NORTH EAST MEETS NORTH WEST LAKES RUN SUNDAY 7th DECEMBER 2003
We did this trip last year and couldn't resist
another crack at it again. The lakes this time of year is more spectacular
than any other time on the calendar so it was another couple of emails to Ryan
Kevan the North West organiser to see if he would be interested in another
joint meeting of our two highly charged regions. The good thing about the
north west region is that they are a real enthusiastic bunch of people and
like nothing better than getting together and helping each other out, they
really are a model for all of our regions to follow their example. This of
course is much to the credit of north west founder Ryan Kevan and the
assistance of Gary Brown and Wayne Duncan.
So we set a date, arranged a meeting place,
which was again Faulty Towers AKA The Glen Rothay Hotel in Ambleside. The ride
down to the hotel in the late morning to meet up was absolutely breathtaking
and somewhat surreal. It was a cold, crisp, sunny winters day with no wind at
all. The reflection on the lakes projected a clear, sharp mirror effect of the
dramatic surroundings which was unbelievably stunning. We arrived at the hotel
just as the north west region were arriving, perfect timing. We had pre
arranged a room all to ourselves for dinner and it was nice to see that the
hotel had recently been renovated to a more contemporary feel. So it was
Sunday lunch for 27 people please!! The food was good and everyone mixed
together and got on really well, again I tried to plug Le Mans 2004 as much as
possible which seemed to get a lot of interest. Already 3 couples from the
north west have committed themselves to the trip next year, come on the north
east you are letting me down.
Now for some reason the new look Faulty Towers
revealed a more sinister side to its new flooring, ceiling and fancy walls,
spotlights, not on the walls but in the floor. Now I'm not technical but these
things give off a lot of power and get rather hot, unfortunately Sharon
Richardson failed to observe this minor heat source revealing itself from the
flooring and accidentally placed her nice leather handbag over it whilst the
meal was served, oops, big mistake, here we have for auction a rather nice
leather bag with a big hole in the bottom!! I'm sure if you all have a little
whip around you can buy her another one for Christmas.
After lunch it was off to the car park to look
over the cars and take a few pictures. After this we left the hotel in a
convoy of 16 MK1s under the trusty supervision of our club guide Mac
Sheavills. Mac took us on an amazing run through the tight and twisty
Kirkstone pass followed by an excellent photo shoot opportunity. From here we
glided down to Pooley Bridge where we stopped off for a now traditional
Christmas drink. By 4pm it was almost dark and time to bid farewell to
everyone. After a few rounds of Merry Christmas and Happy New Year the north
east headed off in one direction with the north west in another. It was great
to see everyone again, I almost feel like we are family. Its always a cracking
day when north east meets north west. Hope to see as many of you at the
national Christmas party on the 29th.
Michael Sheavills
