Morris Minor Owners Club

mrbenn wrote:Thats very good of you Orkney! I've always fancied a run over there, looks a lovely place.

Good to hear your thoughts Ray on both trips. My Dad is not keen on doing either I don't think (doesn't like driving far) so I am looking at getting my brother insured on the Minor as he may be more keen. Not so much an issue for the LEO but the Jogle needs 2 drivers of course.

Just ordered some new seat straps and foam just in case a long run does happen

Shall I put you down as a 'possible' ?

rayofleamington wrote:The LEO can be done without too much time off work!
I did the Lands end part in a weekend, then back to work before doing the Orkney stretch!

As for the JOGLE - it's fun but I'm not sure I'll do it again. Setting off late morning in Scotland means that you drive most of the south part of the journey in the dark.
If it was run the other way round starting at LE, then you could do the entire run in daylight (midnight sun in north scotland).

Having done the JOGLE and the LEO, the fuel cost is practically the same, but the cameraderie on the LEO wins as there's more time to socialise. I've done both on tight budgets by sleeping at friends houses and/or camping (i.e. without a single hotel bill)

Reasons for doing the Jogle that way was to:
Give folk time to get up, have breakfast and assemble at the sea front fromt he various hotels etc. Leave any later than 11.00 and you get stuck in rush hour traffic round Glasgow or Edinburgh (depending which way you go). The scenic part of the journey down through Scotland and the north of England is in daylight, and it gets dark for the more boring parts through the Midlands (no offence to folk in the Midlands btw!). Then it gets daylight again when down in Devon and Cornwall. All the traffic congestion of the Midlands is missed, because its late. Never has there been a better time to do the M6/M5 interchange (assuming you're using motorways at that point - not all do).
And the original reason for Tues/Weds was so that shops and garages would be open if you needed anything, which is probably less critical these days in the age of 24hr opening etc.

Having said that, I personally would prefer to drive to Scotland, as I like Scotland more than Cornwall... I justify doing the JOGLE by spending a few days touring Scotland first before the start (planning the Inner Hebrides this year).
I did suggest to the organisers once that having the JOGLE over a weekend would reduce the time off work that people have to take. You could in theory go tot he start on Friday, do the run on Sat/Sun go home and be in at work on Monday (not totally conscious possibly but technically doable) Anyway, they may decide to revamp it at some stage.

When I did the JOGLE, it was early morning and light was just braking as we started to go over Bodmin moor it was ace. Therefore, for me starting at the top was good.

Having done the JOGLE in 2005. We by the way had a ball. Leaving JOG at eleven does seem a little late until you take into the picture being up most of the night before? Because when you lay in a tent on the beach on Dunnet Bay you keep thinking That at some point it will get dark, it don't. The only other point to mention on the northern end is fill up as far south as you dare or take a petrol can full as petrol that far north is stupidly expensive. The trip south in the morning is not without its tribulations as you have to decide wether or not to drive past all the distillery's or not, tough one that. As to the Birmingham stop over there is somthing very sureal about shopping for spares at 1am I can asure you. You begin to wonder if it was worth it all when crossing the Somerset levels at about 3am you start doing mental maths questions which include how many sparks the plugs have produced since JOG. Originaly coming from Devon I have been there and seen it, but the early morning over Bodmin Moor was great to see again. The welcome and Bacon Butty at Lands End was the best yet. Due to work commitments we had to take off for Southampton all to early. On reflection we did make the run slightly more interesting by going up one side of Scotland (Glasgow) and coming back down the other. We elected to drive through the middle of Edinburgh which brought in the crossing of the Forth Bridge. We also found the centre of Edinburgh much easier to navigate than the ring road which was at a standstill at the peak time. We swopped drivers every half a tank of fuel approximatly 125 miles. Over the entire run we consumed 185 litres of fuel and averaged 42.5 mpg. Total door to door miles were 1850.
Never forget the people that arrange any of these events, without whom the Minor world would be a very poor place indeed.

Sounds like you're ready for the LEO Run, I think you would enjoy it

4000 rpm = 55mph ish

812 miles devided by 55 = 14.76 hours of driving

4000rpm = 8000 sparks per min x 60mins = 480,000 sparks per hour

x 14.76 hours = 7,084,800 sparks from JOG to LE.

But you have to add a few for time spent idling and in low gears.

call it 7.5 million

Any wonder the little plastic cam wears out!

Then you have to add getting there and getting home again.

Much more enjoyable spread over a week, with a good rally to visit at the end of it

Roger, Sounds like its raining in Bedford!

Just try doing the sums after 14.76 hours driving and at 3 am many thanks Roger you should have been in the back seat! We could have asked you and gone back to sleep?

Because when you lay in a tent on the beach on Dunnet Bay you keep thinking That at some point it will get dark, it don't.

That was kind of my point (although we camped at John O'Groats, walking distance from the start)- we arrived in JO' at 5pm and it was a bit dull, however it didn't get any darker right through the night. We didn't race and had a standard 1098 and still arrived at LE in the dark (and cheekily drove through the shopping arcade). After hanging around, it got light so we headed to the official finish. South to North and an earlier set of would improve the jogle IMHO, but it's fun anyway.

We had the idea to do our own north to south run during the jogle (you have to do something whilst driving - so we looked for road trip ideas and brewed tea). On further discussions Bill put the icing on the cake by adding the Orkney rally as the destination and the rest is history.

tufty wrote:Having done the JOGLE in 2005. The trip south in the morning is not without its tribulations as you have to decide wether or not to drive past all the distillery's or not, tough one that.

We had a similar dilemma on the 2005 jogle, but weakened. Other entrants must have wondered why we turned left in Wick, reason being Old Pulteney distillery just down the road - we were the first in the visitor centre that morning. Then when stopping for petrol in Pitlochry we looked across the road and there was Blair Atholl distillery... That time we were firm with ourselves and carried on. Next time......

Such 'sightseeing trips' won't be a problem on the LEO

Normally get all the sightseeing done in the four days going north on the way to the start, but always trying to fit too much in on these holidays. I expect we'll be ticking off a few more islands this year, and if we can fiddle the time off to do LEO as well....

I hope you can fit the LEO in Iain. It promises to be quite an event