Just come back from the Cromer to Deal run of the '5's around Britain tour', just wanted to tell everyone that I had a great day and if you can find time to join up with the run it will be well worth it. The weather started off great and stayed with us the full day, thanks to all the people on the coast that waved as we went passed, defiantly made the day even better. I had been warned that them northerners drive fast, they weren't joking! The official report says that the pace was deemed as casual, no chance I don't think my Speedo dropped below 40 all day even in the 30 limits. Cheers

Sitting at work in front of a PC in a room without daylight and wishing I was there. I'm almost on the point of running home and jumping in the car to go with them!

I know they're raising money for the RNLI, but eating fish and ships is taking things a bit far!

Friday afternoon, fran and I drove to Whitby with our friends Chris and Mark, and stayed in Stakesby Hotel (fantastic view and room) that belongs to our friends Rod and his wife (sorry forgot) , in preparation for the start of the Around Britain 2000 mx5 coastal drive!

Spent 2 hours polishing Owen (he looked cool), couple of hours later about 20 other 5's had arrived. We all drove down into Whitby town centre and parked up on the seafront, the around Britain drive is for charity the RNLI , so the RNLI had their boat in the background and loads of lifeboat crew had their photos taken with all the 5's, looked cool and had loads of kids and adults waving at us and pointing, cheering etc...brilliant!! ;o) Fran fulfilled a sexual fantasy by being surrounded by lots of uniformed men..I think she would have prefrerred firemen but lifeboatmen had to suffice!

Met loads of cool people from all over the UK... I was amazed to see some southerners had arrived in 2 mx5's.. even more amazed that they had a dog in each...and I couldnt believe it when I saw these southerns had WHIPPETS...yes as in the dogs! I mean whippets..?? I thought that us Northerners were supposed to have them and flat caps ;O)

Then went back to hotel, for the organisers birthday party, me, fran, chris, mark, andy and rod finished the night doing tequila slammers, Andy fox swallowed the whole lemon.... and Chris spilt a whole pint down my trousers you had to be there!

Next day had breakfast and then drove again into town centre for offical start of the run. Owen took pride of place at the front holding up one side of the Start banner, so he appeared in all the local newspapers ;o) He had a big UK flag draped over him too ...ahh I was so proud (starting to sound sad now eh?)

Then eventually the drive started and they were off......! Then spent 2 hours driving to Hull, with us leading them, great feeling when your in a convoy of 30+ cars ;o) Parked up at Hull foreshore, infront of the bridge and then some of the 5's split and the rest of us (about 20 carreid on over the bridge and following the coastal roads form grimsby, stopped of at Nunns Mazda dealership for food, and more photos, cleethorpes, mablethorpe, chapel, ingloldmells and finally skegness...fantastic, with loads of sun, music, fast driving and people waving at us as we went through the villages and seaside resorts. Everyone stopped in Skegness for pix infront of the clocktower and RNLI station....we had icecreams, chatted for a while and then we led the procession out of Skegness and pulled off the road, the around britain convoy continued to Cromer ...and that was Day 1 of their 14 day event!!

I've got next week off, as were visiting friends in Edinburgh and meeting up with the RB convoy to do the last 3 days with them and back to Whitby for a big party...cant wait ;o)

I've never had such fun whilst driving my 5 as I did at the weekend, everyone waving at us, met loads of new people and the weather was fantastic...this is what having a 5 is all about...get out there and join up with RB convoy you'll have a blast! Cheers

Simon

I met up with the Round Britain gang at Lowestoft in the morning, and a more friendly bunch of people you couldn't meet ( I haven't yet met any other sort of MX-5 owner ). A thanks go to all for making me feel welcome, and especially those whose names I can remember such as Liz and Steve Watkins, and Mark Elliott and many more.

What started out as me just wanting to join in the convoy and follow as a  they wound their way through my area, turned into a 'ah you are a local and know the roads, would you like to lead'. So I ended up leading the Round Britain tour from Lowestoft all the way to the A13/M25 junction in Essex, where I turned back for home. I had the lovely Liz Watkins as navigator and radio operator in my car so we could relay any changes to the route all the way to the last car. This radio system worked a treat, as no one got lost, despite a few problems in Essex.

I've been told I can be an honoury NE club member, as I kept up a good pace for the run where possible. Andre, I cannot recall 6 cameras on the route yesterday, but the two around Colchester were not set off as we went through. Camera drive past speed was around 30 mph.

It was great to so many local people join in with the run. I know the main group really appreciate the support of people showing up to drive with them, so I would encourage all to join in when they come through your local area. Who knows, you may end up leading too.

Thanks to Mark Elliott for some extra navigating in Essex via the radio when things got a bit complicated. Sorry to all those that ended up in the roundabout cock-up. It was my fault, I miscounted the exits and ended up taking everyone back on the same road we had just come down. The U-turn up the road caused a small traffic jam, but we all got back on track quickly. Best regards,

Mark Salter - Ipswich