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The Fourth Grand Cape to Cape Tour 2007.
Entrants (in starting order):
01. Roger Gould / Terry Davies 1932 Austin 7 Ulster
02. John Hankin / Dick Burge 1951 Jaguar XK120
03. David Bull / Angela Riley 1983 Rolls Royce Silver Spirit
04. Carey Carnell / Terry Penny 1953 MG TD MK2
05. Rob, Carol, John & Peta Kiff 1955 Citroen Traction 11B
06. William Cadbury / Colin Francis Volvo Amazon
07. Peter Hickman / Joan Hickman 1960 Austin Healey Mk1
08. John Parish / Janet Parish 1960 Austin Healey Mk1
09. Roger Cantrill / Toni Cantrill 1961 Jaguar XK150
10. Graham Clapp / T. Toraasen 1963 Jaguar E Type
11. John Ellis / Jayne Ellis 1964 Daimler Dart SP250
12. Carolyn Purdy / Brod Purdy 1966 Porsche 912 SWB Coupe
13. Roger Bricknell / Trevor Annear 1966 Triumph TR4A
14. Mike Baker / Maureen Baker 1967 MGB Roadster
15. John Rondeau / Linda Rondeau 1967 MGC Roadster
16. Seumas Cowley / Jill Cowley 1967 Jaguar E Type Series 1 Roadster
17. Julia Bricknell / Kathy Tomes-Nicholson 1968 MGB GT
18. Roger Hoskin / Shirley Hoskin 1969 MGB GT
19. Nick Seaton-Burridge / Rob Nolan 1969 Jaguar E Type Series2
20. Richard Uren / Barbara Uren 1972 Morgan 4/4 Roadster
21. John McDonald / Patrick Gundry 1972 Reliant Scimitar SE5
22. Paul Bloxidge / Judy Bloxidge 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera
23. George Tabbenor / Michael Hinde 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera
24. Mike Barker / Gina Barker 1975 MGB GT V8
25. Derek Clark / Steven Clark 1968 Jaguar E Type Drophead
27. David Morris / Jennefer Morris 1982 Mercedes Benz 500 SL
28. Sarah Hawkins / Annabelle Bennetts 1985 Citroen 2CV Special
29. John Harrison / Catherine Harrison 1986 Aston Martin V8 Vantage
30. Dave Rae / Jim Rae 1988 Porsche 944 Lux
31. Andrew Collins / Susie Collins Porsche 911 Carrera
32. Steve Hale / Pat Hale 1990 Porsche 944 Turbo
33. Peter Hoar / Lesley Hoar 1989 TVR Chimera
34. Paul Edwards / Marjorie Edwards 2001 Morgan Plus 8
35. Tim Cook / Liz Cook 2002 Morgan 4/4 Le Mans 62
36. Peter Davies / Liz Davies 2003 Mazda MX5
All ready to go...(Photo: R Lander)
It was originally planned that we would start from Cape Wrath in NW Scotland and end with a trip around Cape Clear off the southernmost coast of Eire. But like all plans, things sometimes get in the way of successful completion. RAF Tornadoes were using Cape Wrath as a bombing range and mist enshrouded the finish venue…but in between was a triumph of organization and meticulous planning. Maps were specified but the whole route could have been followed directly from the well-presented ‘Road Book’. As in previous tours, and I speak as a newcomer to the Cape to Cape fraternity, there were many stings along the way with manned secret checks and unmanned passage checks to catch the unwary…or even the over confident. These occurred throughout the tour and the lack of the correct answer or stamp meant the miscreant’s wallet was lightened by a further donation to Macmillan in the way of a small fine. At the end of the tour, only three crews had managed to outwit the organizers by being completely clean.
Why we did not start from Cape
Wrath. (Photo: D Greenslade)
The 1932 Austin 7 Ulster of Roger Gourd and Terry Davies led away from the Durness Golf Club premises just before midday on 30 April, followed by 34 crews in classic cars and ‘modern’ classic cars, some of whom were regulars on the Tour trail and some, first timers. One of those following the Ulster was the 1966 Porsche 912 of Carolyn and Brod Purdy on their first Cape to Cape Tour. The first half of the route took crews from Durness to Scourie, Clashmore. Lochinver, Ullapool on some very narrow roads where two cars could only just squeeze past, before cutting across to Inverness (our first night stop) where all entrants had a set aside car park reserved.
Outside the hotel in Inverness.
The second day’s route took all crews from Inverness to Gourock (where many engines and exhausts were rebuilt prior to the Irish leg). The first ‘sting’ was the old hill climb route just south of Loch Ness off the B 852, known as the ‘corkscrew’. where a stop-start sequence on an extremely steep hill climb course caught out a number of crews with less than perfect handbrakes. After that disastrous section (we slipped down the hill, ever so slightly, but were fined for our mistakes) we all congregated at the ‘Bothy’ in Fort Augustus for a very welcome cup of coffee and rest. The route then concentrated on main roads to the Dalwhinnie Distillery where some managed a tour and others a visit to the shop here some wallets were lightened. Another quick section along the A9 before turning off and heading south over Glen Errochty, the Tummel Bridge and picking up the River Lyon at Keltneyburn where we followed its northern bank. Here some confusion arose as to where the correct route should have taken us, for the maps had no road connecting Pubil to Kenknock. On the ground was a road built by Scottish hydropower to connect their two reservoirs…and we took that, eventually. From there we went straight to the ‘Rest and be Thankful’ hill climb course…now fairly rough. Just as we were about to start, a loud bang and a cloud of black smoke came from the rear of the car so I decided discretion be the order of the day and I cruised up the hill…registering a very slow time. At the top, I pulled in to find petrol pouring out of both carbs…not a good sign. This caused a very gentle run to the hotel at Gourock where a spanner managed to stem the flow.
From the hotel at Gourock crews headed towards Cairnryan for the evening ferry to Larne. Unfortunately an accident on a main road that we were planned to take had been closed by the police, so a straightforward drive down main roads took us to the start of the meat of this day’s tour… some ‘easy’ tulips through the Carrick Forest and the fells east of Girvan . Not quite so easy when a ‘Hairpin right at T’ was actually a ‘slot hairpin right’. So we missed it and had eventually tom retrace our steps…but picked up the route and the passage checks, so all was not lost. The ferry trip was a ‘quiet’ affair with many discussions about the morrow’s regularity sections. From Larne we just drove straight to the hotel outside Antrim.
The Tour at Cairnryan. (Photo: P&O
Ferries)
The following morning, we all headed away from Antrim towards the Giant’s Causeway via a secret check and hill start near Torr Head, missed by seven crews including ourselves (bad plotting by the nav!), and then through Coleraine (with difficulty), across the Bann, over the Sperrins, and into Eire over the Foyle at the Strabane / Lifford border. From Lifford we drove through some very familiar territory from my university days in Londonderry (Magee University College for those who remember it): Raphoe; Convoy; Ballybofey and Stranorlar. A slight mistake in the road book had us slightly worried as the instruction read 3.1 miles to a junction when the distance was more like .31 miles! However, we found it and took the correct route along the banks of the River Reelan to Glenties where the route check asked for the date of a memorial with a violin on it. But as the wording was all in Gaelic, we still do not know the relevance… And then on to Donegal for the night stop via the Blue Stack Mountains and some pretty rough roads. The following day’s route was fairly straightforward: through Sligo and over the Ox Mountains to Ballina and then along the shores of Lough Conn to Castlebar and Westport to a pre-arranged lunch halt in an Irish pub where we all foregathered to start the first of two regularity sections on the Connemara coast…the cause of many a furrowed brow during the preceding evening. Both regularities were short, the first with a simple speed change, and both with secret timing checks (aka IRTC) along the route. This was to be my first regularity as a navigator and all was going well until, at a junction, I zeroed the trip…and then to compound matters, the stopwatch failed to start when we reached the speed change. (Must do better!) However, the second regularity was far better and we were only two seconds down at the final timing point. Our route to the hotel at Kiltimagh took us past the Ashford
Castle, now a hotel, just outside Cong where we all met up for coffee and buns. We had our own cordoned off car park…but Carolyn decided to drive under the cordon, rather than round it…
But tiredness was beginning to set in…
Unfortunately the running of the Killarney Rally of the Lakes, an Irish Tarmac Rally Championship event, compromised the route for the following two days. However, although well known roads around the Dingle Peninsular and the Ring of Kerry were unavailable, the route was just as challenging as we drove along the southern shore of Galway Bay to the Burren Perfumery where husbands were expected to allow wives to dip into the former’s wallets...but as Carolyn had the money, that was no problem! The next part of the route took us over the Burren, a geological attraction that is made up of limestone pavement and very bleak, and on to the coast road via Black Head and Lisdoonvarna, and on to Ballybunion via the coast road where crews we discovered a very cold pair of marshals manning a very wet and windy secret check. The previously sub-tropical weather was beginning to change.
Our final day dawned wet and windy…the previous days of glorious sunshine and sub-tropical temperatures had changed into the standard west of Ireland dampness. Again the route was straightforward with a direct route to and through Tralee and on to beyond Killarney where, owing to a rare mistake in the road book some crews, ourselves included, overshot a ‘slot right’ described as a ‘right at T’ that ultimately took us down a narrow road on which was a secret check. After the secret check we headed for Kenmare and the Caha Mountains to drive over the Healey Pass. And what an incredible road it is too. All we needed to do now was drive to Baltimore through Bantry and Skibbereen…except that Bantry was celebrating something or other and 1200 walkers, joggers and runners took up most of the road through Bantry and forced all traffic to reduce speed to less than walking pace….the in-car atmosphere was not exactly calm as we had been told that should we miss the ferry, we could not be classed as finishers.
We made it with ten minutes to spare, to find that the organizers had extended the ferry’s departure by fifteen minutes. Standing on the poop deck of the ferry, lashed by wind and rain, we saw Cape Clear in the mists off the southern coast of Ireland …and formally completed the Tour.
At the Gala Dinner in the hotel that night, beautiful Waterford crystal mementoes were handed out to each finisher, awards to those who raised the most money for
Macmillan Cancer Support and one or two ‘specials’. The final figure raised has yet to be
finalized, but could be in the region of £70,000, of which Carolyn and I managed to raise £1700.
2008? Cape Cornwall to Cape Ferret is going
ahead. I for one cannot wait. And we shall continue to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Dave and Jim in Dave's nicely prepared Porsche 944 Lux
Dave Rae
It is with very great sadness
that Carolyn and I learned of the untimely death of Dave Rae, one of the
participants in the Fourth Grand Tour in his Porsche 944 Lux. Navigated by
his brother Jim, Dave completed the Tour whilst undergoing treatment for
terminal prostate cancer. This did not stop him being as competitive as
only he could, in fact he was awarded the 'Spirit of the Event' Award by the
organizers.
Carolyn and I felt privileged to
have met him and whilst he will not be with us on the 2008 Tour, he will in
spirit. To Jane, his wife, and Jim and the rest of the family, we send our
condolences.
'Requiescat in pacem'
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Pastiche by Brod 
