<cough> Pardon the pun...
I spent last weekend walking and driving around Wales, why would I want
to do this in November when its cold and potentially going to bucket it
down?
Well, it was because the World Rally Championship was on.
Anyone who has ever thought of going to this event, and decided not to
because it seems quite a lot of hassle, I beg you to change you mind, it
was great. As long as you dont mind walking (a lot!) its a great
weekend.
However, a word of caution, don't under any circumstances, decide to
cross a valley from one side to the other just because "it doesnt seem
that far" - because it will "seem that far" - and youre likley to fall
in to various streams along the way and get rather wet. Ironically this
was the only time I got wet, as it didnt rain all weekend.
Not only do you get to do a lot of walking, you get to do a lot of
driving (easily over 600 miles for the whole weekend - from London
anyway). Which is a good thing in Wales, as its all "3rd gear driving",
and because the scenery is amazing. There is a particular road that goes
over the Black Mountains which is incredible. The "pace" notes that they
give you with your tickets took us over it in the morning, and then back
over at night, which was very spooky, with rolling mist right at the top
- couldnt see further than the 2 cars in front of me - and this was one
twisty road!
In fact getting from stage to stage is an event in itself, huge convoys
of rally spectators speeding from stage to stage to get there in time.
You also get to see the sheer stupidity of drivers (often in Subaru
Impreza look-a-likes) - doing blind overtaking manouvers - though
everyone respected that mountain - Im guessing because of the pretty
much sheer drop on one side - and all the hairpins too. Oh, by the way,
you *will* get tired of your navigator shouting out "hard left!",
"hairpin right!" and "over crest-in-to-long--right".....
Oh, and if you plan your route right, you get to drive with the actual
rally cars! My claim to fame is that I went around a roundabout and then
over took Markko Martin in his Focus. It was quite surreal when he
pulled alongside us at a roundabout. Then Carlos Sainz buzzed pass on
the inside lane.... you don't get that with Michael Schumacher....
Some photo's I took are here:
http://www.pbase.com/jcarruthers/wrc_wales_2002
James
1977 Pimento Red Spit (probably quite happy that I didnt take her to
Wales)
BTW, anyone who doesn't get the pun, the Welsh flag has a red dragon on
it....
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