Up early today and down to the town centre where all 130 cars line the streets. Lots of very big vintage and veteran machinery as well as postwar cars. We are, without a doubt, the grubbiest car on display, but people seem interested in the tiny dusty Austin amongst the giants.
Martin and Edel have been loaned a 1938 Skoda Cabriolet for the rally and they, thankfully, allow us to follow them rather than try to translate the norwegian route instructions we have been given. The Skoda's clutch is sharp and we are treated to a very comical scene as Martin and Edel "bounce off" at every junction, tyres squeeling and gears crunching! The chummy chooses this time to start misfiring and after a few goes at cleaning the fuel jets I change the plugs and all is well again.
The 50 mile route takes us to 6 tests ranging from identifying 5 trees from their leaves to guessing the dimensions of a plank having driven along it! Needless to say at the end, the downhill ski jump, we hand in, quite possibly, the lowest scorecard of all time! The rally is impecably organised an everything runs very smoothly indeed.
Later that night we dress up and head out for a night on the town. The Royal Garden Hotel hosts the dinner and award ceremony, fish soup, venison and strawberries fill us followed by prizes! Needless to say we do not feature in the concours listings or the quizzes, however, we are called up to receive a beautiful cut crystal vase in recognition of the long distance we have travelled! Two bottles of aqua vita accompany this wonderful gift, all presented in perfect English! The night ends late and we head for bed....
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