ZS ABS and speedo issues.

Roger Parker mentioned a commercial enterprise a long way away from me who says he can do it all, including the OD (which being OK I'll have rebuilt anyway as I don't want that having a problem after the gearbox is done, like I have with the gearbox after the engine was done) once I get the box down to him which means either a very long journey or trusting a carrier.

Then spoke to Clive Wheatley who said he'd heard bad things about that place and gave me the contact info for another commercial enterprise which is local, sounded fine on the phone but quoted half what the other people did. As requested I emailed him detailing the problems and seeking clarification on the price ... and a couple of weeks later have heard nothing - not good.

Then found a supplier of both 1st and 3rd motion shafts - albeit at £600 or so each, so back to the first local chap ... but he's now at his holiday-home in Dorset until March!

A bit of a climb out of the pretty valley by which time the sky was cloudless and remained so, and temperatures very comfortable for the exertion. Good views along the coast of course, but not quite as scenic as round Port Isaac. A steady slog without too much upping and downing to the highest point of Great Hangman, then down a bit and up again to Little Hangman before dropping down to Combe Martin. One of our number was suffering a bit with a dicky hip so skipped Little Hangman and opted to stay in the pub at Combe Martin while we carried on to Ilfracombe. Combe Martin to Ilfracombe is not very inspiring, quite a lot alongside the road rather than on the coast until Watermouth with a cafe at the harbour and a welcome cup of tea. Then more scenic, including an annoying section that takes us 90% the way round a very large field when you can see the exit just a couple of hundred yards away from the entry. Much more upping and downing here, with the dreaded staircases with varying 'pitch' so you can't keep up a steady pace, then down to Hele again alongside the road. From there it's a choice of 3/4 of a mile by road round Hillsborough hill to Ilfracombe, or 1000ft up to the top and back down again over the course of a mile. Having come this far we might as well, and what a slog that was. Staircases most of the way up, a bit better down, and get back to the B&B at about 6pm. So eight hours with few stops and 13 or so miles. We two get into the V8 and drive to Combe Martin to pick up No.3, then on to Hunter's Inn with one of them squashed in the back to pick up his car!

Next day I head home while the other two have other plans. Miss the petrol station in Barnstaple so have to carry on at a reasonable pace wondering when the next station is, and it's a local independent where I have to pay top whack. Oh well, it's only money. On the way coming off a roundabout I end up behind a huge wagon with a very tall flat back that seems to come down much lower than normal, and I realise the low-pressure area behind it is sucking up dirt and stones from the road surface that I'm driving into even at the slow speed we are still at. So drop right back, but not before a stone hits the windscreen and goodness knows where else. Stay several hundred yards back until there is an overtaking lane, and at last I can get my foot down. 420 miles and no problems ... except a couple of days later I get in the car to see a crack in the windscreen going across from my side! Oh well - again - I fitted it myself a couple of years ago so I can weigh-up the cost of a new screen against the excess and risk someone else scratching my new paint as happened before. If it's going to happen I'd rather it was me than a so-called professional.

We stayed at Supreme Inns, Bicker near Boston. Our room was much more basic than that depicted on the website - more like a Premier Inn, but as we would only be sleeping there for one night or two at the most on another occasion it was fine. The bathroom was getting a little tired in terms of the age of the fittings, but perfectly clean. The staff were really nice and the restaurant excellent with a decent choice, very quick service and good quality. Breakfast buffet was again good, with some of the nicest scrambled eggs from the buffet I've had anywhere.

Started the run under clear blue skies from Threekingham which the locals know as 'Three Kings' - said to refer to three Danish kings killed in a battle with the Saxons in about 680. Or not, depending on who is telling you. Organisers very friendly, some runners and riders around us less so as a friendly greeting on our arrival was ignored. But we are used to that. As with the Yorkshire Pudding Run we had signed up for bacon baps to keep back for lunch. One of the smallest runs we have been on, no list with the route book but we were all on one side of A4 when checking in. It started off as 'the slooooow run' as with four hours to do 70 miles some seemed to be regarding it as a regularity trial, not helped by a cyclist holding us up for one of the longest stretches at 2.4 miles of single-track. Despite that we travelled through lovely countryside and villages, changing from flat open fields to the rolling Wolds travelling south towards Uppingham, then back up to Belvoir castle. Encountered a closed road very near the end, not helped by an incorrect instruction, with cars going in all directions. But a map was included with the route, I reckoned I could tell where we were, and a straight on then left turn would get us back on track, and so it proved. Parked up at the castle but having visited Belvoir before we just strolled down to the public car park and cafe for a cuppa - the castle tea rooms were aimed at people taking afternoon tea at £30 per head! Strolled back through the gardens, not very impressive or well kept, glad we hadn't had to pay to get in at £12 or £18 for house and garden. By around 3:30 we ready to mosey home, still good sunshine so top down and deliberately routed via Nottingham again as madam sat-nav prefers A46, M69 and M6. Good journey back, even the M42 was behaving itself for once. 270 miles and no problems, just a couple of squawks from the clutch pedal again as back in May, after nothing on the 400-miler in July.

As each aircraft had to be towed to the end of the runway and run up I was wondering how much hanging about there would be, but apart from the Victor which took about an hour it was well organised with large-model flying displays in between each run. One of those was a Lightning which probably should come under the category of 'Very Large Model' as it was almost big enough to seat a small child. Taxiing down for its turn and take-off it ended up against the crowd line with someone racing down to retrieve it. It then took off but with some very strange attitudes, then banked across over some tall trees and out of sight. It momentarily appeared at a very steep angle, and moving away rather than climbing, and that was the last we saw of it. Subsequently discovered in a field some miles away, we were told.

Blisteringly hot, and the journey back up the M6 was notable for a half-hour hold-up, which in Vee wasn't much fun. I'll probably go again but the Navigator said she would rather see them flying.

As for the run, initially it was 'the humps run' as there were about five very slow miles of them soon after starting and another stretch later on, by which time it had become 'the convoy run' as with no indicated places of interest we just bunched up stuck behind some people travelling very slowly rather than pulling over and letting others past. Not good with 160 cars on the route! It was only late morning mid-day when people were stopping for coffee and then lunch, and others going off-route for some reason, that we found ourselves blissfully alone in the Dales proper so stopped and had our own lunch break, and fortunately by now the rain had stopped so we did get the second half the run and back to the B&B top-down. Lunch was bacon baps handed out at the start and wrapped in foil if you weren't going to eat them before the start - something we had never considered before as with weekends away we always have a hotel breakfast so have always turned them down. After the breakfasts we had this time we initially didn't think we would fancy them but took them anyway, and they were very enjoyable by lunch-time. We shan't be turning them down again! A bit further on we crossed routes with The Pennine Way near Malham where there was an ice-cream van, with a couple coming away with polystyrene cups of tea. Only ice-creams priced on the outside but I asked anyway, "I'm not really doing teas, but never mind" and that went down well too, with a break to stretch our legs with some walkers interested in the car and what we were doing. A good varied route (bar the humps ...), having done runs in the Dales and the Pendle a couple of times each in the past we did wonder if we would be retracing our steps, but all new for us in the western Dales and eastern Lancashire. A big plus after some of our complaints recently was some nice long inters (only 15 under one mile and three of those were the last three), where there were two turns in quick succession they were given as one instruction instead of two, and no unnecessary ones like every cattle grid despite a number of them on the route - New Forest take note!

We stayed at The Craven Heifer at Kelbrook and it was superb. Attractive outside space (sadly too wet to enjoy) and buildings with very modern rooms. Friendly and efficient staff, the food was fantastic, probably the nicest we have had anywhere in terms of choice and presentation as well as flavour. Very generous portions and the breakfasts were enormous, probably double what we have had elsewhere, it defeated The Navigator on the second day and I had to skip the extra toast and marmalade.

Fortunately travelling back on the M6 it was sunny and very warm so Bee dried out all bar the furry underside of the hood and the spare wheel cover, where the occasional drip comes through the boot lid badges in persistent rain when parked. 435 miles with no problems apart from having to spend about nine hours of them with the hood up.

PS: Given the amount of rain, flooding and damage to roads etc. since our return we probably got away lightly,

An ideal location to leave the car behind next day and do a circular walk down to Port Quin, along the coastal path to Port Isaac, then back to the hotel. Loads of film vehicles in the farm just down from the hotel, and Martin Clunes ('Doc Martin') and 'his' son and dog doing some publicity shots in Port Quin harbour. Port Quin is the anglicised name for the village, the old Cornish is 'Portwen', which is the TV name for Port Isaac of course. Port Quin is just a cluster of houses round the harbour, no commercial activity at all despite some holiday cottages. Then climb up onto the cliffs for some superb views of the coastline. Weather not too hot which was just as well as there is always quite a bit of upping and downing along the North Coast, but we have all day. Great views coming into Port Isaac, and more filming, the last few scenes before the school holidays and the hordes descend. Location spotting round the village, have a cup of coffee on arrival, then a bit later a cream tea at The Slipway, both very good. On the harbour a father was just handing an ice-cream cone to his daughter and down swooped a seagull and scoffed the lot - daughter was not a happy bunny!

Next day drive to Tintagel and its 'King Arthur' connections, but what a disappointment that was. Basically just a T-junction with the visitor centre, King Arthur's halls and The Old Post Office, with a church and ruined castle nearby - and the castle was closed for renovations. Several huge car and coach parks, I can't imagine what they all find to do, I don't suppose many walk far. Still we were there for the walks, and had a pleasant circular over a couple of hours, and a cup of coffee. Only mid-day so moved onto Boscastle. A much nicer place (despite too many people with handfuls of dogs) with very scenic village and harbour entrance, we strolled out to the cliffs at the harbour entrance and spent a very pleasant half-hour sitting up there in the peace and quiet, and more glorious coastal views. While there I realised that the cluster of white 'buildings' we've been able to see in the far distance since we have been in the area is the GCHQ listening station near Morwenstowe we walked past on our previous visit in 2016. Back to the village for another cream-tea, then the hotel.

Next day pack up and head for home. Pretty hot now, and traffic worse in several places than when coming down. 520 miles and averaged 31mpg overall, the only 'wrinkle' being one corner of the rear bonnet insulation that had started to come down recently had got much worse, so needed sticking back.

Another first-timer, and one I'd been wanting to do for a long time. However a little disappointing in that the route did not actually get to the sea, and up on the moors low cloud meant for some of the time there wasn't much to 'sea' up there either. But still an interesting and varied route, with some pretty challenging hairpin bends up steep hills. Route book was just text - no tulip diagrams or inters which I had to do myself, something we haven't had for a long time. One of the benefits of the area is that virtually every junction on Dartmoor has a name, on the upright of the signpost, and included in the instructions so it was crystal-clear that you were at the right junction. We spent a fascinating hour in Dartmoor Prison Museum which has loads to see, and good value at £3 each. Mind you, if you don't get out of the car park by closing time you are locked in! Top-down about half-way until we ran into rain, and even though it brightened up later we were a bit cold so it stayed up. Lovely cream tea at the finish, and friendly people.

Much easier trip home - just over 3 hours in one go. 465 miles in all, with a bit of a squawk and vibration at the clutch pedal on two occasions (once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is ...) in the hundreds of clutch operations that is part of a run like this, so something to keep an eye on.