But let's not get ahead of ourselves!
We departed the comfortable fold this morning, and set off for the Rude Man of Cerne Abbas. The weather was a bit sprinkly, so we didn't stop to take pictures of the countryside on the way. We arrived at Cerne Abbas, and for once, were actually able to stop, park, see the landmark, and not get ripped off in the process.
I will say that since the landmark is carved/cut into the side of a hill, the best place to view him would probably have been on top of the hills on the opposite side of the valley. But we looked, and there are no roads up those opposite hills, so we had to make do with this view.
The figure's head is a little difficult to make out, but in practice, all his bits are visible. And some bits are more visible than others!
We took our photos, and then we ate our Cornish Pasties (purchased at Lands End the day before) and departed for the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu.
I took a hundred photos, which I can't show here, but perhaps when I get a chance, I'll add a link to an album in the right sidebar. Check back later.
Anyway, I'll show this car because my parents owned one. It is an Austin A40.
When I was a little boy, I was sent to St. Lucia to spend the summer, because my parents went off to England. (I stayed in the home of the same cousin who looked after us so ably for the last couple of days.) My folks had ordered and paid for a new A40, which was the latest award-winning car in the UK, but which was only available for export. My parents, coming from Trinidad were able to buy an export model and take delivery in England. They drove it around for three months (or how ever long their stay was), then had it shipped out to Trinidad when they returned home.
Because it was an award-winner, but was not to be seen on the streets of England, everywhere they went they attracted a crowd.
As a teenager in Barbados, I had a friend who used to drive one of these, only the convertible model. I frequently went driving around in the car with him. At first glance, it is a plain old MG B, with the 1800cc four-banger in it, and many is the time we were challenged to a road-race by someone who thought his car was fast.
The challenger was usually surprised to find himself eating our dust, which wasn't that much of a surprise to us, because this is actually an MG C, fitted with a three liter straight six, out of an Austin Healy!
Some years later in England, the same friend was give the job to overhaul a Jensen Interceptor exactly like this one (only, blue). He needed someone to carry the heavy bits while he did the clever stuff, so he asked me. My lasting impression was that the 383 cu. in. lump could only be got in and out of the car using Vaseline and a shoehorn!
I include this last photo because I always thought of this as the ultimate racing car, ever. Only 25 were ever built, and I would thrill to the reports of the exploits of Pedro Rodríguez (the driver, not the serial killer) who drove a Porsche 917K like this one, in the endurance races of the early 1970s. The car was fitted with a 5 liter, 12 cylinder boxer motor, with twin turbos. It had a top speed of nearly 400 km/h and could accelerate from 0-200 km/h in well under six seconds.
Imagine my surprise and pleasure to discover that this particular car, chassis 013, was driven by Rodríguez him self!
Eventually, we tore ourselves away, and made the journey to the home of friends, who have agreed to put up with us for a couple of days. We had a tasty meal (trout!) and a long chat, but now, it's time for bed.
If the cat will move over and let me climb in...
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