Ramrod On Tour

[lesapandre]

Eddy - I don't know how much touring you are doing on the way back but the new Walsall Art Gallery and Coventry Museum of Transport are both worth a look.

[eddyramrod]

Thank you; info stored for future reference!  On this trip these are literally just overnight halts though.  We've now eaten so I'm going to lounge around in reception with my book for an hour or so if anyone cares to try and interrupt my reading  

Especially if you have a box of used diecasts!

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Dartford for tonight.  Walsall tomorrow.

My sympathasies.

[RickRirai]

4 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Never mind.  We are now at Dartford for tonight.  Walsall tomorrow.

Yep, been nice reading your adventures anyway and seems like you've brought fantastic weather with you and left it here 😀 

Godspeed to Walsall then!

[eddyramrod]

13 minutes ago, RickRirai said:

Yep, been nice reading your adventures anyway and seems like you've brought fantastic weather with you and left it here 😀 

Godspeed to Walsall then!

Thank you young man; on the drive to Calais yesterday it certainly felt like we'd left the best of the weather in Germany!  Calais felt like home, in that the sky was grey and a cold wind was doing about 155mph down the streets.  Fortunately, as the White Cliffs came in sight, so did blue skies again.  

This trip isn't over until I park up in our own Disabled space again, which will be some time on Saturday afternoon, so keep watching as there will be more Spottings (big tease!).

[High Jetter]

Make the most of it, you won't find much at J10 tomorrow. 

[eddyramrod]

Walsall achieved.  Bloody hell that was hard work: M25, M40, M42, M6.  Massive holdups for no apparent reason, and everywhere else, roadworks.  And EVERY bugger wants to be out on the same stretch of road!  FFS!  So, if anyone wants to visit me at Bentley Green Premier Inn, feel free.

 

Incidentally; is there a big classic show this weekend dahn sarf?  I've seen a lot of likely exhibits going south on the motorways.

[High Jetter]

At least that's further from the M-way than those clustered at the junction, so should be a bit quieter. Will be interested to hear what it's like, for if we need it when up there. Mrs J has just returned from that area

[lesapandre]

2 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Walsall achieved.  Bloody hell that was hard work: M25, M40, M42, M6.  Massive holdups for no apparent reason, and everywhere else, roadworks.  And EVERY bugger wants to be out on the same stretch of road!  FFS!  So, if anyone wants to visit me at Bentley Green Premier Inn, feel free.

 

Incidentally; is there a big classic show this weekend dahn sarf?  I've seen a lot of likely exhibits going south on the motorways.

It's Le Mans 24 this weekend - maybe folk on the way down.

[eddyramrod]

Well... last lap.  And we're opening in Calais, in the ferry queue.  As if I hadn't seen more of these in Stuttgart than in all my life to date!

And now the first of a series of grab-shots from the UK motorways...

Not one of my best.  This was at one of our overnights...

And we're back on the road.  I need to practice these...

And we got home to find...

Not sure if you can tell, but while we've been away the council contractors have been round and removed the Disabled parking space from outside our front door.  That would be the same Disabled parking space that's been there nine years after I paid for it in good faith and then patiently waited fifteen months for them to paint it!  There will be phone calls tomorrow.

[Matty]

2 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Well... last lap.  And we're opening in Calais, in the ferry queue.  As if I hadn't seen more of these in Stuttgart than in all my life to date!

And now the first of a series of grab-shots from the UK motorways...

Not one of my best.  This was at one of our overnights...

And we're back on the road.  I need to practice these...

And we got home to find...

Not sure if you can tell, but while we've been away the council contractors have been round and removed the Disabled parking space from outside our front door.  That would be the same Disabled parking space that's been there nine years after I paid for it in good faith and then patiently waited fifteen months for them to paint it!  There will be phone calls tomorrow.

On the upside that's an obvious fuck up as opposed to something more sinister. Doesn't make it less of a ballache to sort mind. At least you've had a good holiday though 

[hairnet]

renault 12 goes all sorts of shows

jtu something

[eddyramrod]

Good news today!  The Disabled space has been reinstated today, by the gang who took it away.  They acknowledged that it was a basic mistake and apologised.  Win, I think!  I'll take that.

[eddyramrod]

Motability's Approved Repairer took our Suzuki away on Tuesday, and left us a Hyundai i10 courtesy car (which was horrible).  Yesterday our car came home!  It looks like new.  Splendid job.

[brownnova]

Just catching up with this thread… can I just say… UMM Alter towing an UMM Alter: possibly the greatest spot of all time. 

[eddyramrod]

Tour resumes!

We will be in the midlands on Friday and Saturday this week, at the Park House Hotel, Shifnal.  I'm not expecting to arrive very early on Friday so if we're going to have a little Shitefest, Saturday might be best.  I don't know yet when and where we plan to dine, but I'll post up my movements for anyone interested.  And if we can do any diecast trading, so much the better!

[eddyramrod]

Shifnal attained.  Lovely ground-floor bedroom attained.  I may or may not report back on breakfast.

[eddyramrod]

Well... home attained on Sunday.  Breakfast was buffet style.  No Frosties, but the sausages made up for it.  And I left a nearly-new T-shirt in the wardrobe, and didn't realise until we got home.  FFS!

[eddyramrod]

On Tour is happening again, in April.  Location: south Manchester, specifically Heald Green and Stockport.  I'm going to be there on a weekday, so are there any shops within easy reach where I might be able to pick up a used, or better yet scrap, diecast or two?  Or six, or twelve...

[mercedade]

Can't answer your question, but you're about 5 mins from my house...

[eddyramrod]

On Tour is happening again!

Thursday July 18th, Stafford (details TBC)

Friday/Saturday 19/20 Bagshot

Sunday 21 Stafford again, return leg.

Any Shiters available for a meetup, you know the drill by now.

[eddyramrod]

And here's the confirmation.

Thursday and Sunday we will be at TELFORD Premier Inn (TF3 4LY).

Friday/Saturday we will be at BAGSHOT Premier Inn (GU19 5HR).

Also proposing to drop in on the car-boot at TAPLOW, Maidenhead, (SL6 0NP) on Sunday as we head north.

We're in the Suzuki.

 

[lesapandre]

25 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

And here's the confirmation.

Thursday and Sunday we will be at TELFORD Premier Inn (TF3 4LY).

Friday/Saturday we will be at BAGSHOT Premier Inn (GU19 5HR).

Also proposing to drop in on the car-boot at TAPLOW, Maidenhead, (SL6 0NP) on Sunday as we head north.

We're in the Suzuki.

 

Good touring Eddy.

My advice take your own food in a cool box and some drinks and flask/kettle. Service area food is dire and these days infested by the 'big brands' - all total **** and they can **** *** IMHO. You can always top yr flask up at the hotels.

[eddyramrod]

So we are now at The Cricketers in Bagshot, tonight and tomorrow night; Sunday night we will be back at Telford by the station.   And yes, we've avoided buying at the service areas, so far.

[eddyramrod]

And home.  There's no place like it!

[danthecapriman]

13 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

And home.  There's no place like it!

Yeah, you sure can’t beat sitting on your own throne!😆

Hope you had a good time away though Eddy and everything went well.

[eddyramrod]

Next stop, Livingston (Bathgate) Premier Inn, Fri 6th and Sat 7th September.

[eddyramrod]

I'll be heading home on Sunday.  Am I likely to meet any boot sales nearby where there might be diecast stock?

[eddyramrod]

And in a couple of hours that heading-home will be happening.  I can't believe none of our Glasgow/Edinburgh-based members know of a boot sale for me.  What is it, don't you want me scooping up all the cheap old Dinky and Corgis?

[eddyramrod]

I found one, at Blochairn; the wholesale fruit market.  Well at least I knew where that was!  I've found that in the middle of the night several times, with a C2 wagon around me.  Not much in the way of diecasts though.  I wasn't even tempted to whip out my camera, never mind my wallet.

Locals may have seen that there was a car fire there this morning.  I was one of the cars waiting to enter, that had to move over to let the fire engines in!  The dead car was a modern Jaguar XJ.  Oh and don't believe the stories about evacuating the place!  Very few stalls were affected and most of the trading just went on as normal.

So, why were we there?  Last November my eldest grandson Connor turned 21, so we bought him (and his kid brother Alex who reached 19 in April) a Supercar Experience.  Alex, being a bit busy with Army-officer training, hasn't passed his test yet, so their dad was going to go instead.  We turned up at Ingliston to meet them and found that, having recently moved from Inverness to Edinburgh, Dad hadn't updated his address on his driving licence, so they wouldn't let him drive.  "Erm... Ed... do you want to take Alex's rides instead?"

Lamborghini Gallardo (the orange one) and Ferrari California (one of the red ones).

Plus a passenger hot-lap in an Ariel Atom.  But wait, there's more!

As we left the hotel to go to Ingliston, I noticed a bunch of modern Mustangs in the car park.  Turns out there was a car show just up the road and several people were using our hotel for a pre-meet!  I managed not to get any pics of the Mustangs, because I was busy shooting these for you all...

1971 TVR has a 1600 Kent under the hood, GT spec... in a car that weighs about as much as my shoes!  That should be fun then

Jag, Volvo and Twingo were all going...

It's like Blackpool round here!  

Or maybe Ryton!  Ex-press-fleet Solara wears a mere 13k miles.

You're welcome.