Sunday 16th April 2023. Leading up to the run we had been watching the daily weather forecasts, hoping and praying that we would have a dry, sunny day. As the days went by the forecast deteriorated and the day itself turned out to be overcast, dull, but fortunately dry (mostly).
We left home for Moira Furnace (where the run started and finished) about 8:45 am and arrived about 9:30 am. Having parked and checked in we then queued for about 20 minutes to get our coffee and breakfast cob. We then bumped into Pete and Su Martin and Alan Heeley and his son and stood talking to them for a while before leaving for the run with the hood still up.
There was no flagging off, people just got in their cars and left whenever they wanted to (this seems to be becoming the norm these days). The route was 73 miles long with no coffee stop. We managed 34 miles before we went wrong and missed a turning. As we went down the road several MGs passed us coming the other way so we were pleased that we weren’t the only ones.
We never did pick up the route again, we stopped at a pub to use the toilet (Note for Colin and Stan: it’s open again so no more free paintings) and then used the Satnav to get back to Moira Furnace.
Moira Furnace is ok but there really isn’t much there: a small museum, a cafe, and a shop. It is at the side of the canal so you can have a boat ride. We had taken a picnic and after eating it we wandered around, looking at cars and the museum, before leaving for home about 3:00 pm.
Overall a disappointing day but I can’t help thinking that had the sun come out and the hood gone down we would have looked at it differently.
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