Numbum Round Britain

Last Sunday we were presented with the trophy by Sally Silcock, the Secretary of the MG Car Club T Register.

Photos by Bill Silcock

It looks good on the dining table.

As this story comes to a close, the last part is collecting the Montague Burton Trophy. The presentation was planned to be in Blyth near Doncaster and we set off in Numbum in high spirits.

Sadly about 60 miles into the trip there was a loud crack and lots of smoke from the left rear wheel area. It turned out that the left rear suspension mount had broken completely and the wheel was tight up inside the rear wing. We weren't going far like that so we contacted Sally & Bill Silcock who were travelling north to meet us and formally present the trophy to save them the long journey.

Next was a call to the RAC for recovery which duly happened about an hour or so later.

Once old Numbum was safely tucked up in the garage we jumped in the MG3 and headed of to our planned overnight stop. The next morning we headed off to Bill & Sally's place for the formal presentation. Pictures will follow.

The beautiful trophy is now with us for a while.

I received an email yesterday from the Secretary of the MG Car Club T Register letting me know that Pam & I have been awarded the Montague Burton challenge trophy for 2016. The trophy is awarded to those who use their T Types regularly, or for an outstanding feat in a T Type. The T Register committee decide that we should have it for our exploits on this trip.

We were very surprised, very flattered and over the moon about it.

A presentation time & place is yet to be arranged and hopefully there will be a picture or two which I'll post later.

This one is from the MG Car Club T Register email newsletter and posted here with their permission.

For those of you who have been following Owen and Pam Frankland's 4,000 mile clockwise trip round the coast of Britain you will know they have had some trials and tribulations, but have also had some great days ... but they finally had to give up at Fort William.
They started at the Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough on 22 July, and travelled clockwise round the coast. They met generous people, even people who slipped money under their tonneau in the middle of the night in Southport. They had great shirt-sleeved driving days. But they also had their problems - a broken half shaft at Brightlingsea in Essex, continuous problems with their exhaust from Devon and round into Wales. But even these problems got them to meet up with some great people from small garage owners who dropped everything to help them on their way, a mobile mechanic who was only too pleased to help and who refused payment, to the RAC helping them out at the end. It was collapsed UV joints in Fort William which forced their giving up the drive.
They have a very well written and interesting blog about their journey, and posted a lot of photos of their adventures. They have also set up a Just Giving page if you want to help. They also have a Twitter account (@jg9052) which has lots of links to their adventures.

The first from the Tyne Tees Centre notes.

The second from the T Type newsletter.

Such wonderful thoughts and it's so good that the word is still getting out even though we're back home. Lets hope it brings in some more donations for Harrison's Fund.

It's been a busy week since we got back and it wasn't until today I got chance ro have a look at Numbum. Using a borrowed jack and my axle stands I got the old girl up high enough to see what I was doing.

The reason for the noise and vibration was obvious. One cup had vanished from the universal joint.

The reason it vanished was a cracked yoke.

Parts are ordered and it shouldn't be long before the old gal is back on the road.

After a hearty breakfast it was time to set off for home.

No more ritual checking the oil & water. No more carefully assembling the 3D jigsaw puzzle of the luggage in the back of the TA.

It was open the boot, chuck everything in and drive. So boring.

Our egos took a bit of a hit as nobody's heads swivelled as we drove past. Nobody suddenly rushed to get a camera. We were cloaked in the anonimity of a Ford Focus. We were just another couple in just another car. It was a bit sad really.

The journey home was uneventful and once we had unloaded the car it was almost as if we'd never been away.
 

This is a sad day but even so there were some good parts to it. Last night I had spent about 45 minutes looking for a B&B in our price range in the Fort William area with no luck at all. I eventually found an hotel with a room but at an eye watering price. The cost was not refundable if we didn't make it. This is a relevant factor in why we made the decision we did.

When we woke up it was a damp drizzly day. By the time we had eaten breakfast it was raining, not hard but certainly wetter than earlier. For the first time in the trip we set off in wet weather clothing.

We fuelled up and set off along the A38. For a couple of days Numbum had a slight vibration in the driveline but it was liveable with and we'd carried on.

Today the vibration suddenly worsened and the car was almost undriveable above 30mph. We limped along looking for a garage and found one in Kilmartin. When I saw an MGB on the ramp I knew we'd found a good place.

The guys there were absolutely wonderful. We soon had Numbum over the narrow pit and the problem identified as a collapsed UJ at the front end of the propshaft. Off came the shaft and a good UJ was nicked from a Ford Escort shaft and fitted. They also identified and fixed a couple of battery cable issues.

Off we went again. With the vibration gone it was smooth as silk. Unfortunately about 9 miles down the road there was a loud clunk and the serious vibration was back. I pulled onto a safe place and tried to ring the garage but had no signal. Pam was sat under the brolly and I spent some time wandering up & down the road looking for a phone signal with no luck.

Eventually a lovely lady drove me to her house and let me use the phone. She also provided us with a flask of hot water. I rang the garage and they were prepared to look at the issue again if we got the car recovered to them. There was a strong possibility that we would be there till Monday if not Tuesday before we could be moving again.

Not only would this have lost us a hefty hotel room cost but we would have had to find B&B locally and be there with no transport for the weekend.

Neither of us fancied that so it was with a heavy heart that I called the RAC for recovery.

0nly 69 miles today.

The company the RAC used had been trying to ring us with no luck so sent a driver to give us our options. They didn't have a driver with enough hours available to take us home so would bring a loan car to us and take Numbum back to their depot for delivery home later. This sounded good to us.

About 8.10pm the loan car arrived on a flat bed and was unloaded. We quickly took all of our gear and chucked it in the boot of the Ford Focus and helped to get Numbum onto the flatbed.

The rain had stopped while we were waiting but a chilly breeze came along and we were quite cold. Some improvisation was called for. We were quite cozy in there.

While we were waiting in our improvised tent we heard the rumble of a diesel motor. Was this our recovery man? Nope, it was a driver who had seen us and turned back to see if he could help. He couldn't but he gave us some biscuits. Great guy!

We were still 92 miles from the Invergarry Hotel and they closed the doors at 11pm. That was a bit of a push in a strange car on strange roads in the dark but we made it there at ten to eleven.

We got checked in and by just after eleven we were drinking coffee and eating fruit cake before collapsing into bed.