Friday 16th May 2003 - Belfast Castle to Limavady

Today marks the object of the last 12 months hard work which has resulted in the se7ens list and in particular nise7ens, bringing 40+ se7ens to Northern Ireland for a long weekend of blatting.

As with all these things you can`t organise the weather and as we woke up to heavy rain with the prospect of it continuing all weekend we were a little disappointed. However we had survived Haggis in the rain last year, we could do it agin this year. So hard as we are we elcted to start the tour as we meant to go on........without the roof.

Most of the morning prior to starting at Belfast Castle was involved making sure all arrangements were in place, that the truck was ready to go, that ferries were running on time and that pickups from the airports were arranged. Everyhting was running well until we got a telephone call delivering the bombshell that no tour organiser wants to hear. Dusty and Stephen had been involved in an accident while on their way to meet the contingent coming up from Dublin. Thankfully they were uninjured although the car did not survive so well. After a quick chat they said they would see us at the castle and see how things went.

So off we went in the rain with no roof up. We arrived at the castle early and then did a couple of runs to the airport to pick some people up. Then the wonderful sight and sound of se7ens streaming into the Belfast Castle carpark, something which the carpark attendant was not entirely happy about. Still raining, a warm lunch awaited inside and a quick briefing when jj finally arrived. The briefing was cut short due to the need to move cars and a truck from the entrance which the wedding party was about to arrive at.......one hour earlier than I`d been told. Just to top things off UTV arrived at the same time.......Johnty....time to stick your posh voice on. The sound of 40 se7ens starting up and moving out onto the coast road more than compensated for the rain which had started to fall again.

We were one of the last to leave but we knew the roads so even in the wet I was confident we could make up some time. Once on the open road we began to pick up other se7ens who were taking things a bit more cautious. A quick fuel stop at Larne to take on some super unleaded and we were onto the Coast Road proper with the ACB 10 shod V7 behind us and coping admirably given the amount of standing water around. We finally caught up with everyone at Cushendun before tackiling Torr Head. Unfortunately the weather was so bad that yu could barely see the nose of the car, let alone the beautiful view across the coastline. Carrick-a-rede was closed due to the weather so it was straight on to the Giant`s Causeway where we had our first stop.

The weather was beginning to break and the promise of a dry run out to Limavady did not seem so distant. We set off and had a great run along the rest of the Coast Road into Portrush and on to Portstewart. Then another call from Dusty, this was certainly not his day. He was following the tour in his tintop and I`d asked if he could pick up a birthday cake which jj had organised for his son. While doing this he had locked himself out of the car and was now stranded in Coleraine. We called by quickly but there was nothing we could do so left him waiting for some assistance from someone who could. We followed the route out to Limavady, now running quite late due to the afternoons events. We arrived into the carpark of the Radisson to find the support truck and the majority of the se7ens lined up in the carpark, a great sight to welcome us in.

Time to get dry, eat and catch up with some old friends and meet all the new tourers who were with us.

Saturday 17th May 2002 - Limavady to Westport

This morning we being the organisers needed to get everyone on the road as early as possible, today was going to be long and if we had a repeat of yesterdays weather it wasn`t going to be pleasant. With the packed lunches handed out everyone was getting on the road in good time. We were one of the last to leave with only jj, the support truck and the mad 400bhp cossie powered monster, oh and Dave Walker in the V70, left in the carpark. It had dried up at least and we were already thinking ahead to how we could make up some time. As it turned out everyone was taking it fairly easy due to the nature of some of Donegal`s roads. The Birkin`s live axle suspension was coping remarkably and I was able to push on at a reasonable pace, the sump guard making sure that everything was protected when I didn`t quite read the bumps. The morning roads were bumpy and we were getting concerned about people`s enjoyment of the tour. We arrived at the lunch stop at Dunfanaghy well ahead of a lot of the tourers, even though we hadn`t really passed any of them on route.

After lunch we set off for Rossknowlagh Beach, well at least we would call in if time was on our side. The roads seemed to improve in the afternoon and before long we were making good progress despite the occasional heavy rain shower. We decided to take a bit of a short cut down through the Blue Stack mountains, this turned out to be a fantastic road and brought us back onto the route just north of Donegal. We started to come across some of the tourers who had left Dunfanghy before us so we knew we had made up time. It was beginning to dry up again so we decided a stop at Rossnowlagh was in order. We arrived to find a few of the tourers gathered on the beach around Andy Isherwoods car. Andy had got a bit sideways and had a bit of an off........he was giving everything the once over before continuing.

Now this was the part of the route where we were in the hnads of the tide, our exit point from the beach was at the opposite end up a slipway. From where we were it looked OK so off we went. I briefly thought about a few donuts on the beach but just at that point the sand begain to feel very soft so keeping momentum seemed more important. Added to that there were rocks sticking up out of the sand everywhere......too late to stop and turn so on we went. The bottom of the slipway was covered in seaweed.....probably hiding loads of nasty rocks as well........anyway we made it onto the slipway and slithered our way off the beach. The next section of the route was fast main roads, time to clock up some miles.

A good, dry run down to Westport finished the afternoon off nicely..........then we found out about the days action, people ripping exhausts off and cracking sumps......it seems the support team had an eventful day.

Sunday 18th May 2002 - Connemara Loop

Today was an optional day, we had laid on a treasure hunt for those who wanted to do it. The organisers decided to get away for the afternoon and blat down to Kylemore for lunch and then return back later in the afternoon. The morning had been a bit of a nightmare as the truck was now out of action due to a broken ram in the tail lift. jj, Liz, Tim, Jo and myself headed off in the afternoon, just as it was beginining to rain. Liz wanted to do the treasure hunt but that idea went out the window when we got soaked at the first clue stop. So with hood down we decided to keep moving to Kylemore. At one point I had to stop, the rain was so heavy I couldn`t see the end of the bonnet......needless to say we finally put up the hood when we got to Kylemore Abbey.

The run back from Kylemore was good fun travelling with jj who was obviously coping well in the wet with his A048R`s. It was good to arrive back in the hotel early and relax for a while....iot was going to be a long trip back tomorrow.

Monday 19th May 2002 - Westport to Belfast

Monday morning and time to go our seperate ways.......this point of the tour is always quite sad, you just want to go on. Some of the guys were heading further south for an extended tour, others straight back to Dublin on the main road while we had the long drive back to Belfast. I had now leant my car to Dave Walker and his wife. Jo and I would be piloting the support vehicle with Richard Nicholson and Rob Grigsby`s Caterhams on board. It was a tiring, slow but uneventful trip home. jj took over in Enniskillen for the trip to Belfast.

Organising the tour has been fun but it was also extremely stressful. I`m sure we may do it again in the future but not for a few years. We are all looking forward to just attending the tour next year!!