MR2 Drivers Club North West Region

Barrhill

Written By: Debbie Cooper

North by North West

 Meeting bright and early at Lancaster Services, four MR2's set off for Barhill, near Stranraer in Scotland. We lunched in sunshine at The Stables tea room near Newtown Stewart as Jon kept  on that he had to go back for another cream scone!

Amazingly, we arrived in one piece (we've never done a drive out without someone getting lost or breaking down in our region!!) The country house turned out to be enormous, the only problem choosing out of the eight bedrooms.

Allan gave a demonstration of how to break into a car boot using a coat hanger only to find that Keith's keys were on Nikki's bed all along.  Next stop Girvan for the all important food shopping and, in spite of parking miles from the supermarket, we still managed to spend £200 between us. When we arrived back we found we couldn't make a singe meal out of all the shopping. We had vegetables to go with the roast but -- no turkey!! So we had a barbecue in the sunshine.

Sunday we went to Ayr and survived a close call with a cow on the way. We spent another small fortune in the supermarket but this time we remembered the turkey! Highlight of the trip was the moving stairs ramp in the supermarket, which, of course, needed modifying to be fast enough for us and so the trolley was carried down it! We ended the day with a game of Pig in the Middle in the pool.

On Monday some went to Glasgow while Jon and I set out to explore Port Patrick and Stranraer (and another supermarket visit). While driving down some country roads a dog took a liking to our MR2 and chased us for half a mile -- we are expecting it home any day now!  While in Glasgow Allan won Whinnie the Pooh and Tigger teddy bears. Pooh became our holiday mascot and from then on we heard every Pooh joke under the sun.

The rest of the group went to Port Patrick on Tuesday while we had a drive through the Galloway Forrest . We managed to fin a few landmarks on the map but some didn't deserve a sign post. That night we had dinner and on the plate -- the turkey roast we had waited for.

Wednesday was Allan's 40th Birthday so lots of old jokes!. Paul, Nikki, Jon and I were feeling a bit adventurous and decided to climb Merrick, the highest peak in the area. After a lot of "are we nearly there yet?" we arrived at the top to spectacular views. We saw 10 low flying helicopters and began wondering if we were in an army training area. After a muddy scramble back down (with Nikki disappearing into every muddy hole), we were glad to arrive back at the cars. I was the only one who didn't look like I'd been in a mud bath after the ten miles!

Thursday was our day to drive. Allan attached a video camera to his car with Pooh as the cameraman and Karen as director. While the others explored Blacknoch Distillery, Jon and I set off in search of castles and stone circles -- out of the five on the map we found one. After lunch we all went in search of more dubious Scottish landmarks. We walked one and a half miles to find St. Ninian's Cave, but all that echoed around that crack was "is that it!" With the video camera on Paul and Nikki's car we were off again across the moors. We had great fun on those single-track windy roads which really suited our MK1. Slowing down for cattle grids, cows and sheep added to the interest, when we saw the cattle grids in time, that is! Jon commented "on single track roads, the gravel passing places create excellent opportunities for power slides!" There is some great video footage of Allan launching his car over a humpback bridge. By this time Pooh was covered in flies and exhaust smoke and probably feeling very sick!

Friday was our first really wet day so we went to Girvan to buy souvenirs. Keith and Anne drove all the way to Edinburgh while Allan, Karen, Jon and I explored Culzean Castle and Crossraguel Abbey. That evening we had a massive fry up to use up all the leftovers. An early start on Saturday, ready for "who can get the most into a MR2" competition. Jon wouldn't have forgiven us if we hadn't stopped at the Stables tea rooms for another  lovely meal and a freshly-baked cream scone.

All in all, there was lots of laughter, food, good roads and beautiful countryside (seen at speed mostly) on our Scottish holiday. I'm sure I speak for everyone in saying we had an excellent week and am looking forward to next year's holiday.  Thank you to everyone for the flowers.