In Closing

In closing......

We would like to finish by thanking all those people who made this a most enjoyable and memorable trip.

We travelled approximately 3,200 miles (5,300km) in the Speed 20 in 7 weeks. As did Alan and Noeline in the 12/60 and David and Kaye in the Firefly, a huge endorsement of David’s preparation of the cars. And, of course, all the Alvis (approximately 15) who travelled to the Shetland Car Show and then the Register weekend in Perthshire did similar mileage with, as far as I am aware, only minor problems. No doubt many of the other cars and motorcycles which made the journey to Shetland did similar mileage.

We used approximately 1,100 pounds worth of fuel and averaged 16mpg, a figure that I considered quite reasonable given the size of the car and relative ease with which it climbed the many hills we traversed. Our worst mileage was 12.8 on the day we climbed into Ben Lawers and through Glen Lyon and spent a fair while in first and second gear, our best was 21.8 when cruising along relatively flat “A” roads at about 50mph.

As many of you are aware, this is our second trip in search of the Puffin for Maritta to fulfill one of her "bucket list" ambitions, neither has been particularly successful (and of course it hasn’t been the sole purpose of the trip either, by a long way). So we present below our meager attempts at photographing this elusive creature (most of the photo’s taken by Kaye as she was the only one who could see the little fellow.)

Day 48/9 2-3/7/16 Manchester Airport, Hong Kong, Home

Day 48: Flying from Manchester to Hong Kong then Melbourne

We were packed and ready by about 9am and with the plane leaving at about 12:30 we had plenty of time.  Claire spoiled us with a lovely cooked breakfast - we could get used to this in the mornings.

The extra time this morning was good as we both had to almost empty and re-pack our carry on luggage when we went through security, Maritta with two candles (OK) but they wanted to look at them, and Dale with the multitude of wires and cables and 2 Alvis mugs (couldn’t see through the bag).  We also had 2kg of excess baggage (which we had to pay for!), not sure where that came from as we tried to keep things to a minimum.

Dale had to empty bag again at Hong Kong for the same reason apparently. Apart from that, the flight went well and we landed in Melbourne around 9.40pm. After collecting luggage and getting the car which was parked of site, we finally got home around at around midnight.  We both were now clogged up with colds!! But very glad to be home.  Taffy greeted us - think he was over being alone.

Manchester Airport, waiting for a plane

McFritz and Maritta at Manchester Airport

Interesting Cloud formations near Hong Kong

First Glimpse of Hong Kong

View from airport across harbour Hong Kong

Rain front sweeps across airport

Approaching Melbourne - home....yay....

Day 47 1/7/16 Back to Warrington (UK)

Day 47: Back to Warrington

Had a lovely cooked breakfast with David and Kay using the new frying pan.  It worked a treat. 

Claire and Norman arrived around 11am to take us back to Manchester and the start of our trip home to Oz.  After chatting for a while we were on our way, although traffic was pretty bad and there where considerable delays on the Motorway causing us to make some detours but eventually found our way back to Warrington.

We head for home tomorrow.  Disappointingly I appear to have the making of a cold....The plane will make a great incubator if it does eventuate.

Just after the rain looking across the fields at Norman and Claire's

Sunset in Warrington

Day 46 30/6/16 Warrington to Leicester

Day 46: Warrington to Leicester (UK)

Today was our last day with the Speed 20.  She was going home today.

The sun came out ..surprise, surprise!  We spent the early morning washing and cleaning out the car, with Normans help, then we were off to return the car.

Clean up before returning the car to David and Kaye

Peoples Choice award which we won at AOC Alvis International (Norman collected it as we had already gone)

Peoples choice trophy and mug - very impressive trophy and totally unexpected.

All spiffed up and ready to go home...

Our first problem was when we entered the M6 and it stopped.  Fortunately we only had to go a couple of miles before turning off onto the A49.

Leaving down Brook Lane in Warrington

We had decided to go vie the Shire Horse exhibition at Tarporley on the way.  Had an excellent visit, light lunch, then off to David and Kaye’s to return the Speed 20.

Fittingly, Maritte fits in the "thoroughbred" class

Shire horses - mare with seven week old foal.

Feeding time for the Polecats

Even had chickens!

Shire horse - young stallion

Otters

Scottish wildcat - an endangered species.

Pheasant.

Friendly cat shares a moment on the cafe deck.

Another hold up for roadworks on the A51 but we got to D&K’s at 4pm, perfect timing as they had just arrived home from shopping.

Almost home for the Speed 20.

Day 45 29/6/16 Travelling from Ayr to Warrington (UK)

Day 45: Travelling from Ayr to Warrington

Started the day with some excitement in just trying to find our way out of Ayr. This was complicated by the fact we had to get fuel which meant we had to navigate our way around the giant “roundabout” in the centre of town...... twice. This was followed by several other roundabouts and narrow streets but eventually we were on our way. Along the A70 and A76 to Carronbridge, bypassing Dumfries and then onto the A74/ M74.

Station Hotel in Ayr

The gloomy weather continues.

Couldn't quite figure out what this actually is???

Left-over water wheel as a monument.

We are loving the flower baskets.

Great charaterful villages

The wooded B roads are the best.

 This eventually took us onto the M6 and on to Claire and Norman’s in Warrington. Sounds easy, this didn’t include the occasional internal waterfall we got along the way when the rain became almost a solid wall.

Stopped near Carlisle for a cup of tea and short walk. Stopped again near Lancaster for petrol and a bite to eat. We got lost in the truck stop (service centre) and finished up going the wrong way around and parking with the trucks, truckies thought it was pretty amusing, it obviously happens a lot. Back on the motorway for the last leg, once again we got caught in an almost solid wall of water but survived, arriving in Warrington to fitful sunshine. The Speed 20 did really well given the appauling weather conditions.

The M6 - not our favorite road.