Midsummer Madness and Fathers Day

Had a great weekend last week at the TSSC Southern Midsummer Madness Camping Weekend at "the Flowerpots, Cheriton,near Winchester. The Weather was a bit wet, especially on the Friday evening but the fact that the campsite was afield behind a pub that brews it's own excellent beer more than made up for it. We built a Gazeebo city in the corner of the field with 5 or 6 Gazebos so everyone was able to keep out of the rain.

Saturday there was a nice drive out through the Hampshire Countryside and a visit to the Army Museum of Flying at Middle wallop which was great for my son James as he's been wanting me to take him there for ages.

On Saturday evening we had a bring your own food Barbecue as the Pub had kindly let us use their Gas Barbie. This was followed by a quiz in the Gazebo City and a Raffle where I reckon nearly everyone got at least 1 prize with some lucky winners getting several.

Sunday was Father's day and I got a couple of small presents, but the main one was saved until we returned home. An Excellent Haynes Book with a collection of cutaway drawings of 60s, 70's and 80's cars, the drawings are the ones that Haynes used to put on the front of all the workshop manuals, real works of art and a great bit of classic car memorabilia.

Nice day out at the Ace Cafe

Today was the annual Triumph car Day at the Ace Cafe on the Norf Sirk....

I love this venue, steeped in modern history and so cool, the atmosphere is stright out of the 50s & 60s and it's absolutely perfect for a classic car meet.

The food isgreat as well, I had the fish & chips and the batter and the homemade tartar sauce was well scrummy!

Nice to meet up with Mark Smith in his immaculate wedgewood blue GT6 and his friend Bex. Good company, good venue, good food and a nice selection of cars, plus the sun was shining, a good day out in the GT6!

A Nice Day after a Soggy Night

Saturday Night at SEM was a rather soggy affair as it absolutely bucketed it down with rain. I'm glad James brought along a gazebo so that we had somewhere to try and shelter from the downpour. Sunday came though and it was a lovely day which brought out shiny Triumphs in their droves. My GT6 started making a whistling noise as I drove into the site on the Saturday afternoon so I investigated under the bonnet and found a 2 inch long split in the hose connecting the emission valve to the manifold. A few minutes work with some plastic insulating tape gave a good old fashioned bodge repair to get me home. The TSSC club shop had some double walled silicon hose versions of the hose for sale which should be a bit more durable than the rubber ones which only seem to last 2 or 3 years nowadays, so I now have a set and will be fitting them this week.

Another weekend another Triumph camping Do...

Not quite such a salubrious location as last week's Isle of Wight camping weekend but I'm at it again, camping with the GT6 at a Triumph event. This time it's the TSSC South of England Meet (AKA SEM) at Leatherhead. The main event starts tomorrow but there are a few camping over tonight so it's Barbeques and Beers at the campsite for the rest of the evening for me!

End of another great weekend in the Isle of Wight

Sunday was an eventful day at the Isle of Wight Camping weekend.

A run out to Calborne Water Mill, again the weather was kind and it was a good run around the Island to get there including a part of the run along the sea front at Ventnor and a climb up the infamous zig zag hill.

Then back at the campsite was a demonstration of lead loading followed by an excellent hog roast.

Then in the evening the TSSC Hants & Berks area (+ friends) teamed up for the quiz and duly won, From memory, this is the 4th time in 5 years we've won the quiz! Not bad as we don't take it that seriously and have a good laugh while taking part.

Then came the results from the treasure hunt, the raffle and the announcement of the winner of the Appuldurcombe choice trophy presented by the owners of the Campsite for their favourite car of the event. Well as a group we did well in all of these, Jason, Poppy and Kelly came 3rd in the treasure Hunt, Anne Marie and Glynn got 2nd place, Jason won the star prize in the raffle a tablet PC. But the most unexpected result was that I won the Appuldurcombe trophy for my GT6!

On Monday it was the usual run out to the Wight Mouse Pub for some lunch and then [pack up camp and off home having had an excellent weekend. Thanks Go to Angela and Graham and their team for putting on yet another great weekend.

2nd Day on the Isle of Wight

Another good day today, run out from the campsite to Carisbrooke Castle. A nice run even if we did get lost on the way when James acting as navigator missed a turning, we had about a dozen other Triumphs following us who obviously  weren't following the directions properly.

The castle was very interesting and there was a treasure hunt with clues to find around the castle to add to the entertainment.

Afterwards it was back ton the site for more beers, a barbecue and an 80's disco.