BORDERS SPRING RUN :: 6 APRIL 2003

Quote of the day:
My sploosh look less girlie than I expected, I think Duncan wins that category! Has Martyn got a snowplough on the front of his mini as well as a monkey on the roof?? Julz

14 MINIs and a Porsche 911 descended on the Big W, Edinburgh at 10.30 prompt for what promised to be an eventful and somewhat soggy day. Cars arrived from north, south, east and west including our first visitors from south of the border, Ant & Kelly. A good few new faces too. Gary, Martyn, Shaz and Ken, it was good finally meeting you all. All the usual suspects were in attendance too.

We set off out the A1 to Tranent where Duncan (Satellite) promptly decided to go off on the first of his own special MINI runs (one of many on the day). We finally got everyone back together again at Gifford where there was a brief stop for all those with weak bladders. From there it was onwards and upwards over the Lammermuir Hills via Whitadder Reservoir. I think it was about this point Alan (Bonnie Scotland) was wishing he'd got the wipe clean option for the interior of his car as his passenger Joolz parted company with her breakfast. Anyway, after several close encounters with the local wildlife we were soon in the spiritual home of British rallying, Duns.

We stopped outside the Jim Clark Museum (which was closed) for a brief regroup and allow me a chance to get into position to take pictures of the highlight of the day, a run round the 1 1/2 mile Langton Mill stage of the Jim Clark Rally. On arriving at the ford I quickly realised that there was a hell of a lot more water in it than there was during the recce, this despite no rain for months. This presented the first problem of the day, namely getting across the stream. Once on the other side wet feet were soon the be the least of my worries. Seconds later I could hear the roar of Gerry's HKS tearing down the hill towards the hairpin. He hit the water at a fair lick and sent the contents of the ford in every direction. With varying degrees of girlieness, MINI after MINI ploughed into ford for a bath. Apart from my feet, I was still dry at this point. Then came GAJ...

Once I'd finished dripping everywhere it was my turn to go through the torrent which was by far the most crap effort of the day. I'd kind gone off water by this point...

It was only a short 12 mile hop over the hills to Kelso and lunch at the Cross Keys Hotel. We actually arrived on time which meant 1/2 an hour to kill before lunch was served. I needn't have feared boredom setting in. Alan came to the rescue with his lateral thinking quiz which was quite appropriate as no-one ever has a clue what he's on about anyway!
Willie, Shirls and I proved our stupidity in admirable fashion and John's daughter caused a few questions to be raised about her parentage by achieving a perfect score.

Much grub later we were soon on the road again, following the River Tweed up to Galashiels. This gave those with BIG HORNS the opportunity to show off as we drove though the villages and towns on the way. In Gala we realised Duncan, David, Ken and Alan had gone off on another little excursion of their own. The next minor setback of the day was the closure of the A72 at Innerleithen which resulted in a rather leisurely 10 mile detour along the single track roads on the other side of the river. Peebles was rammed as usual so a cruise through the town to the Riverside Carpark was the order of the day. Here we said our goodbyes to John and family then hit n the road for the final stage of the inaugural Borders Run. We managed to up the pace a little bit on this section and really let the MINI do what it does best - tanking through the twisties at speed.

A brief stop at Hillend to bid farewell and another MINI Adventure was over.

Thanks to all those who attended.