With the boot loaded with the essentials for the day, wellies, umbrellas and rain coats, my husband, son and I left home in the rain at 9am. When we arrived at the Thatch,Broughshane at 9.56am, 4 minutes ahead of schedule, the Rover 100 owner and the Rover 75 driver and his wife were waiting for us and it had stopped raining.
After a quick chat we headed off to the home of the MG ZT and the Allegro, to meet up with their owner and some of his mates. Introductions were made and we had a short chat, before heading off in convoy to Braid Valley, which was about a mile away. The Morris Minor lead the way (with the driver and his wife) was followed by the MG ZT (my husband was driving it), followed by the Allegro (with the owner and his friend), followed by my son and I in our SD1 (with me driving it, the first time I’d driven it in 4 years), followed by the Rover 100 with the Rover 75 (with the driver and his wife) taking up the rear.
Upon arrival at The Sheddings, we were gutted when we were told that the show had been cancelled because the ground was too soft after the heavy rain. The marshals invited us to park up and help ourselves to the tea and sandwiches. We parked, well abandoned the cars, one member commented that it looked like a "British Leyland pile up", and helped ourselves to the freebies and discussed what we were going to do.
The general consensus was that we were out for the day, most of us didn't want to go home yet, after all it was only 11.00am. Options were discussed and it was decided that we would travel to Ballyronan Marina, as there was a show on there.
The Allegro was left home, meaning the Mg's owner was back at the helm and my husband back behind the wheel of our SD1, we were on the road again. The MG ZT lead the way, the driver took off down the country roads like a whippet with the SD1 on its heels with the Ascot and the Rover 75 in pursuit.
 |
| "British Leyland Pile up" at Braid Valley |
The Allegro was left home, meaning the Mg's owner was back at the helm and my husband back behind the wheel of our SD1, we were on the road again. The MG ZT lead the way, the driver took off down the country roads like a whippet with the SD1 on its heels with the Ascot and the Rover 75 in pursuit.
The conversation in our car was the lack of fuel... my poor husband stressed out really badly as the SD1 was getting very low on fuel, so we were hugely relieved when we finally reached a petrol station. With the SD1 refuelled we headed off again. A about a mile down the road my husband realised that the Rover 100 and the Rover 75 were missing, flashing the lights to alert the MG ZT we pulled over and waited for them to catch up. Turned out one of them had gone to use the rest room without us realising and we'd take off without them!
When we arrived at the Ballyronan Marine at just after midday, filled in our entrance forms, handed them in along with the £5 entrance fee and were given a token of lunch, and a token for a finisher’s award before we went for a stroll around the vehicles on display.
When we arrived at the Ballyronan Marine at just after midday, filled in our entrance forms, handed them in along with the £5 entrance fee and were given a token of lunch, and a token for a finisher’s award before we went for a stroll around the vehicles on display.
Our eagle eyed son spotted a Rover SD1 which was parked a few rows away from us. Of course, we made a beeline for it. It was a white 2600 Automatic Vanden Plas in incredibly good condition. It was heavily scrutinised and the overall verdict was that it was a beauty. This was a new car on us, we haven’t seen it any other show over the last 2 years. Over the course of the day we kept an eye on it hoping to see the owner so that we could have a chat, unfortunately, we were unable to catch up with him.
After viewing the cars on display, certain people couldn't walk past the burger stall without buying burgers (despite having stuffed their faces on the free baps at Braid Valley)! We sat around a picnic table and eat the burgers and chatted for awhile before heading for our free tea, sandwiches and buns. Yes the plates were cleared again!
By this time the car park was full, new cars had parked up including a beautiful Series 1 Daimler Sovereign (owned by a member of the Rover 75 and MG ZT Club).
Another walk around the cars was followed by us returning to the picnic bench where we sat and chatted until the end of the show. As always the craic was mighty.
At the end of the show all exhibitors received a wooden plaque as a finishers award.
We thoroughly enjoyed this show, thanks to the good company, the weather behaving itself and the location - on the banks of Lough Neagh.
By this time the car park was full, new cars had parked up including a beautiful Series 1 Daimler Sovereign (owned by a member of the Rover 75 and MG ZT Club).
Another walk around the cars was followed by us returning to the picnic bench where we sat and chatted until the end of the show. As always the craic was mighty.
At the end of the show all exhibitors received a wooden plaque as a finishers award.
We thoroughly enjoyed this show, thanks to the good company, the weather behaving itself and the location - on the banks of Lough Neagh.
No comments:
Post a Comment