Had a ride down to Porthwgarra , a tiny cove on the channel side of Lands end. Hadn’t been there in twenty years since when I was a bit of a birdwatcher. Never been obsessed but just had a go in one autumn when the Atlantic storms can blow in unusual migrants. Took my bins today but there is not much to see this time of year.
Even in this poor end of the farm chain the two farms in the road to the cove were swaggering down the tiny lanes with ‘72 reg monsters. I just managed to avoid them but a four hundred yard reverse was a distinct possibility! Passing places weren’t an option. They, the farm guys, must have a laugh in the summer when every car and motor home loves the idea of a tiny cove on the media and spends half a day in reverse and scratching/ denting their precious getting there. This cove road is nearly two miles of single track and I got a bit worried even in my pencil thin MX.
The whole thing is brilliant if in the right frame of mind…
Photos are mandatory on this thread so this is mine on only the second day I haven’t been for a drive this last ten months. Reason is I’m fitting Meisters after six months on 30mm lowering springs. Old out and new still in box.
Run to Allenheads today (Northumberland) and coffee stop at excellent Hemmel cafe. Pics of my NC through a set of stocks (pity about the truck in the background) and beside some old mining tramway rolling stock. From there it was on over Killhope Cross (2056 feet/627m) to Alston in Cumbria and back home to the Borders via Penrith and the A7.
Nice post👍 What’s the B/W pole for? I know it’s rains up there in biblical qualities but that’s ridiculous😀 We have poles like that to measure stream levels so that why I ask.
Snow poles to guide the snow plough/blower when the road disappears.
Bl@@dy Hell.
We have a lot of them up here in the frozen north. 
As per replies, these snow poles are widely used in the north Pennines - County Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland, where there are plenty of roads in the 1500-2000 feet range.
After work, time to enjoy this beautiful early spring weather 
On a hill somewhere near Fochriw, south Wales 
Jo and I had a cracking day out with the MX5 Owners Club North West group, on their “Back of Skiddaw” drive. Thank you to the whole team who were involved in organising it, and very special thank you for organising such super weather for the day!
We had 23 MX5s out on the run, with stops at Rhegged and Keswick. Great fun, and super company. And the roads… oh my, such lovely roads along the way. Roads like this one, coming down the Kirkstone Pass on a sunny spring day, are the reason we all love driving.
(Photo shot safely from the passenger seat, while Jo was driving)
It was a fantastic run in the sun through the Lakes today, with great company.
We’ve stayed on at the Crooklands tonight and having a drive back through the Dales tomorrow.
MX5 and sunshine - match made in heaven 
Drove to look at 2 RF’s today. First was local (Ipswich Mazda). Once again, the car sits ‘unprepared’ on the forecourt. Personally, I want to see what it will look like when I buy it and drive away, not later after ‘we did what we could’ with this scratch / that dent, etc. This example needed four tyres, a wheel repair ‘ refurb, and attention to a nasty scratch above the passenger door.
I noticed all the used car prices were odd numbers - such as £11002, or £14651. I asked the reason for this. I was told it’s a new marketing strategy. The car is pitched at its ‘best price’ and there will be no negotiation - other than what it needs after it’s been ‘through the workshop’. All very Cinch / Cazoo.
I then drove an hour and a half to Norwich to look at another. Before leaving, I rang to check the car was still available and was forward enough to ask, given I was travelling so far, if there were any obvious issues I should know about beforehand. I was assured that it’s a lovely car, no issues. I drive for the said hour and a half to get there. The man brings the car out for me to look over, saying to go and find him when I’m ready to take it for a test drive. I didn’t actually get that far. Very poorly presented vehicle for a 67 plate 17k miles. Worst of all, it’s obviously been reversed into something -as the photos show. I wouldn’t have left home had I known that. Having found the man, I told him I wouldn’t be wasting any more of his time as I wasn’t happy with the vehicle’s condition. His reply? ‘Oh, so you are one of those that want a seven year old brand new vehicle’. No, I’m looking for something that’s been looked after. My 08 plate NC really put it to shame. Another hour and a half to get home, getting more and more annoyed with his attitude.
It’s when they fail to mention a hole in the outer sill the size of a tennis ball when it really starts to boil your blood😮
That was my first experience of trying to buy an MX-5, it was a basket case of a Mk1.
I never get the sales technique of not preparing a car for sale until it’s actually been sold. A wash and a vac is all that some do and it’s on the forecourt.
I suppose with these multi outlet outfits why fully prepare a car and it doesn’t sell they’ve wasted time and money if they move it to the next branch who may do the work, or maybe not until sold🤔
Took the long way home over Yorkshire Hills and Dales after a stay over in the Lakes following MX5 NW Area outing on Wednesday.
Thats a pretty car.
Popped back from a couple of laps round the Nürburgring.
Wouldn’t get too annoyed. You can only really look at your own conduct and sounds like you done all the right things. 
At a garage?
The car I viewed, it was a private seller?
When you ask for pictures of the underside showing any rust/rot if present you’d expect them to mention or show the hole in the sill. An hour’s travel to view that one.
Likewise I spot a clean well presented Mk2 knowing about the sill rot and front chassis rails that rot on those I asked specifically if there was any problems there, no the reply from them. Again a private seller (but I reckoned a trader) when I turned up to view. Not far from me this time but a dog of a car, sills full of filler and literally a hand full of rot falling from the front chassis rails.
When I informed the seller of the rot he looked surprised and more or less said there’s nothing wrong with it I’m being picky.