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One of the four white horses we pranced by on
the run |
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Glinting Fs and TFs at the start at Kimber
House in Abingdon |
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The old Abgindon works factory office block
with a 95 F in front |
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Newly acquired graphics and hydraulic spoiler
on Duncan Dorrel's much modified F |
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A stop at Uffington to get a close up view of
a White Horse |
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| It looked like a nice day as we
turned our 147 horses in the direction of Abingdon for the MGF
Register's White Horse Run number three. Abingdon is the
Spiritual home of MG despite the fact the modern cars are now
made in Birmingham ! We passed the huge BMW /Mini factory just
outside Oxford and soon slipped into tranquil Abingdon. There's
not a left of the factory now but we did feel a little twinge as
we drove in to Cemetery Road and up to Kimber House, the old
gate house for the factory shadowed by the Admin Block where
Cecil Kimber himself used to work. There were several F's
already there when we arrived but we found a space in the corner
of the small car park ready for our coffee and jam scones to set
the day off. It wasn't long before the car parks were full of
F's and TF's and late comers had to park straggled along
Cemetery Road. Having signed on and had a look around the MG Car
Club nerve centre we mingled with the other F'ers admiring the
gleaming paintwork on display and pondering over Duncan's latest
dip in to the dark side with his double hydraulic spoiler all
the way from America and his silver MG Logo's. It certainly
seems to work like magic, whenever we had him briefly in sight
on the run he would just disappear in a cloud of dust. There
were over 40 cars in total which I believe is the best yet for
this run and the weather actually looked good as well (at
first). We set off in a beautiful long line of cars all
turning out of the old factory gates together and headed out of
Abingdon and in to the countryside for the first of the White
Horses. This happened to be at Uffington where we stopped to see
the Horse at close quarters although a lot of us seemed to
prefer to study large 99's from the Ice Cream man and work out
why Neil's hood wouldn't go down properly. He needed to know as
there were the first signs of rain in the air as we approached
the ancient stone circle at Avebury for our lunch stop. A small
group of us decided to wait for up to an hour for food at the
overstretched Red Lion Pub right at the centre of the ancient
stones but we were nursed by a pint of Old Speckled Hen (of
Course) so it wasn't too bad. Others decided to picnic in the
National Trust Car Park now filled with lines of F's or take tea
in the cafe whilst tuning in to mysticism of the large Saracen
stones.
The rain was all around as we set off on part two of the run
which was punctuated by stops to put the hood up, then put the
hood down, then up again and so on as the showers persisted. We
passed three more White Horses prancing across the hillsides
before we arrived at Littlecote House and the great circular
drive at it's front. We managed to get the F's right around in
two rows and they made a great sight in front of the ivy clad
exterior of this historic mansion. Tea and biscuits were waiting
in the Great Hall which were very welcome whilst we sat at the
grand banqueting table. Time for a stroll around the house and
grounds before the circle was broken and the F's all started to
make their way back to their own stables after a really good
White Horse Run. Luckily the resident ghost didn't follow us and
we all made it back safely.
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Parking at Avebury half way
around
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The finish at Littlecote
House |
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Some older Fers taking tea
at Littlecote |
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A ring of Fs at the front of
Littlecote |
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Event organised by Richard Martin Photos and review by Tim Morris - photos are taken from a
video of the event. |
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