What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Andy Bennett]

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Today we celebrated Mildred's 90th birthday with a trip out to discover a few more of Northumberland's narrower roads. 
A lovely day out in the sunshine where I was kept on my toes by being brake tested by some of the locals.

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[andrew34ruby]

Malcolm Parker
"I guess that you went to the Buttertubs to see the PWA7C Cumbria Run that started in Masham at 10.00am on Tuesday 11th. Last year it did go over the Buttertubs but this year it went south from Masham to Pateley Bridge then up Greenhow Hill to Buckden, down to Hellifield then over the Trough of Bowland to the finish at Crooklands near Kendal."


Thanks Malcolm, yes that's the one. We saw it advertised as going through Butter Tubs this year, but whatever.

Yes we had a lovely run to Masham and Aysgarth to Butter Tubs, where it was a bit misty and nearly raining. Loved driving through Butter Tubs going north, so drove back the other way through Butter tubs again! and stopped on the tops for over 2 hours waiting for the parade of sevens. Puzzled, we went to Hawes to find a cafe, before heading for home.

[Malcolm Parker]

Malcolm Parker
"I guess that you went to the Buttertubs to see the PWA7C Cumbria Run that started in Masham at 10.00am on Tuesday 11th.  Last year it did go over the Buttertubs but this year it went south from Masham to Pateley Bridge then up Greenhow Hill to Buckden, down to Hellifield then over the Trough of Bowland to the finish at Crooklands near Kendal."


Thanks Malcolm, yes that's the one. We saw it advertised as going through Butter Tubs this year, but whatever.

Yes we had a lovely run to Masham and Aysgarth to Butter Tubs, where it was a bit misty and nearly raining. Loved driving through Butter Tubs going north, so drove back the other way through Butter tubs again! and stopped on the tops for over 2 hours waiting for the parade of sevens. Puzzled, we went to Hawes to find a cafe, before heading for home.

I didn't do the route for the Cumbria Run this year, so it came as a bit of a surprise to me when I saw that we were not using Buttertubs!  It was a pretty tough run, especially at the start tackling Greenhow Hill.  Pleased to say that there were no breakdowns but some cars were getting a bit warm on the hills.
Thanks to the PWA7C Yorkshire Group for organising a most enjoyable event.

[Chris KC]

Leak check is good:

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[Steve kay]

To which the only possible response is “oooh matron!”

[Robert Foreman]

It is quite remarkable some of the distances covered in a day in an Austin. 
  Coming back from Beaulieu the other weekend I travelled 173 miles in the morning in 3 hours 25 minutes plus stops, average 45.7mpg.

[Reckless Rat]

The longest I've ever done in a day was Day 4 of my run to Santiago de Compostelle, which started in Léon, passed through Santiago to the coast at Cabo Fisterra and then back to Santiago. Just short of 500km, so over 300 miles.

[Chris KC]

On last year's summer holiday I set off in the Ulster from Hoek van Holland and camped the same evening at Krautsand on the river Elbe - by my route that's about 320 miles. On decent roads without much traffic this is eminently possible. I was cruising at 35 - 45 mph, the upper speed only when lorries started stacking up behind me. The whole trip average was over 40 mpg. Harder to manage in the UK I think, where you are either on meandering white roads or in the shark pool.

[Reckless Rat]

I agree totally, Chris. This is what the majority of the roads in northern Spain were like. I was averaging 40-45mph most of the time. (Photo somewhere between Calahorra and Burgos)

[AustinWood]

Back in the mid 60s I lived near Cambridge and was at Dundee University. I used to do the journey in my Austin Seven, about 400 miles 6 times per year. It normally took about 13 hours except for one epic trip in January when everything went wrong which took 17 hours.
I was usually accompanied by a friend in his 1834 box saloon and sometimes a friend in an MG J2.
I don't think this was unusual at the time and we never were concerned that the Austin Seven couldn't do it.