Take 398 miles, 1 blown turbo, 1 cracked headlight, at least a full set of tyres between us all! some fantastic country roads in north Wales, 9-15 scooby drivers (and 1 cavalier!)and what do you get? THE SMACS RUN TO THE EVO TRIANGLE.
2 months at least in the planning, booking hotels (thanks andy_s) working out routes (thanks steelx, carl555dbm, redwrx, missyc, charliewhiskey and beefy)driving great roads (thanks Wales) and not a policeman or speed camera van in sight!
It all started as my idea, as an avid reader of EVO MAGAZINE, I have constantly read about the EVO TRIANGLE. This is a triangle of roads in north wales where they go to test some of the top cars in the country, Ferraris, BMW, Porche all have been thrashed along these roads in pursuit of EVO'ness.
So, where the hell are they? Well, after a very quick search of scoobynet, go on, try it yourself! I came up trumps! Now all I need to do is find out if anyone else wants to come?
Hehe. No problems there, as the response was almost instant from the smacs lot, a BIG YES PLEASE.
So, after the usual working out of the dates routine, and getting a hotel booked, we were on.
Before we got to the weekend though, we already had our first casualty, missyc and charliewhiskey were not going to be able to come all weekend, but could still make the saturday, at least 1 day is better than non, and also beefy phoned to say he couldn't make saturday, but would come sunday, phew, ok.
When the day finally came around, we had our fourth casualty of the weekend! Pitchblack turned up at the meeting place, with bad news about a member of his family, so couldn't make the weekend, hope everything is ok there pitch?
So, off we trundled on the saturday morning, running a little late as usual, thanks scoobygav555!
Time to meet up with the south cheshire group first in middlewich

missyc, charliewhiskey,andy_s and steelx outside the salt cellar pub in middlewich.

blitzboy1,barnesy,madscientist and scoobygav555 in the same place.
Now all together, it was off onto the open roads of cheshire, and the run into North Wales.

with the occasional stop for a kodak moment!
steelx also planned for us to stop at demon tweeks for a burger! but some bought a little more than that

blitzboy1 nearly bled to death fitting his new filter!

Finally, after taking a few wrong turns, which were actually fantastic roads! we found ourself on the topmost part of the triangle, near the sportmans rest pub, which being wales, was shut!

So, now we were there, we had to drive it! and drive it we did, both ways about 3 times each
You can view the video I took here
As usual, it is a large 14.5 mb file, in .wmv format, but if youve never driven around that neck of the woods, it is well worth watching.
Unfortunatly, not long after I made that film, steelx lost his turbo and so had to limp back to the hotel and call out the "very nice man".
Still, that didn't stop us from going round the triangle one last time that day, and then heading back to see if the car could be fixed. Alas, it was terminal, and the car and steelx were trailered back to good old blighty, to be sorted out this week hopefully, not before steelx had a refreshing beverage while waiting for a "very nice man" with a trailer to carry him back on though!

So, as steelx was towed off into the night, we set about getting jolly full up with food and beer, courtesy of the hotel and Betys-y-coed.

and a big thanks to our delectable waitress, whos name I never did catch!

I wont mention the knicker incident at this point supertouring!!!
a quick walk into town after dinner was all that was required to round the evening off.

So, sunday dawned dull and misty, but soon turned bright and sunny, as beefy, carl555dmb, redwrx and family all turned out to say hello, thanks guys. Unfortunatly, redwrx and his brother, who had been out with us the day before, couldn't make today, as one of the kids was upchucking in the car on a regular basis, mmm, not nice
So, it was down to me (cw42),andy_s,scoobygav555,madscientist,barnesy,bl itzboy1,supertouring, beefy and carl555dbm to drive the rest of the day in the glorious sunshine. Once again, steelx had a cracking route in mind, but as he had gone home on a lowloader, we used the expert guidance of carl55dbm.
By far the best bit of the run back home, was the drive through the Llanberis pass on the A4086. As we crested over the top of the hill, the views down the other side of the valley was stunning, but we had to watch where we were going, as the road was full of tourists, walkers and sheep!

After a roundabout route, we ended up at Bala lake for a pitstop

and to rest our tired right feet
Then, as time was pressing on, we made our way out of wales, pausing only to say goodbye and thanks to carl555dbm, who lived there, and pressed for home.
So, after 398 miles, 3 tanks of fuel (give or take) and many a fantastic driving moment on some brilliant roads, I pulled up outside my front door at last
Was it worth it? You betcha, and I wouldn't hesitate in doing it all over again.
We are now looking to do the Nurburgring, and also tentative suggestions have been made about a trip to Scotland!
This has been my first actual "driving" holiday, and I have thouroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
A big thanks goes out to everyone who came with us, and all who visited us over the weekend, sorry if I didnt mention you all, but your responses and comments can be found on the original threads here and the welsh one here
Moderators, I know this is a long thread, but please dont put in gallery as the pictures tell the story just as much as the words.





[Edited by cw42 - 9/30/2003 7:42:25 PM]

 

Good write up Chris

When are you going to mention the nickers then (sorry supertouring could not resist)

 

Great write up.

Don't suppose it was you lot that were coming along from Sandbach to Congleton on Sunday afternoon around 5pm'ish was it? I was coming back from Elvington via the 'scenic' route of Castleton/Buxton/Bosley/Congleton and then over to Sandbach and passed about 9 or 10 scoobs all going the other way, including a bugeye and silver classic really going for it, followed by a number of other scoobs including a trio of DBM's like mine. I waved and flashed at most of you

Dave
www.scoobyphotos.com

 

Yes that was us. I was one of the trio of blue boys!!

 

Excellent vid, photo's and write-up.

Sorry i couldnt make it for the sunday afternoon run, but looked brilliant, hope you enjoyed them roads, we talked about ... see you ended up at Bala.


great to see you guy's ... looking forward to Blackpool now.

Chris, make sure your camera is charged up mate.

 

oops fame at last

or was it Chris

 

It would have been blitz and chris running up to congleton just after I turned off probably as they were out in front at that point. Fame will have to wait until the next run out Andy!

Top class write up Chris, nice one.

[Edited by Beefy - 9/30/2003 11:02:47 PM]

 

Looks like a weekend well spent.

Can someone tell me if I have driven on these roads?

When we went to Portmerrion we drove on roads similar to them, we also stopped at Bala, I think.

 

Hope you dont mind chris but here's some more pic's of the weekend

Near Chapel Curig





Car park at a steam railway on the A4085 what a wonderful road.

Bala Lake

Bala Lake again

The crew planning the next stretch at Bala Lake

Just past Clocaenog Forest

And again

Cost me a set of front tyres as well

 

Not at all andy_s, bring it on!
chris