Morris Minor Owners Club

Plenty of screenwash, the flies are getting bad and they'll be all over your windscreen!
Maybe a can of water for the radiator,just in case?

The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway (La' al Ratty) and Museum are well worth the effort of diverting off the A595.
I can recommend a trip on the railway from Ravenglass to Dalegarth at the upper end of the line. The railway now terminates short of Boot as the miniature railway locomotives could not cope with the final severe climb to Boot.
The Roman Bath house and Ravenglass village are also worth a look round.

At Waberthwaite on the A595 the Queens Cumberland Sausage maker held a Royal Warrant and jolly good they where too (that is the sausages )

Egremont (again on the A595) has the World famous Gurning Championships as well as its famous castle and iron Mine which is open to the public.

A very nice part of England which I was very sorry to leave but my employer decided to relocate me to Hampshire in 1994 which in retrospect turned out better than expected.

Phil

I lived in Beckermet, just North of gosforth, for 30 years until I moved south 5 years ago. The journey you describe is horrible until j36 M6 at which point it becomes beautiful. If you get chance I would go for hardknott and wrynose. The secret on the steepest bits is to hold 1st even though 2nd is possible because soon you will need 1st again! Coming down, 1st gear can be useful again. 2nd certainly. Useful to stop on the straight bits, select 1st to go down round the hairpin. Average is 1 in 4 but lots 1 in 3 and much steeper actually on the hairpins. Once met a Spanish coach halfway up, but that's another story.

Good luck

Regards

Ian

on your way up stop at aveimore and take the road up to the cairngorm ski centre the car will now be in the highest car park in the country, the midge are deadly at this time of the year ,go on line and buy Smidge repellant it has been formulated especially for the Scottish beasties ,or the best alternative is Avon o so soft skin oil spray original (yes it works, the marines use it when on exercise and you will smell o so lovely ) neglect it at your peril.

It would be nice if you could make some pictures of your journey as you go along for all ( ...me actually) to see. I do like epic adventures over such distances and all the more in what we call here "Old Timer" cars. For you on the island of course the only really long distance is north south direction.

We made a nice round trip from here in Vogelsberg 4 years ago, just north of Frankfurt-am-Main, in the Morris to Nantes and thence to St Malo and Ferry to England , leaving at Harwich to Hoek van Holland. The total must have been in the order of 3000km and Morris performed very well. On our return however, a few weeks later it started to run very roughly - it had blown the head gasket.

I shall probably make a trip over again in September via Harwich to visit relations near Reading. Get ready all those contributing to "spotted today" thread for a white LHD Traveller.......

Phil the hill - I got an award for gurning even though I hadn't entered the contest.....

Well done

For those not in the know:-

http://www.egremontcrabfair.com/

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=gu ... &FORM=IGRE

Changing down from second to first on the hairpins must have presented a bit of a challenge!

That's where years of practice 'heel and toeing' came in. Change early and carry the revs. As long as you don't come to a standstill it'll climb anything. (Apart from the bank at Robin Hoods Bay)

Er, sorry, but now I'm a little confused (Mrs MM would regard that as progress as she generally regards me as being hopelessly confused ); surely heeling-and-toeing is a technique used for changing down whilst braking isn't it? To change down into first while climbing one-in-four hairpin bends requires a spot of the old double declutchery doesn't it? (used to be quite expert at that in my original-Fiat-500-driving days). Still, I'm certainly no Ari Vatanen so perhaps I've got the wrong end of the gear stick, so to speak.

Okay, I think I've got everything I need parts wise, the car is all packed up now and most of it fitted in the spare wheel compartment. I've got lots of oil and water along with lots of tools including a trolley jack and axle stands. I can't find my spare distributor anywhere so fingers crossed nothing goes wrong there! Luckily parts for our cars aren't hard to find so it should be hard to have a complete disaster!

I picked up the latest aa road atlas today and have a sat nav just in case so I shouldn't get lost either.

I think I'll try some of the less steep passes before deciding whether or not to attempt hard knot. I've heard many horror stories about overheating, glazed brakes and burnt out clutches on that road!

Thanks for all the ideas and I'll let you know how it goes, with pictures

James

Hi James

Sounds like an epic trip but great fun. Living and working in Scotland, I travel around the roads a lot. Just remember this is peak tourist season, so beware of huge numbers of tourists in hired campers and cars whose driving, particularly on narrower Scottish roads, would be best described as 'vague'. Prepare for anything to happen really !

I'd be inclined to avoid the A82 if you are heading north/West from Wishaw. It's the main road north on the west coast and is packed with tourists, tesco delivery lorries and timber lorries. Not much opportunities for overtaking and long diversions if it goes wrong. The A9 is better, there are average speed camers along its length (and lorries are allowed to do 50mph) so it is more relaxed and passing is far easier.

On the way back, there isn't much difference in distance between the A1 and the A68 to Newcastle. The A68 is generally quieter and passes through some lovely scenery, but there's a few steep hillls to watch out for. It's less direct than the A1 but also far less lorries and everyday traffic.

Hope it all goes well and enjoy the trip. Look forward to seeing some photos posted on the forum in due course.

Philip

Make sure you check the condition of your cooling system hoses before you go (I'm sure you have already done this). May be worth taking some ordinary wire - I have used this to cobble together a broken exhaust pipe and effect a fix to a broken clutch linkage rod in the past. A spare rotor arm and cap may be handy as well as a set of points.....

I guess you have left, just one last tip, did you check under that Tartan rug in the back, I might be hiding there
Sounds like a great trip, looking forward to the updates.
Regards John

Just arrived in Stratford-upon-Avon after a long 171 mile drive (thanks to an M25 traffic jam). All went very well apart from a brief bout of 'the vapours' when restarting after the M40 services. I used half a tank of fuel which puts the economy at over 42mpg

The only trouble I'm having is the heater, my control valve doesn't switch off so it's constantly on. Even with the vent closed and various objects jammed in it to stop the air flow, the heat is making the cab uncomfortable. I'm considering getting some heater hose and bypassing the heater. Is there any reason not to do this? I know many recommend keeping the heater on all year but since it will be bypassed and not simply shut off, won't this have the same effect?

Thanks
James

Sounds like a smart idea as long as you also plug the heater matrix so it doesn't leak on you!

I thought of that I'm planning to leave it disconnected at the engine side so any leaks happen there and not on my feet!

I have the same ‘ problem ‘ with my heater in my 1970 Moggie . Received good advice about changing the tap ( loads of comments on the forum ) but new taps seem unreliable. Currently , so long as it doesn’t leak I’ll just overheat , seems the lesser of many evils !!!!!!!!

Should have added my tap ( valve ) is in the off position but allows flow through !

Why can’t you just squash the hose like you would a brake pipe, Molegrips with added insulation tape to stop sharp edges cutting in to the hose and can be removed instantly.
Regards John

Flexible brake pipes should not be squashed even with the best intentions.
Squashing the flexible brake pipe can de-layer the pipe which could lead to failure.
If you do need to squash the flexible brake pipe use the proper tool and only on flexible pipes that are new or recently new.