Once our feet landed on Scottish soil in Glasgow, it suddenly all became very real. Knowing the car was waiting for us in Oban just added to the anticipation. It was almost like waiting to see a good friend who had been away on an extended vacation! Sounds funny, but I couldn't wait to open the container and take in the car and all our equipment we'd bundled into it over a month ago. After spending the night in Inverary we headed up to Oban bright and early Saturday morning (Oct 4th), and thanks to my superb right hand drive driving skills we arrived safely in Oban. Although saying that, my 'skills' didn't really get tested as we took country roads up to the sleepy port town. Locating our container was a little more challenging.....but eventually we found it.
Reversing out of the container, so happy to see it arrived safely.
Time to load everything up into our rented service van, strap the car onto the trailer and head for the ferry to Mull. Caledonian MacBrayne run a very efficient service from Oban to Craignure on Mull. A 45 minute ferry ride gives just enough time to grab a quick drink, watch the scenery fly by and catch up with old friends who had booked onto the same ferry as us! I remember the ferry itself, along with the car deck and the upper deck from my childhood, but the port of Oban was completely unfamiliar to me. This probably stems from the fact that 'back in the day' it was common for bets to be made as to whether the Mathew contingent would actually make the ferry. As far as I can tell, we were usually the last ones on, and a minute away from jumping the ferry ramp Bond style in order not to miss it.....but these are just rumours......however, like I say...I have no recollection of the port itself, so something tells me its a pretty accurate account!!
Lining up to board the ferry
On the ferry & heading to the island!
Standing on the top deck, taking in the beautiful scenery, it was like we were kids again. It was windy, it was a little chilly, but it was beautiful sunshine! Hang on a second....that's not the Mull I remember. Even at home in Canada on those days when its not really raining, just a bit of drizzle, not really cold, but enough for you to need a sweater, I tend to look out the window and say "looks like a bit of a Mull day today". So what's with this sunshine? haha, not complaining at all, as it made for a great ferry ride, with some lovely photos. While gearing up for this trip I was asked many times "what's the weather going to be like over there?" to which the response was usually "raining", but then again we knew that, we planned accordingly and it was then no surprise when it did bucket down a couple of days we were there. The sun though, like I say, was a pleasant surprise, so thanks for that Mull!
Goodbye Oban
Mull in the distance
After a slightly eventful drive to our accommodation - one of the tie down straps for the rally car snapped and we had a 50-point-turn to make it up the driveway - we arrived at the beautiful Glenaros estate. Our home for the next 12 days or so. Fabulous place to stay with a breathtaking view. We soon disrupted the tranquility by starting the rally car and unloading the trailer but I'm pretty sure the island is used to that noise at least once a year. The neighbouring sheep didn't seem at all bothered by it!
Unloading the car from our rented trailer
Prime parking at the house
Gorgeous views
The rest of the weekend was spent unpacking boxes, sorting equipment and settling in on the island. Nick's arrival Sunday afternoon meant we could start recce in the morning and get a good look at these fantastic roads we'd be racing around in less than a week! Having flown from Columbus, Ohio in the States, via a 6.5 hour layover in Newark, New Jersey, he landed in Glasgow early Sunday morning. After a 3.5hr train ride up to Oban, he then boarded the ferry as a foot passenger and finally landed on Mull. As we pulled up to Craignure ferry terminal to collect him, the scowl on his face told us that perhaps after 26 hours of travelling he didn't quite appreciated the fact that we were 20 minutes late picking him up. If his facial expression didn't give it away then there was the: "really??? I've been travelling for over 24 hours and the only thing that didn't run to schedule was you guys??!!" Oops!
Having organized with the registrar to pick up our recce numbers in Salen once Nick arrived, we were all set to get started. One of the worries we'd had while preparing for this event was the fact that all our recce would have to be done on the 'wrong side of the car and wrong side of the road'. I'd say Nick's a pretty decent driver, so it wasn't the fact that he'd have to 'struggle' with driving a right hand drive vehicle, it was more the fact that our rally car is left hand drive, and whether there would be a huge difference in how he sees or feels the road while making notes out on recce. He took to driving on the 'wrong side' quite quickly, and the roads are all single track anyway, so as long as when we met another vehicle coming towards us he managed to pull off to the correct side of the road, then we were fine!
Monday morning saw the start of our hectic recce week. Something we are not used to is open recce. Basically for Mull you can recce the roads whenever you want, for as many passes as you want. However, after a certain date (pretty sure it was Oct 1st, but to be certain I'd have to go back through the regs......which I'm not going to do so lets just go with that date!) you are only allowed on stage roads if you are sporting recce numbers on your vehicle...see exhibit A.
Having organized with the registrar to pick up our recce numbers in Salen once Nick arrived, we were all set to get started. One of the worries we'd had while preparing for this event was the fact that all our recce would have to be done on the 'wrong side of the car and wrong side of the road'. I'd say Nick's a pretty decent driver, so it wasn't the fact that he'd have to 'struggle' with driving a right hand drive vehicle, it was more the fact that our rally car is left hand drive, and whether there would be a huge difference in how he sees or feels the road while making notes out on recce. He took to driving on the 'wrong side' quite quickly, and the roads are all single track anyway, so as long as when we met another vehicle coming towards us he managed to pull off to the correct side of the road, then we were fine!
Monday morning saw the start of our hectic recce week. Something we are not used to is open recce. Basically for Mull you can recce the roads whenever you want, for as many passes as you want. However, after a certain date (pretty sure it was Oct 1st, but to be certain I'd have to go back through the regs......which I'm not going to do so lets just go with that date!) you are only allowed on stage roads if you are sporting recce numbers on your vehicle...see exhibit A.
Exhibit A: Recce vehicle with number.......yes the R52 threw me as well at first as we were car 29. However, we were entry 52, so we're assuming that's how the numbers were distributed (oh and note the beautiful views!)
Meeting up with long time friend, Donna Harper, another 'kid' from our family vacations way back when, we took a couple of hours to drive around some of the roads with her and driver Grum Willcock. Competing this year in car 27 they are very familiar with the island and experienced rally competitors, so it was fantastic to get a little inside information into how some of the stages behave. It seemed almost every corner was named after someone's unfortunate momentary lapse of concentration, so we envisioned to go over our notes thoroughly so as not to add our names to the 2015 recce description list!! (which as you will find out later, didn't quite go according to plan)
Car 27: Grum Willcock and Donna Harper. Photo by Clive Hodson from Malton Motor Club
After going through 3 or 4 stages with them along the shoreline and discussing surface changes, tricky crests and dodgy corners we eventually felt comfortable that we had similar views on the roads and headed out on our own to start making notes. From our experience, in Canada we usually do a 2 pass recce, in one day, generally the day before an event starts. We are therefore pretty comfortable making notes on the first pass and then checking our notes on the second pass. We always write our own notes as we find this is the safest and fastest way for us to get through a stage, by following notes that we have made, the way we like them. With the opportunity to run open recce we decided to do at least 2 passes of every stage, and then at least 1 pass of every stage at night (other than Ardtun SS7 because that was run in the daylight only).
Starting in the colourful town of Tobermory, the location for the ceremonial rally start, along with the start controls of SS16 and SS17, we noted the in-town stage then took the Mishnish Lochs stage, heading to Dervaig. Ok, well that's the direction we took once we returned to Tobermory having taken a wrong turn. 4 pages of pacenotes in, Nick slows down and says to me "Does this stage take us up to a castle?"........I was puzzled by his question, because as far as I knew, no, we didn't rally through castle grounds.......where exactly were we? Apparently Glengorm Castle. Very elegant 19th century Victorian castle, built in 1860 according to Wikipedia! Ah ha....great start to the note making! At least we now know which way NOT to go on the rally!!
Starting in the colourful town of Tobermory, the location for the ceremonial rally start, along with the start controls of SS16 and SS17, we noted the in-town stage then took the Mishnish Lochs stage, heading to Dervaig. Ok, well that's the direction we took once we returned to Tobermory having taken a wrong turn. 4 pages of pacenotes in, Nick slows down and says to me "Does this stage take us up to a castle?"........I was puzzled by his question, because as far as I knew, no, we didn't rally through castle grounds.......where exactly were we? Apparently Glengorm Castle. Very elegant 19th century Victorian castle, built in 1860 according to Wikipedia! Ah ha....great start to the note making! At least we now know which way NOT to go on the rally!!
Glengorm Castle - perhaps a little too well manicured to let rally cars loose on there!
So that's my cue to pay MUCH better attention to my route book. Having heard many a tale of the 'Dervaig Hairpins' from our parents, we were curious to see this technical stage. We weren't disappointed with either the hairpins themselves or the views! Leading down into the town of Dervaig itself - the location of the rally finish - we made our way over to the next group of stages around the shoreline.
One of the many hairpins on the stages
Dervaig - both stages and transit pass through this small village
Spending what was left of the day on the Calgary bay shoreline and the Hill Road stage we decided to do just a single pass of the roads that made up 4 more stages and call it a day. Lots of pics of the scenery, but I don't think any can do justice to the stage roads themselves. Perched high up on the cliff edge we were literally noting stages where, if we were lucky, Armco barriers were separating the tarmac from the vertical drop to the rocks and sea below.
A tamer area of the coastal stages
View from Calgary Beach up to the stage road of SS1
Pretty sure this is the Hill Road. We run it the opposite direction to the way we are facing. Beautiful scenery.
Good day 1 of recce. We decided that if you change the roads to gravel, and add a few trees then the roads could be likened to the Egan Creek stages of Tall Pines, with the added bonus of the cliff edge! Fantastic stages. One of the biggest differences we saw, and something that we haven't had much experience with was elevation change. There were some parts of the stages that were all downhill. Not a gradual, round the mountain feel of Powderface at the Rocky Mountain Rally, but a straight down, steep, add a good number of tight hairpins and huge jumps kind of feel. So a completely new experience for us. Should be fun! Oh and did I mention we'd be doing all that in the dark?!
That night, I drew up a schedule for Tuesday's recce session to ensure we noted the remaining stages and completed at least 2 passes of everything. With a HUGE amount of stage mileage still to cover we then decided to leave the 22 mile/34km stage of Loch Tuath/Calgary Reverse until we could tackle it on Wednesday. Our plans for night recce Monday were thwarted by the fact that we were low on gas in the recce car and island gas stations aren't open beyond about 5pm. Ah yes, this isn't downtown Mississauga with 24hr gas stations on every other corner. Duly noted!
That night, I drew up a schedule for Tuesday's recce session to ensure we noted the remaining stages and completed at least 2 passes of everything. With a HUGE amount of stage mileage still to cover we then decided to leave the 22 mile/34km stage of Loch Tuath/Calgary Reverse until we could tackle it on Wednesday. Our plans for night recce Monday were thwarted by the fact that we were low on gas in the recce car and island gas stations aren't open beyond about 5pm. Ah yes, this isn't downtown Mississauga with 24hr gas stations on every other corner. Duly noted!
Recce schedule for Day 2
Up early Tuesday, the next two days of recce covered a lot of day mileage. Getting the chance to recce stages such as Gribun and Scridain was fantastic. I probably should have been pretty apprehensive running that close to the cliff edge, but the stages themselves were spectacular and definitely made up for the fear factor element. I think Gribun was actually my favourite stage we noted all week. Can't really put my finger on why, but the flow of the road and the technical sections combined to make it a great rally stage. The highlight of our recce days was driving past the house we used to vacation at as kids - "Ardvergnish". Nestled in the foothills of Mull's highest mountain Ben Moore, the house looks out across Loch Scridain. The flying finish to the Scridain stage is actually located at the end of the driveway up to the large farmhouse. Of course we had to stop and take photos. Reminiscing of the fun we used to have as kids. Remembering walking across the old stone bridge on the old road, and playing by the rock pools outside the pub across the road while the parents were inside having a quick pint. Not that I remember writing this, but our parents tell us, for a primary school project on my adventures of my holiday, I wrote constantly about going to the pub. "Today we took the dogs to the beach and then we went to the pub........today we went to see some rally cars, and then we played on the rocks while our parents were at the pub......" and it continues like this for the whole project. Doesn't surprise me one little bit, but I think it surprised my teacher!
Ardvergnish from our childhood vacations
With cattle and sheep all over the island it was very common for us to come across obstacles mid recce. For the rally itself, farmers were moving the livestock up the hillside out of harms way, but for recce, we just had to pay even closer attention, especially at night as the sheep liked to lay in the road!
We'd met a farmer with a herd of cattle earlier in the day, but we believe this to be an unauthorized migration. No one around except us and the cattle....they seemed to know where they were going though, so who are we to judge!
As well as completing recce in the daytime, several friends and competitors had advised us on going out and running through all the stages at night, even just one pass through, as the majority of the rally takes place in the dark. Stages can look very different at night, and although Nick actually prefers to drive at night as it makes him more focused, we decided to heed the advise and went out Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening.
Completing almost 90km of night recce on Tuesday, we were exhausted after a full day writing and checking notes as well! We had asked the parents to join us that night, but told them they were only allowed to come along if they sat in the back and didn't say a word. Which surprisingly they actually agreed to! Have you met my mum?!
We started with the inland Glen Aros stage, which happened to start about a kilometre down the road from our accommodation. Sat on the start line and everything was quiet. Turn on the head lamp, reset the odo, and off we go. It's that point in time that dad feels it necessary to open the noisiest box of chocolates you have ever heard from the back seat!! We get to the end of the stage, having made several changes to our notes....those crests can be quite deceiving in the dark......and all we hear is "anyone want a sweety?". Was it really a good idea to bring them along with us??! Actually they thoroughly enjoyed it, not sure how they did it to be honest, we were moving pretty swiftly around those coastal roads in the dark. Still under the speed limit I hasten to add!!
Wednesday daytime was devoted to the 22mile Loch Tuath/Calgary combined stage that would be the last stage of the rally late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. Great stage, but wow, just recceing it was exhausting, I couldn't imagine having to do that after a full weekend of competition! That night we took our cousin Hannah out around the roads to once again check notes. Hannah and our aunt & uncle had travelled up from Lancashire to spend the week up there & gave us a much appreciated helping hand. Again surprisingly we didn't scare her too much either. We reserved Thursday night for recceing that long stage, as it would be the last chance we had to check any notes, Thursday during the day & evening was going to be way too hectic.
So recce was basically all complete. Notes amended, chicanes marked, routebook read to understand transits and service locations, and we were happy with what we had achieved. What a long 3 days that had been. No real time to do anything but work on notes, but then again, I guess that's the life of a co-driver. The card playing, beer drinking and general relaxing would have to wait until after we handed in our last timecard - or leave it up to the driver, as his day is done the second he steps out of the vehicle!
I felt like we had driven almost every inch of the island yet not actually SEEN any of it. That too would have to wait until after the work was all done. Still 4 days of scrutineering, final note checking, rally forums, shakedown and the actual competition itself before we could take a good step back and really admire the scenery. Bring it on! Lets get this rally started!!
Completing almost 90km of night recce on Tuesday, we were exhausted after a full day writing and checking notes as well! We had asked the parents to join us that night, but told them they were only allowed to come along if they sat in the back and didn't say a word. Which surprisingly they actually agreed to! Have you met my mum?!
We started with the inland Glen Aros stage, which happened to start about a kilometre down the road from our accommodation. Sat on the start line and everything was quiet. Turn on the head lamp, reset the odo, and off we go. It's that point in time that dad feels it necessary to open the noisiest box of chocolates you have ever heard from the back seat!! We get to the end of the stage, having made several changes to our notes....those crests can be quite deceiving in the dark......and all we hear is "anyone want a sweety?". Was it really a good idea to bring them along with us??! Actually they thoroughly enjoyed it, not sure how they did it to be honest, we were moving pretty swiftly around those coastal roads in the dark. Still under the speed limit I hasten to add!!
Wednesday daytime was devoted to the 22mile Loch Tuath/Calgary combined stage that would be the last stage of the rally late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. Great stage, but wow, just recceing it was exhausting, I couldn't imagine having to do that after a full weekend of competition! That night we took our cousin Hannah out around the roads to once again check notes. Hannah and our aunt & uncle had travelled up from Lancashire to spend the week up there & gave us a much appreciated helping hand. Again surprisingly we didn't scare her too much either. We reserved Thursday night for recceing that long stage, as it would be the last chance we had to check any notes, Thursday during the day & evening was going to be way too hectic.
So recce was basically all complete. Notes amended, chicanes marked, routebook read to understand transits and service locations, and we were happy with what we had achieved. What a long 3 days that had been. No real time to do anything but work on notes, but then again, I guess that's the life of a co-driver. The card playing, beer drinking and general relaxing would have to wait until after we handed in our last timecard - or leave it up to the driver, as his day is done the second he steps out of the vehicle!
I felt like we had driven almost every inch of the island yet not actually SEEN any of it. That too would have to wait until after the work was all done. Still 4 days of scrutineering, final note checking, rally forums, shakedown and the actual competition itself before we could take a good step back and really admire the scenery. Bring it on! Lets get this rally started!!
RSS Feed