The sign above the door at the Red Lion Inn, Adderbury says it all.....

A new MG journey....here's hoping

Dave makes a presentation at MG Longbridge

The nine of us who completed the entire trip

Last port of call:the team at Longbridge

Abingdon Square: Home of the MG

After 94 days and nearly 21,000 kms on the road the six little MGs made it from China to the UK. Would you believe that for most of us there was a real deep sadness that this adventure was over? Doesn’t make sense but there you have it. Sitting in the cabin of a 1967 MG  has become addictive.

It is an incredible achievement that Dave has fulfilled his dream of leading the team and that we have all arrived in one piece, on time and with no major  accidents or breakdowns. Dave planned this adventure for three plus years and we have been so lucky to buy into that dream. Keep “daring to dream” Dave and thank you for everything because without your dream none of us would have completed this journey!

Dave had enormous support from his wife Laurel and his positive demeanour and absolute belief that all would be well is remarkable. When the chips were down it was always Dave who couldn’t see the problem. His glass is always half full. His commitment to the MG marque is outstanding and his belief in the “the MG family” is unique.

Dave, Ian and Denise have driven from the MG factory in China to the MG factory UK as originally planned.

A fantastic feat for the tenacious two: Ian and Denise. They were going to do this no matter what, and  even a hot air balloon accident couldn’t stop them. Ian’s car was without a doubt the best prepared car and he was always hopeful that he would get through without any significant problem. Well he did just that, he got over the line and into the Longbridge MG plant when his car backfired and lost a welsh plug. Off to the workshop at last.

Reg, Mary, Peter, Kerith, Ken and I, have driven from Tianjin, China to Longbridge, UK completing the entire trip.

Ian M who joined us near the border in western China, Lorraine and Laurel who joined us in Istanbul, Mike and Lou who joined in Italy also made it to the new  MG Longbridge, UK plant.

Simon and Dan were there from the beginning and left us in Istanbul. Madeleine’s planned  China trip was cut short, due to flight cancellations caused by the volcanic ash problem. She drove with us for two and a half weeks and Vin  from Yorkshire tagged along on the Italy to Paris leg and arrived at Abingdon Square for the celebrations.

Mr Jeremy Fisher, Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny completed the entire trip wearing MG badges which were presented to them along the route.  They are now in the old country.

It has been a whirlwind of celebratory activity. We were met at Portsmouth by Pam and Geoff, friends of Dave and Laurel’s and also Peter who had read about the trip on the internet. They were all driving MGs and lead us to our hotel.

The following morning some 20 MG drivers rode with us to Abingdon, which was the home of the original MGs and where the six little cars that were driven from China were manufactured during the fifties, sixties and seventies before the plant was closed. Nice symmetry.  Lots of morning tea, lunch and drinks peppered the day.

Next morning we parked in Abingdon Square, again, escorted there by an extensive convoy of MGs and once at the square it seemed like it was a who’s who of MG history. The MG Car Club, engineers and people  who worked at the original plant were there to celebrate the feat. As well others who had taken long drives across continents, some in older cars than ours were there to share the moment. All of them talked about the addictive nature of this type of travel.

The deputy mayor of Abingdon was there with his dog Harry. He runs the Abingdon blog and would you believe Harry, the dog has his own blog.

We celebrated at a dinner at The Dog’s House Inn and next morning we drove to the new MG plant at Longbridge where we were waved in with chequered flags, balloons and lots of smiling faces. Many were astounded at the feat but proud of the strength and resilience of the little cars.

We were all so pumped up that some of us we were saying the journey was” a walk in the park” but when I had to prepare a slide show presentation for the dinner it gave me a chance to crystallise my thoughts and do a quick review of what we had been though.

 It wasn’t a walk in the park. It was initially challenging and full of the unexpected, literally, not knowing what was around the corner. Our early days in China were very trying but by the  time we got to Western China it was clear we could do this and so on we soldiered on. Each country presented some unique challenge.

Even to the end it was a challenge to stay together as a convoy with two cars not driving through the chequered flags at Longbridge because TomTom’s directions were a bit hazy and traffic congestion meant the sweep car lost sight of us and took another route.

The most awesome part of the experience for me was being part of the convoy and the happiness it brought to those in China and the Stans. The landscape for the entire trip was magnificent….high summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the people nearly everywhere were smiling and helpful. Many in our team talked about this journey as being life changing but for me it was life defining.

Thank you to Ken who did all but 100kms of the drive and to the rest of the team. It was a special privilege to be part of a team of four women: Mary, Kerith and Denise where never a cross word was spoken in 94 days.

The team said their emotional farewells and some of us headed into the Cotswolds, others to London or Portsmouth.

Thank you to Kerith who knocked on our door and asked us to join this adventure. The moral of the story is: always open your door because you never know who’s there and what proposal they might put you.

We are  going home to meet our granddaughter and our “soon to be born grandson” and to wait for another knock on the door.

Benjamin Bunny was nibbling on some very sweet clover under the four hundred year old box trees and Peter Rabbit had just returned from the veggie patch with the smallest and tastiest little carrots. All was well with the world in the Loire Valley in sunny France. The ducks were quacking, the bees humming and the fish were swimming through the murky water of the moat. Down the road the sunflowers were putting on a blinding show as they chased old Mr Sunshine. Foxgloves in all the shades of the pink palette were providing a great source of nectar for the bumbling bees. Life was pure and simple.

The friends were resting, as it was a “down day” They were quite exhausted after eighty five, plus, days on the road travelling through some eighteen countries. They had seen and heard so much that their brains were a bit like jelly, pretty wobbly and given that their mission in life was to entertain wee Ava and her soon to be born little cousin they were thinking of all the stories they needed to work on.

They had heard so many stories and so many new ideas but some of them they didn’t comprehend as it was in a language they had never heard and written in script they had never previously seen. Too confusing, for two bunnies and a frog, they all agreed.

“Why is it that we have travelled some twenty thousand kilometres and everywhere we go people speak a different language and sometimes they don’t even use the letters of the English alphabet?”, asked Peter Rabbit. It makes it so hard to understand the world he thought. And in some countries they have many dialects. You know people in Switzerland might speak French, German, Italian or Romansh. In the Stans countries there is a lot written in Russian, as well as Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Turkmeni.

“Yes” agreed Benjamin Bunny “ in western China the Uyghurs don’t speak Cantonese or Mandarin. Someone said in Mandarin there are more than 56,000 characters, lucky we use an alphabet with only 26 letters”.

“I love the Arabic script” said Jeremy. “It looks so pretty”. “Yep like calligraphy really”

“I think everyone in the world should all speak the same language” said Benjamin Bunny.

The knowledgeable Mr Jeremy Fisher then went into a long exposé about Esperanto and the attempt of one thoughtful man, in 1887, to create a single, simple second language which would encourage world peace. The meaning of Esperanto is “one who hopes” but it hasn’t been taken up by many.

“How come we don’t all speak Esperanto?” asked Peter Rabbit

The thoughtful Mr Jermey Fisher took a deep breath, shifted his skinny body into a Rodin like thinker’s pose and explained in great detail, why people don’t speak one language. The abridged version went something like this.

In olden days people lived in smaller tribal communities which were pretty isolated so language developed and evolved with each little tribe developing its own language and later a written code. Today the communication and travel infra structure means that most communities are not isolated but people by nature want to be different and to maintain the their differences and identity which is celebrated though language and script.

If you look at the animal kingdom, each species of animals has distinct communication system. Frogs croak, cows moo, cats meow and dogs bark.

People seek differences and diversity. They love to show their affiliations the way they dress, speak and the even though the cars they drive.

“Just look at this little MG convoy. By driving MGs the gang have tapped into the MG family and wherever they have gone we have seen this….in China, Italy, Switzerland, Greece and in the UK doors have been opened and suddenly there is acceptance. I reckon that language is like this. It is a symbol of belonging and makes you feel part of a tribe which gives you a sense of belonging. A universal language would deny people this”.

Sounds plausible thought the bunnies. “We better get focussed and start working on our stories for Ava” said Peter Rabbit, so off they went to the oak panelled dining room where no one would spy them and they could really tackle the task at hand.

The big screen at Eiffel Tower

In response to our photo shoot note Carmel’s comments. She thinks that at ” both at the Arc and the Eiffel Tower the security were too flabbergasted/amused/stunned to actually do anything – so they all just lined up for pictures with the cars!”

This is the impact this little convoy seems to have wherever it goes….it puts a smile on most faces.

Later that night we saw Paris stop for the final of the World Cup….the Eiffel Tower was a magical sight and the crowd were pumped. A light and sound show followed the televised game on the big screen, the streets were wall to wall with people hanging out of cars, on motor bikes or just running along the side walk blowing trumpets, waving flags and banners and acting as if  France had won the World Cup. Support for both Holland and Spain was apparent with little animosity between groups. It seemed like everyone wanted to be affliated with one team or the other and celebrate the cause.

A big wave from the Team

A good spot to park

We left our chalet in the Loire Valley at Richelieu at 8.00 am on Sunday to attempt a photo shoot at the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.  Friends we had met at Richelieu a couple of days previously offered to guide the convoy into Paris and assist in the process.  After a three hour drive down the A10 we met Mona, an Irish ex pat, Parisienne of some thirty seven years, and her husband Rod at a service station about half an hour out of Paris. They had done a reconnoitre the day before and were confident we could achieve our photo shoot.  Driving a Peugeot, they led the convoy into Paris. 

We managed to park on the main drag on the Champs Elysee and take some photos whilst congratulating each other on making the Peking to Paris leg of our journey.  Mona was in phone contact with our friend Carmel from PEACE who had arranged to meet us in Paris. Victoria also from PEACE was there too complete with a great long lens camera. We then moved closer to the Arc de Triomphe, one of the busiest roundabouts in the world. Carmel poised under an orange umbrella to beat the intense sunshine, and Victoria were located opposite the Arc, a perfect sight for photographing. We manoeuvred our  cars around the Arc and parked in position. All of this illegal, I might add.

 Some in the convoy then jumped out of the cars and started taking photographs with Sue ambling across the road and through oncoming traffic, to greet Carmel. Carmel later said only a group of Aussies would do this and of course the Parisienne traffic slowed right down and took a good look at the unfolding circus. We parked beneath the Arc for about twenty minutes…..quite an achievement in mid afternoon Paris traffic and in a heatwave.

From there the challenge was to get some shots with the Eiffel Tower in the background.  Using Dave’s “when in doubt do it anyway attitude” we angle parked on the main thoroughfare with the Tower behind us.  We were lucky a tour bus was departing as we arrived and therefore a suitable space opened up.  We quickly parked on a 45 degree angle quite mindful we could be moved on at any moment.  This was the absolute prime photo shoot spot and certainly not a parking zone. 

The novelty of seven  MGs, including the Yorkshire man Vin’s, who had driven the Italy to Paris leg with us, parked in a no parking zone attracted a great deal of attention from passersby but not from parking officials so we decided to leave the cars and have a celebratory lunch at a nearby restaurant. 

Later we spent time talking to an “Aussie” on holiday who had heard about our trip back in Australia and who was amazed to meet up with the team in Paris given that we had been on the road for nearly three months.

After lunch Vin, who had come along for the ride from Italy, left us to head home to UK via Belgium.  The Yellow Car departed for a few days to track down the Tour de France, Red and Cherry Car stayed in Paris while the three other cars returned to Richelieu. Everybody pretty chuffed that we had made it into Paris for the photo shoot and with such ease

Unbelievable that we were able to park the cars, do a photo shoot which took the best part of an hour and then leave the cars parked for another hour while we had lunch. All of this completed without any permits and a lot of help from Mona and Rod.

We made it to Paris

Sue, Dave and Ken with Carmel and Victoria from PEACE

Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny and Mr Jeremy Fisher rode in Red Car with PEACE and Teachers Across Borders decals on the car

Mary, Sue and Densie with the guys from Toulouse

Red Car flies the flag:Le Mans Classic

Round and round they go

In keeping with theme of the trip, a drive through France would not be complete without a trip to Le Mans Classic. For someone who had never been to such a race meeting, it reminded me of the Melbourne Cup but with classic cars.

The drive down the freeway to Le Mans was an experience in itself as every conceivable racing car, both new and classic, passed us and the drivers waved…..a good sign, I thought. Porches, Ferraris, you name it, they all sped by and if you were a “car tragic” it would be a dream come true.

We drove in and parked in the designated MG area. Our cars were parked near the main MG tent amidst about five hundred other MGs from all eras.  There would have been at least five thousand  classic cars at the event and it looked like you could not park in the ground unless you arrived in a classic vehicle.

 At the MG enclosure, there was a tent where they served pastis, pate and baguette and all the car folk stood around chatting and admiring cars. We meet people from France, Belgium and Italy and some of the folks we had met in Switzerland.  The talk was light hearted and after a time we made our way to the stand to watch the start of the big event, the Le Mans Classic. 

Apparently only those cars which had competed in the original  Le Mans can now compete it this classic event. So all the cars were built prior to 1972.  France is experiencing an uncharacteristic heatwave and Le Mans is not the shadiest place to spend a day so we spent most of the time in one of the stands watching the races and parades.  Instead of replicating the original Le Mans 24 hours race they run a series of races on the hour for about ten laps and you watch a wide range of classic race cars going as fast as they can.  We observed the races on an upward S bend and the crowd were delighted when the odd driver took the bends too quickly and spun out.  The crowd showed great admiration for a very old Renault which was lapped after about two laps by the winning Ferrari.

The Le Mans Classic is a three day event and people come from all over the world to participate and the entry and exit procedures with cars and people is quite controlled.  Some of our convoy had to wave and drive past the officials smiling, chatting and then blaming our ticket problems on the fact that we do not speak Francai, in order to exit the course at the end of the day. Driving in and out of the course had all the problems associated with any big sporting event but eventually we found the A11 and headed back to our chalet. 

Our favourite car was an exact duplicate of our son’s 1960 Austin Healey and we were also keen to watch the performance of the four Healey’s in the first race. One of the real crowd pleasers was the parade of miniature classic cars driven by children of all ages. A good day and the size and magnitude of the event leaves a lasting impression.

Breathtaking

Swiss Magic

Dominic and Astrid from the Swiss MGA Club

Swiss Pretty

Mr Jeremy Fisher at Jungfrau

We booked the Gasthaus out

Danny and Dave

Danny's MG collection

What a superb little country and yes, I am running out of superlatives to describe what we see and the kindness of people we encounter. The Suisse MGA Club headed up by Dominic, Astrid and Marcel showed us a round for two days and their passion for their country is incredible. Not only is this country of seven million blessed with natural wonder, it seems their democratic processes and attitude is something many countries could look at. Did you know that in Switzerland any citizen can put a referendum to the populous as long as they get a petition signed by one hundred thousand authentic citizens. Imagine that, power really rests with the people and change can be enacted when it is put to the vote with a majority outcome. The place is absolutely immaculate. Everything is in order, runs with precision and they only pay about 11% total tax.

At Lausanne on Lake Geneva we meet Danny a classic car fanatic. He took us to drinks at a wonderful outdoor restaurant overlooking Lake Geneva. The vineyard was on the slopes of the lake and an outdoor moat surrounded the deck we sat on. We looked out to the village where they bottle Evian water and on the other side of the lake was Italy.

 We spent the evening at Le Suisse Chalet feasting on fondue with members of the Suisse MG Car Club, and then off to view Danny’s  MG  collection. It is housed in an undercover park at a hotel in the centre of Lausanne. He has a fleet of classic MGs – quite possibly one of the world’s best MG colllections.  He was offered one million francs for one car, but he declined the offer. He also has a fleet of classic Triumphs and othe classic fleets.  So yet again another late night with some unsettled members of the convoy lusting after Danny’s collection, his set up and all the parts they would like to take home.

Some of our Suisse friends are saying we are”Aussie heroes” while Vin, the Yorkshire man, who has joined the convoy, says we are “the loonie Aussies”. Take your pick on that one.

As a result of all the challenging mountain passes Yellow Car needed new brakes and Peter was able to do that. Unfortunately Maroon Car driven by the South Africans also lost brakes and they had to be fitted at Lausanne. As a consequence they were not able to drive with us for two days and managed to catch up after repairs. Life is sometimes tough!

So thank you to all those who are visiting and for the 495 COMMENTS.
I think it is a “Braveheart” who writes a blog