The Bear’s weekend away...............
 

................................ not a mini tour as per normal.

We was invited to attend the MG & Triumph Spares day at Stoneleigh Park last Sunday by the World Wide MG Club, ( only to be found on Facebook). The founder member of the club, Janine, also invited me to stay at her place on Saturday rather than either staying at a local hotel or travelling up on Sunday morning.

Having never been to her house I set the Garmin sat nav up for us to follow. Everything went well till we pulled off of the M5 at junction 9, then the sat nav really kicked in. Evesham’s a nice town, sat nav took me straight through the town centre. After that we ducked and dived down countless lanes, through the mud. So much for cleaning the car the other day.
We finally arrived at Jan’s Place except I had the wrong address. But I was not far off. The lady, who’s door I knocked at thinking I was at the right house, soon pointed me in the right direction.

Eventually I reversed into the right driveway. Jan’s son Rob answered the door and soon the kettle was on. Jan came in from walking the dogs. More tea? Oh! Go on then. I got a guided tour of the house, was shown my room. Got to meet the nutty dogs a Basset Hound and a Yorkie.
Rob was getting dinner ready and showed showed me where she kept the cleaning products for cleaning the Bear. So I got on with that. Soon the Bear was clean.

Dinner was ready, a lovely chicken balti with rice and fresh baked rolls. Dessert was apple crumble and custard.
We sat and chatted and the time soon swung round to bed time. Jan said we had to leave by 07.15 Sunday to meet up with the other show cars. No problem said I. I’m a early riser.

Early riser indeed......................
 

........................................ Jan had to knock on the door twice on Sunday morning to get me to wake up. First time for a very, very long time I have slept for 7 hours straight. Never even got up in the night for a wee.
As I was late I had no time for a shower, not a problem as it was chucking it down outside. Time enough for a cuppa and take my tablets. Then we loaded up Rob’s car, Mercedes-Benz Coupe. Jan was only taking her Chrysler Cross Fire as there were more than enough cars for the stand, plus there was a reserve MG 3 if needed.

We set off for the meeting up point where we found Rick & Deanna, Alison, Keith and Declan, Carl, Paul and Kev.
The cars were. MG ZT, MG F with a KV6 fitted, MG TF, MG F Panther and a stunning Mini Metro aka Rover 100. And so the Bear joined the convoy to Stoneleigh.
Soon at the showground and into our allocated spaces. Then out came the drying off cloths and polishing commenced. The banners were set up, well impressed with them. Might get one for Banana for when she attends the shows in the future.

Then the public were let in. I met quite a few forum members, members from the Kent and Surrounding club, members from what used to be the Halfway House club, 3 members from the North London MG Club put in an appearance. I met two professional photographers and had my picture taken alongside the Bear for future publications.
I chatted to so many people that I only left the stand twice so never really got to see the show properly. All in all a cracking day. But oh so tiring.

The show ended at 16.30. According to Google maps my time home from Stoneleigh was three and a half hours, 205 miles. With our goodbyes and after we helped Jan and Rob to load up there cars with the banners I was off.
I stopped at Valley services close to the M5 to top up the tank. Stopped again on the M5 at Sedgemoor Services for food and a drink. Took my time eating. Time for a wee and then the final leg of the trip.

Very strong headwind on the way home as the mpg dropped off quite a lot, must have been a very strong headwind as not much passed us. Warp Factor Actros was achieved from joining the M5 till we got to the Tamar bridge, only really slowed to Warp Factor Harris50 for the road works.

Time home was three and a quarter hours.

The Bear covered the round trip of 410 miles without a problem. Used no oil or water.
We averaged 23 mpg on the way up but only 16 mpg on the way home.

I’ll post a few pictures up later.

Sounds like a cracking weekend Bob, glad you had a good time.

Was a great day yesterday, the stand received a lot of attention :) was great to see you Bob had been a while, hopefully we'll meet up again at some other meets later in the year :)

Take care,
Rick & Deanna

Just had it confirmed that Banana goes into the paint shop in March, then we will be up to see you for some work.

Sounds good Bob, if you wanted anything done headlights or foglights wise let me know before hand, as I can supply them whilst the car is in the bodyshop, would be safer to fit them then whilst they have the bumper off, than fitting them after the spray work has been done. Might possibly be able to do yellow halos for shows.

Was good to see you on Sunday Bob. The bear looked great. Glad you had a safe and good journey home.