Peking Paris Feed http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ 2010-09-06T16:40:29+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ /mambo/images/stories/Logos_etc/logo_rallyplate120.gif text/html 2010-07-09T20:45:25+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ david@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=153 This account is the story of the rally (and trip to/from it) from the perspective of the Morgan and its crew, and not an overview of the rally itself. This has been done in a more expert and timely fashion by others, and can be seen on the website of the rally organisers (www.classicrally.org.uk (http://www.classicrally.org.uk/)) . text/html 2010-06-07T15:39:34+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ david@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=152 The Morgan, having completed at least 8 major rallies and other long events, was deemed deserving of some further tlc (tender loving care for any of our overseas readers) apart from the routine servicing.. text/html 2010-05-12T13:55:59+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ david@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=151 The Morgan is entered for the Classic Rally Association’s 22nd Classic Marathon in June This year the start is in Beaune and goes through the Pyrenees to finish at Biarritz. (for further details see www.classicrally.org.uk (http://www.classicrally.org.uk/)). text/html 2009-12-29T23:31:33+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ david@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=150 Marrakesh to WinchesterThose following Syd Stelvio’s diary will be aware that the rally leaders, Robin Eyre-Maunsell and Peter Scott in a Daihatsu Sirion had an unfortunate coming together with a local on the final stage of the last day of the rally. . text/html 2009-12-29T10:51:31+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ david@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=149 Ronda to MarrakeshNote to readersWe will not attempt to cover the events of the rally in detail as these have been written up by Syd Stelvio with competence and speed with which this scribe cannot compete (http://www.endurorally.com/casablanca2009 (http://www.endurorally.com/casablanca2009))Once again we will be chronicling from the – possibly unique? – viewpoint of a “ratty Morgan” (to quote Syd Stelvio who has a way with words) . text/html 2009-12-11T14:48:15+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ david@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=148 Winchester to Ronda, Spain The Driver and Alternate Navigator (the good looking one, as opposed to the Peking to Paris variety) once more set off at the crack of dawn one November morning for the Portsmouth ferry to Caen, to compete in the London to Casablanca Rally (though being a Philip Young organised rally it neither started in London nor finished in Casablanca!).. text/html 2009-10-23T17:23:25+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ david@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=147 . text/html 2009-09-11T07:30:50+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ jon@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=146 The driver and co-pilot enjoyed participating in the Fete Champetre at Booklands - rather less arduous than the Peking Paris trial!. text/html 2009-04-21T16:34:46+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ rahsan@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=145 The following day was clear, and we soon found the (non-existent??) road crossing the desert between the Red Sea and the Nile.. text/html 2009-04-21T16:21:29+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ rahsan@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=144 Day 15 featured a return visit to the 69Km Time Trial of the previous competitive day, PLUS an additional “sting in the Tail!!” We opted out of this as we much aware that, unlike the other competitors, we were travelling back across Egypt alone to ship the Morgan from Alexandria (more later!). text/html 2009-04-21T16:10:49+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ rahsan@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=143 The Trial took us to the remote St Paul’s Monastery (dating from the 5th century), populated by seemingly thousands of (mainly Egyptian) tourists – a step back to reality after the luxury of deserted Libyan ruins. The Navigator supplied a group of motor cyclists news of garages in Libya as they were hoping to visit it shortly.. text/html 2009-04-21T15:52:16+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ rahsan@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=142 After the usual long wait at the border to enter Egypt to check passport (5 times?) chassis and engine numbers (4 times) we eventually got on our way to the next halt, a beach party organised by the Egyptian Car Club. This was curtailed by the delays at the border, and the strong winds whipping across the sands. Long enough despite this to have our first experience of the hospitality of the Club members, and to enjoy their predominantly 1970’s American classics. . text/html 2009-04-21T14:06:12+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ rahsan@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=141 Day Five ended at Gaddaffi’s birth place, Sirt. The hotel overlooked the beach, and along with other competitors we enjoyed an encounter with a young camel herder and his small herd of camels. We remembered with a twinge of conscience the barbequed camel meat we had enjoyed the previous evening! . text/html 2009-03-24T06:50:13+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ jon@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=140 The Driver and alternate navigator (Ros, better looking than the Peking Paris variety) signed up for another of Philip Young’s rallies, this time the Nile trial. It started at Marseille in the depths of winter ie January 24. This entailed leaving Portsmouth, enduring a freezing ferry crossing (the ship heating system wasn’t working) and a sub-zero drive the length of France. The stoicism exhibited by the alternate navigator did, I am glad to report, match that shown by the P-P navigator faced with Mongolian river crossings.. text/html 2009-02-11T11:47:16+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ david@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=138 A chance to relax!!! We visited Notre Dame and Montmartre before Jon flew off to Ankara to return to work and wedding preparations. Mog and I went home by road and ferry. On entering the UK, I was asked by a passport official “Where have you come from?!“Peking”“Not far then!”.A last word from the organisers “we also rate David and Jonathan Spurling for taking a ratty Morgan when the organisers tried to turn them down, proving the organisers right when it broke, surviving three days stranded in the Gobi Desert, but riding into Paris on the same Colway remoulds they started out on – a true grit tankard well deserved”.Ratty Morgan indeed!. text/html 2009-02-11T11:19:46+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ david@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=137 We set off for Paris at a civilised hour anticipating an easy trip. Mog knows his way blindfold from Rheims to Paris! Then Jon made his first, one and only navigational mistake of the whole trip – we went 3km past the turning to Paris! Mog set him right pretty quickly and we arrived at the Place Vendome in good time, greeted by fond wife/mother and friend Roz. . text/html 2009-02-11T11:13:54+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ david@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=136 We left the hotel realising that today we would be crossing into France – and we really would be reaching Paris – something we had doubted in the Gobi desert! . text/html 2009-02-11T11:11:53+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ david@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=135 This was an attractive though slightly boring run over motorways and back roads to the Mercure Hotel in Koblenz.. text/html 2009-02-11T11:09:48+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ david@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=134 We left Gdansk late as the rally was reseeded putting the classics last. We left Poland for Germany – another painless border crossing.. text/html 2009-02-11T11:03:38+01:00 http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo/ david@pekingparismorgan.com http://www.pekingparismorgan.com/mambo//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=133 It was pouring cats and dogs so we were up early to move the car into the only available dry area – the hotel portico. .