Pam Robertson's blog

Day 20 - Penrith to Aberdeen - 286 miles

A pretty good run up the road, all things considered. According to the BBC, we're going home to the worst flooding in parts of Aberdeenshire in living memory. Thankfully 'Chez Team 63' is up a hill!

As is normal, the further north you go, the worse the roads are. Even taking that into account, the mini seems to be even more bouncy than normal so we think some new shocks might be in order. Finally arrived home at 12.30 p.m. having done the grand total of 4,548 miles. Time for another service!

Mulder the cat has been released from captivity at the cattery with, it must be said, a very grumpy face. That said, the sulking never lasts long and normal service has now been resumed. In keeping with the tradition of our two previous 'jobs', the schedule for tonight involves pasta and a re-run of the Italian Job film.......sad or what?! Oh, and some fine Italian wine too.

All that remains is for us to say a HUGE thankyou to Giulia, Freddie and all the organisers for a terrific job. Thanks also to Tim and Gareth for supplying some rather fine stainless steel wipers. And finally to all

 the Jobbers for making it such an enoyable and fun event.

Last but not least, on behalf of the Italian Job and KidsOut, thanks again to GdF Suez for sponsoring the entire mini. We wouldn't have been able to do it without you. As for our final league placing, all we can say is that we weren't in the top 3, surprisingly enough (not)!  We're hoping for a top half finish and await the results with baited breath.

Team 63, over and out!

p.s. "Hang on a minute lads, I've got an idea! Err...."

 

Day 19 - London to Penrith - 360 miles

 

Apologies for the late "posting"......we've been thwarted by the lack of a wi-fi signal. As you can see, Penrith was as far as we got today, mainly due to the weather and traffic problems (the joys of being back in the UK!). After dancing into the wee small hours, we awoke to find another giant picture of some minis staring at us......whatever next?! The things you do after one too many shandies...

Our departure from London was delayed, firstly by saying goodbye to the Jobbers and secondly because the co-driver had (in her wisdom) binned the ticket for getting out of the car park. Very bad words were said and she was almost left behind.......£15 later and we were on our way. The sat nav then decided to take us on a mini tour of north London, before finally allowing us onto the M1. The drive north wasn't much fun but, thanks to Rain-x, the wipers didn't have too much to do.

Spotted one unusual sight on the way through Cumbria......a camel strolling about in a field of horses. Had to do a triple take but yes, it was definitely a live camel complete with two humps! We almost got taken out by a Mitsubishi pickup at a service station and, at the same one, the back of the mini got liberally coated in petrol thanks to a malfunctioning fuel cut-off.

But....as darkness fell, we decided enough was enough and stopped off at a lovely hotel in Penrith. We were however, somewhat dismayed to note there was neither pasta nor veal on the menu and had to settle for roast beef instead!

One day to go and Team 63's job will finally be over!

Ta Ta!

Day 18 - Calais to London - 119 miles

Another early start in Calais. We had stayed at a SuiteHotel which was very nice, if a bit like a ship.....the rooms were pod-like with plank-style floors in the bathroom. To cap it all, drinks at the bar came in hermetically sealed glasses.....very strange indeed!

And here we are, safely back in Blighty! We knew we were home when we got off the ferry, saw the rain and joined a queue of traffic at Dartford Tunnel. The minis made quite a sight (and a noise) on the ferry - they certainly knew we were there!

The first rendezvous point was Excel at Docklands before heading into Kensington Gardens. It was all a bit surreal, driving past Tower Bridge, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace.....couldn't quite believe we were there. Blood pressures were slightly raised as, at one point, we saw no minis in front of us and none behind (gulp!). Thankfully Roger and Yvonne in Team 22, together with a couple of guys in a very smart black John Cooper Works, made sure we were on the right track. One final police escort later and we crossed the finish line to much celebrations all round, parking up by the Albert Memorial, opposite the Albert Hall. We think you'll agree, this event doesn't do things by half!

Sadly one mini had to be towed onto the Seafrance Rodin, due to mechanical issues. But, other than that, we're all present and correct. Looking forward - albeit with a heavy heart - to the 20th Anniversary Dinner tonight, the final part of the event. We've had such a great time and met so many old and new friends, we'll be very sad to leave. That said, for some of us, the adventure goes on......the journey north to Aberdeen starts tomorrow although we've still to establish a set-off time.....

Watch this space!

p.s. The prize draw for the mini takes place tonight.....get your tickets at the ready!

 

Day 17 - Dijon to Calais Coquelles - 410 miles

A bit of a slog today, the main objective being to get to Calais. Grey skies and a bit of mist too.....must be approaching the UK! Sadly we have no photos for today, mainly because we didn't think you'd appreciate shots of the Autoroute.

The highlight of the day for Team 63 was spotting a GdF Suez office as we were leaving Dijon (INEO GdF Suez) - yippee!!

There's a definite air of sadness amongst some of the Jobbers, that the event is almost over. Feels like a million years since we left Banchory-Devenick........in reality, it's 3,783 miles. Min topped 80mph today although that was possibly because the driver was nodding off (joke!). Reckon we'll be closer to 5,000 by the time we get home....time for another service!

Ferry departs tomorrow morning (note to self....check time) and the plan is descend on London's Kensington Gardens and the Albert Memorial. Another big posh do at the Hilton Metropole and the 20th anniversary of the Italian Job event will be over. Sob!

Au revoir to France!

Day 16 - Annecy to Dijon - 171 miles

Today's blog begins with a formal journalistic apology.....to the owners of the aforementioned BMW mini what had an altercation with some concrete. It seems that the plan to fly home from Geneva was part of an elaborate scam on the part of the one of the organisers - who shall remain unnamed - and was all a bit of wind-up. Said BMW has been made roadworthy again and retrieved from the garage, on payment of a large ransom, and all is well with the world!

Right, where were we? Woke to yet another beautiful day ensuring a very picturesque drive to Dijon. After consultation with the satnav, we elected to drive back to Geneva, then took a "green" road through the Park Naturel Regional du Haut-Jura. As you can see, the views of the Alps were spectacular and some of the best we've seen so far.

So we've been back to Switzerland, albeit briefly, and escaped the border guards unscathed, yet again. Passed a Porsche dealership in the middle of nowhere but, fortunately, the driver didn't see it in time to stop! Back in France, we drove through lots of farming country where ploughing seemed to be the order of the day. Almost thought of doing a piece for the farming section of Deeside Piper!

Meanwhile, one of us has developed 'man flu', necessitating a visit to La Pharmacie. Much hand signals and very poor attempts at French later.....one pack of homeopathic sinus pills were purchased and subsequently washed down with biere.

We should mention at this point that our final position in the league table is unknown......lest our sponsor thinks we're conveniently avoiding the subject! It remains a secret until we hit London on Saturday and we'll be sure to let you know after that. Barry - no need to organise any big celebrations though...

Au Revoir!

Day 15 - Imola to Annecy - 426 miles

The Italian portion of the "job" is over and alas we're heading back to Blighty. A very looooong drive as you can see from the mileage, most of it on the Autostrada in the interests of making good time. We set the sat nav before leaving Imola and, for once, decided to follow her instructions. She gave us 3 options for a route, one of which was skirting Milan (definitely NO!!) and we opted for the Mont Blanc tunnel instead. So the gold is not so much safely "over" the Alps so much as "through" the Alps!

Once again the weather has been kind to us and we had some more stunning scenery on the way through. And here we are, back in France and the medieval town of Annecy. The plan tonight is to take a walk out into the old town, find an Italian restaurant (we're in denial...) and take it from there. About half the minis have gone their separate ways - the precise route back to the UK is optional - but we've opted to follow the organisers and, more importantly, the service van. Not that we don't have faith in min.....! Actually, it's running really well and sitting quite comfortably at 70 - 75 mph. That's probably the kiss of death....

One of the BMW minis hit a lump of concrete in the road, just before they got to the hotel tonight......it's been carted off to the BMW garage and the occupants are flying home from Geneva tomorrow. As for us, we managed to clobber the exhaust (yet again) on the way into the hotel's underground carpark! We knew the exhaust was quite low but it's fair to say it's taken it's fair share of dunt's on this trip.

Are we tired? You have no idea! But "good" tired, if that makes sense. Tomorrow night's destination is Dijon, so not quite as long a drive.

A bientot!

Day 14 - Imola - 91 miles

Here we are in the spiritual home of the Italian Job event - Imola - and it's another beautiful day. Team 63 set off at 8.50 a.m. bang on cue but sadly we managed to mess up our first timed stage big style, to the tune of 5 seconds and 500 penalty points....yikes! Must do better. The first stage took us to a lovely little town called Castel del Rey (Russ and Holly will remember the chestnuts!), then it was on to Brisighella, a very quaint place famous for its olive oil. It must be said we caused collective chaos in the town centre but nevertheless, the mayor made a speech and welcomed us to the town.

Then it was on to the Imola F1 circuit, in homage to Enzo and Dino Ferrari. Another day, another pasta lunch.....fab! Are we fed up of it? Absolutely not! The organisers had a couple of special stages for us to negotiate: round a slalom of cones, 10 second stages etc: the second stage involved reversing...think we did ok......

Speaking of which, after yesterday's timed and special stages, we're happy to be back up to 26th overall having been 18th on the day.

Ken and Grant from Aberdeen are away home this morning, on account of having to get back to work etc. Have to say, the whole event is SO much quieter without them! We heard them take off this morning at 6.15 a.m., think they did a circuit of the car park for our benefit!

We've done 2,776 miles so far and have about another 370 tomorrow. Sadly the "Job" in Italy is done and tomorrow it's back across the Alps and into France (hopefully not over the edge). Tomorrow night we're in Annecy although we're not entirely sure what route we'll take, might go back through Switzerland again, round by Lake Leman (for the scenery).

Tara and Stewart of Team 49 (Isle of Wight) have officially designated Mike as a "helm hugger" on account of the fact he does all the driving. We were compelled to explain that we're playing to our strengths i.e. Mike's the best driver and Pam's the best navigator. We tried it the other way round on the 2004 Job and, suffice to say, it didn't work! That said, after the 5 second/500 penalty points this morning, there was a small counselling session.....

We got 3 laps of the track at Imola, all of which Pam did, mainly on account of the fact that Imola are pretty strict about speed etc. We stopped halfway round, just by the memorial to Ayrton Senna, also in front of the grandstand. It's such a privilege.

Right then. Must be time for a small refreshment.....

Arriverderci!

p.s. As you see we now have full internet access!!!

Day 13 - Rome to Scarperia - 293 miles

More from Mugello

Another day, another racing circuit - this time it's the Mugello Autodromo near Florence. A very early start from Rome (7 a.m.) and straight up the Autostrada before being diverted off to avoid a major traffic jam due to roadworks. We ended up being escoted in convoy for an hour (by a fellow mini enthusiast from the local mini club), along country roads through the Tuscan countryside - vineyards, quaint little villages - could have stayed no bother!

The circuit was amazing, it must be in the most beautiful location in the world. How they got planning permission, we're not sure! It was a day of bike racing at the track (John M - you would have been in your element!) - and we got a 25 minute slot at 1 o'clock. Managed 3 laps of the track and got some cracking pics as you can see.

Another day, another legendary Italian Job lunch of amazing food. Then a 45 mile drive through the Emilia Romagna hills to our next stop at Imola. The Italian Job has a very long relationship with the folks at Molina Rosso Hotel and also at the Ferrari circuit, which is where we're going tomorrow (yet another circuit!). They're spoiling us for sure.

The only incident of note on the driving front was an encounter with a Renault van on the Autostrada, which was emitting quantities of smoke to put Longannet to shame! We were under threat of asphyxiation but he was tanking along SO fast, we really struggled to get past him. The smoke turned from grey to brown and we're not quite sure what happened to him eventually. Last we saw, our rear view mirror was blotted out with smoke!

It must be said, everyone's beginning to feel rather jaded. We've had (and are having) such a fantastic time but it's definitely catching up with us. However, tonight sees another Italian Job tradition.........the Molino Rosso karaoke.....in the interests of keeping the side up, we'll give it our best shot!

Ciao!

P.s. Internet access has been resumed!

Day 12 - Rome - 22 miles

22 miles and most of them accompanied by a police escort through the streets of Rome! They blocked junctions and closed entire streets to ensure we all made it safely (but at speed) to our first rendezvous point, close to the Colosseum. We were joined by 80 minis from the Roma club and we had additional assistance from numerous guides on classic Norton bikes. What an experience! After a quick gelato, it was back to the streets and another high speed convoy albeit with a few intrepid Italian drivers trying to interject at every opportunity! The locals seemed mostly thrilled to see us.

The obligatory lunch stop was threatening to turn into a protracted affair so we ducked out and elected to spend the afternoon soaking up the atmosphere in St Peter's Square. The queue for the Sistine Chapel went on for miles so that wasn't an option. We did however, persuade a rather puzzled British tourist to take our picture - complete with SPAM t-shirts - there isn't enough time to explain this strange phenomenon at the moment but suffice to say, Spammers you know who you are!

Remember we were waxing lyrical about the merits of Rain-x? Well, we met the man responsible for bringing it to the market - a fellow Jobber. It was apparently invented by Nasa to keep camera lenses clear of condensation in space and works by smoothing the surface of the glass, such that the water can't hang onto it. Genius!

Also there has been quite an interest in who GDFSuez are...some have heard of them and some haven't.

It's an early start again tomorrow, we need to be at the Mugello Circuit by 12 noon. It's up beyond Florence, approx 200 miles so a good 4 hours driving. An early night is called for...

 

Ciao!

Day 11 - Rome - 74 miles

Woke up to a nice surprise.....we've moved up to 26th place in the league table - apparently we were 18th in yesterday's rally and special stages - the best yet!

So much is happening that we keep forgetting to include things in the blog. The first is that, when we were leaving the Lingotto Hotel in Turin to go to dinner, we met the Juventus football team coming in. Cue much ooh'ing and ah'ing on the part of the ladies! The second thing we need to mention is that we were able to help Team 45 fix a leaking dipstick...using a latex glove (not sure why we even had some of those...) and insulating tape....three days on and it's still holding!

Another day, another navigational rally, this time the destination was the Autodromo Vallelunga at Campagnano (26 mile trip). We were joined by 60 minis from the Roma mini club for a very special day at the track. They marshalled us into 3 lines in the pit lane and we were taken, 30 minis at a time, onto the track for 10 minutes. We had to follow a safety car but, as Gordon (one of the organisers) pointed out beforehand, Italian safety cars are a different breed from the UK. He wasn't kidding! We think we did 3 laps and, to quote Mike, "that was just enough"!

The Roma minis were a fabulous collection of very simple-looking cars but, as with everything Italian, very very stylish. Lots of black ones, a few Open's, Cooper's, a Convertible, a Countryman and also a couple of Alfa Giulia Polizia cars. Lunch was provided at the track and a great day was had by all. Think we got a slot between races, the place was heaving with racing cars - Porsches, Fiat 500s, Alfa's. Mike H would have been in heaven....in fact, he'd probably still be there, going, "let's just go look at one more car"!!

Ken and Grant from Aberdeen are effecting a brake repair as we write this. There was also a minor clip between two cars on the track, a mangled bumper and smashed headlight on account of someone coming up on the inside and the other one not seeing him. C'est la vie in the world of mini racing!

Tonight is a black tie dinner and probably at least two more courses of pasta! It has to be said the food is absolutely tremendous and very plentiful, as is evidenced by expanding waistlines....extra weight for the journey home. We have no information on tomorrow's plans but there are rumours of something "very special". No doubt we'll hear more tonight but, given the whole event has been amazing, we can't imagine how it can get any better.

Phil, Andy, Dawn et al - we really miss you guys and wish you were here with us. The Spam t-shirts are getting an outing tomorrow - you have been warned....

Arriverderci!

p.s. Hot off the press, after today's rally and special stages, alas we've dropped back to 31st in the table, having been 42nd on the day. We knew it couldn't last....!