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Hills Dales and Passes - 8 & 9 June 2019
Story Jim Paterson, Pictures Jim Paterson, Colin Stewart  19
starters arrived on a damp, cloud covered morning at the Gretna Gateway
Outlet Village for the start of our two day adventure across the Hills,
Dales and Lakeland Passes. The
signing on was held at the Costa coffee shop where the team at Gretna
had put on their selection of coffee and bacon
rolls for the crews, while the organisers Rona & Karen setup the
signing on. Crews got to grips with our new style roadbook with
gazetteer, designed by Dave Spence who puts in the hours to produce not
only a great route, map and tulip diagrams, but what to look out for on
the way. The drivers briefing, normally held outside near the cars,
was held in Costa’s restaurant this time, to keep us dry and
warm.
First
out the blocks was Brian McGarrie and Sheila Anderson in their 2004
Mini Cooper complete with go faster stripes, which make the car look
great. Next on the line was  Graeme
and Stuart Sheridan in a 2002 Porsche Boxster. Like most their soft top
was securely up but ready to lower if the weather improved. Ian Lindley brought his '99 Lotus Elan M100, with the new face of John Blacker in the left seat. Another Porsche, the 1983 911 Turbo of Joe and Hazel Norman roared off past the starters flag.
Great
to see Dave and Anne Scott again in their '85 Golf GTi. We met them at
the Solway Lodge on the Friday night, along with George and Elizabeth
Ferguson in their '78 Dolomite Sprint. Hard to miss in its bright
yellow livery, a welcome ray of sunshine on this dreich morning. Colin
and Anne Stewart brought Anne's Audi TT, the E-Type   being
a bit low for the passes, and the XK120 probably not too watertight.
Four wheel drive would be a bonus later in the day.
Ranald
Bruce was in his recently purchased '97 MGF with Louise Wall. We last
saw Ranald in the car on the Border Reivers that he and Louise
organised as our opening event in April. The 1960 Mini of Chris and
Mary Paton is always a highlight to see. Complete with twin webers this
car is no slouch when it comes to progressing swiftly.
Talking
of swift cars, Adrian and Sam Harper brought a 2018 Jaguar F-Type. This
black beast sounded fantastic as it wound up the revs up  and
took off. Great to see Richard and Yvonne Bartniczek, this time in
their '98 Alfa Spider, first time this year, looking in top
form. Ron and Jan Adam brought Jan's 2013 VW Golf convertible, though
top securely in the raised position for today. Ready for all weathers
was Mag and Don Campbell in their '71 Range Rover Classic, a change
from the 328 Ferrari. A wise choice given how low the Ferrari is and
the amount of water we would meet on route. Mag told me that this is
her 'shopping car' at home. Well where they live outside
Inverness 4WD is a necessity at times.
 Pulling up the rear were Roddie and Sylvia Main in the '95 Mercedes 320SL. We were really, glad to see them, with a  late call nearly forcing a rain check. Jock Millar and Linda Telford brought the Peugeot day car, as gearbox gremlins on Jock's
'65 MG Midget are driving him crazy trying to fix. If its an MGF with
the top down, regardless of the weather, then it has to be Tom and
Marianne Dromgoole in their 2001 'mildly' tuned version....
The crews
soon met challenges due to the
heavy Friday / Saturday overnight rain. Standing water in hidden dips,
and swollen fords were just some of the features on route. We were soon
over the border into England heading south east, over Hadrian's Wall
and up into the North Pennines.The scenery is outstanding on a good
clear day, as it was when I did the recce a couple of weeks earlier,
but though wet at least the mist had not descended.
Through
Alston to Barnard Castle then up into the Yorkshire Dales National
Park. Many blind summits on narrow roads with water filled dips on the
other side meant a keen eye at all times for the driver. The real
challenge came at Bleaberry Gill ford. On the recce run it was a mild
trickle, today it was more of a torrent. The Bartniczek Alfa  drowned
out and needed to dry out on the other side, and my MX5 came out in a
cloud of steam, fortunately only from the exhaust pipe. The Sheridan
Porsche Boxster broke their exhaust and continued with slightly more
roar than they would wish for. The Harper's F-Type decided, quite
rightly, not to chance it and rerouted. The ford was also used on the Endurance Rally Association 2014 Flying Scotsman, and features
in the opening credits of the first episode of All Creatures Great
and Small in January 1978, with Robert Hardy and Christopher Timothy.
You can watch it https://youtu.be/m6aquEsK_JQ . The countryside still looks the same today, 41 years later!
 We
progressed through the National Park, crossing the River Ure at
Aysgarth Falls, where we met some of the cars at the nearby Coffee Shop
for a bite of lunch. Thanks to Colin Stewart for walking all the way to
the Falls to get this photo!
Fully refreshed we continued
our tour through the Dales National Park, through Hawes where the
Wensleydale Creamery makes that wonderful cheese made famous by Wallace
and Grommit.
We were making our way west to our
overnight, passing through Sedbergh, Kendal, Ambleside, Keswick, to
Cockermouth. passing alongside Lakes Windermere, Grasmere, Thirlmere,
Derwentwater, and Bassenthwaite.
All arrived at the Cockermouth Saturday finish
Headcount
to make sure we had all arrived, including the Sheridan's who had
managed to find a Kwik Fit fitter to repair the Porsche exhaust. Top
marks for ingenuity.
Day 2 - Sunday 9 June
Lined up ready for second day start
 Regathering
at the Auction Mart on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning we set off for
our foray into the Lakes and the main 'Passes' part of the event
title. The route length today was shorter but the challenge
greater.
We headed out of Cockermouth, taking the country lanes
back toward Keswick, then into the Honister Pass, our first of the day.
Great to have the sun in our face, and the soft tops were all down and
the sunglasses on.
 We passed the Honister Slate Mine, now a Café stop, passing Lake Buttermere, and Crummock Water.
A call from Ranald and Louise with bad news. Clutch failure alongside
Derwentwater had forced them to call the good old RAC. Loss of
hydraulic fluid would be the problem and a top up got them started.
Ranald took the option to head for home, probably wise, as another
failure on top of the Hardknott would not be funny!
The rest of
us were heading down the west coast of England passing Sellafield
nuclear power station in the process of being decommissioned.
Passing Ravenglass we swung east at Muncaster Castle,running
alongside the River Esk. Just how many Esk's are there? We have one
too, near our house south of Edinburgh.
 Soon
we were climbing the Hardknott Pass. With a maximum gradient of 1 in 3
the Pass reaches a maximum elevation of 393 m (1,289 ft). Meeting
traffic coming the other way at one of the many hairpins makes for
challenging manouveres to avoid hitting a rock. Getting a puncture up
here is no fun. The Pass also descends steeply, again at 1 in
3 into the Duddon Valley. Selecting a low gear took the strain off the
brakes.
 With
Pass number 2 in the bag it was onto the Wrynose, between the Duddon
Valley and Little Langdale. Gradients a mere 1 in 4, so getting a
little easier, but not a lot. The top is at 393m or 1,281 feet,
only 8 ft lower than Hardknott.
 Back
at civilisation at Troutbeck it was on to our last pass of the day, the
Kirkstone Pass, highest in the Lake district at 1490 ft, with 1 in 4
gradients in places. As a main A road it is easier than the single
track Wrynose and Hardknott Passes.
 A pleasant easy run east
toward Penrith and the Rheged Centre where we all gathered for our
finishers meal, and swap tall tales of our adventures over the past two
days.
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Updated 16 July
2019
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