The Totally Triumph weekend at Hemsby had been long anticipated by both of us as we had set it as the deadline for having the caravan make-over completed. Setting off we felt slightly conspicuous with our matching pair, but soon began to enjoy the hoots, smiles and thumbs-up from other road users! We arrived at Longbeach mid-afternoon to a warm welcome from Mike, and within a few minutes had the kettle on and chairs out. It was interesting watching Julie and Micky constructing their beautiful, all original 1980 Rapido on the next pitch.
We had decide to seek out a local fish and chip shop for our meal, before joining the ‘Meet and Greet’ at Hermanus. Having located a nearby chippy, Christina decided she could put it off no more, took a deep breath and drove the Herald for the first time. Despite there being no mishaps with this, we still decided we would walk to Hermanus as we had been told there was a footpath that went directly there. Unfortunately we didn’t find this footpath (and doubt its existence to be honest Mike 😉 ) but managed to arrive safely after a dodgy walk along the main road. We spent a pleasant evening in the company of other TSSC members before bracing ourselves for the walk back.
Saturday morning dawned with the promise of sunshine after the autumnal chill had gone. After a traditional breakfast of bacon and eggs we collected the paperwork for the run, put the top down and set off for what proved to be a lovely day out, driving a well planned route around the broads. We stopped off at several places, and chose Ranworth Broad for our picnic lunch stop. After a relaxing drive, we returned to the caravan for a chilled afternoon, before scrubbing ourselves up for the evening. The dinner was first class, we enjoyed getting to know Jenny and Nigel, and hearing about the 7 year restoration of their GT6. Nigel and Paul were able to swap experiences of restoring and modifying their classics. The evening ended with dancing, with TSSC members taking the floor by storm.
Sunday was the day of the show, and with prior agreement we took the caravan into the show with us. She proved to be quite a hit and attracted lots of interest! Paul’s towing skills were put to the test when he was asked to do a lap of the ring with other Triumphs.
The threatened rain held off and a pleasant afternoon was spent watching various entertainment (including the now infamous ‘Tug a Triumph’) and sharing stories with other Triumph owners. When prize-giving time arrived we were really pleased to see Nigel’s GT6 in the line-up of tintop winners, and thrilled that our own little combo won the best ragtop.
