Great videos Mario......I can't choose between them! The look on your face in the second video, when you take your helmet and goggles off though, says it all!
Great meeting up with you both...it seems ages ago now!
Jays Former Morgan owner. Gone but hopefully not forgotten!
Ok, so here's the promised recap, in case anyone is interested in reading long texts. Sorry it isn't the full thing yet, but I tend to write too much and didn't have time to finish the tale properly.
Here goes:
MR. AND MRS. BIGGLES GO ON A MORGAN THREE WHEELER ADVENTURE
ACROSS AIR, LAND AND SEA, TWO ISLANDS AND ONE PENINSULA
Day 1 - Thursday, August 14th - The wake up call: "Car is ready, get to England ASAP!"
This was the last day I had available to start the journey. Needing a full day to get to Malvern, leaving Lisbon on a Friday would mean the weekend lost and the start of the “coming back” journey only on Monday, August 18th. It would be too late.
But I was lucky. Early morning the Portuguese dealer calls and says “Mark Ledinton just called me with great news, your car has been registered and the license plate has been issued. Are you still able to go?”
My reply was a very happy “Yes, of course!” and from that moment on I spent the entire day doing what needed to be done so I had the car insured, the flights and hotels booked, the last chunk of money sent to England, etc.
It was during this period that I called Robbie so we could set our meeting up moment (time and place) in Ireland. Which we did.
The day ended in the Algarve (Faro), at a nice hotel directly in front of the harbor. That’s from where I took the night picture that I already shared here but will share again.
Day 2 - Friday, August 15th - Meeting Mark, Jay, and our M3W!"
So we catch a morning flight from Faro to Birmingham (Monarch Airlines) and little after our arrival we were already on our way to the factory, courtesy of MMC.
Upon our arrival we had the car just outside the building where the sales department is and we were glad to meet again Mark Ledington (we already knew him from the Plus4 buy) and of course to meet Jay, for the first time personally.
Mark seemed greatly relieved in a “all is well when it ends well” sort of way (little did we both know that the end had not been reached).
And it was a pleasure to meet Jay. I really hope what you told me about Caramulo 2015 becomes (possible and) true, I’d love to meet you “down here” too!
Sadly we don’t have pictures with Jay, I guess our attention was solely focused on the car and on the disproportionate amount of luggage my wife wanted to place there! but I’ll post this one, because it’s from Jay’s himself!
And of course there’s the “Shakedown” clip, already shown:
As it was a bit late to depart immediately to Ireland, and the weather was a bit unstable, we decided to head off into the Malvern Café Nero to eat a snack, from there we planned the trip and decided to spend the night in Malvern (we stayed at the Abbey Hotel).
After checking in we went for a bigger drive in the hills so I could get a feel of how to drive the little beast and we had a blast. Driving it is, in more ways than one, very reminiscent of the many motorbike voyages we did when we were younger (and no kids ). We are, much more than with the Plus4, completely in touch with the elements. And I found the driving itself great, although the steering needs some getting used to.
Dinner at the Red Lion, a little walk after and it was back to the Abbey Hotel where we had – finally - some rest.
Day 3 - Saturday, August 16th - Speeding off to Ireland. The PaddyMog dinner
We had a quick breakfast, in a packed dining room, with me getting that sick feeling I always get in England because my eating habits don’t include cooked stuff early in the morning, and my nose is highly intolerant to the early morning smell of fried stuff like sausages and bacon and eggs and all those things my wife finds delicious but I can’t even look at … LOL (NDR: I’m always looked sideways in English Hotels when I tell the waiter I don’t want anything cooked for myself thank you )
After a photoshoot at the Hotel’s entrance (see above) we were off , destination IRELAND.
Initially the roads weren’t too great but maybe that was good, less speed, more learning.
One funny fact is that in the (very) tight roads I had to cope with, being on the wrong (left) side of the car was an advantage, because I had a very clear view of the front left wheel and I could therefore place it millimetrically close to the side of the road, at the very end of the available asphalt.
My wife, seated closer to the lane of the incoming traffic, thanked my perfect positioning of our own vehicle, I think after a while she didn’t feel uncomfortable with the “reverse thinking” one must accomplish while driving in the isles. (same “reverse thinking” you islanders must do when you drive in continental Europe I suppose). It was never a problem for me in previous journeys, but she felt it always more difficult to adjust.
The journey to Holyhead took a bit longer than we had anticipated and after a while, already on the Motorway, I had to decide wether I would miss the ferry or go “all in” in a gamble with the UK motoring authorities. I decided for the "all in" option.
I got to say that the car felt fantastic and very stable at higher speeds. I knew I had a limited ECU so I wasn’t too bothered and in any case I didn’t go steadily over 4.5k rpm. Which, in 5th gear, should amount to somewhere around 145 kms/h.
We were accompanied for many miles by a BMW (5 series I think) whose occupants were clearly very interested in our little bugger! LOL, shortly before Holyhead they left the Motorway and it was a feast of waving and “klaxoning”
End result, we got to the Holyhead ferry 10 minutes before its scheduled departure time and we were still allowed in! As shown in this picture:
I must say that, for some unexplainable reason, the sight of Ireland’s shores moved me a bit. Of course it was beautiful to see, it always is when you reach land coming from the sea, but I guess there’s something about Ireland that is hard to define but makes it, as Robbie put it, “fair” in our eyes.
It also helps that the Irish are generally nice people and one of them took a picture of us, while explaining that some old abandoned industrial towers we could see in the distance (hard to see in the picture but they’re there) were out of use but were kept in place because for many Irish they were the first sight that meant “HOME” (and he punched his chest twice) was near! Very funny, but also very clear that a deeper feeling was involved in that little tale.
Here the picture he took of us:
Anyway, as soon as we touched land we headed for Dalkey (with me promising the Mrs. that one day we will return to properly visit Dublin) where we had booked an Hotel and where Robbie was supposed to show up so he would take us to a “PADDYMOG” dinner.
Since we had some trouble (no Sat Nav, remember) to find the Hotel exact location, we arrived a bit late. And … as soon as I have the car properly parked, luggage out and am on the process of fitting the tonneau, suddenly I look up and have a few 4 wheeled Morgans stopping next to where I am! The PaddyMog delegation has arrived!
And what a great group they were, right from the start. After some quick introductions, with me trying to keep all the names in my memory, we quickly set up a plan where, while we do the check in and take things to our room, Robbie will wait for us and the rest of the gang goes to a pre-arranged meeting place (home of Nick, one of the PaddyMogs) before we all go out to dinner.
When we return to the car park we have the opportunity to meet yet another, meanwhile arrived, PaddyMog (Peter, but Robbie gives him an impressive title, something close to “architect of mischievousness”, I think he is the one that organizes their joint escapades)
So on we go. Sorry for not having this properly documented, but both the reception at Nicks house and the dinner we had later on were great, we really felt welcomed among them and for you to understand just how much welcomed we were I will add that I even got a PaddyMog shirt (since they aren’t a formal club I guess this is the equivalent of getting a honorary membership) and as soon as the dinner was ending we were already setting up a special breakfast the next day, at a place where bikers and motorheads in general reunite every Sunday morning!
With Robbie’s approval I will leave here a picture taken to remember us all of this memorable meeting. Once more a big Thank You to all the PaddyMogs (drivers and co-drivers) that so kindly received us.
(still the tale of our Ireland journey and of the PaddyMogs kindness is far from over, but I need to work so I’ll leave that for Chapter II).
Day 4 - Sunday, August 17th - Breakfast at Laragh. Struck by MO63WLR's curse! The noisy trip to Kilkenny!
This day our plan was for a morning trip to Laragh (on our way to Glendalough) with a few of the PaddyMogs. I was told about this area as being beautiful (it is) and according to Robbie the Wicklow Heather Café, our rendez vous point, was a place where every Sunday, weather allowing, motorbikers meet for breakfast, bike-talk, car-talk, whatever-talk.
I am a motorbiker myself and we have a very similar “Sunday-breakfast-bikers- meeting-point” here in Portugal so I knew how fun and interesting it could be to go there.
Besides, two of the PaddyMogs are also bikers so that was it … plan settled: Breakfast at Laragh!
Leaving the Hotel and looking at our M3W in the car park, I found its different scale when in close proximity with cars, especially SUVs, almost endearing. Hard to understand without a picture, so here goes. Funny little thing isn’t it?
As soon as we had packed all our luggage into the car (never an easy job) we heard our escort arrive and pass the hotel’s entrance. We would be escorted by two PaddyMogs in their own big bikes (BMW and Harley) and also by Robbie and his lovely wife in their beautiful Plus 4. So our group had it all from 2 to 3 and 4 wheeled adventurer vehicles!
However, and as we were approaching our destination, some 30 miles away (not really sure, didn’t keep track of mileage) clouds begun gathering on our journey’s horizon. And no, it wasn’t the weather, it was the exhaust sound starting to become different, and a “clanking” sound of metal beating metal.
At first I thought it was just a matter of lose bolts and nuts, but a quick glance at the silencer on my side (left) showed me that, only two days and 500 kms after leaving the factory, I had been hit by MO63WLR's curse (I’m joking, of course, David never cursed me, in fact gave me much information about his own case that made me act swiftly when dealing with mine).
Anyway, it was still a mild gruntier sound when we parked up at the café. We parked the Morgans side by side, the bikes parked nearer to the building. Robbie is all smiles
But I only have eyes to what is already an impending disaster!
As a closer inspection clearly shows!
I decided to shut my mind to this issue while we were having breakfast. Since I was up for a while already, it didn’t feel like breakfast “out of bed” already and therefore, for the first time (and only, so far) in my entire life I was able to eat a full Irish breakfast, just because it felt like a lunch, or indeed brunch to me.
Anyway, and before we split our ways, this time for good, I got very good advice from all regarding how to deal (mend) as soon as possible with the exhaust failure issue.
Since I was going to Kilkenny, had a friend there, and it was Sunday, the best option was to proceed as planned and resort to my own friend to help out first thing Monday morning.
Meanwhile, and because I was returning to England and my path would take me through Bristol on the way to Porstmouth (Wednesday morning ferry to Bilbao), Robbie took as his own mission to get in contact with Mike Edwards in Williams Morgans, so they could call the factory and ask for new exhausts for TUESDAY morning (the day I would go by Bristol).
As for me, I would contact both my dealer and Mark Ledington first thing Monday morning too.
With our plan sorted and in my case very grateful for all the support I was getting, we did a final group picture (my wife as photographer so she doesn’t show up), with car, trike and bikes, before the PaddyMogs returned to Dalkey and I went on to Kilkenny.
As soon as we were left “on our own”, only a couple more miles, the left exhaust completely sheared off and I had now two completely separated sections of tube. The second one, with the silencer, was doing nothing, just dangling about, while the first one had a very “tractor” noise right by my side.
I considered using ear plugs. I think this is when my morale reached its lowest point, especially when I entered Kilkenny and had to go through its urban area. I wasn’t happy or remotely proud with driving this odd contraption into town, I was embarrassed by it. (must be said that the Kilkennians didn’t seem at all bothered, I got cheered in each and every street before I could tuck the car away in a parking area).
Oh and on the way to Kilkenny we got into a quick but heavy shower too … but I didn’t almost mind it, my thought process wasn’t into that.
Got to say, looking back, it was a funny moment! After a few miles of drinking the excellent water of the Irish rain, we took shelter in a gas station. Soon after the rain stopped and we were back on the road .
My wife was taking all this much more lightly than I was, but I don’t think she knew what I knew and so the “fit for purpose” question was never something she considered. As far as she was concerned, we just had bad luck and it would all soon be sorted.
As for me, I wasn’t sure a second pair of exhausts, even if we managed to get them in 24 hours, would even last from Bristol to Portsmouth (I remember reading that MOW63LR’s second pair of exhausts lasted about 160 miles, and that was when he gave up on his Brooklands).
Anyway, lowest point reached, let’s get this writeup back to a lighter tone, shall we?
The road to Kilkenny gave us the Wicklow County and Glendalow beautiful scenery to look at, with green fields and lakes that could make anyone be at peace with the world, even with a cracked exhaust. Here two examples:
Of course, while my wife was looking at the scenery, you guys know what I was looking at:
When we reached our Hotel in Kilkenny I called my friend (Derek), told him about my misery and he volunteered to help. Showed up a little later and he already had bought (don’t know where, it was Sunday) a sort of very thick, oily glue that you had to put around the crack, than a foldable metal sheet to cover that, finally a flexible bandage and a metal wire to fix it all in place.
We decided to leave all that work to the next morning and we went to a fantastic pub called “The Left Bank” for a drink. Then we had dinner, talked endlessly until the restaurant waiter almost had to throw us all out!
A couple of funny pictures, one of them taken by Derek from his car, again showing how the 3 wheeler is so little when seen from the rear view mirror of a regular car.
1. Meeting Derek
2. Following Derek. You can hear us but you can't see us!
3. The Left Bank (outside)
4. The Left Bank (inside)
5. “Derek - We’ll fix your car! “Mario - I’m already drinking to that!!”
And thus, between flashes of hope and pints of beer ended this day!
but I’ll post this one, because it’s from Jay’s himself!
). We are, much more than with the Plus4, completely in touch with the elements. And I found the driving itself great, although the steering needs some getting used to.
