Mizen to Malin '03

[Willie M]

Still sad that Uncle Bonnie Scotland was arrested called away at the last moment :( but I'm off to Ireland tomorrow folks :cool:

I'll be calling home occasionally so Linda might update you with my progress around the Emerald Isle.

Now be good children, and play nice when I'm away :clown:

Now where did I leave those clean pants???

[Monsta Mo Mini]

Make sure you take plenty of pics and write a witty and amusing diary of the trip for publication in events. That way we can all laugh at you getting lost when you run out of road signs (as they appear to have done in the far west).;):D

[Wul]

With all that guiness flowing Willie - you'll need more than clean pants ;)!!

Have a GREAT time and don't forget to take the bank cards/cheque book/ credit cards/ piggy bank incase linda gets the urge! ;)

[Gismo]

Sniff sniff, i'm not annoyed cause i'm offshore, sniff sniff, i'm absolutely gutted :disapprove:

Bonnie Scotland

[Linda M]

Quick update, I've had a really busy day with Willie's money :D:D

He left at 11am this morning heading to Stranraer for what he said was a very 'impressive' ferry. Crossing was fine but Stouffer was frightened. Willie and Cammy spent the whole crossing eating and playing arcade games :clown: Arrived Belfast and drove to Dublin where they are now sitting eating 'again' in a Little Chef :p

[Linda M]

Willie was on the phone earlier. It's taken him an hour to drive 33 miles, typical Irish roads :eek:

[Monsta Mo Mini]

quote:
Willie and Cammy spent the whole crossing eating and playing arcade games :clown: Arrived Belfast and drove to Dublin where they are now sitting eating 'again' in a Little Chef :p


Now there's a surprise...;):clown:

[Linda M]

Took them 4hrs to get to Cork. They registered and left at 4pm for the first phase, 100 miles to Mizen Head.

Incidentally, the first guy he met had Daisy's double only with the JCW conversion! He's one of the organisers and owns a garage, Willie said he was raving about the kit which makes me feel a bit better about the delay :D Willie also said that there were a fair few MINI's and he was quite surprised. There's an American journalist come over to do a feature on the run and he's getting a JCW 'S' to drive.

Everyone he's met so far has been real nice, sounded like they were enjoying themselves anyway :)

[Linda M]

Ok, the first phase took them to Mizen head for the 'official' start of the run (5pm).

80 mini's registered and he reckon's there's about 10 MINI's so far. Some folk are joining up on route. Willie says there are some real 'smashing' mini's there (funny I was thinking about taking a run over to minimart tomorrow, just to look of course :D) !!

So they're now at the hotel in Glengarriff where there is to be a briefing at 9pm. Tomorrow it's a 5am start :eek: They covered 270 miles over the day. He said that as expected some of the roads are unreal. Folk are great though :)

[WFC]

quote:Willie says there are some real 'smashing' mini's there (funny I was thinking about taking a run over to minimart tomorrow, just to look of course

So Willie will find another car in the drive when he gets back then! I've heard about you and your "just looking":)

[Linda M]

quote:Originally posted by WFCSo Willie will find another car in the drive when he gets back then! I've heard about you and your "just looking":)

Ah well you see Euan, we've actually been to minimart a few times but Willie keeps telling me that we can't have anymore cars :(
I'm not a good listener though :D:D:D

[Gismo]

3 cheers for Linda, as if it wasn't bad enough me not getting to the ireland run cause i am working, i can just log on here every day and get a running report :dead: :)


:D:):cool:

Bonnie Scotland

[Linda M]

So far all I've got today is that they were in Galway in the middle of nowhere, having a great time though and it's a nice day :cool:

He's tried to phone a few times but we keep losing signal :eek:

At one point though he did happen to mention that there were a few pints of Guinness involved in last nights briefing ;)

[Linda M]

Just caught up with Willie.
Fantastic day, 10hrs to cover 270 miles :eek: Left Glengarriff headed up northwest coast through stunning scenery. Stopped at Cliffs of Mohar (beauty spot). Travelled through Galway and Connemara, they have now stopped at the Hotel in Westpoint for the evening. Meeting a lot of nice friendly folk.

Alan, I think you lucked out cos he reckoned your car might have been to low for some of the roads, real Irish tracks !!!!

[Linda M]

News Flash !!

American journalists flew in this morning. Guy takes the hot seat in the Daisy double JCW, goes too fast and loses it on the bumpy Irish tracks ends up in the verge bursting both passenger side tyres :eek:

Woman takes control a neat silver ONE and drove it straight into a parked car :eek: Willie is currently outside in the car park taking note of the damage :I

It's been another great social evening, once again with plenty of Guiness but my darling husband has assured me he's now off to bed as the day is catching up ;) Hmmmmmmm, should I believe him :question:

[Gismo]

Linda, had i been with Willie he would have been tucked up in bed long before he said he was.

Bonnie Scotland

[Linda M]

Just what I thought Alan ;):D

[Linda M]

Bit late due to forum problems.

Last installment for the final day yesterday, Saturday. AidenL Joined in for todays leg. Rained most the day. They covered 310 miles once again in about 10hrs taking them through Sligo, Donegal, out to Malin head, down to Londonderry. Got a good few convoys going and the driving was real fun.

There was a big dinner event in the evening and it was about 3am before they got to bed !! Great night. Willie reckons over the 3 days there must've been about 200 folk, needless to say he only managed to meet about 25 of them. He's totally exhausted and glad he took a spare driver along with him but having said that he said it's been fantastic and can't wait 'til next year, looks like he's going back then. Aiden put a few pics up on the MINI2 thread for anyone who would like a look.

By the way, he's home now and we're going out for lunch :D

When we get back I'm going to have to get him booked in for 'colonic irrigation' to get all the Guinness out of him :eek::eek::eek::evil:

[Gismo]

Phew, glad i didn't go now, sounds like Willie didn't enjoy himself :evil: and he went to bed at 3am, i wouldn't have lasted the pace and the weather was crap ;) What me jealous :eek: no way :clown:

Bonnie Scotland

[Willie M]

Aye, you missed nothing Alan ;)

Made it home to Falkirk around 9.30pm last night (Sunday), total mileage for the trip (door to door), a whopping 1338 miles. Boy was it worth it though :cool:

Many, many miles of fantastic driving roads and some truly stunning scenery. Thursday and Friday were glorious, Saturday got a bit damp <ahem> but it in no way detracted from the fun :)

A truly great event, very well organised and a friendlier more welcoming bunch of folks you couldn't hope to meet. Just over 80 cars registered on the run (included 10-12 MINI's).

I'll be working on a wee travelogue over the next few days, I'll send you off a copy Monsta ;) Hopefully get something up on our own wee site too at some point.

Would I do it all again:question: ..... 'course I would :):):cool:

Willie
(away for 'another' wee lie down) :sleepy:

[Willie M]

Finally got a wee resume up on minibuzz.com. If anyone's interested you'll find it (+ pictures) under Mini Adventures :)
When uncle Calum gets back might get something up on NMS too.

[macblob]

Theres a bit about the run in the august editon of mini magazine :)

Quote " As well as the S Works and my car , there were about 10 other new minis on the run, including one from Scotland."

Na pics of ur car in the report though Willie

You must be getting camera shy

:D

[Willie M]

Thanks for the info macblob, I'm hoping to pick up a copy today. I normally get Mini Mag and Mini World most months anyway. I met the guy who was doing the report over there, cannae remember his name just now but he was a nice fella.

Camera shy? Me? ;):clown: