2007 Easter Event – Yorkshire

Back in the summer when we held the Summer Newquay Event it was then decided that something should happen at the start of the next Year and for us all to go away somewhere. I put on my thinking hat and after much deliberation it was decided that Yorkshire would be a really nice place to go and visit. I’ve only ever been there once and that was a flying visit to Bradford, and an even faster journey out!

Due to the time of year the weather and temperature is very unpredictable and many people weren't sure about camping but everyone braved their homely comforts and opted to camp like the rest… and this is where the story begins…

Before we even met up the convoy organising was quite difficult to organise as the timings are always difficult to calculate due to traffic and road conditions. I placed a time that everyone should meet at the locations… which ended up all changing lol… blame the women

Julie was a little nervous about motorway driving and even more so convoying so I organised with Kev to catch them up with the people who were meeting up at mine.

Friday

5am… the Alarm goes off and I dart out of bed to turn it off... then get back into bed as I normally do and started dosing back off… my alarm continued to go off in 5 minute intervals until finally I got up and got into the shower which I must say was really nice and warm and doing the usual lean up the side using my head to keep me balanced (you all know you’ve done it). I got out and got myself all sorted, packed up the final things like laptop, camera lead, hair gel and then totally forgot them all which was clever… (what a div).

Micky was first to arrive shortly after 6am and true to Micky’s form I answered the door to the sight of him lighting up a cigarette… good old Micky!!!

Kevin rang me about 6:15 to tell us he has set off with Sarah in his car and Julie following him.

Becky, Matt and Jack then turned up about 6:30am we set off about 6:45am and went to the petrol station to top up before we left which then took us until 7am. Baring in mind that we was supposed to be meeting Tony, Dave, Craig and Clair at the services on the M1 at 7am and Kevin had set off 45minutes pervious it was time for me to get on the phone and start re-arranging the timings.

Firstly I phoned Kevin which was now heading up the M1 and miles and miles ahead of us and told him to slow down and cruise so we could catch up the 30miles that we was now trailing. I also phoned Tony to tell him to relax which Craig until we reached them which he was fine about.

After Me, Matt and Micky has got some speedy juice into our beasts we blasted off down to the M42 J9 and nailed it up the M42 to the M1 making up serious time back on Kevin and Julie. I got on the phone to Kevin which was a few junctions ahead and reaching the (something) services quickly so after continuing to nail it up the M1 I caught sight of Kevin’s silver and also Julies red following a wagon and dropped down and nailed it down the motorway from about ½ a mile behind them and Matt and Micky both did the same so we ended up flying past both Kevin and Julie just like they were standing still and I got on the brakes just after I went past and it took me about ¼ mile and 5 wagons just to slow down and pull back in to the slow lane for them to catch us up and convoy together.



Shortly after catching them up it was time to pull into the Services. It was now about 8am and an hour after the arranged time to meet Tony and Craig but they were sitting in their cars as we all flew in and parked up and we all smiled as it was nice for everyone to finally be together.

Whilst at the services we decided to get some breakfast at Macdonalds so we all shot off to the Golden Arches and got some unhealthy food to keep us going. This was a really nice chance to get to know Craig and Clair a little better since they had not met anyone previously unlike the rest of us.





Just before leaving the services Kevin gets out 5 walkie-talkies and we then set off up the M1 heading for Leeds. Using the walkie-talkies was brilliant, we had such a laugh with them, it was a real shame there wasn’t enough for everyone... I shall definitely be investing in a set for myself before Newquay.

Happily driving at 55mph we went onto the A1 and then the A64.





So now there is 6 s and my car all together stuck in a stationary traffic jam on the A64.



Whilst we were in this Jam there was 2 old ladies in a really old Nova that kept giving me evil looks as we kept going past each other so I get on the radio and comment and I go past then and Matt decides to light his tyres up and nail it past, which made them even less happy then

After me and Craig making 2 lanes into 3 and Tony and Matt doing the same, Clair commented that she was desperate for the toilet so we turned off at the next roundabout and ended up stopping at a Pub which wasn’t open but luckily had a Travel Lodge or Inn or what ever it was called at the back. We all piled in through reception and found the toilet… Thanks to the place for letting us use their facilities





After this we realised that it wasn’t a good idea to re-join the A64 since by now we had been stuck in it for a few hours and we all just wanted to get driving and not crawling for miles on end. It was decided that we should try and work our way around the main road using the back roads and whilst driving through the countryside we came across this old building.



After blocking half of the main road into the village to take some photos and upsetting the tin hut travellers we moved on again.

We just set off and Tony comes on the radio and says “How Far Now” and someone says “…7 miles”… Tony replies “7 miles?”… Again (kev?) says… nope “27 miles”

I was leading and radioing back at each junction to people with Sat Nav asking where to go but Micky’s and Kevs seemed to constantly say different things… one said left, one said right so I thought sod it… lets go straight on… so after another 30mins of driving Tony comes back on again and asks how car we are away and Micky then comes on the radio and shouts about 27 miles What made that so funny was Tony’s *sigh*; I could just see everyone behind in my rear view mirror laughing.

I bet you’re all thinking, bloody hell I’ve just read a whole book and the main story hasn’t even happened yet… well you’ll be dead right as now this is where it starts to get interesting

We are heading for Pickering and Chris and Ste after 3 hours of waiting for us to arrive decide to head out to find us… through a mass of traffic Ste comes past and well… keeps on going… then Chris C comes into sight and using our convoy to stop the traffic turns around and joins us.

Being at the front and not knowing where Ste had gone I try and radio through to Chris and Ste who both had their radios on Channel 1 but no answer from them both but Micky radioed through to let me know Ste was stuck a few cars behind the convoy so all was good to carry on.

When we finally got to the campsite which was literally down the side of the Aidensfield Arms (Goth-land Alcoholics Refuge) it became clear that the driveway was extremely pot-holey and it seemed to go on forrrrrrrr ever! It was atleast ¼ mile long. Bye bye suspension and Hellloooooo Mr Mechanic… well later on you read about Mechanics

We all arrive, park our cars up by Ste and Chris’ tent which were at the edge of the field and then set about thinking where the rest of us are going to set up… after much discussion it was decided that we should move location and set our little village up right in the middle of the field where the slope was flat and then we could part our cars next to our tents.

We all started setting up, Craig and Clair took about 2 minutes to get theirs up and then Dave put his up and Tony got his up…



So Tony, you like having your tent door pointing away from us all? You unsociable git



Craig and Clair then started blowing their airbed up from the car and it took about 20 minutes which was quite funny.

Becky and Matts attempt at putting their palace up…



Yup, pretty miserable attempt 2/10 guys.

After setting everything up and find that I had no phone signal and couldn’t get a radio reception from any station other than Classic Fm to top it all off… this shunted past at the bottom of our field.



So… the place was now re-named Heartbeat Land

Hungry work all this village building so we all agreed it was time to head off and get something to eat an being as though we were in the middle of no where and back in the 1960’s we decided to drive our futuristic cars back through the village and drove to Whitby which was the nearest Seaside Town where of course Fish and Chips had to be on the menu.

We got there and parked up… all went and paid for car parking tickets and realising that the time on the tickets was running over until the next day it was evident that we didn’t need to pay to park there in the first place… oh well… can’t blame one person as we were all as stupid as each other lol.

We walked into the town and found a fish and chip café which we asked the prices… £4 for Fish and Chips and £5.50 for Fish and Chips + a Seat and FREE… yes FREE bread and coffee… Wow Bargain!!!

We all pushed our way through each other to get back out the door and then went to find another Fish and Chip shop. Whilst walking me and Dave had a discussion about the idyllic characteristics of Fish and Chip shop we wished to find and came up with a few points:

Must have Greasy White Tiles

A nice 70’s look about the place

Out of date messages on the board

Cockroaches

and a nice sign falling off the front

so… as we were walking around the harbour we spot a place with a battered sign which was called Siggys Fish and Chips Brilliant

We went in and just as listed it had all the great characteristics of a proper Fish and Chip Shop and to top it all off it had a good old TV and the seats were actually FREE in the very meaning that FREE ment… no money to sit down *Wow*… noting this we all ordered Grease and Chips and went outside to eat it
Whilst eating our much needed dinner and playing eye spy with Jack we headed off back to the cars but… No… wait, the females went missing. They couldn’t resist the junk food comforts of Morrisons before going back to Heart Beat land to suffer in a tent without a Fridge full of Chocolate.

We stood around for a while and chatted as it was a really nice evening and I also held everyone up by talking to my gorgeous g/f on the phone *oops* but she is amazing so you have to let me off!!! (p.s If you’re all good you will get to meet her at FITP… but only if your good).

On the way back to the camp site we decided to get some photos on the sea front.



Whilst the cars were parked in this postion we had quite a few people come past and take photos of them and comment on how nice they all looked... which was a nice change from people giving us evil looks lol.



Whilst we were parked down there Tony knew of a little spot just at the top of the road which he wanted to get a shot of his car by... so I went up with him and got him parked on the pavement and waited for people to stop walking in shot... I crouched down in the middle of the road and got a nice shot for him



Eventually we got back to our camp site and got all the camping chairs out and Kev got his table out and Becky her camping light and we set about enjoying the evening.

Well during this period I kind of started something with my torch. Firstly I imitated University Challenge by saying such things as “Ruth; Portsmouth” and “Julie; Birmingham” which then managed to get into a craze of shining my torch at anyone I thought to be tried and saying “You Tired”? I’m sure those that were there can remember this and are probably smiling at the computer screen right now. Stop smiling as it’s sad and it’s a computer for gods sake

After this we all started getting a little bit cold and headed off to our tents. I got myself in my air bed which was covered with a really thick fleecy blanket and a double winter quilt, still with my clothes on and was still really cold… I eventually managed to get to sleep but throughout the night kept on waking up every hour or so which wasn’t the best as it made me even more tired…

Saturday

About 8am I woke up for the final time with my feet (with two layers of socks on) hanging off the end of the air bed and totally numb. I couldn’t feel a thing they were so icey cold! I got my car keys, started my car up and decided to do laps of the camp site until my car warmed up and then parked it back by the tents with my feet up against the air vents which were piping out very hot air at this point… It took 20minutes or my feet against the vents to actually start to feel anything at all. Thankfully they did start to warm up and I started to feel a little better for that.

Kevin was doing a grand job of cooking up bacon baps, kindly passed me one through the window to munch on whilst I was toasting my feet back to any sort of normal temperature… Very yummy Kev!!! Top man!!! I’d definitely come back through KFC Kevin’s drive through again

Whilst everyone else sorted themselves out Me, Craig and Dave were having a nice game of football… as you do which was good fun as always

Once everyone had had there showers and sorted themselves out we finally headed off to Whitby. I told everyone to get out onto the main road and wait as the ¼ mile driveway was really hard to get down and obviously with bigger alloys more care is needed. I could get down the drive quite a bit faster with my hugggeeee tyres.

I got out and went through the village and pulled up where everyone else was waiting to find that Craig had upset the locals by defacing the road for about 20 yards outside their cherished local… Don’t worry… give it a few years and they will disappear

We then headed off to Pickering to get some petrol as we were all starting to run a little low. After taking up the entire BP petrol station and the Police pulling up outside to keep an eye on us some of us headed just outside the town and waited for others as Tony wanted to head into Town for a better sleeping bag and Kev later did the same. Somehow whilst leaving the Town Budden and Keydog decided to take the wrong road and shoot off down there so Chris C shot after them. Due to there not being enough walkie talkies we couldn’t communicate with Budden and Keydog but the rest of the cars had one each which was very very handly!!!



Whilst we were waiting here LisaR, Chris_01 And a ZetecS owner was waiting patiently for us in one of the Forests. Whilst trying to sort out a meeting location and time with these Dave and his wife was also on their way to us. At this time he was about 1 hour and a half away. The problem that I was having is understandably Yorkshire has the worst phone signal reception in the world… I think Cornwall is better for phones and that’s saying something. We headed off to a forest in convoy and some of the roads were brilliant so the few of us at the front was taking full advantage of such great roads including Myself, Ste, Craig (The Stig) and Matt with the others taking a little more care which is always good. We pulled up in a really nice open spot after going for a while and not managing to find the other 3. We gave them a ring and told them our location and waited for them to arrive.

Whilst waiting Me, Micky and Craig decided to turn our cars into 4x4 and get them up a steep hill to get some pictures. Once we got to a decent level all our clutches were smelling a little due to the degree of incline but nothing bad compared to Micky’s car which had started to pour smoke from the engine, which obviously was a little alarming. After putting the bonnet up for a little while and letting the engine cool down we took some photos.





The photo does no justice for the incline of the hill that we had drove up, a photo from the group below would probably show this up a lot better. By this time the 3 that we were planning on meeting had finally arrived. The final 3 cars are theirs just to note.





After myself, Micky and Craig had rolled back down the hill we went and greeted the group that had just arrived and then continued on our trip through the forest.



We got down the hill and the train crossing was flashing so we all shot out our cars and got some photos. Here’s one of the train and Ste’s car which I know he’s been after





Once the train had passed everyone on the other side seen the convoy on this side and their faces were quite funny to see as they didn’t really know what to do, considering the road was thin towards the back of the convoy and they couldn’t pass. What a sight to see though… that’s what it’s all about

The road then took us on many hairpin bends and as we climbed we got level with the train and started to overtake it. We was now getting well off tarmac roads and onto natural gravel surface which started to click up dust.



Once we had got a little more confident on the gravel surface and taken corners a little sideways by mistake we really took full advantage of the Rally Stage surface and environment.





There was Ste at the front, Craig just in front of me and then Matt not too far behind. If you look closely at that picture there was a car parked at the side of the road with open doors They were having a picnic on the hill looking down towards the valley and train line. I don’t think they were very impressed after 12 of us went past and covered their car in dust

A little further down the road we stopped so that everyone could catch up. Micky pulled up and got out commenting that his car was smoking again…



We left our bonnets open to let the engines cool down a little and get some clean air.

Whilst waiting I took advantage and get a few snaps of the dusty cars in the Forest.







Whilst we were doing this Craig wants to do a video shoot of us going down the road…

(Craig’s Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sblTT19qmYA

After this we were all feeling very hungry and it was decided that we should venture out and try and find a country pub to stop in. Just before we set off I finally got a signal and contacted Dave to let him know what we were doing. By this time he was at the campsite and had erected his tent and was in the Aidensfield Arms at the end of our camp site.

We then drove around for a little while trying to find a pub, which was proving to be impossible!!! Whilst turning around in a road a pair of girls came down in their clio and started bibbing and shouting at us for turning around. After going past the other way and returning the gesture and comments we carried on. Later on we found out that one of the girls actually got out and punched the rear screen of Chris_01’s ST and he commented that he thought it would have broken with the force… Nice people they were!!!

The time was now coming on 4pm and Budden and Keydog has previously said they was leaving at this time as they had to get back. Thanks for coming along guys and apologies for going through the Forest and getting your car a little dirty

We drove around for a little while longer then decided to try the pub that we pass on the way back to the campsite on the A road which we knew had a decent car park to accommodate us all. Finally getting to the pub Becky went in to see if they was serving food and they had stopped serving, which put us back to square one again. One of the members of Staff suggested a pub a little down the road which Ste then shot off to check out. Whilst Ste had gone Chris_01 and the ZetecS owner left to return to the Leeds area. Was great to see you both and it would be nice to see you both again Thankfully Lisa decided to stay with us, which was really nice as this gave the chance to stop driving and socialise with her since we had been driving and doing photo shoot’s all afternoon.

Ste returned after about 20minutes with information that the pub suggested had stopped serving food also. The decision was to head into a small town and get a bite from the café’s or chip shop there just to tie us over until the evening which a BBQ had been decided.
Whilst everyone headed off down to the town I waited for Dave and his wife to come down to the pub so that he could convoy with me to meet the others that had parked in town.

Craig and Clair had eaten Fish and Chips and were sitting on the bench when we arrived in town. After parking up and introducing Dave and his wife we then headed to the café where everyone else was waiting and had ordered their food.

We got a table and I went and ordered myself a Jacket Potato with Cheese and Salad which was actually really nice. I really enjoyed it after seeing the hefty price of over £4.50 and taking an instant disliking to it.

Once everyone had ate and Lisa and Julie had gone through all the labels on the tins to find out what ingredients were in each product (in other words taking AGEESSSSSS) to buy something in the shop… no exaggeration it was at least 20mins to buy bread and milk

Women!!!

We got back to the campsite and had our BBQ which was actually really nice… thanks to Becky, Ruthy and Ste for cooking everything up

Once again we got all the chairs out and formed a circle around the BBQ’s and also the oil light. The evening started to really dip in temperature and everyone started getting more and more layers on. Poor Lisa was looking really cold and had her jumper hood up and also a blanket over her… awww bless.

A noise of some lads talking or rather Way Aying at each other started to get closer and closer. With everyone wondering who was approaching turning around and watching; 2 hooded chavy looking lads approached with a box. The first thing they said… was “Way Ay Man” followed by “Anyun wana beeeerr”… then everyone turned and looked at me as though I was supposed to do something about the situation. By the look of everyone it was clear to see that no body wanted to talk to these two since they were totally drunk out their heads. After Ruth, Ste and someone else having a beer off them I was left to try and send them on their way. One of the lads asked me “Are yu pizzed” which I answered No mate, I don’t drink… which then followed by them saying “Want sum drugs” which again I answered “No thanks mate, I don’t do drugs”… he asked if anyone else did and I replied “No”… the next question was “Wut Ar All Thez Carz Duin”… the answer to this was “We are a car club” (I mean… that was completely obvious)… I then had to fill time by explaining to them what the site did, why we were there and what we were doing. The next thing they said was that they were going to “Flamingo Land”… which I really had trouble keeping a straight face… to add even more pressure they asked after if we wanted to go to “Flamingo Land too”… PMSL Possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever heard… a Drunk Jordie telling us they were going Flamingo Land. The first though I had was this place was an animal reserve or something but after finding what they were going to do there, which was “Gerrin Pizzed” It was obvious that this place was some sort of Theme Park. After them asking me about 20 times if I was pizzed, wanted drugs or wanted to go Flamingo Land I finally thought they was going to head back to their tent when another figure immerged from the darkness. After falling over my tent, getting up and then falling clean over one of my extended tie ropes I couldn’t decide if to laugh at him for being such a stupid idiot or the fact that I now had to contest with 3 of them. He was TOTALLY off his face and was finding it hard to even stand up… he decided that getting the empty beer box would be a great place to sit down… he sits on the box and then falls straight through it onto the floor!!! OMFG If you was there you’d know how funny this was!!! Damn these 3 was reallllllllllllllllllllllllly annoying but hell did they provide great entertainment whilst on the campsite this night!!!

Eventually after having to explain everything again and getting asked the same 4 questions from them over and over again they said their good nights and headed back to their tent.

I must thank everyone for leaving me to sort these idiots out lol… Once they had gone Clair stopped hiding behind Craig which was quite funny to watch. Bless her!!!

From then on the comments just kept on coming and we would never be able to forget these lads. Didn’t want them there but at the same time wouldn’t have been the same without them!!!

After this we decided to do a photo shoot before Lisa left to go back to Leeds, taking an hour and a half to get back after stopping with us all day and being tired now we were all grateful to her





I must thank Craig for his fog light shining up instead of down lol…

Lisa then left us and headed off back to Leeds. Also Micky had packed up and was heading off back to Basingstoke… a good 5 hours away. He set off at around 10pm and arrived back home at around 2:30am in the morning. Many thanks for Micky coming along and spending time with us, wouldn’t be the same without the image of Micky with a fag in his mouth and something always going wrong.

We all then headed off to bed. Ruthy wasn’t very well as she had caught a bit of sunstroke during the day and had been sick so it was decided that sleeping in the car would be the best option for us both as I’d be able to keep my feet warmer and could warm the car up during the night if it got a little too cold.

Craig and Clair, Tony, Dave, Chris, Ste and Me and Ruthy all slept in our cars with Kevin, Julie, Sarah, Becky, Matt and Jack sleeping in their tents.

At around 4am I was getting pretty cold again so after pondering a little about turning my car on… I did it anyway. Damnnnnnnnn the warmth was soooooooooooo nice!!! As my car was burbling away I didn’t realise that I woke up Matt and Becky that were now sleeping in Matt’s car with Jack to keep warm as they got too cold during the night. Oh dear, sorry guys but needs must!!!

Sunday

At about 8:30am I woke up on the Sunday morning in some weird position. My legs were across the centre console with my head at some strange angle between the side of the seat and the window. I just am really thankful that I bought along my double bed quilt and also my willows as they were great. I put a willow against the side of the car by the window and then slept on that. It provided enough padding against the hard side and window to sleep semi-comfy and the double quilt kept me warm… Ruthy did the same on the other side of the car but had her feet up on the seats as she’s only small. I put the two front seats forwards also (in the position you could let people in the back) to allow more space. To be honest there’s quite a lot of space when you do that. I’m glad I had a focus that night lol

I got out the car and the temperature wasn’t too bad, was easily warm enough at this time for a T-shirt and also a thin Jumper to walk around. I decided to kick a ball up with Tony and Dave for a little while before noticing Craig and Clair were still asleep in their car so I decided to get a photo… sorry guys



Once a few people was up Becky started to make breakfast; a bacon role, which was realllllyyyy nice! As she was doing this Cra/Clair and Myself had already started cleaning ours… Yes Craig… you only did half a job so you only get half your name noted down!!! Clair did the most and I must admit she did a really good job
As we were cleaning our cars Lisa then turned up and parked next to me. She got out and started picking water marked spots out that I’d not been able to get off due to lack of leather… to combat this I decided to polish my car. Matt, Ste and Kevin all then decided to start washing their cars. I must note that Chris had already done his and it looked really nice as he had polished it also. Ste had also previously gone out to the village to the local un-convenience shop which sold, Jam, Teddy Bears and Blocks of Chocolate which as you can see, were all useful to a camping experience and as he parked outside he knocked over the sign to the shop and the owner came running out shouting at Ste for his Jordie destruction of the normally quiet and tranquil village.

Once we was all ready and finally convinced that our cars were perfectly clean we set off down the 1/4 mile dirt drive with foot deep pot hole once again to the exit of the campsite. We then all met up again just around the corner so we could get ourselves sorted out for the trip, get the radios turned on and the sat craps working. We were then finally ready to head off. Avoiding the Lamb Chops on the way we made our way to the main A road and then headed north towards Whitby so we could get on the South East Road to Scarborough. On the way Craig decided that it was once again a good idea to take over everyone and get behind the director who was Ste. Then Ste turned off to the right onto a gravel road and what looked like MOD property. I kept going and parked up a few hundred yards down the road, Lisa and a few others followed and pulled up. We then got onto the guys on the radio and asked them what the road was like, at which time they was trying to turn around. All I could hear is them shouting they didn’t want to fall down the trenches each side of the road, after a 20 point turn in the road a few came out front ways with a few others opting to reverse out.

We then once again started on our travels again and drove into Whitby and routed around onto the road to Scarborough. As we drove down here I decided to get some rolling shots for people as I promised I’d get some.







We got into Scarborough and then at a set of traffic lights me and Lisa both got split from the group and ended up going down some one way systems which didn’t help much… eventually got back onto the right road and headed up to the castle… then down some really narrow roads to the sea front and joined the traffic through the sea front. I was going 1mph down the sea front and communicating with the group on the radios. I then let a biker our and he stopped at the side of my car and said “Get off that f**king phone” expecting me to agree… I replied “I’m not on the f**king phone”… “He said, get off what ever your using then”… “I replied with a nice word” He then continued infront of me… half expecting him to get off his bike I communicated with the group ahead who had parked up and let them know what was going on.

I got to the group and due to there being NO parking spaces along the sea front we continued a little out of the bay and found a car park at the top of the hill overlooking the beach where we were all able to park next to each other which was nice.

We all then had a walk down the sea front and got an ice cream and headed onto the beach



We had a nice walk down by the sea and then walked back towards to the sea wall. Looking up there is quite big hills by the sea front and I decided it was a good challenge to try and run up them… Which I did… as I did everyone else decided to join me. It was a little silly but quite fun and a good achievement as this hill was bloody steep!!!

By now we was all getting a little hungry so headed into town to look for something to sea. I got onto the phone to Micky and asked him to tell us if there was a Pizza Hut nearby outside the town that we could go to since we didn’t know Scarborough or the roads and the town was a little distance away. He told us the only one was in the Town Centre. As we walked into Scarborough we checked out a few bars but they wouldn’t allow kids in which wasn’t much good to us as we had Sarah, Jack and Craig with us.

We continued into town and as we turned down one road there was a Pizza Hut with a Mac D dead opposite. We all decided to go into Mac D and eat there due to being totally starving by this point.









Whilst we was all eating, Ste had finished and went outside for a smoke. Whilst he was outside he bumped into these girls… so I got to the front of MacD and got a snap…



Then Kevin went out for a smoke too and I thought well, sod it I’ll go out and get a snap of them (I think you’re in trouble now Kev )



Whilst the rest of us were eating Mac D Manager Craig decides to put tomato sauce onto a balloon and then throw it over where Me, Ste, Ruthy and Lisa were sitting. I dodge it and it hits the ledge behind me and ends up going behind me mucking up some kids… LOL

We then left Mac D and walked back down to the Sea Front. It was starting to get duller now with the sun going down so everyone with cars raced down the sea front, up the hill and far far away… (Too much teletubbies) back to our cars. Whilst leaving the car park Craig upset a woman with her dog through wheel spinning once again… and as I turned for the exit narrowly avoiding me which was a moment I cringed about… I’m pretty sure he won’t be doing this again. We then got down to the sea front and parked our cars on the pavement which was a level below the road.



It was then suggested that we should get a shot with us and the cars so we went down and got a few pics.



Whilst we was all taking pictures we found out that the girls had been by the sea and a wave had come over and covered them







We then decided to head back home. On the way back some of the group stopped off to get some photos and as the rest of us waited for them I got a nice shot of Kevs Car.



During the drive back we were talking on the 2 way radios and thought it might be a nice idea to try and get some video of us driving. It was dark by this time so the cars wouldn’t be seen but the concept of seeing the convoy and all the lights as we carried on towards the campsite was a nice idea. After pulling over at the side of the road and me giving my sister the camera so she could record us at the rear of the convoy we had to stop at a petrol station in Whitby. Kev wasn’t behind us nor catching us up. After contacting him he said he stopped for petrol a bit earlier and would make his own way back to the site which was ok.

Becky then jumped into Ste’s car so she could record out of the rear screen at the front of the convoy this time.

Once we had turned off the Main A road onto the quiet road into Heartbeat land Craig took over Ste, then Micky and Chris was next but was unsure about overtaking and since the road was running out I chanced down and booted it past both Chris and Ste which by now we were approaching the tight corner and the humpback bridge with the tunnel and sharp right hand corner. There were no cars coming so was ok to use the whole road and slide around it until after the last corner… Now that was some serious fun!!! A little bit hairy due to the camber, road degree and sharp corner changes but being able to control the car and throw it about was brilliant fun!!!

I know that Lisa had a few problems with this section of road on the Saturday since we all knew it and went a little quicker but she didn’t know it very well.

Here is the famous bit of road from the opposite way… We came down the hill and towards the camera coming back to the site… as you can see, great bit of road.



Once we all got back to the campsite the people who were stopping in the house, which was Me, Ruthy, Becky, Matt, Ste and Chris all got the things we needed and any equipment we wanted to secure and headed off down to the house. Kev, Julie, Sarah, Craig and Clair all came down shortly after to spend the evening in the house with us.

When we got into the house we went and explored the rooms and found a nice lounge area with sofa’s, a nice hoop ring game and a wood burning stove that was already burning.

Here’s Chris, Kev and Ruthy in the Lounge



Becky and Matt were playing table tennis in another room



Awwwww here’s one of me and Bex in the kitchen.



Since the night was REALLY cold we all decided it was a good idea to try and get this stove working faster and burning more. How we decided this was to use some coal from the full bucket that was next to the fire.



Since there was central heating, Ste and Chris went searching for the central heating boiler. After not having any success we all went on the hunt. After turning the boiler to the showers off, Ste eventually found the correct boiler that the central heating needed to be turned on by. The door to it was locked and pad locked and since by now it was about 11pm it wasn’t viable to wake up the owner to turn it on for us… so… the best option was to jump on the lockers in yet another room and use a brush pole to hit the button on the boiler and hope that the correct one had been turned on.



After about 15minutes and realising that the heating still wasn’t on another solution to try and heat the house up was realised…. Look closely at the picture



As I was sitting down at the table talking with everyone and attempting to play poker under Ste’s Jordie Conning rules it was getting warmer and quite comfortable. I decided to get up and get myself a drink… As I got up the temperature suddenly rose the higher I got… It was surprising how the gas heated the room up… The ceiling was boiling. Upstairs floor was great

Since upstairs was still a little nippy and the stove wasn’t producing much heat, Matt went on the look out for more burning substances as we had used an entire newspaper and loads of leaflets and also the instructions to how to make the stove work… He found a crossword book upstairs that we thought was the 4 other people who were stopping in another bedroom to us and we decided to burn it and see if it was keep the house warm.



All looked pretty good to start with…



Then… it went out and there was still ½ the book remaining. There was so way we could leave it ½ burnt so the task now was to try and burn the rest of the book… so everything we could think of went in.

Sorry Kids



After an hour or so of trying to conceal the books identify we managed to incinerate it and leave the ashes of the book, which was once was the pride and joy of the owner.

The fire had completely gone out and we realised that smothering it with an entire bucket load of coals, paper and other burning substance will not work like a BBQ but will go out and not work…

More research into… how NOT to burn the instructions is probably a good idea for next time (lololololololol)

We then decided it was getting late and after the other house guests coming down stairs and telling us off a few times (not that we took any notice mind) we called it a night and moved on upstairs.

We got up to the room and all got in our beds. After chatting for a little while we turned the lights off and then thought it was time to go to sleep, but… there was a bit of ruffling about from the top bunk bed and then all of a sudden *BANG*… Ste falls out of his top bunk onto the floor… It was so funny. I was shouting “AY MAN, YOU ALRIGHT LIKE?” Ste was replying with “Way Ay I’m ok like”…

He then got back into bed and we started talking again, Bex and Matt then was talking and said to Ste to come over, so he went over and got onto their two single beds put together in his sleeping bag. I then got out of bed and turned the light out and jumped on them all… Was pretty good fun lol.

After all this excitement we all got into our own beds and went to sleep until the morning.

Monday

All the remaining people got up in the morning around 9am and we started getting our stuff sorted out and packed away again. After this we all went and had showers (aren’t we good clean people )

Once we had done this we went back up to our tent pitches and re-united with Kevin, Julie, Sarah, Craig and Clair (and bump) who was packing up. It took quite a while to get everything sorted out and packed away… I then took my tent down and had to help with Becky and Matt’s Palace… By this time everyone else had taken their tents down.

Kevin, Julie and Sarah then left us and headed off back home. Thanks for taking the time and also bringing both s up!!! Very well done to Julie for convoying for the first time and also driving the long distance on the motorway

The remaining people, Me, Becky, Jack, Matt, Craig, Clair, Chris, Ste and Ruth then headed to the Aidensfield Arms (The Gochssadfdsland Inn) and got ourselves a really nice meal.



Once we had ate our meal I took a few pictures of the cars in the town and then we all headed off back towards the motorway. It was really sad knowing that this was it… the end of such a great time away with brilliant people and laughs that money just can’t buy…

On the way we stopped off at a petrol station where Craig… no… the pump automatically filled up his car



I didn’t want to fill up with rubbish fuel so carried on with the ¼ tank I had… I thought there was bound to be another petrol station…

Chris and Ste then left us and headed off back up North and the numbers were dwindelling slowly away

There was only 3 cars left now, Me, Matt and Craig, we all shot down the A1 motorway heading for the M1, and I was heading for a petrol station… whilst flying down the road at a good pace my petrol light came on with no sign of any service station coming up…



About 5 miles down the road there was a sign saying “services 20miles”…

After pulling in to the slow lane at a dead 60 and refusing to push the pedal down, even if I needed to overtake a lorry... I reached the service station literally on fumes.

I took a picture… doesn’t show it every well but it’s WELL below E and at least 25miles over the light.



After I filled up we shot off again back home

A little further down the motorway we had to say bye to Craig and Clair who went onto another motorway… We were along side each other taking up 3 lanes… it was a really good sight.

The end to such an amazing time away…

I would just like to thank ChrisCumbria for helping me out with sorting this event and putting a lot of his time into finding a location for us to stay.

That’s not the only thanks, as usual I want to thank everyone who came along, those who came for the first time and also those who have been previously!!! Without you lot coming along and putting up with what ever conditions we encounter (cold this time)… it wouldn’t have been how it was.

I bet your all thinking, bloody hell Thank God that is over my eyes are popping out of my head and I am all out of coffee… well… go and have a sit down as it’s nice that you got to the end and read it all. Would be pointless me taking all this time to type everything up if no body read it!!! So thanks for taking your time to read.

If you haven’t been before then maybe this might make you want to come along next time? Or put you off completely lol… Eitherway I hope you all enjoyed the read as much as I enjoyed the Event and writing it all up to keep forever.

Thanks A lot,

Scotty

Comments welcome as always

WOW well done Scott, many many memories came flooding back what a great read. It was great seeing all the 's on Saturday many in a line together. No blaming women for late setting out times I was ready honest! Thanx to Clair for giving up her sacred pancakes for Jack .

Walkie Talkies were the greatest things invented these were not only life savers but also a great laugh, (Nice ringtone ste).

It did take Matt and I a wee while to put up our palace and we did have some words whilst doing it but serious thanx to anyone that helped us and I would like to add we were very very cosy and warm on that first night when you were all freezing (our big tent did have its benefits)

Anyway it took me over 1/2 hour to read this and i can hardly keep my eyes open so im gonna sign off now remembering the great time we had, thanx to everyone that attended for making it a special holiday

Oh and if you come to Newquay I may hold a dinner party in my tents dining room all are invited lol (but you gonna help me put the flippin thing up)

Well worth the wait Scotty. Brilliant!! . .

Thanks for getting that write-up done, was well worth the wait.

Right, where do I begin to reply to that? Firstly by saying once again how much I really enjoyed the whole weekend. There was a lot of hard work and effort put into organising this event by both myself and Scotty, starting from before the new year, but it makes it all worthwhile, not just that I had a great time, but that people who took the time to come along had so much fun over the weekend.

I think that Scott has done a brilliant job of summing up the weekend, so I'll just try and fill in a few gaps and add a few comments of my own now.

Going through the weekend in order, I had an early start also. I'd got everything packed up the night beore, but still needed to get up early to get myself a nice breakfast cooked, before setting off on the 45 minute journey along the A66 to meet up with Ste just off the Penrith junction of the M6. After meeting up, we convoyed along, and the journey was fine, other than one hairy moment for Ste just as we were going through Middlesbrough. It had flashed up on my camera detector that there was one ahead, so I'd slowed right down, but Ste hadn't noticed on his sat nav, wondered why I'd slowed and then suddenly seen the lines on the road so slammed his brakes on. Luckily the camera wasn't there anyways though.

When we reached the campsite I was thinking would everyone already be there, but no looked all round the field and couldn't see any of the others. I had no signal on my phone, Ste did so he phoned up Scotty on hands free, and I can still remember just hearing a load of voices shouting "are we there yet? how far to go?"

They were stuck in traffic so knew they would be a while yet, so we both found a good spot to set up our tents, and I got my airbed blown up also, before realising that the plug was missing lol. Still, I did have a pen that handily fitted just right!!

After sitting around for a good few hours, we decided to go for a drive, to see if we could find everyone else coming from the other way. We went thorugh Pickering and bang on cue I instantly recognised Scotts Focus and noticed everyone else behind.

After heading back to the site, it was decided that where we'd picked for our tents wasn't so good, so we had to kind of lift them up and plonk them back down in another part of the field where everyone else wanted the village.

It was crazy how there was no signal for almost evryone on their phones at the site, but Aidensfield is stuck in the 1960s I guess!! It was so funny though how when we reached this one point in Whitby EVERYONES phones went off all at once to say they'd got a text through!

After we'd had our dinner, we went for a mini photoshoot on top of a hill in Whitby, and it was as cold as it looks:



I also braved nearly falling down a steep cliff when standing on top of a wall taking this one:



After the fun back at the site that Scott talked about, it was freezing so we had an early night. Oh but not before we tried to look at the stars, the only one we worked out was "the big saucepan".

Saturday was great fun also, especially going through the forest. Was really good doing the videos of the runs, even if we did have that one scary moment when Craig aka the Stig took one corner a little too well. :scared:

A couple of nice uses for the forest dust here:





After going back to the campsite we had the BBQ which was good even if the food was well done due to most of us just abandoning it.



After having those flames like that, somehow we couldn't get a fire going later though. Was chucking every bit of rubbish on it including easter egg boxes, but getting no more than a few seconds warmth.

We also said goodbye to Micky at this point, after the AA guy finally came to help out with his problems with the car smoking. Since FITP its no longer only Micky who needs the AA though, me also (check your amended title Micky. )

Sleeping in the car was a better option than the tent given how much colder it was than the night before, which was cold enough, even so we did make the wise choice to move into the hostel for the final night.

Sunday, started off with the Easter eggs being handed out, and having a bit of an easter egg hunt around the campsite, before everyone followed my example from the night before and washing their cars.

Scarborough was just a nice relaxing place, once we'd finally negotiated the the one way system and the narrow streets down by the seafront. Was like the Italian Job all over again, and was amazing how many people were stopping and noticing us.

I didn't think we would ever find somewhere to eat, but eventually we did find a Maccys and at least I got my 20 nuggets and large fries once more.

And then onto the Sunday night. I think Scott summed it up nicely above, but suffice to say that we did pretty much use up all their coal and gas trying to keep warm!!

Was sad to say our goodbyes on the Monday, but not before my final moment of craziness on the campsite. Scott had told Craig not to tear up the site on leaving, but as we went to go I just thought sod it, and did my own 180 degree handbrake in the middle of the field.

It has been great reading the post above and writing this one as it enable the meories to be permanently down, so they don't fade away.

One final thanks to everyone for coming, hope to see most of you again in the summer, along with a few others who I hope these posts encourage to come along.

Take care
Chris

Another great write up Chris. .

excellent write up there scotty!! I,know why u spend so much time know! excellent!

Very good write up guys!

was a really good weekend, hopefully we will have plenty of new guys & Gals at the next 1

Fantastic! oh the memories

missing one very important pic of mine though scott that i still havent seen

and as for setting my tent up facing away (exactly what my dad told me to check for before you put the poles in) i did turn it round people!

What a weekend and amazing write up thanks Scott, Chris and everyone else who made it happen

Nice one Scott, that was a good read

Oh yes the dreaded farmers wife who nearly put my window through She was very annoyed and gave me a right rollocking for turning around on her grass silly old bat.

This is where we joined up with you all I know what you mean about the photo not doing the landscape justice, the views from here were amazing, the valley was very steep sided and deep. You really had to be there to appreciate it.



Did anyone else spot the turbo badge on this?

The report was brilliant to read, i enjoyed it and it has made me think about doing it with you all when you do it again, if that's ok with you all guys. Sounds great, my gf will like to come too and have a laugh with you all.

Keep up the good work.

Paul

Of course you're welcome to come along, everyone on here is.