Category Archives: IMM2014

did we ever finished the trip to England?

Time is flying! We did finally got home from the trip to England. With the Moke!

Last day in Denmark we camped at Rågeleje and woke up just to throw all stuff in the cars and head on to a nearby marina. We wanted some seafood for breakfast and we found an open shop selling fresh shrimps and bread. We had drinks and mayo so sitting by the nice yatchs in the marine we started the day in a nice way.

We stopped at a marina not far from Rågeleje to have shrimps for breakfast!

We drove along the north coast of Sjaelland to Helsingör where we took the ferry over to Sweden. It was now already way past lunchtime so we skipped visits to relatives and friends and drove north along the west coast. We had a plan to reach Gothenburg or Trollhättan before dark. After repair/swap of fuel pump on the Moke, and a late lunch at Hovs hallar we drove on. Black clouds looked scary by the east horizon a bit into the country but we were lucky and had fine weather. We even stopped for a swim in the sea at Varberg, very nice!

Swapping fuel pump on the Mini Moke at Hovs Hallar.

We, the crew in the Moke, reached the summer house of the family quite late and stayed the night. The crew in the Cooper drove on in the night as they were eager to meet up with friends at a bike meeting/party.

After two nights in the summer house and a homecoming party, for the ones that spent their summers in the surroundings 20 years ago, we headed back to Uppsala. After three weeks on the roads we were finally back home. The Moke had behaved well on another long trip.

Stay tuned for more late reports about Mini and Moke life in Sweden and abroad!

Denmark, to nice to just blast through

Thursday 7 August

Woke up on south Fyn and had a nice breakfast with bread ordered the day before. We then packed all stuff and took off on small danish roads. The petrol level was a bit low so it was a challange to find a petrol station that was open och accepted our credit cards.

Odense was our next stop with lunch and trying to take some turfzones. No datatraffic on the mobile made the latter unsuccesful…

We drove on on small roads and eventually reached the Stora Bält bridge. We were not as smart as M & T in the Cooper who claimed the car was under three metres and only psid half fee. The traffic over the bridge was a bit hectic, loads of wind from the side and we were in the Moke. But we made it! We the took off to smaller roads again and this time aiming to the northern part of Sjaelland.

Nice roads took us to the ferry Rörvig-Hundested, short crossing of only 20 minutes sailing. The ferry was fully booked but as we had so small cars they squeezed us in.

We started to look for a place to set camp for the night and passed several sites that were not suitable. Day ended finally in Rågeleje where we had a meal on a restaurant, took a stroll on the beach during sunset and the set camp on a campsite.

Repair of Moke on danish soil

Moke repairs on danish soil, Wednesday 6 August
We reached Harwich well in advance of ferry depature and therefore had time for a visit to the nice Harwich Redoubt fort. We then bought some groceries for a picnic on the ferry, way cheaper than the restaurants aboard.

The Harwich Redoubt fort

We lined up and there were several Minis, danish, norwegian and swedish. Even the car and the team that was awarded Spirit of the show at IMM by MiniWorld, the danish 1959 Mini owned by Michael Herluf. Probably the oldest Mini that is driven to events, chassies number around 260.!!

Danish 1959 Mini

Crossing was smooth and easy, some beers but no really party.
Esbjerg was waiting for us and our Minis that needed some repairs. The Moke had a strange noise from the dynamo, Joels Clubman Estate had ignition problem (related to the cable fire in Maidstone??) and BOA needed to raise the suspension as he was fully loaded.

The coil was broken on the Clubman Estate

I dismounted the dynamo and found out that the bushing in back was gone. It was charging but made a noise when rotating. No bushing among the spares so only solution was to like the noise and drive on. But then a MGB stopped and offered us help. A minute later I was in the car, five minutes later in a garage with several MGs, mostly Midgets and was handed a new backpiece for the dynamo. We drove back to the Moke, mounted it and then we were ready to drive off! What luck!
I googled the guy, as I forgot to ask his name, and found out it was Palle Kragh Ruhe, driving Midgets in historic racing. Very nice fellow!

The MG garage (picture found on web via google)

We had lunch on the main square, took some turfzones and then drove off.
We ended the day on a campsite on southwest Fyn, where we met up with the rally Cooper that had been driving over the continent as they had no ticket on ferry England-Denmark. They had had a nice trip and the Cooper was running good after the change of head gasket at the IMM.

Change of head gasket on the rally Cooper at IMM

Day 11 in England, Tuesday 5 August.

The International Mini Meeting, IMM2014, is over and we are on our way back to mainland of Europe, catching a ferry from Harwich this evening.

We had a great weekend at the meeting with loads of Minis, friends, parts, activities, dancing, exhibitions, and so on. Was great to meet all friends again and to meet some new. Around 5000 visitors were on the IMM and then there were day visitors during sunday. Dont know how many Minis that were on site, will let you know when I find out.

There were a lot of Mokes at the meeting and 82 of them was gstheted on a field one if the days, biggest collection of Mokes in one place for quite a while.

Next years IMM will be in Lithuania and in 2016 it will be in Belgium. So start planning now and begin work in garage.

I have loads of pictures but most of them in my camera so you will have to wait until I am back home until they are published.

Day six in England, Thursday 31 August

Day six in England, Thursday 31 August.

Lazy morning started the day. We cooked breakfast at the tents in the morning sun. We were still behind The Cock Inn in Peasmarsh. Everyone took a shower after all gears were packed into the cars and we set off, heading north towards Maidstone.

We realised that the Cooper was a bit tired , especially going upwards. After a quick diagnose at the lunch stop we came to the conclusion that the headgasket most probably is blown between cyl 2 and 3.

Something to fix on IMM.

The lunch stop was also a pre Imm beer with IMD- International Mini Drinkers. And it was held at the Ringlestone Inn, on the countryside 8 km east of Maidstone, very old and nice place.
We arrived to the looong queue into IMM at 1500 and were let in at about 1800. Many wellknown faces in the queue so time was flying.

The showground is quite big but we mansged to fin the other swedes, squeezed into a plot near to the markets and event hall. A bit away from the toilets and long away from showers so visits to these must be planned.
Tent up, beer out and then start to socialize
At midnight we called it a day, brushed our teeth and went to bed.
Tomorrow market, people and arrival of a beloved woman.

Day four in England, Tuesday 29 August

Day four in England, Tuesday 29 August.
Slow start of the day with breakfast on camp site as sister woke up early and drova a Sainsbury in Canterbury to shop bread, juice,milk and more.
We made up plans for the day, took a shower and then set off, six people in two Mini Coopers MK1, the Moke was left on camp.
Canterbury was first on list with the cathedral, some shopping and cream tea in a very old house.

We filled petrol and then drove out east, to the coast and the very nice town Broadstairs. We walked on the beach, took photos and had a great afternoon drink.

On our way back to camp and the pub Chequers Inn we drove very small and very nice roads on the countryside, some single lane.

The day ended with a great meal, desserts and real ales.
Vacation as it should be.

Day three in England, Monday 28 August

Day three in England, Monday 28 August. The heat wave is over and rain came during the night. We woke up on the b&b still fed up after the grilled dinner the day before so the lighter continental breakfast was ok for us. We took a long warm shower, who know when that will be possible next time?, and packed all our stuff into the cars.

We headed to the tourist information to find another b&b for the others. Beside the tourist information in Gravesend there was a statue of Pochahontas, the american indian princess that died here in year 1615.

Pochahontas

It took time to find a b&n so meanwhile we went back to Chatham to take some turf zones and see the university area at the same time. We later met up with the others at the historical shipyard and had another walk around. This time we took the guided tour at the ropery, very interesting. Quite different from the tour on the submarine that we had the day before.

Ropery

We headed out on the roads again, A2 to Faversham, down the A251 to Wye and there we met up with my sister and her man. After a drink we drove small nice scenic roads

We emded up at the Chequers Inn near Waltham south of Vanterbury where we found a camp site. Pitched our tents and went to the pub. Unfortunately they served no food on monday nights but we had a late meal in the tent cooked on the Trangia storm kitchen . now the Moke is sleeping beside the Cooper outside the tent and we onside. Heavy rain during the night…. Hope it clears up during the day, otherwise its going to be indoor activities as visit to Cantwrbury cathedral or something like it.

First day in England

We had a late breakfast , were amused by the same entertainer as always and then the ferry was in port in Harwich.

The first petrol station where we always fill up was shutdown so had to find another one. We then left three other swedish teams and drove on in a small convoy of four Minis.

Walton on the nase

Our plan was to find a base camp in Walton-on-the-nase but very good weather, weekend and srart of holidays meant that everything was fully booked.. We drove on and on and on.. Passed Colchester and on. Stopped for a nice pub meal and then time was about 6pm.

Noce pub for a meal

We decided to split up. We drove on and found a campsite by the sea near to Maldon. Another team was offered space in our tent and as they didnt find snyhthing else they accepted despite they had no camping gear or sleeping bags.. Two other teams eventually found some rooms by Stansted airport..

After some beer in the evening sun by the sea we are now off to bed.

The third swedish Mini on ferry queue

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