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Tour O' the Cairns - 5 May 2012
Report by - June Anderson
 The
morning of the Tour O’ the Cairns broke clear and cold –
not like May weather at all. Douglas decided to take the Triumph
Herald Coupe along as it is now running really well. We set out
and arrived safely at an old CCHMSC haunt for the ‘signing
on’ and Start.
Some of you will remember that the
Panmure Arms Hotel was the traditional start and finish venue for the
Angus Classic and in the more distant past had been a traditional
stopping off point in Scottish Rallies. The staff welcomed us
back with the customary tea and bacon rolls.
The morning
section of the Tour took the 32 entrants from Edzell out past Edzell
Castle and through little used roads firstly through the lovely Angus
countryside including past Lintrathen Loch, and up through Glenshee to
Braemar for the lunch halt. The route check questions, in
addition to the Tulip Roadbook, kept the navigators on the ball
while the country roads with their usual hazards of tractors, mud,
cyclists, wild animals and even a fast flowing ford, kept the drivers
busy. The weather was very pleasant when the sun was out but when
the clouds came over, there was a decided nip in the air.
 At
the afternoon re-start in Braemar crews were given their instructions
for the afternoon. This year the challenge was to drive from
Braemar to Edzell using the roads closest to a number of spot heights,
which all had ‘Cairn’ in their name. Once the route
had been plotted, the cars had to follow their route back to Edzell and
hand in a tracing of their route to the organisers. This tracing,
along with the answers to the route checks and a tie break were
scrutinised to determine the winner of the Navigator’s
challenge.
The cars started to arrive back before
4 o’clock in anticipation of the High Tea at 4.30. Nearly
everyone was back when we got word that David Allan’s
Marcos Mantis had lost a wheel on the Cairn O’ Mount and 4
good Samaritan crews had stopped to help. They managed to get
back to Edzell safely in time to get their meal and re-tell their tale.
The
prize-giving saw the very unusual Pemberton Grasshopper of Tom Rae and
Neil McIntosh awarded the ‘Spirit of the Event’ for
overcoming some problems with the car and for their cheerful endurance
in a very open, open car in the wintry May weather.
 The
Concours prize was won by Jason Black and Neil Murray in an immaculate
Triumph TR6, which looked as good at the end of the event as at the
beginning. The ever popular Competitor’s Choice was close
run, with 9 different cars nominated, but in the end the Jaguar XK120
driven by Colin Stewart with navigator Anne Stewart was a clear
winner.
The final award, the Navigator’s Award
once more came down to the tie-break as a number of competitor’s
all had full marks for the questions and correct route tracings.
The winner was Hazel Dewart in the Marcos Mantaray of Alex
Sneddon. She completed the phrase ‘I like the
Navigator’s Challenge because…..’ with the
catchy phrase ‘ … if I win it I will give the organisers a
fiver.’
 Everyone
agreed that it was a good route, interesting challenge, great High Tea
and excellent company. Thanks to Chris and Gillian who made the
trip to Braemar as course car and handed out the afternoon
instructions. Thanks also to the competitors for making it such a
good natured and enjoyable day.
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| Updated 6 May 2012
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