HARD TOP RELAY LIVE BLOG

[NigelS]

With the hard top passed over by Jo & Nigel into our tender care, we set off from Nunney Castle (must go back there as it looks really interesting)




towards Longleat House, where I had thoughts of a nice shot in front of the house. You used to be able to drive into the grounds without having to buy a ticket, not so these days though. However, not to be thwarted, we stopped at the ticket booth and spoke with a very nice, extremely helpful lady who asked us to park up behind the ticket booths whilst she phoned the duty manager. A few minutes later and we were on our way, without ticket to see the publicity manager to see what we were allowed to do. Whilst we weren't allowed directly on the road right in front of the hosue, they let us park on the grass to get whatever shots we wanted. Well done Longleat and many thanks, you all could not have been more helpful.

And here are the Longleat pictures:


Me with the car:




My eldest son Dom (also an MG owner)

[stux99]

Great pics, esp the Longleat ones, we were not so lucky. Well done.

[Pete & Lin]

Great photos over the past few days.

Glad you had more success with the management at Longleat then we did with the Lands End management.

[NigelS]

From Longleat, we drove to Fonthill Abbey, where the only remaining part is this magnificent gateway and the grounds that you can see beyond:



and from there into Salisbury to visit the cathedral:



and finally for the overnight stop home to Wilton, via Wilton House:



Took my daughter Emily , who has attended wheelchair courses run by Whizz-Kidz, to Wilton House. here she is in the car:



and finally tucked up for the night in the garage:



More tomorrow from the handover to the Thames Valley Region. Watch this space!

Saturday 4th August - Stonehenge

Ann & Simon with the hard top:


and the cars with Stonehenge in the background;




Ann & Simon, great to meet you both.

[NigelS]

Great photos over the past few days.

Glad you had more success with the management at Longleat then we did with the Lands End management.

Thanks very much. The staff at Longleat could not have been more supportive or helpful.

[TimM]

That's been a great tour of the West Country in week 2 and some brilliant pictures from everyone. It was great to see the Olympic theme apearing a couple of times again and to have one of the Torch Bearers at the the Fremington Quay handover was fantastic. Well done everyone.

As the Relay enters Week 3 the Hard Top will begin to move up country heading on to the Thames Valley and up into the Midlands.

Don't forget you can show your support for the Hard Top Relay and those taking part by making a donation to Whizz-Kidz via the Register's charity fundraising page at www.justgiving.com/mgfregister2012.

[adrianclifford]

Can't wait for it to arrive in Essex (although the handover is planned for Hertfordshire ). we,( Dave, Nicole and Dawn and I) don't know when it will arrive yet but we are looking at Olympic themed sites, we have the Olympics on our doorsteps soon when the mountain biking comes to Hadleigh.

We will try to get it to London Olympic areas but can't plan this yet as roads are closed for hours at a time for events, but the targets are obvious (Tower Bridge all lit up in gold, the Olympic site at Stratford, Greenwich, Horse Guards the list is endless). I'm even going to risk parking on an Olympic only traffic lane for a picture of the rings on the tarmac.

Great job so far, those of you that have had the pleasure, it looks like you have had a great time, well done with the reporting too

[YOUNG]

Sucessful changeover at Stonehenge with Nigel

[YOUNG]

Returned to Thruxton again

[YOUNG]

Home of the MG's

[YOUNG]

Abingdon MG Museum

[YOUNG]

Kimber House Head Office of MG Car Club

[YOUNG]

Plaque of Cecil Kimber's original home, now The Boundary House pub.

[YOUNG]

Our visit to Abingdon Works Rally at Bicester where we received lots of donations

[YOUNG]

Changeover at Silverstone with Dave Walker

[TimM]

Dave & Carole Walker collected the Hard Top from Simon & Ann Young at the gates of the home of the British F1 Grand Prix and, of course, our own favourite MG event, MGLive !! They also seem to have photographed the hard top at another location which remains a bit of mystery as Dave hasn't told me where it is !! (Dave ?)

Simon & Ann with the Hard Top at a mystery location

Simon & Dave with the Hard Top at the same mystery location

Dave, Carole, Ann & Simon at the gates of Silverstone

At home with the hard top and flags of Dave & Carole's native New Zealand and the UK

The hard top is now moving further north into Derbyshire so look out for some more pics of this beautiful part of the country with the hard top soon !

I wonder if anyone has seen it in its travels so far ? If so post here and let us know.

The collecting tin is already full with just under £100 collected in it which is great, so its been emptied and is now ready to be filled up again.

[TimM]

Latest Update : The Hard Top has been handed over to Michael Gerahty and is now in Derby so if you are in that area keep an eye out for - pictures and further updates will be posted here shortly.

Also keep an eye out in Classic Car Weekly tomorrow ............

[stux99]

Steady progress, will look out for mag.

[churchsquare]

Looking forward to hopefully meeting up with the hardtop relay at Oulton Park this Saturday between our Trophy races (#65 & #75),Davek Racing Red

[adrianclifford]

Good luck with the races David.