HARD TOP RELAY LIVE BLOG

[Herbie]

.... the laughs with you as usual

Indeed "as usual" ... thanks for your company mate

[Mykel]

Sorry for the delay, seems as if my lovely daughter has generously passed on some flu viruses to me over the weekend ... she is such a nice girl, you know.

Talking about generosity: On Sunday, after we had finished our "Linner" at the final destination, the roman archaeological park in Xanten (the only city in Germany starting with an "X" by the way), it was my pleasure to open the tin and count the money. Donations from within the group and also from some of the passers-by on Saturday, we managed to raise 269.50 Euros, which was then instantly rounded off to 270, then 280, and 290 Euros in the end (a little over £230 as of today's exchange rates). As has been said, the hard top has now gone to Kasper in Holland, so I am sure the 300 Euro barrier has already been broken at the time I'm typing this.

All of us Continental drivers have seen it as a great honour to be part of this extraordinary relay, a weekend that will be remembered here for years. We wish to thank everybody who opened this MGCC-only event to us, with afaik only Dieter and me being members of the club in the UK. You will find some more stickers on the top to commemorate this as well

But now to the photos:

Here's the hard top on my car on Saturday, waiting for the rest of the pack in front of the first stop at a coal mine we visited:


After Sunday's breakfast I was relieved, and the hard top was passed on ...


to Bruno, who had won the roadbook run's challenges the day before:


Next stop was at Kempen castle, our former county town ...


where it was fitted to Markus' car. He's from Düsseldorf and one of the key members of our local natter:


After some driving, we took a longer break to have an ice cream, after which the hard top came off Markus' car ...


... and was handed over to Bartho from Duisburg, who managed to join us over the weekend despite just having moved house:


In front of Moyland castle Bartho then passed the hardtop on ...


... to Carina and Andre from Wassenberg (the place where Herbie had taken it on Friday):


As our event was called the "Niederrhein Tour", it was about time to actually find the river Rhine! Here's the WaGs with the hard top:


... before Eva (also from Düsseldorf) finally took it to the final destination in Xanten.


Now both the hard top and he dough are under close surveillance by Anglia Vice, who will bring everything back to the UK by the end of this week :

[Herbie]

Great pics and write-up Mykel

Dave and Adrian = MG Vice .... nuff said

[colintf]

great memories from you write up / photo's

I hope that you feel better soon Mykel

[Dave_T]

MG vice? I think I know which one is Tubbs!!!
Hard top is currently in s'Hertogonbosch holland, heading for Belguim later today/tomorrow.
More pictures to follow, Dave & Rhona and Adrian & Dawn.

[colintf]

keep the updates coming Dave

[adrianclifford]

The international "leg" raised the €300 I had hoped for, I'll pay it in to the Just Giving sight in Sterling to get the Gift Aid.

We had no log book though, that had to stay in the UK. I'll add some more pictures later I've been out all day route surveying for our next Sunday Pub Run on October 7th.

[TimM]

Glad to hear its back safely in the UK again . Thanks to everyone involved in the Lap of Honour , it's a fantastic effort from all those who took part in Europe. It was a fitting finale for the Relay.

Just a reminder for anyone making donations on behalf of others that you can not claim gift aid as it has to be money you have paid tax on in the UK and we don't want to get anyone in trouble with the Revenue!

The Relay log book had to stay here in the UK as it was nearly full anyway and we needed it to write reports to meet deadlines and help compile the book. We've got the updates on here though and looking forward to the final set of photos.

[adrianclifford]

Got that Tim, Keith dropped me a pm.

[colintf]

The international "leg" raised the €300 I had hoped for, I'll pay it in to the Just Giving sight in Sterling to get the Gift Aid.

We had no log book though, that had to stay in the UK. I'll add some more pictures later I've been out all day route surveying for our next Sunday Pub Run on October 7th.

thats great Adrian

[John W]

The international "leg" raised the €300 I had hoped for

Well done to Adrian, Dave and the 'Euro' Guys and Gals , now there's an idea..how about F Register members donating to 'Whizz-Kidz' any left over Holiday Euro change they may have tucked away? come on you know you have some...

[adrianclifford]

Not a bad idea John, however Dawn and I travel to Europe 6 or 7 times a year so we're always using Euro's.

[TimM]

Did anyone see Mike Le Caplain's piece in Classic Car Weekly about his leg of the Hard Top Relay ?

In case you missed it Mike dedicated his column to it a couple of weeks ago and it looks like he had a great time.....

Mike Le Caplain's article in Classic Car Weekly

[TimM]

Nice piece in the Boston Bulletin about Sheila Laurence's leg of the HTR.......