Goggles & Gauntlets 2017

Ian and Maria drove their MX4 Super Sports Morgan all the way from Taunton up to York via Swindon where they teamed up with Gerald Lawford in his Five Speeder. Apart from a small problem caused by a sticky valve guide, neither Morgan missed a beat. To Ian’s surprise, they met up with the brothers Clements who had trailered their cars from the South West (shock… horror!). Having checked out the campsite, they moved on to the hotel. And now, in Ian’s words, the story continues.

“Having done two recces we knew what a gem the hotel was. in a super location, staffed almost entirely by local people we soon settled in and had an excellent dinner.

Friday morning and after an excellent breakfast we gathered in the car park for the day’s run. As we were chatting Scott and Ann turned up in their Super Dry Five Speeder, amazingly they had set off from Kent and driven directly up to us in 4½ hours. Scott admitted to cruising at 80 to 90 mph for much of the way. Such dedication to not missing the first days run could not go unrewarded.

After almost an hour of trying to gather the group together we set off in two groups. We travelled across country on minor roads which gave the opportunity to get to a reasonable speed to exploit the Morgans in the twistys.

We arrived at the first tea stop at Thornton le Dale, parking in the Riverside car park. Here we were met by Richard Wood (5 speeder) who was staying with his sister nearby. We started to wonder what happened to the second group as after almost an hour they had still not arrived. When they finally turned up it turned out the Chairman had run out of petrol and Steve Hughes had a rear wheel puncture.

After suitably being refreshed with tea whilst some had wandered off to Mathewsons Motor Museum we gathered together for a convoy along the A170 heading East. After a few miles we turned off up a track signposted Troutdale. It was a lovely drive over and through Troutdale which is on the East side of the Dalby Forest. Single track for most of the way we had spectacular scenery in abundance.

We then headed into Scarborough along the seafront and amazingly found spaces for us all in one line. Everyone was left to their own devices and we all wandered off along the seafront to the South Shore and had a snack or lunch. We gathered back at the Morgans for the convoy to Olivers Mount Road Racing Circuit only a couple of miles away. After a quick lap of the circuit we gathered at the start line for a mass photo shoot, a truly awesome sight to see all the Morgans together.

Friday night’s dinner was excellent, all the later arrivals were now here and we chatted for some considerable time into the evening.

Saturday morning and breakfast out of the way it was time to get the group together for the day ahead.

We set off again through glorious countryside in bright sunshine, the first stop was at Byland Abbey for a leg stretch of a few minutes. Then it was on up Wass Hill (very steep) and into Yorkshire Gliding Club Airfield. An interesting time was spent there with an excellent café on site.

Leaving the airfield we headed to Rivaulx Abbey a few miles away, once again the roads were great for the Morgans and we had a quick run there. Most people visited Rivaulx Terrace which overlooks The Abbey and spectacular it was too..

Off again along the A170 turning off at the signs for Hutton le Hole and Castleton. The drive up into the moors was amazing and seemed never ending as we climbed up to The Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge, the highest point on the North Yorkshire Moors. We soon filled the pub with many having a lunch that was of gigantic proportions. Some regretted it later in the evening after having a dinner in the hotel too.

We all headed back to the hotel/campsite via Pickering and scenic route.

Saturday evening a taxi brought the Chairman (who was camping) and some others to join us for dinner.

It was a splendid evening, Maria organised her usual well supported raffle. With a good array of mainly Club Regalia items to be won. The winners names were drawn and then it was time for the organiser (me) to give out my special awards. Each year I have three Tankards or sometimes Beer Glasses engraved with Goggles and Gauntlets and the venue on. I award these purely with my own logic and reasoning. The recipients this year were Scott Morgan for his drive from Kent to York in 4½ hours to be at the first day’s run, to Martin Brown because I loved his colour co-ordinated five speeder and to Paul and Rachel Pitfield purely because I wanted a kiss from Rachel actually but Paul was the first to offer. Serves me right but I did get one anyhow.

Our Chairman made a short speech which summed up that we are all a good bunch of people helping to make the Club a friendly place for all.

Sunday morning and we lost a couple of people as they had to travel home.

After breakfast we gather everyone together and we set off on an ambitious schedule! We travel across to Pickering and up the A169 towards Whitby, turning off into Goathland which is  “HeartBeat Country” parking in the village we have tea and cakes close to the film set.

Then we set off in convoy, Twins and five speeders mainly but we had a little Yellow Austin piloted by Mike and Kay Sythes and two poodles that somehow managed to be right behind us throughout the weekend.

In my opinion this route was the most spectacular of the weekend we drove out to Egton then down into Grosmont. Wherever you were on the road you could see Morgans for miles, it was fantastic. Then, on to Whitby.

At this point I knew I was pushing my luck I had hoped we would find enough spaces in Whitby for us all, sadly the place was packed, not a space. I felt it was worth the gamble. Reluctantly I led the convoy out of Whitby and on to Plan B. Thanks to Roger and Debs we had been able to arrange private parking in Robin Hood’s Bay for the afternoon. This turned out to be far beyond our expectations and the lovely people who opened up their garden to us earned our grateful thanks. People wandered off into the village and had their Fish and Chips or whatever. The weather was great and it was just a perfect way to end the weekend.

We all set off in convoy to go back over the moors via the A169 and this turned into a lively pace with some serious tales being told at the petrol stop in Pickering.

Back to the hotel for another excellent dinner. There was a lot to talk about as we had just had a great weekend. It appeared to me that Goggles and Gauntlets is now firmly on the calendar as an annual event. We hope to have 2018 in Norfolk then opinions favour the Isle of Man, then Cornwall (Newquay). Who knows? One thing is for certain we recognise that future events will need to split the fast guys from the slower ones and how we do that is our challenge.

Maria and I would like to thank everyone who came and joined in with us. You are a great bunch of people, we enjoyed your company enormously.”

Ian/Maria.