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

Le bon soir nos amis et notre famille

Hello all, hopefully some of you (Including my sister) will be reading this on the 19th June, which means it’s my sister’s birthday. So a very Happy Birthday Carol, no jokes about age etc but hopefully see you in August with Cam and John. By the way Carol is in Dubai and once again the Aberdonian in me is saving the price of postage by using the free blog to wish her a happy birthday.

Today’s update, well arrived in Zeebrugge, a cheerio to Dave, Sue, John and Linda (Thanks for the tips by the way) and off the ramp and down the road to Colmar. Hood down all the way and the further south we got the hotter it became, 5.00pm it was 30 deg in Colmar, glorious. After checking in we wandered around historic Colmar stopping at the odd establishment for light refreshment!!! Colmar is beautiful, amazing buildings and history (see pictures) and has retained many of its original features dating back to the 15th century without succumbing to modern plastic shop frontages etc. So armed with the Lonely Planet guide we looked for an authentic Alsace restaurant, after a bit of searching and going off the touristy beaten track we found ‘La Table Du Brocanteur’. This place houses only 20 people and in all honesty is used more by the locals than tourists, but between our very pathetic French and the owners much better English we ordered some amazing food accompanied by the local Alsace wine. If in Colmar this is a must, a real find, all the food is fresh and locally produced, and the husband and wife team are fantastic, a real highlight of the trip so far (Last two pictures).

Overall today’s trip has been fantastic, some great roads up and over mountainous areas, fantastic scenery accompanied by clear blue sky’s, tomorrow we head to Davos in Switzerland, fortunately a shorter run than today so we can have a bit more of a relaxing day before the main event, come rain or shine we are determined it will be great.

The bottle of Vin Rouge beckons so see you later

Katie and Hamish

Beverley to Belguim

Firstly we thought we would add a personnel touch to the blog so hello Tony and Eleanor, sorry we never added a picture of the Todd clan to the blog last night, slight technical hitch. Oh and thanks to Peter/Clare and the children for the hospitality plus, bonus!!! Meeting a fellow England fan within the Todd and Butler household, my only task now is to steer Kirsten away from football and introduce her to the virtues of rugby!!

Secondly the intention was to limit the blab bla bla about the TVR’s but as usual I have failed errr miserably, but once again more of that later.

So today, woke to a lovely morning, we visited Peter’s latest project house he is renovating, boy, I thought the TVR was a labour of love (Sorry there I go again!!) but very impressive and a lovely house, I believe there are hidden treasures in the overgrown garden. Later Katie and myself headed into Beverley where we were met by our own resident tour guide, the prom queen, aka Marianne, who showed us around a few sites, thank you Marianne. First impressions of Beverley are it is a lovely town, a pleasant place to spend time, although it seems to have a disproportionate amount of pensioners. It was like being in god’s waiting room, ohhh there goes Mabel, one less for bingo tonight!!!

We then headed to Hull, carried out some retail therapy and had a nice lunch near the waterfront prior to checking in for the ferry. With limited facilities at the terminal we settled down in the car for an 1 ½ hour wait in the queue then in my mirror I spy a light blue classic TVR followed a few minutes later by a beautiful 3000S. Of course it would have been impolite not to go and chat and we ended by whiling away the next 60 odd minutes chatting to Dave, Sue, John and Linda. OK non petrolheads switch off, the light blue car was an 1800S, but with a difference, restored 18 years ago the car sported not just an 1800ccMGB B series engine, but also a supercharger, what a beast. The 3000S has a turbo charged V6 ford unit under the bonnet giving well over 240bhp at the wheels. Both couples are heading to Zolda and will be rendezvousing with other TVR drivers tomorrow including a contingence from Aberdeen, aye the Brits are coming. As you can now imagine next years trip to Europe in the TVR is in the planning!!! Although after seeing these cars I think a decent paint job and new leather interior is required.

So we are now heading to Belgium in the ferry, Pride of York, compliments to the guys loading the car’s on the ferry, they took great care making sure the car’s spoiler cleared the ramp, unlike some people we know hey Andy !!!! Plus another bonus, a complimentary mini bar in the cabin but with a drive beckoning in the morning I must be sensible. Anyway we have just had a nice meal in the Langan’s Brassiere popped up to the show bar and walked out after hearing the band (very loose term) playing ‘Sweet Caroline’, headed to the piano bar, with a pianist who made your eardrums bleed so a swift nightcap and off to bed.
Due in harbour at 8.30 hopefully on the road for 9.00 and onwards to Colmar.

Goodnight all
Hamish and Katie

The road to Beverley

Day one of the holiday starting with a 400 odd mile blast down to Katie’s sister Clare and her husband, Peter, in Beverley in Yorkshire. Katie could not understand why a 9.00am start needed a wake up at 6.30; however all became apparent after I spent a good hour or so trying various combinations of suitcase arrangements in the TVR to squeeze Imelda’s sorry Katie’s bags into the car. So 8.45 we head to the garage to squeeze as much fuel into the TVR as possible plus a few extra pounds into the tyres for the additional weight we are carrying!!! 9.00am on the road, hood down and it stayed down all the way, weather was dry all the way and sunny on and off. Pretty much uneventful journey, the TVR ran like a dream, pretty good mpg at errr 70 to errr 80ish plus VAT!!!. Anyway few hundred miles into the journey I begrudgingly handed the keys to Katie after running the cars on fumes as long as possible. Note video, Lewis Hamilton would have had trouble keeping up with Katie once she got her hands on the TVR!! We arrived in Beverly and met the Todd clan, Katie’s sister Clare, her brother in law, Peter and children, Marianne the oldest and recent Prom queen, Kirsten, the clone of Steph or vice versa, and the wee toot, Caroline who is sporting a broken arm after doing an unsuccessful Torvil and Dean in the kitchen. Good food, good wine and good conversation but a shame this is a short visit as tomorrow we board the ferry to Europe. Time for bed Hamish and Katie

The night before

Holiday eve, it was a night before the holiday and not a mouse stirred in the house; basically they have all done a runner as Katie is busy packing or should I say panicking!!! But more of that later!! Hey I have just stood there and analysed the contents of Katie’s suitcases so you’re not getting off Scot free.

But first things first, the TVR is all set to go, the car has been dragged into the noughties with the satnav fitted plus the glovebox is full of chargers for camcorders, phones and camera’s. It’s all nice and shiny and looking very patriotic with its mats, so tomorrow at 9.00 we hit the road via a quick top up of fuel, Oh talking of which, guilty as charged I errr had a panic moment Friday, I heard there was panic buying due to the four day fuel strike and thought I better panic as well as no way come Monday was I going to be without fuel, suffice to say thinks seem calm in Aberdeen.

However talking of real panic, the packing. So members of the jury I present the evidence, note the picture of bags, note the single bag to the left, which contains all the necessary clothes for the holiday. Now note the accused bags, all three of them to the right. When questioned the accused stated that she wanted to be prepared for the weather. Now bearing in mind we are talking Europe the accused has packed for the blizzards, rain, tornado’s hurricanes you name it there is a packamac, galosh’s, snow boots and bikini just to cover all eventualities plus every type of shoe from welly boots to sandals. Maybe Katie has watch too much Doctor Who and thinks the TVR is the Tardis but it’s going to be a long night.

On that note my friends I shall close

Goodnight
Hamish and Imelda Marcus (aka Katie)
PS Added a picture of the TVR returning home to Blackpool (And a camera adds 10lbs to you !!!)

Firing on all eight cylinders

Another post that will appeal to the petrolheads !!! much to our relief I found the cause of the car running not just right. In my last post I mentioned that it just did not feel or sound right and of course typical bloke my mind started jumping to conclusion. Just like a man cold is the worst disease on earth, the car’s poor running was a burnt out valve, piston rings, a new engine required or even worse, doing the Stelvio pass in a rental Astra !!!

However taking a pragmatic approach I thought I would check each cylinder by checking the spark plugs, first 4 were fine showing nice combustion but number five was fouled. It was actually as I removed the HT lead I noticed a split in the recently fitted HT cable, a quick change of the lead, new plugs all round and the TVR was back on tune. I also added a new fuel filter, checked the timing and now everything is back to normal.

Less than a week to go now !!!
Hamish and Katie

Sunny Sunday

The countdown continues, a week to go, few touches to the car today with the aid of a helper, Brunel. At two years and nine months Bru has reached the why stage, every sentence or statement is met with ‘why’, or if I am doing something on the car, ‘I need screwdriver or I need spanner’ !!! And a ½ hour job turns into a two hour job as I install something and Brunel rips it out to have a look, that’s my boy huh !!. Katie pitched in fitting the headlamp deflectors and casting an expert eye over the positioning of the Ecosse sticker, Nic, when in Rome as they say, but I bet my mother will now want one for her Golf !!

Anyway the car, well after the rolling road and a fantastic drive home I seem to have a totally different car, it just does not feel right or sound right, bleedin gremlin’s, maybe paranoia but I think I will have to investigate this issue. I am also planning to run it all week to work and I may have a trip down to Dunfermline this week so will take the BBW for a final shake down, if that does not transpire, Saturday will be a boys day out with Brunel and we will take the car on a good long run.

Next scribble will probably be later in the week
Bye Hamish and Katie

Rolling Road Day

Today was rolling road day to set the car up, after reworking the fuel system and fitting a new distributor I wanted the car set up under load to gain optimum performance for the European trip. I’m sure many of you will skip this page including Katie who so kindly highlighted ‘that meant nothing to me’!! after I painstakingly explained the virtues of setting up a car on a rolling road.

Now where did I put my anorak!!!

Anyway moving on! I used Wallace performance in Aberdeen that has a four wheel rolling road set up, apparently a very accurate rolling road. For the tests we decided to limit the max revs to 5,500 rpm, although it revs up to 7,000 rpm it really starts running out of steam about 6,500 and secondly for normal road use I change up before the 5,500 rpm mark. Furthermore TVR claim the car is 275 bhp at 5,500 rpm, hmmm! But in reality other owners have quoted figures between 210 and 240 bhp at full revs.

On the first power run fuel and timing was checked giving 200 bhp, this at first seemed low but it was in the region of what other owner have quoted if I had used full rev range, so that was fine. For the second run the timing was adjusted and fuelling was left as it seem fine although there was a spike in the fuelling at 5,200 rpm, just a blip in the power band. After adjustment of the timing a 10 bhp gain was made at up to 4,000 rpm giving much better torque, upper bhp was more or less the same although the fuelling spike remained but not really noticeable.

Prior to the trip I am going to fit an adjustable fuel pressure regulator and do a filter change to try and smooth out the fuelling spike at the upper rev range, apart from that and a decent clean and polish the TVR is ready for the trip to Europe.

Cheerio
Hamish & Katie

T minus 12 days

Well 12 days to the offski, I am still getting to grips with the blog and trying to work out how to upload videos. Apprehension is there but hopefully after the rolling road set up tomorrow I will be a bit more comfortable with the TVR and the trip, well they say life is an adventure !!! Anyway I have had a think about contingency plans and if it goes pear shape with the TVR we will just rent a car although going through the Alps in a rental Vauxhall Astra does not have the same appeal. However we could always rent a mini and pretend we are Michael Caine and Margaret Blye from the Italian Job, (Cameron/Joshua) that's the real Italian Job and not the pathetic American attempt at a remake.

So back to the trip, well friends in Aberdeen have been bored to tears of my ramblings on about the pass and my insistence on showing the top gear video but for those who have escaped my grips and my family here are some links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMEON6bivZs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelvio_Pass

And finally, just in case the Stewart clan are wondering who this strange woman is who is touring Europe with me and undoubtedly fighting me every inch of the way for the TVR keys, here's a pic of Katie.

Bye
Hamish and Katie

T minus 14 days

Hello everyone, first post on our blog created for our European tour in the TVR 400SE or commonly referred to by TVR wedge owners, a Big Bad Wedge hence the BBW Acronym !!! An addictive car, not the most modern but probably one of the best sounding TVR's, it may be 18 years old but it brings out the little boy or girl in you when you drive it. To prove a point, Katie prior to driving the car was 'Oh a car is to get from A to B' however after a 650 mile round trip to a dance competition I managed to get behind the wheel for ohhh about 150 of them !!! a demon was born on that trip !!!

So the trip, well, like many, Top Gear and their trip through the alps prompted the must do trip. Katie and myself have planned a route, leaving Aberdeen, down to Yorkshire, over to Belgium then a blast through europe down to drive the Stelvio Pass (If open) and around the Swiss, Italian and French alps.

To date the ferry, hotel's etc are booked and the TVR has been prepared, this Thursday a final set up on a rolling road in Aberdeen. Going all techy as well with camcorder and camera's so we can hopefully keep this blog going to show our friends and family our progress on a daily basis.

As things have come together a mixture of excitment and apprehension is building, will the car make it, will the pass be open and more to the point will Katie's nerves survive the 49 plus haripin bends and shear drops !!!

Updates will be sporadic for the next few weeks but hopefully I will capture some pictures of the TVR on the rolling road for my nephews.
Bye for now Hamish and Katie