Jacks Hill and a Cacklefest Friday 10th to Sunday 12th July 2015

 

A glorious afternoon on Friday 10^th July saw us driving the Hot Rod through the beautiful Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire countryside to Towcester. It is only 28 miles away by direct route but we added a few extra miles to go the scenic route along the narrow and at times bumpy B and even smaller roads via Harrold, the market town of Olney, through the beautiful village Weston Underwood, stopping off at Salcey Forest and then Blisworth before arriving at our destination Jacks Hill Café in Towcester. 

Salcey Forest

Salcey Forest is a medieval hunting forest, managed by the Forestry Commission and very user friendly for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders. We walked up the Tree Top forest walk which climbs 50 feet through the trees and has a viewing platform a further 10 feet up and looks over the top of the trees. From here, you can see the Otis tower in Northampton several miles away. We did the Elephant walk which I discovered was named after the Elephant Pond where circus elephants used to bathe after felling trees from the forest in WW2!

Blisworth Tunnel

Blisworth is the village at the opposite end of the Blisworth tunnel, (part of the Grand Union Canal) to the more famous and touristy Stoke Bruene. We were surprised to discover the mouth to Blisworth tunnel wasn’t in the village at all, so ventured along the towpath for about a mile to reach it. The tunnel at 3015 yards long is the longest freely navigable tunnel in Europe. From its opening in 1805 until the 1930’s, the barges were “legged” by men lying on their backs pushing the barges along with their feet on the walls, while the horses were walked over the hill.

After driving through a few more pretty villages, none of which we had ever heard of let alone seen before (and only 20 miles away from home!) we arrived at Jacks Hill café at around 5pm, only the fourth or fifth car to do so which meant we got the pick of the parking spaces. We’ve never been here before so didn’t know what to expect. The café is primarily a 1940’s truck stop on the A5 (Roman road, Watling Street- hence it is a pretty straight road!) The setting is ideal for a car meet and the car park soon filled up with a variety of cars from classics to Hot Rods, Japs to American, a nice collection and well worth the drive over. We met up with a few friends- The Shuttleworths and the Stapletons and amazingly someone we used to employ nearly 30 years ago!

Jacks Hill Cafe,Towcester

The George, Tiffield

We slipped up on the food front. The menu was diner food. We rarely eat that kind of food these days and had already promised ourselves a nice pub meal. We left just as a few cars were moving on and stopped off at the George in Tiffield.  It was a nice little pub, everyone was very friendly and very complimentary about the car but the food was about the standard of the diner so we ended up eating chips anyway!

I am struggling with  navigating at the moment. In the US you would go miles and miles before you needed to spot a turning but here there are so many turns so close together that if you miss a tiny kink in the map, you end up on a different road to where you intend to be. It’s no big deal as the alternative road heads in the same direction and may take you half a mile out of your way but I’m missing quite a bit of the scenery while I keep looking down at the map. The signposts are not always helpful either. Hopefully I’ll get into the swing of it soon.

Another successful ride out ended just as dark descended but the car was covered in splattered bugs which had to be removed ready for our next trip to Dragstalgia at Santa Pod the following day. 

Once again we got there fairly early so bagged a nice spot in the show’n’shine area, next to the fire up road and after a stroll around the pits, we joined other NSRA members in the VIP suite for the day giving us a prime view of the start line and the track. As the name implies, it was a throwback to the “good old days” and we were treated to a day of old school drag racing:- the old Christmas Tree, old style funny cars, front engine dragsters, altereds, fifties and sixties style back up girls, Ian and David the starters dressed in white boiler suits, flame burnouts, cacklefest, plenty of drama and lots of people to talk to. Paul came up with Zoe and her family who seemed to have a good time. We certainly did. It’s so nice to just kick back and relax for a change and in warm sunshine too! Dave returned on Sunday but with the weather forecast not looking good I decided to stay at home.

John Webster's maiden run sadly ended in disaster after pulling a major wheelie, losing consciousness and hitting both walls, luckily at low speed.

 

View from VIP lounge

Cacklefest

In England's Green and Pleasant Land Wednesday 1st to Sunday 5th July 2015

Phew what a week that was!

Aerial View of Earls Barton Meet 1st July

Wednesday 1^st July, I went off to Great Yarmouth on my own to bask in the glorious weather, while Dave spent the day cruising in the Model A. He went to Hauser Racing in Finedon and Adrian Smith’s Buckland Automotive workshop with Ed Brown and later cruised to the monthly Classic Car Meet at Earls Barton with his sisters Janet and Shirley in their jalopies (ho ho), then on to a pub in Northampton with Ian Mokkatt, so all in all we both had a lovely day.

 

Hakeem Leo Guy and Dom

 Suspension Bridge - a popular photo stop for Prom goers

 Thursday was a good evening too. Dave had been approached at Earls Barton by someone who was desperate for him to take his nephew and friends to their Prom as he had been let down. Dave agreed and four very surprised and excited young men, all dressed smartly in suits and ties were delighted with their ride to The Park Inn in Bedford via the Suspension Bridge for a photo opportunity. I walked from there to the hotel where hordes of teenagers from Thomas More school, beautifully dressed in long gowns or tuxedos, had already arrived and were waiting for the rest. As the car came over the Town Bridge there were cries of “Oh my God, Oh my God who is in that car??” And to top it off Dave got out and let the lads out chauffeur style. So everyone was happy- Uncle Kevin for rescuing the situation, the lads for arriving in style, us for being able to help out and share their enjoyment and the East Anglian Air Ambulance for the sizeable donation in lieu of payment.

 

Friday, “What are your plans for today?” he said. “Nothing really” I said. “Do you fancy a trip to Hunstanton?” “Don’t mind if I do”. It’s great to be able to take off on a whim and we were soon cruising along the A6, A603, A47 and A419 under a clear blue sky in shorts and T shirts with the smell of sunscreen and finally it felt like we were on holiday just like we used to feel in the USA (as long as you ignored the volume of traffic of course).  Much as I have loved our journeys so far, it isn’t quite the same when you are bundled up in a coat and looking at the approaching grey clouds. 2 hours 20 minutes and 93 miles from leaving home we arrived in Hunstanton and managed to grab a cracking parking spot overlooking the Green and the sea, in front of The Golden Lion (which was originally named The Royal Hotel and was the first building in 1848.) Hunstanton is the nearest coastal town to Bedford. It was built in the 19^th century as a resort town and we love going there for the day but wouldn’t choose to stay there for a holiday.

Straightway people were flocking round it including a man who turned out to be from Rushden, Phil Coffley who used to crew for Andy Carter and is still actively involved at Santa Pod. He had just that morning seen the article in Custom Car. Small world isn’t it? The day was spent Darby and Joan style with our lawn chairs on the beach, fish and chip lunch from Cod’licious- nice chips, average fish- followed up with home grown strawberries and the inevitable afternoon ice cream. The only thing missing was a knotted handkerchief. We didn’t just sit though. We also took a long beach stroll to the more genteel old Hunstanton, past the beautiful but rapidly crumbling red chalk limestone and white chalk cliffs back along the cliff top past the Old Lighthouse (now a guest house) and the ruins of St Edmund’s chapel which date back to 1272. Later, we had a drink at the Waterfront pub which has a nice view of the sea before returning home, chasing a beautiful big sunset.

 

Saturday was even better. Another lovely warm day saw us driving through the beautiful Cotswolds. As if I didn’t already know it, this car really shows how wonderful the UK is. We have driven through lots of times but this was the first time we really “saw” it. The joys of open top cars is you get to see and smell everything even bacon frying in someone's kitchen. Our first stop was at the market town of Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire where they were celebrating their links with the USA and had a lovely festival going on in the Square. Fellow Super Comp racer Andy Williams was there with Jas Cordelle and her junior drag bike, on a stand promoting Shakespeare County Raceway. We parked in the public car park which was a bit of a shame really as there were other cars on display but then we didn’t intend to spend too long there. The shops were both quaint and useful. With the bunting and little market stalls it was a truly British country event and to help the atmosphere along an assortment of entertainment was on hand throughout the day. We sat at the Old Stocks with our picnic and whiled away a pleasant half hour or so listening to the Scout Band play. All very British and none the worse for that.

 

Moving on we were soon in the famous Bourton- on- the- Water, technically a village. It was packed with tourists especially coach loads of Japanese, clicking away as we cruised along the High Street trying to find somewhere to park. I was tempted to blag a spot outside the wonderful little motor museum and it probably would have gone down very well but there were so many people about I bottled it and we ended up in a public car park before wandering around the town for an hour or so.  The main focus is the little River Windrush which flows along the High Street and has several little arched bridges going over it hence its title of Venice of the Cotswolds (though it’s only deep enough for a model boat not a gondola!)  It is so unusual for us to be in a tourist town when all the tourists are there too and it helps us understand how people stay in business but we do find it a bit overwhelming at times.

Our ultimate destination for the day was to visit our friends The Olivers in Frampton-upon-Severn and the final leg of our journey through the B roads and hills of Gloucestershire was as beautiful as rest of the journey. The views are a little limited as the hedgerows are quite high but you get the occasional glimpse of this green and pleasant land. You don’t quite get the wow moments we had in the USA but the whole journey was satisfying and pleasing to the eye.

Ollie and Anne loved the car and we took them out for a drive. It’s the first time I’ve been in the back with the top down and it doesn’t make for a comfortable ride so I need to put cushions in the back if we are expecting to carry others around in the future. We drove round the peninsula and back. Anne thought she was the Queen, except she was waving excitedly to anyone that vaguely looked in our direction. The icing on the cake was when we went to Joe’s school in Stroud and transported him and two of his friends up the driveway to their Leaver’s Ball, all dressed up in their DJs and black bow ties. It’s hard to believe that little boy is now a man. That means I’m officially old! Even the housemaster grabbed a lift too.

Sunday, we left the Olivers after a lovely walk through Frampton and back along the canal towpath which overlooks the River Severn. It was then a 31 mile drive north to Malvern. I’m embarrassed to say that I had no idea where the Malvern Hills are until this week (I had some vague idea they may be near Derby!) And boy what have I missed! This is definitely an area we need to revisit when we have time. The towns of Ledbury and Malvern looked lovely as did the surrounding countryside but we didn’t have time to linger as our destination was The All American Day in Malvern. It was a little hard to find but we arrived just in time for us to put the top up before it chucked it down. Where did that come from? We’d travelled in sunshine all the way. It was a little unpleasant with high winds for a while but it soon passed leaving us with a glorious afternoon. It was a nice little show with an assortment of cars including Brian Huxley’s Dark Horse race car which he demonstrated by starting the engine at the same time as Rob and Pete Brown with their Wild Bunch sling shot dragster. Scott Hauser was also there so it really has been a week of bumping into people from the race track! It was a nice chilled afternoon and a couple of fifties style bands kept us all entertained while we had a good chat with other car owners. The event was in aid of Breast Cancer and raised £1000, a nice amount.

Chipping Campden

The journey home was fabulous. We could have taken the simple route home via the M5 and M6 but just as in the USA we avoid the motorways at all costs, instead we took a cross country route which took over three hours and was worth every minute. Once again we travelled through a different part of the Cotswolds along B roads, which due to the fact they can be quite bumpy, narrow and go through a village every 3 or so miles and at reduced speed limits, it is not for anyone in a hurry. The villages all have houses made with the golden coloured Cotswold stone, many of them thatched and with the traditional roses around the front door. Not for nothing has the Cotswolds been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We briefly got caught up in a bit of traffic from the Silverstone Grand Prix just after passing Banbury (and we saw Banbury Cross- even more famous than the corner of Wilmslow Arizona).

Banbury Cross

An incredible week.