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MGTC trip to Portugal
  • Peter Sprot
  • Peter Sprot

MGTC trip to Portugal

We will be driving our 1946 MG from Wickhambrook in Suffolk UK to the Algarve in southern Portugal. Taking our time to enjoy the journey.
The car has been prepared to the best of my ability. We will see how it goes. Leggi altro
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  • Peter SprotMGTC trip to PortugalPeter Sprot
    Notre Dame cathedral at Saint-Omer.
    Buying chocolate from the man who makes it.You can't leave France without buying a few bottles of wineFrance is a lot more expensive than Spain.Before we left our hotel this morning i was shown their champagne store.

    Saint Omer near Calais

    8 giugno 2018, Francia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    The weather started warm as we left the vine laden hills of the champagne region. The huge factories of Moet & Chandon was the biggest then as we headed north the sky misted over and it got cooler. We stopped in a rest area to put on jumpers and got talking to two English motorcyclists who had also stopped to don warmer clothing. An hour later we meet them again when we stopped for a coffee at a motorway service station. One of them told me how he once drove a 1960's Bedford van to South Africa. They were catching an evening euro train and we decided to stop overnight and see Saint-Omer which is surprisingly nice with a magnificent cathedral and lots of restaurants and interesting looking shops.
    Tomorrow if all continues to go well we should get home and when we do I intend to give a summary of the trip.    Leggi altro

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  • Peter SprotMGTC trip to PortugalPeter Sprot
    A nice welcome home from friends and family
    In the ferry from Dunkirk. It was rather full.The white cliffs of Dover just visible through the glass.

    Our favourite destination - Home

    9 giugno 2018, Inghilterra ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    After a little over 3700 miles in 25 days including 5 days when we did not drive anywhere we are home. With a lovely welcome from our son Robert and our neighbours
    The ferry from Dunkirk was uneventful and the 130 mile drive home was noisy over the worst condition major roads in our trip. The M2 and M25 and M11 were very busy on a Saturday afternoon. All three motorways had some big pot holes to avoid and the surface was more bumpy and generally in worse condition than the similar roads in France Spain and Portugal. They were also by far the busiest.
    I need to fill up the car with petrol tomorrow to complete the calculation but it looks like we have used 587 litres to travel 3600 miles which equals about 28 miles to the gallon. Blubelle used half of the bottle of oil I have clipped in the engine bay and I think it holds a litre. I used only two tools, a plug spanner and a small wire brush. I took lots of tools and spare parts. I did have another fuse problem two days ago, it was the wire coming out of a fuse holder, it was easily fixed.
    As much as we both loved the adventure and the people we meet along the way it is nice to think that tonight we don't need to plan a route and tomorrow morning we don't need to pack everything, check the car and drive for several hours.
    We have not watched any television or heard any news since we left home and for the moment I don't feel at a loss for that so maybe tomorrow I will catch up a bit.
    I let Google keep statistics on my phone in the form of a timeline within the Google maps app so I can see where I have been, where I stopped, how far I have walked and how long I have spent in the car. Some days it was only four hours driving and others where nearly seven. We tried to set a target of between 300 and 330 kilometers a day. Two notable days that failed was going over the Pyrenees when in one direction it took six hours to travel 130 kilometres over a narrow pass but that was also one of the best days driving. I guess I also used quite a lot of fuel those days as it was in low gears most of the time. I'm sure I could have got a few more miles to the gallon by being more careful but I wasn't trying to set records, the object was to stay safe and have fun.    Leggi altro

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    Fine del viaggio
    9 giugno 2018