It was raining as usual at 7:00am on Friday morning, 16th May in a dreary North London suburb. That's the time my dad, Tumer, and I set off towards Dover.
Within 15 yards of moving off my dad said that there was something not right with the mini, "It's the ignition timing", he said. As we pulled into a local filling station to get out of the rain, Dad got a 7/16th inch spanner from the boot and adjusted the timing by ear; it made all the difference in the world. We filled up with unleaded for the first time with the 'Fuelcat' in and headed off for Dover on the M25. The reason we stopped to adjust the previously perfect ignition timing, was due to the Fuelcat, a lesson to be learnt from this is; if you are going to convert a leaded lump into an unleaded one using a Fuelcat, do so in plenty of time before embarking on a 600 mile European mountain trail. Or you can do the job properly by fitting a converted-to-unleaded standard five port cylinder head.

At 8:25am we handed our passports and tickets over at the SeaFrance check-in barrier at Dover and we were allocated lane 122 for boarding the 'RORO' (Roll-on-Roll-off). We took some photos and spoke to several other mini drivers, then boarded at 9am. Once on board we made our way to the restaurant for a 'Full English' breakfast. At about 11:05am local French time (one hour ahead of UK), we arrived at Calais, all the mini-trail people (& dad and I) met up in a car park just outside the passport control area. There were 30 minis and 67 people. We all discussed where we were going, and then we headed off in a convoy.

Once on the main road, dad kept at a socially acceptable 55mph for about 15 miles of the seventy-mile journey until our next stop. I wept quietly inside as I saw all the late Coopers, early Coopers and Cooper S's effortlessly growl and warble past us. Little did I know that my dad had all the driving experience, skill and knowledge of his own 13 past-owned 998's (not to mention his Cooper S, 2 Minivans, and his Clubman Estate!) & that he could make a lead balloon fly! He truly blew all the cobwebs and barnacles away; I'd never seen such a small, embarrassingly under-powered car be so nimble, agile or rapid, we actually kept up with the Cooper S boys and girls! At this particular event my car was the oldest and most original (un-molested) looking mini there.

Dad and I really started enjoying ourselves once we reached our next rest stop, Arras. It's a lovely, quiet, quaint little cobbled street town in the north of France - or it was until we showed up - all thirty minis came roaring into the square, everyone in the town came to a sudden halt, as mini after mini rumbled their way into the open parking area in the town centre. We all stopped for about an hour, took photos, had a bite to eat, a cuppa, and a wee, then set off again as we left bemused locals in awe of our magnificent little cars. For the last leg of the journey down to the town of Sedan, it was a gruelling 120 mile non-stop drive to our hotel; 'Le Relais'. We arrived at 6:30pm, weather-beaten and knackered - the minis were in better shape than we were!
Once we were all checked in and settled, we met in the bar and sat with buckets of Heineken, nursing aching knees, sore bums and stiff necks. I think it was an early night for all of us, as there was no noise downstairs after 10:00pm in the hotel, I couldn't wait for tomorrow....

We set off to the mountains, passing through some truly stunning views; however, it was raining, and having a 'cycloptic wiper blade' wasn't exactly helping much, as I was the navigator. We stopped at a little café on the mountain side & looking behind us was almost impossible as there were so many turns and steep inclines, and all we saw was the red Cooper S, so when we pulled up, we were shocked when about fourteen minis pulled up too! We went in and had a drink as it was still pouring down with rain. The day's journey was half-way over at a town called Montherme.
By the time we arrived there, most of the minis were parked up already. Dad and I took a few pictures, and got some fresh, steaming Croissants, just out of the oven of a lovely bakery. We regrouped with the family from Surrey, with the red retro Cooper S, and also two more young couples. They were: Brent & Emma, with their powder blue 40LE (sportpack), and Michael & Jo, with their BRG late Cooper (sportpack) with a unique Union-Jack boot lid. We set off back to a little town called Bohan, with a lovely looking pizzeria and sat outside, the weather was looking a lot better now than earlier, but it was still drizzling. We all ordered salads and pizzas and thoroughly enjoyed them. We returned again to Montherme, driving back around the mountains, on our way back to the hotel in Sedan, in effect completing a big circle.

Most of the group went out for dinner, we stayed in and had dinner. Another father and son duo joined us for our meal, Reg & Kieran; they had a black/white roof 1275cc City. Again, we had a wonderful meal, and chatted all night about Clubman's, Coopers and Crankshafts. We retired to bed about 10:30'ish to prepare for the long trip tomorrow..

Dad and I woke up nice and early this morning, hoping and praying that it wouldn't rain today, and it didn't, well not at least until we got to Dover that was. First we loaded the mini up with all our gear, checked out & finalised any additional payments at the hotel, e.g. usage of our room's telephone, glasses of wine, etc. We then went for breakfast and had our usual, black coffee and hot croissants, we sat and discussed where we were going today with the family from Surrey (with the red, retro Cooper S) and some of things my dad said during this particular conversation, made me think we weren't going to the race circuit in 'Chimay' which is open constantly. As with the Isle of Man, the main straight is the main road of Chimay. The family from Surrey were going to go, and had planned the trip since yesterday (and all the other 28 minis which we found out about later!). But, nevertheless, thanks to my dad's mid-life crisis, he re-lived his own 'Cooper days' for a brief moment, and decided to go anyway.
Wow! I was sure thrilled dad remembered his 'Cooper days', for once we got there, Emerson Fitapaldi and Paddy Hopkirk, took over his brain - he went mad!
We were keeping up with the 'Cooper Boys and Girls' around the corners as they didn't even know how to spell 'Racing Line'. But where we had cornering power, they had Horse Power, as someone once quoted, 'There ain't no Replacement, for Displacement' so on the straight, the 'Cooper Boys and Girls' shot past.
This however, did not extinguish the burning inferno of my dad's enthusiasm, for I could see the disappointment in his face too, as he did a few celebratory handbrake turns, which the 'kiddies in their coopers' could not do.
We all took photos, had a laugh and emulated our motor history racing legends, such as Paddy, and Timo, good on yer' lads!

We set off for Calais after we left Chimay. The weather was okay for the most part too, the odd three minute-lasting shower every half hour was pleasantly refreshing. We got a little lost at one point, about the half-way mark, but nothing to worry about as we were soon back-on-track. The run down to Calais was boring so I won't care to educate.
Once at Calais, we were on a booze hunt! We stopped at most of the cheapo loopy-juice warehouses, and got a few things. We checked in at the SeaFrance loading area at 3:15pm, dad had a little kip in the mini, whilst I went gallivanting. I swapped e-mail addresses and phone numbers with a few fellow mini owners - so we could keep in contact with each other for future Mini Events. We set sail at about 4:15pm, and we were famished! My dad and I had chicken curry and chips, a small bowl of fresh salad, and a Knickerbocker-Glory each. The two young couples: Brent & Emma and Michael & Jo, both had long trips ahead of them, Gloucester and Leeds, so dad and I invited them back to dad's place in North London for a drink and a rest stop, before continuing on to their destinations -they politely thanked us and agreed.

The ferry arrived at Dover around 4:45pm (local time) and we all said our goodbyes, and 'look forward to seeing you next year' and then we were off!
The traffic was fine on the M20, from Dover to the M25, but once on the 'Circle of Doom' (M25) we came grinding to a halt. It also didn't help that dad didn't listen to his navigator, and therefore took the wrong road, burying us into more traffic chaos! We took an 18 mile de-tour, but eventually went back in the right direction on the 'Circle of Doom'

We arrived back at my dads place at about 7:30pm; we all sat down and had coffees and teas. At around 9'ish the couples set off, and after saying our goodbyes, dad and I had a chance to sit and relax, and think about what a wonderful time we have both had....