Finale

Firstly my apologies for the delay in posting this ‘end of run’ blog. After nine months away from home there are so many things that demand attention that I quite forgot that, according to this page, I was still in deepest France.

I spent three very pleasent days in Blaymont with my cousin and her husband and did absolutely nothing to the car other than a cursory check of the oil and water levels. The steering still felt secure so I assumed the kingpin was holding up.

There are several different routes from Blaymont back to the UK and I surveyed the different ferries available before deciding that I would drive all the way up to Calais and use either EuroTunnel or a ferry. Bridget and I set off for Le Mans using minor roads rather than the main highways. The weather was dry and for the most part sunny, but I didn’t drop the hood. Bridget was rather laden down with too many 10 litre boxes of French wine so that there wasn’t enough space to store the hood (worth the inconvenience though).

Bridget was running really smoothly as she had done for the whole of this 12,000 mile run. We reached Le Mans mid afternoon and found a hotel easily. The following morning we got out of town early to miss the morning rush and filled up with fuel at a small garage some miles north of Le Mans. It soon became apparent that the fuel must of had rubbish in it because Bridget started to hesitate on acceleration and splutter at around 50 miles per hour. Once we pushed on to 60 mph she would settle down, but the problem persisted almost all the way back to Chinnor in Oxfordshire.

Other than the fuel issue the run from Le Mans to Calais was extremely pleasent, covering some 300 miles through Alencon, around Rouen and through Abbeville. We arrived in Calais around 13:00 hours and drove to EuroTunnel. However, as I hadn’t pre-booked a ticket they wanted 180 Euros for the fare, an amount they are still waiting for! Bridget and I made our way to the ferry terminal instead, where upon we purchased a ticket for a mere 80 euros and had only to wait forty minutes for a boat.

The run from Dover back to Chinnor appeared to pass extrodinarily quickly arriving at around 16:30. Even Bridget seemed to sense that she was back home, running at an easy 70 mph for the last 40 miles of motorway.

For us it has been an interesting run although not so adventurous as our previous ones. The Winter Palace in St Petersburg was the highlight of the sightseeing bits and of course we made some new MG friends along the way, such as Ola Thygesen in Norway, Jan and Aafke Sol in The Netherlands and not fogetting the folk at the Riga Motor Museum.

Now we are back in the UK I am going to fit uprated disks on Bridget’s front wheels and telescopic suspension. A thorough check from the flywheel back to the differential is also planned. Once these are completed I will think about what to do next, but there are no plans for future long haul runs for Bridget. I think she has delivered a fantastic experience, far above the expectation that the designers at MG would have considered likely when they first conceived the 1500 Midget.

Thanks to all of you that have supported her by following this blog and I will post updates from time to time on what she is up to. She will attend various MG Car Club events and if you should happen to see her anywhere around the UK please stop and say hello.