19-09-2024, 10:40 PM
I always enjoy reading other people's trip reports so I thought I might do a report of my recent trip around Mull for my honeymoon. I'll need to do this in stages to make it a bit more manageable.
I'd long wanted to take an Austin Seven on a bit of a Scottish roadtrip so having trailered the car up for the wedding (about nine hours!) it made sense to make the most of the car being there. Evidently I'd made some right decisions with my choice of wife as she was very amenable to this being how to spend our honeymoon.
The car in question is my 1934 Box Saloon which I brought about 13 years ago when I'd just started at university. I had it for a while as my main form of transportation at university and it was subject to all sorts of roadside repairs and 'temporary' fixes on a student budget which I've been working through and putting right ever since. It's very tatty, but I think relatively original.
I did treat the car to an engine refresh courtesy of Ruairidh on the lead up to the wedding to give the car a fighting chance of making it through the day without problems (which it did). Beyond that I only had time to change oils and grease everything, and as the wedding approached I became less inclined to look for problems that would result in me taking everything to bits.
Day 1: Aberfoyle to Ardanaiseig Hotel - 80 Miles
We had quite a leisurly start to the trip, choosing to stay in a hotel not far outside of Oban so that we weren't having to rush for a ferry. It was fairly grey and damp, but the car was running well and we were treated to some stunning views on the A82:
Having turned off the main road onto a much smaller windier road, it became very apparent that the springs were very much past their best and were struggling with the car relatively heavily laden.
After ten miles or so we arrived at our first stop of the trip - Ardanaiseig Hotel, which was in a spectacular setting next to Loch Awe, and covered the car up for the night. Overall we'd made much better progress than expected and I was definitely enjoying an engine that didn't fill the cabin with fumes.
Part 2 to follow...
I'd long wanted to take an Austin Seven on a bit of a Scottish roadtrip so having trailered the car up for the wedding (about nine hours!) it made sense to make the most of the car being there. Evidently I'd made some right decisions with my choice of wife as she was very amenable to this being how to spend our honeymoon.
The car in question is my 1934 Box Saloon which I brought about 13 years ago when I'd just started at university. I had it for a while as my main form of transportation at university and it was subject to all sorts of roadside repairs and 'temporary' fixes on a student budget which I've been working through and putting right ever since. It's very tatty, but I think relatively original.
I did treat the car to an engine refresh courtesy of Ruairidh on the lead up to the wedding to give the car a fighting chance of making it through the day without problems (which it did). Beyond that I only had time to change oils and grease everything, and as the wedding approached I became less inclined to look for problems that would result in me taking everything to bits.
Day 1: Aberfoyle to Ardanaiseig Hotel - 80 Miles
We had quite a leisurly start to the trip, choosing to stay in a hotel not far outside of Oban so that we weren't having to rush for a ferry. It was fairly grey and damp, but the car was running well and we were treated to some stunning views on the A82:
Having turned off the main road onto a much smaller windier road, it became very apparent that the springs were very much past their best and were struggling with the car relatively heavily laden.
After ten miles or so we arrived at our first stop of the trip - Ardanaiseig Hotel, which was in a spectacular setting next to Loch Awe, and covered the car up for the night. Overall we'd made much better progress than expected and I was definitely enjoying an engine that didn't fill the cabin with fumes.
Part 2 to follow...