Final Post

Back to reality today and back to work, the intention was to round off the blog over the weekend after catching up with the children and friends but, good company, good weather and good beers put paid to any free time. So here we are on Monday and last post on this particular blog, our friends and family have enjoyed the blog which is gratifying, Josh my nephew, particularly enjoyed the blog and thanks for all the texts while we were away. In total we cover 2,479 miles in the TVR, we used about £600 in fuel, averaged 24 mpg on the motorway’s and the car did not miss a beat, only faults with the car was a loose boot catch and the fuel gauge played up slightly. Apart from that the car stayed on tune, coped well with the heat, the mountainous roads and altitudes. The hood stayed down from the moment we left Aberdeen on the 16th until we returned to the UK on the 25th, with 200 miles from home the hood went up. We were fortunate to have clear runs up and down the Alpine roads, the weather was perfect throughout the holiday and the road conditions were spot on for the runs up and over the Stelvio Pass. We met some great people, stayed in some great places, saw some breath taking scenery and experienced some of the best driving roads in Europe, including the Top Gear best driving road. The question is can we top this trip, to be honest I doubt it, we will do it again but we may try Scandinavia or we may venture further in France and drive over the Millau Viaduct. However the plan for the next break is something slightly more leisurely!!!!
So I guess this is the end, attached some details of the route we took and a picture from Saturday evening catching up with friends. Thanks for reading our blog, we hope you enjoyed it.
Hamish and Katie

Ma Foot Ma Foot !!!

Good evening and welcome to the final part of this blog apart from a synopsis entry tomorrow. So we are now back on UK soil feeling slightly older and wiser for our trip and in my case I (that’s Hamish) slightly errr wider. Anyway after another fine meal on the ferry last night we ventured to the ships casino and rapidly lost the grand sum of £30 at pontoon within 10 minutes, hence my philosophy of never gambling, it was not even entertaining so I guess we will never be professional gamblers. We then ventured to the show bar and fortunately the band were slightly better than the band on the way out although I came close to throwing myself overboard when they played ‘Show me the way to Amarillo’. What saved me was the prospect that the ship’s bingo night was cancelled due to lack of interest! However we were entertained by two school trips of 1st year’s students from Glasgow (lucky the car decks were locked as I suspect we would have found the TVR on bricks come the morning) and one from Bradford. We had a good laugh with the teachers while the kids hogged the dance floor and those teachers were in the need of Alcohol but unfortunately they had to patrol the corridors during the night. Katie was itching to go on the dance floor so after the sleepy children were herded off to bed we enjoyed a good few dances and ended up going to bed much later than planned. We arrived in Hull to sunshine and clouds and headed north, smuggling in contraband Belgium chocolates filling the boot! The further we ventured towards Scotland the weather worsened and for the first time in 2,200 odd miles the hood finally went up as we met heavy rain at Scotch Corner. We are now in Moffat, a place I holidayed many years ago with my parents, nostalgia had taken over as I wanted to stay here as I have fond memory’s of being here with Mother and Father, the trauma of Mother buying her first sheepskin coat, well it was the 70s and now the shattered illusions of why Moffat got its name. As a child I remember legend had it that Moffat got its name because the Devil stood on a hot rock and he said Ma Foot Ma Foot but alas I cannot find any reference to it which is disappointing. However we are staying in a nice Hotel called the Black Bull, the hotel dates back to the 1500s and Robert Burns penned ‘On a window sill’ here, now I am not sure if that is one of his pieces or he was staggering by the hotel and penned a note on the ‘Window Sill’ OK I jest I am a philistine.
Not a great deal to see here but beautiful countryside and a perfect rest stop for us as we are now beginning to feel the effects of a terrific holiday. We did find and amazing sweet shop with the jars of hundred’s of types of sweets that you used to be able to buy as a child, of course the sugarholic Katie was in heaven so perhaps Moffat does retain a certain magic!
Now we are just polishing off our wine and it will be time to hit the hay so goodnight all
Katie and Hamish

Ps. Clare we hope you got your present(unopend)!!

Brugge and homeward bound

Hello everyone, we hope this update finds you all well and sorry for missing yesterday’s blog. We arrived in Brugge late PM having blasted up from Strasbourg in, yes you guessed it, sunshine, an alien concept if you reside in Aberdeen!!! However, we hope it will hitch a lift with us and we can bring some of the warmth to Aberdeen.
So last night we walked around Brugge and found our bearings taking in a few sights, this was followed by a leisurely dinner and this is where the combination of very good food, wine and company led to last nights missed blog. Once again we fell lucky with an excellent hotel in the heart of Brugge. This morning we left the hotel and parked the car in the centre and continued our exploration of Brugge. Firstly we took a boat trip around the canals but alas no anecdotes from this trip but we did stumble across a guy playing bagpipes!! This was followed by the highlight of Katie’s trip, a chocolate museum, very interesting apart from the hoards of women cooing over the delicacy and bored men. We watched a chocolate making demonstration with Katie right at the front drooling, the demonstrator went through the making of Praline filled chocolates and at the end we were given one of his chocolates, however total disaster struck for Katie as the filling contained nuts so with tear filled eyes she had her chocolate to me, BONUS !!!
We then headed to the Belfry, a 360 step climb to the top of the tower, with Katie dragging her heals in protest we arrived to find it closed due to a strike, a BONUS this time for Katie so as compensation we had a beer. After lunch we carried out some retail therapy and headed towards the ferry. We are now checked in and dinner is booked in the restaurant so tomorrow morning we arrive back in Blighty.
The last update will follow tomorrow so now we are going to sit back and relax in vain hope the ships band is a different one from the cheesy group that played on the way out.
See you soon
Katie and Hamish

Strasbourg, it's hot, very hot !!!

Hello to everyone, once again I am getting to write the blog!!! Think the driver is too tired - only joking!! Started off the day to blue skies again, 21degC at 9.30am!! It was a very hot drive to Strasbourg even with hood and windows down we were sweltering, can only imagine temperature was well up in the 30’s. Was so glad of any stops just to let some air circulate, nothing worse than sitting in leather seats at high temperatures.Got to Strasbourg, eventually found hotel after satnav took us up and down the street 2 times. Hotel has garage but Hamish wanted to park car himself, even though the garage man has probably parked hundreds of nice cars, so I waited about 15 mins for him to come back. We then dumped our bags and went to find a pub, in need of some refreshments!! Walked round the old city and visited Notre Dame Cathedral. Then went on a boat trip round the city, learnt a few interesting facts.

History of Strasbourg
- sauerkrauts come originally from China
- bagpipes were the most popular instrument until the 1700’s
- the national anthem was written in Strasbourg as a marching song for a war against Austria

Getting back to Hamish world - we have seen Porsches, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, mustangs, etc, but no other TVR’s and still getting thumbs up from other continental drivers So back to the real world, this evening we walked to Petite France and had lovely meal by the river (check photo) accompanied by a bottle of local L’Alsace sparkling wine followed back by a meander back to the hotel. Overall, it is a very mixed city some very old buildings and some new horrible ones (European Parliament !!!), I guess just like any other city.
Tomorrow on the road again, up to Brugge.
Wait for next update
Kate and Hamish
PS: Hamish uploading here, Note Katie has finally found a wine container to satisfy her thirst!!

Chamonix - Monte Blanc

Hello to everyone – this update is from the non car addict (Kate) because today has been absolutely nothing to do with cars!!! In fact the car is tucked up nicely in the garage and hasn’t seen daylight. It has been a very exciting day. I have been taken to heights I never thought I would ever reach (literally – higher than the clouds)!!!

Yesterday was very tiring day as covered approx 400 miles, a lot at low speed as was very bendy!!! Hamish drove for about 13 hours with a few pit stops and we eventually reached Chamonix about 10pm, so had a nice long lie this morning.

Woke to brilliant blue skies and temperature soared to 30 degC. First port of call food then we headed for the train station and travelled up Le Montenvers to see Mer de Glace. It has shrunk a lot over the years but still very impressive especially as they have caved into it and you can walk inside it, pictures show all. That ride was quite easy compared to what came next. We then went up a chairlift, which wasn’t too high and came down on the toboggan run, it was ace but unfortunately I had to slow down because the people in front were going very slow!! Still got to the bottom before Hamish!! The big trip came after lunch. We got a cable car up a very steep mountain L’Aiguille du Midi. This cable car is renowned to be the scariest cable car ride in Europe. It is in 3 parts we only did 1 and 2 but that still took us up 3777m (very high) and very snowy, check pics. Mont Blanc seemed very close but probably was still thousands of metres away.

Relaxed in hotel with swim and sauna before going for a nice meal. Tomorrow we are back in the car!!!

Kate and Hamish

Passo Dello Stelvio

They say ‘A picture paints a thousand words’ So, no ramblings just pictures of the 400 miles covered today from Wiesen to Stelvio to Chamonix, plus the cheesy tee shirts Nite all Katie and Hamish

Sun, Alps and Tunnels !!!

Well not sure how the weather is in Aberdeen, Lowestoft, Bradwell, Turkey or Dubai (OK the latter is sunny !!) but here it is another fantastic day and life does not get much better than this if you’re a bit of a petrolhead !!! So a couple of things, Carol, I hope your birthday went well, Lynne, cheers for the text, see you the kiwi and maybe Nic for a few beers Fri 27th. That is if you mix with us mere mortals after your TV appearance!!! Well after a few too many glasses of wine last night we left Colmar this morning to head into Switzerland, pretty much uneventful for a few miles until we crossed the border, after finding our way through Zurich we headed for the Alps. As a side note I am amazed by the reaction of people who see the car, granted you expect kids to wave etc but guys working on the roads, lorry drivers, you name it, thumbs up, waves and smiles has greeted us. Anyway, the further we ventured into Switzerland the more tunnels we came across, now if you are not of the TVR persuasion this will mean nothing to you but boy what fun (see video), further into Switzerland we saw the Alps in the distance. Although the majority of the route was motorway it was a great drive but once we turned off for Wiesen near Davos the roads became your typical alpine route of hairpin bends, shear drops and breathtaking scenery. Note the lack of pictures here, Katie is not good with heights!!! We are now at out Hotel (Another great find), that is perched on a hillside overlooking the valley (last picture), the blog has been composed slightly earlier today as we are sunbathing although I am slightly shaded as I have caught a bit too much sun. Plus I had to purchase a hat today for the car to protect my baldy patch or commonly referred to by Cameron, my monkey bum!!! Temperature is in the 30’s and the same is expected for the Stelvio run, we plan for a hotel meal tonight, early night and an early start. Next update tomorrow Take care Katie and Hamish PS Slight technical hitch with video but hopefully I will upload it soon