Northern Twixfest/Shitefest 12/13th July '25 - Wrap-up

[gm]

[Sunny Jim]

[loserone]

More practice required and lower down shots!

[Schaefft]

I took things easier there but unsurprisingly on lower speed sharper turns it was no work at to get the back out. 5 quid for this drift practice road safety lesson is a bargain!

[alcyonecorporation]

Hey guys I finally made it to Twixfest! 

Guys?

 

 

 

 

 

Guys?

[High Jetter]

Need a calendar?

[alcyonecorporation]

10 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Need a calendar?

Yes. And also for the A1 to be less fucking shit. 

[High Jetter]

3 minutes ago, alcyonecorporation said:

Yes. And also for the A1 to be less fucking shit. 

There are better roads 😀

[alcyonecorporation]

On 13/07/2025 at 16:33, loserone said:

What happened to @Ghosty? And @alcyonecorporation ?

My landlord's skid loader broke outside the garage door, meaning I didn't leave SHITBO until 10.40.

Then, the delightful Barnsdale B roadworks intervened, after 45 miles of lorries stubbornly refusing to get out of Lane 2.  That was just the start of the delays which meant, somehow, it took 6 bastard hours to get to Leeming Bar. 

It should take about 2hrs 50min.

Every diversion I ended up on was stuffed with Sunday drivers, ditherers, farm machinery; you name it. When @Schaefft called me back, I was trying to get past a Transit dragging a plateless trailer with a treadmill in the back, while posters for a village fete tumbled out of the tub. I couldn't even open it up to claw time back: whenever I tried, some fuckwit was determined to drive at 20mph under the speed limit. 

I gave up and went straight to my friend's place in St John's Chapel, but then circled back to @Schaefft's after getting fuel in Consett. Even the bikers were holding me up, and when I got to my friends' place, they were still out and the car stank of brake pads. 

The roads around High Force are actually modelled in Assetto Corsa and BeamNG, so I stopped to get a T pose spawn pic:

SVX odo went round to 200k, but the car itself has only done 170k or so:

I wanted a working speedo and the only one available was from a higher mileage car. High Force is quite intense and I missed the actual rollover, annoyingly.

[tooSavvy]

@alcyonecorporation.. soz to miss party.

I drive all over the N.E. back roads, being a petrol head retired ex IMPnutter, and the roads are GR9.. however, the Lycra warriors cause mayhem with smooth traffic flow on these narrow roads 😮

C U next time 👍

🚙💨

[loserone]

7 hours ago, alcyonecorporation said:

Then the delightful Barnsdale B roadworks meant that it somehow took 6 bastard hours to get to Leeming Bar. 

I gave up and went straight to my friend's place in St John's Chapel, but then circled back to @Schaefft's after getting fuel in Consett. 

The roads around High Force are actually modelled in Assetto Corsa and BeamNG, so I stopped to get a T pose spawn pic:

A1 was pretty grim when I came back from Cov on Friday too.

Thankfully it's all made better by the last stretch, which is either Barnard Castle or Brough to Middleton, then Langdon Beck and over to Chapel.  Plenty of overtaking opportunities to get past the dawdlers and a lovely way to finish off what's usually an awful drive because of traffic in THE SOUTH.

[Lacquer Peel]

Sorry to have missed it. 

I have a placement in a setting that's just had a COVID outbreak and I was symptomatic, didn't want to spread that around and was gubbed with it. 

[davidfowler2000]

Such a pleasant weekend. Good weather. Good chat. Sitting doing fuck all.

A smol* photo dump between myself and WOMAN_df2k...

We started the day with a trip to Dryburgh Abbey:

   

Before heading to the field:

And then immediately buggering off for dinner along the road:

@captain_70s Dolomite in it's usual state:

Tent protection from the soot from the exhaust:

On the Saturday, most folks went to a car show. The Juulars and ourselves were not in the mood:

And later that evening we went back with some other peeps:
   

On the drive, we took a small party on the long route and stopped at Carter's Bar for a photo-op where we managed to get a good pic of Mk4 Golf Guy:

   

   

And after the field we all went home in convoy up the A68:

 

 

Fin

[loserone]

2 minutes ago, davidfowler2000 said:

Mk4 Golf Guy

Talking into the ether, you may have found a handle should you choose to register!

[davidfowler2000]

1 minute ago, loserone said:

Talking into the ether, you may have found a handle should you choose to register!

I said exactly this this morning over a cup of tea

[tooSavvy]

'Oh, to see yourself as others see you....' 😮

.... who ate all the pies... 😶‍🌫️

🚙💨

[davidfowler2000]

Scottish geometric breakfast with an audience

[hairnet]

YES CHEF

[tooSavvy]

Left a comment, on Trip Advisor, for the Bacon butties ... 👍

🚙💨

[KruJoe]

Thank you again @Schaefft for the hosting and hospitality, and the good chats, @loserone and Charlie for the helping organising and hearding cats, and the brill stickers, @juular and @MrsJuularfor taking Lin fishing and the bootleg Twixes, and Mr and Mrs@davidfowler2000 for the geometric breakfast and leading the dash into Scotchlandshire, and more importantly, back out again.  

Photies:

Love you all 😘 ❤️ 

[juular]

Really wasn't in the mood at the weekend and had fully intended to bail, but decided last minute to come along anyway. 

Can a 13 plate be classed as shite yet? 

How about now?

After heading back home to investigate, I decided the leak was small enough to just keep driving it. Being delayed did however allow the stars to align and meant we could convoy with @captain_70s so a positive in the end.

An unreliable end of life vehicle, and a Triumph:

Morning highlights. 

The majority of Saturday was spent at or in the river.

Caught a nice little brown trout and a common dace - my first ever so not that common.  Both went back in.

Returned in the evening after dinner. Didn't catch anything else but really, who cares when you get to spend time in places like this.

Unprompted but highly appreciated window cleaning service from @KruJoe. Thank you!

Loved the forest drive on Sunday.

Back on the A68 returning to Bellin-Gham we got a bit of a shuffle on which was amusing.

The wee train carriage cafe is fab. The breakfast roll was absolutely fu' to the brim, and the coffee and scone the second time round was just right.

Nice to put a face to the name @JMotor!

Thank you once again @Schaefft for your hospitality, and of course all the usual suspects for just being all round braw.

[loserone]

27 minutes ago, juular said:

I reckon this shot on it's own justified buying the drone.  I'd like to practice more with this.  Calendar pic?

Was grand to see you again, would have been nice to dos about in the river on Saturday too (we could have brought the kayak and stuff) - one for next time! 

[juular]

12 hours ago, KruJoe said:

and the bootleg Twixes

Those Twixes were just resting in my account.

I think @JMotor brought them, we just stuck them in our van fridge for a bit.

[loserone]

25 minutes ago, juular said:

Those Twixes were just resting in my account.

I think @JMotor brought them, we just stuck them in our van fridge for a bit.

Thanks again for bringing those @JMotor, I ended up twixbombing random cars because there weren't enough of us to dump them.  Chas also stole one each for his brothers.

[loserone]

Did anyone get a picture of the random Civic which turned up? Not Ghosty, the one which had a Retros of Teesside sticker in.

[JMotor]

2 minutes ago, loserone said:

Thanks again for bringing those @JMotor, I ended up twixbombing random cars because there weren't enough of us to dump them.  Chas also stole one each for his brothers.

Not a problem 😁.

Did wonder if I had bought enough!

Must say I thoroughly enjoyed this weekend past! Despite buggering my knee. Hope I wasn't moaning too much about it 😅.

The route that you planned @loserone  was fantastic. Fully agree that wee cafe was spot on. Couldn't resist a scone too 😆.

My thanks to @Schaefft for hosting the weekend. Hope that 75/ZT service reset light doohickey is of some use to you?

Likewise @juularand @MrsJuular it was great chatting to you both.

Was also great to meet @Sunny Jim and dug, @captain_70s, @davidfowler2000, @Ghosty (glad you got your exhaust fixed quickly!), @KruJoe and anyone else that was there over the weekend. Including random MK4 Golf man! 😆 

Lastly @auntiemaryscanary sorry for nearly blowing up the Corsa. Stupid Opcom adapter thingy! 

10/10 would do again. It actually inspired me to get a wee push on with the Maestro in hope to take that to another Offbrand Twixfest. 

[Schaefft]

1 hour ago, loserone said:

Did anyone get a picture of the random Civic which turned up? Not Ghosty, the one which had a Retros of Teesside sticker in.

Of course!

[sdkrc]

Photos look spectacular, what a beautiful spot. I'd like to have gone but am bankrupt after going to Disneyland.

If this is on next year I'll buy something shit and join the party

[Ghosty]

On 13/07/2025 at 16:33, loserone said:

What happened to @Ghosty? And @alcyonecorporation ?

Without going into detail on the main board, my MH is somewhat delicate at the moment. 
I haven’t been doing well recently at all, and the exhaust issues shook me up a bit - after sitting down I realised that I’d left my medication at home and I’d forgotten to take it two days in a row. Not wanting to go into withdrawal and/or be on a mental knife edge for another day, especially after a night in the tent, I went home shortly after you left in the Legend. I had a bloody long lie in and built up a couple of mountain bikes to sell on ( extremely therapeutic for me, and one way I’m funding an escape plan to gain full independence) - bloody glad I managed before the weather turned as I can only work on them in the back garden. 
 

Car’s fine now, the level crossing had dislodged a sleeve joint in my decat pipe (it’s legal, the car never had a cat, you just need one for the length to fit aftermarket off the shelf exhausts on a GL) that I got back on with a hammer - thanks again @Schaefft  ! 

[alcyonecorporation]

fucking mannequin trees