THERE ARE A NUMBER OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DRIVE IT DAY RUN IN OUR GALLERY. JUST CLICK ON THE TAB NAMED “GALLERY” ABOVE AND OPEN THE FILE ENTITLED “DRIVE IT DAY 2017”.
Sunday, the 23rd of April 2017, was national Drive It Day when owners of all kinds of classic cars are encouraged to get them dusted off and out on the roads, in other words to make use of them the way their manufacturers intended.
And so a number of MGs and their owners turned up at B&Q in Sprucefield in their glorious MGs (although there were a couple of stowaways in not-very-British cars). Oldest of these was a magnificent M Type Midget, the howl of which was magnificent at full throttle on the open road. Mike and Jenny Armstrong had brought their faithful TD and Mike and Linda Wilson their elegant MGA. Others present were lovely examples of MGBs with the exception of the mint MGC of Robert and Lyn Holmes and some errant silver machine that had more to do with Munich than Abingdon.
The weather could not have been kinder and so most were able to enjoy the top down and the delightful sunshine that showed up the spectacular County Down scenery at its very best.
The route took us around Hillsborough, the Dromore and Banbridge areas, Rathfriland and Hilltown. Along the way we stopped at the Corbet Lake car park near Banbridge which was a real eye opener with its beauty and plentiful number of resident swans. Then we made our way up the Spelga Hill Climb and came down the Trassey Road (the starting point for a hike to Hare’s Gap), one of the most beautiful areas in our country with its quaint bridge and unspoilt rivers.
Then on to Castlewellan for some very welcome fish and chips at Zebedee’s and a communal sigh of relief that no-one had broken down.
A terrific afternoon’s entertainment thanks largely to Mike Dowey who set the route and kept us on smooth and interesting roads. He really is the master of the Sunday Run. Thanks also to Mike Armstrong for getting us started and keeping us in some kind of order. It was lovely to see MG owners using and enjoying their cars.