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Crofterra Pandemonia - 10/11 September 2011
 The
Crofterra once again brought smiles to all those who joined this tour
around the Highlands on Saturday and Sunday 10 and 11 September. Some
30 crews turned out, less than in past years for reasons we found out
later, but they were in for a real treat.
Dave
Spence and
Roddie Main must have had something to do with the design of the route.
Joining the Trans Alpina tour to the Alps in October, along with other
classic crews from across Scotland, they built in some testing ascents
on roads a lot of us didn't know existed, as a bit of practice for cars
and crews for the big Alpine climbs we will visit.
With
the
remnants of hurricane Katia forecast to hit Scottish shores over the
weekend of the rally I was a little apprehensive of how the Sprite
would manage, though it has survived a tropical thunderstorm heading up
the Turini on the last Trans Alpina. I had no need to worry, while the
central belt of Scotland was plastered, where we went the Sprite drove
under blue sky. This meant the hood down for most of the two days. If
we did catch a shower we simply drove a little faster!
The
450
mile route from the more familiar start at Fairways in Inverness took
us south west to Drumashie Moor to head over the Garbole road up by
Creag a Chlachain, our first climb over the tops. Reaching Tomatin we
were given time for a quick blart down the A9 to the Carrbridge turn
and along to Grantown of Spey. Keeping to the side of the river Spey
you could almost smell the whisky, well those of us who had tops that
could be removed. At Knockando My navigator, Dan Scoular and I was
sorely tempted to call it a day and park up at the distillery, but it
was a bit early. The route took us to Forres via Dallas, not the one
with Southfork ranch (showing my age again), and once again up the
climbs by Drynachan Lodge and Balmore reaching Cawdor Castle on the
other side.
The Sprite had been fitted with a new
sumpguard,
thanks to Charlie Donaldson who arranged the welding of a
couple
of the fixing brackets. Bought from the Midget Guys in
Northern
Ireland, this guard is custom designed to cover the vulnerable exhaust
pipe exit from the engine bay to the underside of the car. It worked so
well at one point we thought we had a puncture as we were on the guard
so often. But it was simply the roads, testified by meeting one of the
mini crews looking for a jubilee clip to tie their ripped off rear box
back on.
You probably have heard the story of the
Tortoise and
the Hare. Well we were the “tortoise” was the
Sprite and
the “hares” were the minis of Gary and Derek Bates,
Willie
Preece nd Graham Sommerville (Hawkeye), Scot McQueen and
Andrew,
together with the "Rothmans" Mk2 Escort of Roy McQueen and Ali Leatham.
We would meet them time and time again as they pulled over for a
“refreshment” break, only to catch us up later. I
lost
count how often we had to pull over as they suddenly filled the Sprites
rear view mirror.
 From
Cawdor we headed back to the A9 and north over the Kessock Bridge
toward Cromarty. Another good climb out of Fortrose toward Raddery. At
least one first gear hairpin bend. Thought we would have to go up in
reverse it was so steep. And people live up there. How do they get out
in the winter snows?
We continued hugging the Black
Isle coast
to Cromarty and along the Cromarty Firth and over the Conon Bridge to
Allness. Taking the “high road” B9176 across to
Bonar
Bridge passed some stunning views. A loop around by Little Torbol and
to reach Dornoch ended our first day.
Organiser
Charlie Campbell
had arranged a Hogroast on arrival at Jimmy Macdonalds croft Ceol na
mara. Jimmy has been on previous Crofterra's in one of his many Alfa's.
By now the sun was at its warmest, making a real feature for the end of
the first day. We even managed to have a pre-dinner pint outside at the
Eagle Hotel in Dornoch.
As usual the evening was
lively and
after such a long day most retired about midnight, but I heard the
“hard core” managed to 2.00am.
 After
a really bright start the clouds boiled up but the rain kept at bay for
the official restart from Dornoch town centre, waved of by Provost
Yvonne Ross.
Gerry Robb's Ford Victoria hot rod
was still
going strong, despite having no side panels covering the engine. We
were expecting the rain showers to short the big V8's spark leads, but
we were proven wrong. Crews had the option of going to see the Sprint
at Golspie, or continuing the tour route, or any mix of the two.
Dan
and I headed for the Sprint, never having seen the Golspie
circuit. We arrived just in time to catch Charlie Donaldson do the
sprint in his Mk1 Cortina. With well over 200bhp on tap this car does
not hang about. He took second in class, missing the class win by only
2 seconds. A wide selection of machinery from saloons to almost GP cars
took part, one of which Allan McKay on the PA system reported that it
does 0 to 100 in 2.6 seconds. That's what I call eyeball popping speed.
Allan spilled the beans on how the Crofterra
numbers were down.
The Sprint date had been slipped form its usual date of the 3
September, by a week to accommodate a competitor who wanted to run the
Merrick Stages on the 3rd. This robbed the Crofterra of entries that
like to do both the Sprint and Crofterra, having to choose one or the
other. What really upset Allan was the competitor in question did not
take part in the Merrick! It did however give Dan and I a chance to see
a really good Sprint in action.
Along with the other
crews who
took the “Sprint” route we headed of to re-join the
tour
route heading west to Ullapool. The forecast was grim, with Katia's
heavy rain and high winds due over Ullapool on the Sunday. After
filling at Lairg there seemed no sign of rain so we tempted fate by
dropping the top. A call in at Shin Falls for a coffee found a few
other crews with a like mind. We took some time to view the falls and
the salmon jumping. For all the footage of video not one appeared, then
of course when you stop they all jump. I'm sure one laughed at me with
a silly smile!
 Superb
views of the distant mountains appear as you drive Glen Oykel, with a
stunning run into Ullapool. And it was sill sunny above us.
We
were now on the final leg back to Inverness via Beauly and
Drumnadrochit. The climb out of Ullapool was long and steady and kept
pushing the Healey down the gearbox, making Dan and I once again smile.
We
met one of the Rolls Royce clubs outings. A 1936 Barker bodied
Landaulette Limousine, parked in a layby. We chatted with the husband
and wife crew, who mentioned that it took £40 of fuel to get
from
Perth to Inverness earlier in the week! As we headed south, they headed
north, with her ladyship taking the wheel.
We could
see the
black clouds gathering but thankfully the route kept us under
reasonably dry skies. We missed out the Black fold loop along the side
of Loch Ness, and found our “hares” waiting for the
mini of
Scot McQueen which had boiled on the climb and was cooling on the top.
Making
it to Inverness we picked up the hares after missing our turn through
the town. Working out that they knew the short cut I cut in on them at
traffic lights and followed the group straight to Fairways, just in
time to pop the lid on before Katia hit us good and strong.
A
great evening followed with plenty banter and a great charity prize
draw with so many prizes I thought they would still be handing them out
at breakfast. Not one in there for me unfortunately! Hawkeye just about
emptied his new "hipflask" though just how many times it was refillled
over the weekend remains a mystery.
Looking forward
to 2012
event when hopefully dates will not clash and there will once
again be a full entry for this blast around the Highlands..
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| Updated 16 September 2011
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