Blog - BRIDGET THE MIDGET

MG Norsk Club

4th July 201318th March 2020 By roychinnorNo Comments

Before leaving Gothenburg I had made contact with Ola Thygesen, President of MG Norsk Club. I related the problem I had with Bridget’s soft-top being vandalised and he made some quick enquiries with a local importer of MG spares. Ola reported back saying that it might be possible to add the soft-top to an existing order, with Moss in England, if we were quick. I said to go ahead and I would call Ola next morning. The day started with some sunshine! This was the first day that I really started to get into my normal travel mood. The route from Gothenburg to Oslo is far less inhabited than everything before it and there was even the promise of some wildlife. I came upon my first road signs of this trip warning of possible moose crossing the road. At around 11:00am Ola phoned to say “You’re soft-top has arrived”. Even though the order was mid-afternoon the day before, Moss pulled out all...

Bridget Slashed!

2nd July 201318th March 2020 By roychinnorNo Comments

There will be no mention of the weather, but note the picture above. I gave Bridget a day off whilst doing the full tourist bit around Copenhagen. As with many of the Nordic countries the architecture is very pleasing to the eye. I am not so keen however on the green roofs and adornments. Buildings worth noting are the Rosenborg Slot, Radhus City Hall, The Stock Exchange, and St Nikolaj Church. I spent Sunday afternoon at the Botanical Gardens where, not only did a Great Tit decide to perch on my outstretched hand, it even allowed me to take a photograph (see Gallery - Copenhagen)! These birds are usually so skittish I was amazed. Monday morning and we drove up to Helsingor to catch the ferry across to Sweden. Originally I was going to drive across the Öresund Bridge but as the cost is identical but the ferry route is much shorter I changed my mind. I was delighted when I found myself...

Castle, Schloss or Slot

28th June 201318th March 2020 By roychinnorNo Comments

My multi-lingual prowess just oozes. Whilst Bridget drove effortlessly from Neumunster to Svendborg in Denmark I busied myself learning Danish and German. Well nearly. I learnt of Egeskov Castle (or Egeskov Slot, etc.) from Jan and Aakke in Niekerk. What grabbed my attention was the fact that they have a motor museum in the grounds. In fact they have no less than 10 museums including cars, motorcycles and aircraft. This is Denmark's answer to Beaulieu National Motor Museum. The castle itself has a number of interesting features including the fact that it has no large open fireplaces, but instead has a series of large cast iron wood-burners in each room. There is a large selection of medieval weapons and various native African weapons that one of the residents brought back from a visit there. The motor museum has no less than three MG's, being a 1600 MGA, a MGC and a 1935 MG Magna that is recorded to have raced at Brooklands...

Side Of The Road, Again

26th June 201318th March 2020 By roychinnorNo Comments

I decided to ride my hire bicycle into Alkmaar first thing in the morning to take some photos before getting on the road. We only had a couple of hours motoring to do so I had plenty of time. Just 1 km from the centre of town and there was a bang behind me and the rear wheel jammed solid, skidding left and right before I managed to stop. I alighted to investigate what had happened and saw bits of half inch wide elastic sticking out from the wheel hub. Most hire bikes in The Netherlands are supplied with a parcel rack on the rear mudguard and something for holding luggage in place and prevent it from falling off, in this case elastic. This had somehow got entwined in the rear wheel and caused the trouble. I managed to free most of it, but couldn’t help to mentally draw parallels between bicycles and MG’s! I eventually remounted the cycle only to...

The Wind In Your Hair

24th June 201318th March 2020 By roychinnorNo Comments

The second days' motoring and we progressed to the town of Alkmaar, some 30 miles north of Amsterdam. Bridget was content to cruise at a comfortable 60/65 miles an hour and never stumbled once. The weather on the other hand was very poor. Regulars will testify that I don't just motor everywhere and have been moved on occasions to alternative modes of transport e.g. paragliding, jet-skiing, etc. In the interests of research I persuaded myself that I should sample the national mode of transport in The Netherlands, namely cycling. Now, it is over 20 years since I last rode a bike, but everyone here seems to do it and the whole road network appears to be designed around it. So I parked up Bridget for the day and hired a bicycle. It was some 5 kilometres into the centre of Alkmaar from my hotel and after a slightly shaky start I was soon town bound in the correct cycle lane. Similar to the...