4th MR2 BRIGHTON RUN - SUNDAY 4th JUNE 2006
At last!!!
The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and we’re all off to Brighton in our MR2. I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it!
The MR2 Brighton run starts at the Pease Pottage Services on the M23 near Crawley.
On this day, all MR2 owners are invited to join the run, whether a club member
or not, all are welcomed. The run was due to start at 12.30pm but MR2’s
started to arrive much earlier. By the time we arrived at 11.30am to start
handing out the maps and getting people to sign the guest list there was about
20 to 30 MR2’s already in the car park. A fine sight, all lined up on both
sides of the car park and scattered nearby, attracting a lot of attention from
passers by.
It was
difficult to count the final number of MR2s as more continued to arrive until we
were almost ready to leave. We had 34 cars that’d signed the guest book but we
counted more than that. A near estimate would be 40. The Mk2s out numbering
the Mk1s by 4 to 1. Not bad, we were very pleased with the turn-out.
The run started just after 12.30pm. We had the usual difficulty leaving the services
area. It’s impossible to get 40 cars out onto the road all at once
particularly when there is a lot of traffic going past the exit. We recommended
that who ever was in front of the convoy should stop further down the road to
let the main convoy catch up. It worked for a while but cars still got separated
from the main convoy, taking wrong turns at roundabouts etc, taking 10 MR2’s
with them that were following behind, then all trying to turn around again.
Still, that’s all part of the fun of it.
The route from Pease Pottage took us along the Sussex country roads, heading south through Cowfold and Henfield eventually joining
the A23 about 10 miles outside Brighton. We then turned east along the A27 turning south again along the A26 to
Newhaven and then joined the A259 coastal road with some spectacular views to Beachy Head, where we were due to stop for Lunch.
Being a
sunny day, the first sunny weekend this year, all the approach roads to Brighton
were queued with traffic. Very fortunately our route enabled us to by-pass
these queues and we didn’t get held up once.
The first cars to arrive at Beachy Head found that the large overflow parking area where we have parked previously had
been closed off. This caused some concern as to where the hell were we going to
park 40 cars that were all beginning to arrive. Despite the best efforts of one
of the organizers, whose name shall not be mentioned because he is writing this
report, re-directing the cars as they arrived into other car parks and causing
even more confusion, all the MR2’s eventually managed to squeeze into the car
park next to the pub. “So that turned out alright then!” Some people ordered
lunch, others just had a drink, some just went for a walk to the cliff. (Beachy Head
is notorious for suicides) Others decided they didn’t want to hang around for
90 minutes before we were due to leave again and headed for home.
The drive to the Sovereign Harbour in Eastbourne from Beachy Head comprised of a 15 minute cruise along the
promenades of Eastbourne, 30 minutes for those who couldn’t find it! The next half hour at the Sovereign
Harbour was spent taking some more photos of the cars, discussing the day’s events
and saying farewell.
Another
great day out with the MR2’s so thanks to those who came and we hope to see
you again at the same time next year.
By Mark:
Thanks Karl, for giving me a ride in your MR2. I really enjoyed it! We started at Pease
Pottage and set off at 12.30pm. We then all drove down country roads and headed for Beachy Head
and stopped there for over an hour. Then we went to the Sovereign Harbour
where we talked about the day and what we enjoyed and to say see you again next
year.
Pease Pottage
Beachy Head
Sovereign Harbour
