Duxford web page 'confirmed' five flying Spitfires plus two more statics. I think Duxford events are more about getting extra people in to the hangers than actual flying, we shan't be going again. However ... the highlight was getting to sit in a Spitfire! There must have been 60 or more people in the queue when we arrived and each time we looked, and at several minutes each joining that would have meant doing nothing else all day. However immediately after the Spitfire flying we went over to the hanger (where they had moved it from outside when it started raining) and there was only about four people waiting. Most people got a couple of pics taken by the person guiding people in and out of the cockpit, but the Navigator took those for me, and afterwards we went round to the other side for some more pics when one of the people on the stand offered to take them and took about a ten of us alongside and at the front by the propeller. The fee included a T-shirt, but by that time they only had large sizes left. I had one anyway, and will see about getting the emblem transferred to one that fits me better. Very heavy rain for the length of the A1 and most of the A14, but dry on the M6 and by the time we got home, about 240 miles all told.

A pal of a pal was getting rid of a nearly new pair of full-length ramps (as he now has a four-post lift!) and they were offered to me for £500. As they were around £1700 new that was something of a bargain. However as they were over a 200 miles round trip away in Hertford it wasn't really feasible to go down just to have a look at the size and try and work out if they would fit in my garage, so pal took loads of pictures and measurements. I pondered long and hard over those, decided they would fit, so the next question was how to get them here. Son-in-law has a van but they were just too long to fit in that, so it meant hiring one. However we were planning on moving some furniture down to my son near St Neots, so a 'two birds with one stone' trip was planned. All went well until we got down to Hertford and I saw just how big all the bits were - gulp! Too late to go back now though, so we loaded them up. Son-in-law had planned a 'three birds with one stone' trip to come back to Solihull via Stratford-upon-Avon to help a pal move a garden shed half a mile or so, they had calculated from the van hire web site that it would just fit in. Set the Prat Nav for his address ... and it decided the best way from Hertford to Stratford-upon-Avon was via the M25 and M40, and an extra 30 miles or so. Added to that there was a major hold-up on the M40 just after the A34 junction, but we managed to get off without too much delay and go via the A44. Get to s-i-l's pal's house, lift this six foot plastic shed over a six foot fence and offer it up to the back of the van ... and it won't go in! The measurements on the web site relate to the internal dimensions, not the door aperture, so lift the shed back over the fence again! All that meant that by the time we got back and unloaded the ramps we were too late to return the van, but fortunately we had switched to a late departure by picking up and loading up in the morning, rather than the first idea of collecting and loading the night before for an early start.

Now I had them at home I could take more detailed measurements, and realised that to assemble the two ramps and their lifting tube I either needed more width than I'd bargained for, or several beefy blocks to assemble them outside, then carry them in at an angle to get them through the door! However being American they were built for their monster vehicles, and the ramps were intended to be positioned further apart on the lifting tube than I needed for the MGBs. Even positioned as close together as they would go the centre of the ramps is still wider then the centre of the tyres. However it allowed me to chop a few inches off each end of the lifting tube, and I could assemble them in the garage. Each ramp is in two sections so the length can be adjusted as well, but even one of the sections was a struggle to move on my own, and I couldn't imagine being able to move all four of them plus assemble them. So a few days later s-i-l came round and we got them in and put them together.

The lifting tube has to be able to pivot up to allow the jack under, and down to allow the vehicle to clear them as it is driven on and off. But unless the ramps were very precisely positioned in all three orientations the tube could be very stiff to turn. But R-ing TFM I discovered the tube should have been greased where it passes through the larger tubes under the ramps! So this time I wiggle the one ramp off the tube by dragging each end sideways a bit at a time, then I can pull the tube out of the other ramp. Grease that end, reinsert, grease the other end, then wiggle the first ramp back onto the tube again. Now the tube pivots really easily and is much less dependant on precise orientation.

The ramps are lowered both ends when not in use so I can park one of the cars on them, and that 'raises' (ho ho) a couple more issues. Because the entry end is now about 4" off the ground the manual describes how to make a pair of pre-ramps - easy enough. What's a bit more of an issue is lifting the 'blunt' end of each double-length ramp while you position the support tower underneath it - no easy task. I can get a jack under the end (sides won't work as they are too close to the ground) and raise it far enough to get blocks under, then move the jack round to the side away from where the tower fits while I raise it the rest of the way, but that is a bit of a faff. So various Wallace and Gromit devices are being discussed, one of the maddest being a rope tied to the back of the car positioned just in front of the ramps, run over a pulley on a beam, and down to a hook at the end of the ramp - drive car forward, lift ramp, slide tower under. Split the rope and do both ramps at the same time :o) Another issue is my portable trolley jack will fit under the lifting bar to start the lift, but won't go high enough for the front support legs to lock into position, so I have also made a block to support the jack for the second half of the lift. This has a metal top so the jack can move forwards and back as the lifting arm goes through its arc, but also means the tube has to be supported on axle stands between the two halves of the lift so another faff. There are jacks that both go under the tube in the lowered position and give a high enough lift in one go, so I may invest in one of those as well.

Sunny for an hour or so, then the heavens opened for about fifteen minutes. Down at the start the loss of grip was remarkable, there is a split time 68 feet after crossing the start line, most cars were doing that in 2-3 secs, but a poor Morgan with single rear wheel drive took nearly six seconds! When that stopped we headed for the hill with our lunch, but I wiped the rain droplets off Bee as the sun was about to come out and she would have been covered in white spots. As it was an E-Type in the concourse got spotted very badly. The rest of the day was mostly sunny, a few dark clouds came over, but barely a spot of rain and we enjoyed the day. A mere gnat's gambol at 80 miles.

MG pal Michael Beswick does a track-day from time to time, we have been discussing his suspension for a while, and he wanted to compare my standard system with his modified (parabolics and telescopics). I said we could always meet half-way at Silverstone in jest, and he said he had one booked there, so I travelled down in Bee - glorious weather. Went out with Michael for one session in a borrowed helmet. I was surprised how dynamic it was - tyre-squealing, braking and changing down for some of the corners, and loads of sideways G-forces. Shows just how much grip F1 cars have, and why the drivers necks are like tree-trunks. In the lunch-break we swapped cars for a short test-drive outside the circuit. The upshot is that my suspension is more comfortable for touring, Michaels can be a bit choppy, but Michael's come into its on the track. So horses for courses (sic), and a compromise, hardly surprising on a suspension designed so long ago. Really enjoyed the day, have to take Vee and the ZS one day, just as a one-off, or I'll be hankering after spending loadsa money on engine, steering, brakes, suspension etc. And after having driven an F1 some years ago nothing else could ever come close.

... and finally will be able to get both MGBs in a garage at home. Back garden has an octagonal paved area, and the second part of the postcode has my initials! Can only get Bee in the garage to start with as there are boxes that need to be unpacked ... when we have bought some more furniture, more boxes to go into the loft ... when I have topped up the insulation and boarded it, and all the garden stuff to go into a shed ... once I have bought and built one!

Beautiful morning, dry and sunny. Glorious 'paper run' in Bee. Have to seize the moment when one can, one never knows when salt will go down, like it did the following Thursday night. Roads out-of-bounds now until after some decent rain.

Weather bright, no salt, a bit damp underfoot, but as Vee lives under a carport at the moment and gets wet when it rains that doesn't really matter. A pleasant drive to get the Sunday paper and tour some of the local highways and byways.