West it is

After all the hot dry weather of the last few days it was quite a surprise to open the back door to see it wet with a slight drizzle in the air. Ho Hum at least it will keep everything cool.

Pride before the fall ? First admirer of the car came quickly - a chap passing the drive as we got ready to go. So that chat over we set off just before 10:00.

The ammeter settled down after a bit of charging on start-up and looked like it was slowly discharging - but I suspect it's just sitting there at its natural resting point. First stop as planned was at the BP site just outside Cambridge for fuel. The only problem was re-joining the A14 - we were almost in the ditch trying to join before the slip road ran out. Lack of standing start acceleration which I need to factor in.

The temperature stayed ok at around 90 deg and even went down at times. Two delays - the black cat being the worst - but the temperature did not really change. The hardest part was all the bloody roundabouts through Milton Keynes. We stopped at busy farm shop for coffee, lunch and a rest [which I was grateful for] around 12:45.

So far the only issues were a screw for the passenger side window winder that had become loose and there is a slight knocking at slow speed crawling along from under passenger floor. The latter needs investigation.

Most of the rest of the run of about 80 miles through the small roads was fine - hilly though - very hilly in places - which made the car hot. Not as hot as the roadworks and delays going into Evesham though which seemed to be blocked in both directions we could go. As the gauge hit 100 degrees I turned off and we found some shade to rest under. Opening the bonnet it did not smell overly hot though which was a good sign.

15 mins later we hit the road again – instantly it showed much cooler - and with a new route planned out through some more small roads we quickly found the hotel. We ended up parking outside reception in the disabled spots as there was no other spaces available [honest]. OK for me though. We checked in and were settled down in the room by 4:30.

That was 49,634 on the clock - just shy of 190 miles in six and a half hours of travel with one long and two short stops.