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Hello all,

I'm thinking that this would be a good time to route plan some road trips ..for when the current dangers and lock-down restrictions are lifted.  I'm thinking in terms of the UK to start off with, and only when the car is 'proven' reliable - I'll then head across to continental Europe. 

I'm thinking of staying in inexpensive country B&B's mainly, but taking a tent with me so that I can camp, where allowed, in isolated places of natural beauty.

A few years ago, I read in a magazine of a fabulous motorcycling route along the north-eastern coast.  So I'd particularly like to visit Ireland in an open-top Triumph.  I've never been to Ireland, so don't know whether a low slung 1960's sports-car like a TR is still appropriate.?  Otherwise I might only imagine that off-the-beaten track rural Ireland is rather like Cornwall ?  Surely the Emerald Isle has many places worth going-well-out-of-the-way to visit.   

I live in East Anglia and have thoroughly enjoyed Suffolk countryside for riding my vintage motorcycles.  But to be honest I've only every holidayed in the Lakes, in Wales or Scotland - a few times in a lifetime.  Otherwise I've only fleetingly been through other places in England when on business. So I really don't know the UK at all.  I probably know my way down to the Black Forest in Germany, or down to Valencia in Spain better !   

My choice of stead is to be the TR4A, but carrying luggage, tools, consumable & spares for a month or six weeks of touring in any TR  will need some serious thought ..and perhaps a few clever ideas to make the best of what spaces we have.  Anyone ?    

In any case, perhaps some of you might share any unexpectedly great routes and places to stay you've discovered.  Perhaps a photo or two too ?

Thanks, Pete.

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Hi Pete,

touring any part of Britain is enjoyable.

Regarding storage space.

There is a great deal of space around the petrol tank. Remove the baffle board and put things in there that are not frequently required.

Flat things (books/maps etc) can go under the two front seats.

Tent/ground sheets/various bits and pieces a=can go in the engine bay. I put the tent on the near side between wiper motor and wheel arch. Ground sheet on off side.

If you take the small packets of cereal for breakfast they can go anywhere in the engine bay. Also you do not need a bowl - pour the milk into the packet.

The back seats will take a great deal of stuff.

As your clothing gets grubby (socks, Y fronts etc) they can be stuffed into any nook or cranny in the boot around the tank.

 

Roger

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Thanks Roger,

the tent and groundsheet within the engine bay makes sense.  Do you have straps specifically fitted for their security, sort of like those sometimes used on classic cars to secure a tool roll or jack in the boot ? 

Pete.

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TRs have loads of room for camping and touring, we did it for years in the UK and across the continent and before that in a Spitfire where you have a lot less space. It is all a matter of priorities. Spares can be packed into lots of nooks and crannies but write a list of what is hidden where, it will save you hours of hunting and emptying the contents of your car all over the French service station forecourt. Buying camping equipment to fit the space is a good idea, we found a folding table the exact size of the TR6 boot floor. We always had a plan of what to throw away in order to make room for some wine on the return trip. A leaking airbed was one such sacrifice.

When travelling with other TRs, it never failed to amaze me what tools and spares other people take. On an early trip to France, one car had a problem and Keith Files pulled a trolley jack from his boot and he had his wife and two very small kids in the car! More recently on a trip to N. Ireland one car had a headlamp unit broken by some twit failing to park properly but a friend pulled one from his car that evening. If you travel with other TRs, share a list of spares you carry, you might not need two fuel pumps etc. 

Go for it.

Mick

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Carrying spares (especially electrics)  Before the TRip fit the new spare to the car and put the working used item in a plastic bag for use should it be needed.

That way you will know that it is a working spare and not some useless rubbish sold to us.

 

Roger

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Vacuum bags for clothing are brilliant for reducing volume and separating clean from dirty. The roll type do not require a vacuum unit just roll up and seal. 
Iain

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Hi Pete

Great idea. There are a number of discussions on here about what to take with you when touring from the minimalist (mobile phone and credit card) to the more comprehensive tool and spares kits. TRs of all shapes can absorb a lot! Perhaps a temporary boot rack too?

In terms of where to go, perhaps look at my account of my English trip last September here for some ideas: 

I discovered masses of fabulous locations I was unaware of. Each night we used Google maps on phones and it plotted the routes between the locations we were to visit the next day (I think the facility allows 10 locations) which were invariably along great A and B roads. Screen mounted they acted as our satnavs each day.  I would also recommend taking a good road map too. This enabled us to replan a route if Google took us along too much of a Motor way our other main roads.

At a personal level, we also do a lot of walking tours. Modern outdoor clothing fabrics often dry very quickly and do not need ironing. a travel clothes line, some safety pins or smaller bulldog clips and a small supply of clothes washing sheets and you can wash your travelling kit each evening. We have walked for several weeks in the same kit doing this with the occasional slightly damp start but otherwise without any obvious adverse consequences. Experience shows that bathrooms are often warmer overnight than any other room. No one sees what you are wearing when driving and a few casual clothes is all you need for the evening.

If you are doing some pre-planning, might be worth investing in a couple of books by Simon Weir of Bikers roads, trips and tours. Great roads for bikers often suit the TRs too.

Don't hesitate to go to Ireland. I have family in the North and South. 35 years ago I toured the North and Donegal in my Spitfire driving a loop from Belfast to Donegal to Dublin. Ireland is largely rural and as you say similar to Cornwall in terms of quality and type of roads but now with some more modern, EU funded roads. In the South there is an Atlantic Coast rout that hugs the west coastline. In the South in particular the distances between as the crow flies and the route a rural road takes can be alarmingly different. And when seeking directions pre sat nav I was genuinely met with the response 'If I was going there, I wouldn't start from here!'. People very welcoming and masses of B&B accommodation.

Hope that helps.

Miles

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Club Triumph has more experience  than most with long distance toours, in the RBRR and 10CR events.  Their website offers some advice on tools consumables and spares: https://www.club.triumph.org.uk/menu/18745/view   You will note that the major emphasis is on preparation, detailed strip down and inspection of all sfaety critical and other systems, before along trip away from home.   For the 10CR, they used to arrange for people to declare what they carried, to aid others and to encourage a wide range of spares to be available, so far from home.    That may not be possible for a solo trip, and only limited for a group, so preparation!

I would suggest that any tool kit carried should be for adjustment only - not for major repairs.    Consumeables - unless your vehicles relies on some esoteric fluid (in which case change it!) or uses a great deal (see above) then there is no need.    All the usual fluids are available every few miles at fuel filling stations, even in remote areas.    And spares?  Again, see above.   Small things, contact breakers and plugs if you must, but differentials?  Ridiculous.     

Careful selection of tools and spares can make a small container perfectly adequate.

John

Edited by john.r.davies
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Pete,

Sounds great!

I toured  Ireland in 2009 in my TR6,  including driving the Ring of Kerry (highly recommended). Many of the roads were extremely rough but the car held up well. After 10 days and 1,200 miles, the only problem was a couple of screws on the rear cockpit trim that had worked loose!

At that time, it was very hard to find any fuel above 95 octane,  so I retarded the timing slightly to prevent pinking. Don't know if availability of higher octane fuel has improved since.

Nigel

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I travel every year to Europe (cars and motorcycles) and tend to travel light......I have breakdown cover and my thinking is that I will use that unless I can fix the vehicle myself quickly and easily.  

For the TR, I take only what I can fit in the spare wheel well (which includes a spare wheel) and what I can fit in the boot hidden away next to the fuel tank.  This includes a basic tool kit, fuses, spark plug, injector, rubber hose, belt, cable ties, duct tape, some wire and a wind up torch.     

But I spend a good weekend before I travel checking everything over and replacing consumables.  

In over 30 years of doing this, only twice have I come home on the back of a low loader.  Once on a classic motorbike when a main bearing let go and once in my Lancia when a wheel bearing (that I had replaced 2 years earlier) inexplicably collapsed.  

Everything else has been fixed by me, my mates or by a garage and not caused significant delays.  

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  • 6 months later...
On 1/24/2021 at 3:39 PM, Bfg said:

A few years ago, I read in a magazine of a fabulous motorcycling route along the north-eastern coast.  So I'd particularly like to visit Ireland in an open-top Triumph.  I've never been to Ireland, so don't know whether a low slung 1960's sports-car like a TR is still appropriate.? Anyone ?

Hello Pete,

Just saw this thread while "grazing" around the Forum. Well, Ireland has hardly any motorways and lots of B roads (called "R" roads) and metaled roads that are sometimes narrow ("L" roads) and more like tracks of old.

wp-content.thumb.jpg.a0228b735ad543f406948f31d428dd26.jpg

Apart from the Six Counties in the North, which I don't know at all, Ireland has enormous changes of scenery and natural habitats, and is not so built up.

eolas.jpg.f96514156e5de887474591b93c786d60.jpg

Donegal, north of Northern Ireland, is a stunning coastal region, the Burren on the West coast is outlandish for its weird geological formations, West Cork and Bear Peninsula. You just can't go wrong.

David

Edited by DavidBee
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Thanks David,

Ireland is definitely high on my wish list, once the car has passed a thorough shaken down ..but the paved road in your photo does seem a little rutted for a TR with low ground clearance ;)

Cheers, Pete.  

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39 minutes ago, Bfg said:

Thanks David,

..but the paved road in your photo does seem a little rutted for a TR with low ground clearance ;)

Cheers, Pete.  

:D :lol: :o +1

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wikipedia.thumb.jpg.eb0373c0df94825cd722503b2f7f40b5.jpg

Yes indeed! There's also Kerry and the Ring of Kerry

wp-content.png.53dcba796052d96b30fdb4f5061795c0.png

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While I'm here, I'll recommend driving the Hartside Pass, the A686 from Penrith to Haydon Bridge.     The rise up the escarpment of the Pennines is a wonderful curving, looping drive, well known to bikers, so watch out!   If you base yourself in Penrith, the drive back can be along Hadrian's Wall via, for variety, the largely dead straight B6318.     The Roman garrison at Vindolanda, and the Roman Army Museum at Greenhead are worth getting out for, and will interest old and young.

John

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On 8/3/2021 at 11:59 AM, john.r.davies said:

While I'm here, I'll recommend driving the Hartside Pass, the A686 from Penrith to Haydon Bridge.

Or you have the choice of three other fantastic driving roads from Alston - Down the South Tyne Valley on the A689 north via Slaggyford to meet Hadrians wall near to Greenhead, down Weardale the A689 east through Stanhope to join the A68 and down Teesdale  B6277 via Middleton-in-Teesdale to Barnard Castle.

Dave

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16 hours ago, DaveB66 said:

Or you have the choice of three other fantastic driving roads from Alston - Down the South Tyne Valley on the A689 north via Slaggyford to meet Hadrians wall near to Greenhead, down Weardale the A689 east through Stanhope to join the A68 and down Teesdale  B6277 via Middleton-in-Teesdale to Barnard Castle.

Dave

Barnard Castle?  I don't see that as a problem!

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On 8/3/2021 at 11:41 AM, DavidBee said:

wikipedia.thumb.jpg.eb0373c0df94825cd722503b2f7f40b5.jpg

..There's also Kerry and the Ring of Kerry

That's gorgeous.   But now I'll also have to build a wooden canoe ..to be carried on a rack on top of the camping trailer :rolleyes:  ..where will it end ? :D

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1 hour ago, Bfg said:

 

That's gorgeous.   But now I'll also have to build a wooden canoe ..to be carried on a rack on top of the camping trailer :rolleyes:  ..where will it end ? :D

But it won't! TR4A + walking. You are 6,2 so very LONG legs. No hassle :ph34r:

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Hi Pete

I am a member of the Triumph Classic Owners Club based in Dublin.  We have about 60 members some of which are also members of the Register.  I will send you my mobile by pm and feel free to contact me if you decide to come over.  We may be able to arrange a run over the Dublin mountains if you make it to Dublin.  Certainly if you have a problem while over here just contact me and we will get you going.  There are lots of spares sitting on shelves over here and willing to lend them to you if required.

Joe

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