Coast to Coast Rally. . .BBC ( North) programme from 1985

[Phil Perry]

 

 

Sid Perou, who was at that time a BBC cameraman, filmed this trip where Microlight Trikes flew laterally across the country back in 1985. Sid was rear seater in one of the machines, and considering the size of the portable equipment back then, did a remarkable job.

 

The sport really needed some good publicity back then, and Sid has kindly placed both parts of the two part documentary on youtube. I have several friends flying to this day, who were ispired to learn simply by watching the programme. . . .

 

Should interest the trike flyers anyhow. . !

 

I hope that the link works !

 

Phil

 

 

[old man emu]

Coast to coast across England! Wow! Breakfast on the west coast; smoko on the east coast, and the rest of the morning free.

 

OME

 

 

[yampy]

As they all said at the end of the film " I enjoyed that " , well so did I .... Suppose I'm a bit biased though ..

 

Thanks for sharing the link Phil ...

 

Dave

 

 

[Geoff13]

Coast to coast across England! Wow! Breakfast on the west coast; smoko on the east coast, and the rest of the morning free. OME

Yep took me from Breakfast to Lunch to drive from John 'o' Groates to Lands End.

 

 

[dazza 38]

Interesting, it took us over 8 hours to drive from St Annes in the english midlands to Lossiemouth Scotland. The UK isn't as small as everyone makes out. Well not traveling Nth/Sth anyway.

 

 

[Geoff13]

You might be correct Dazza but it sure as heck ain't as far as the poms think it is either.

 

 

[yampy]

Yep took me from Breakfast to Lunch to drive from John 'o' Groates to Lands End.

It's about 1300km from Lands End to John OGroats , must have been a really fast car !

 

Dave

 

 

[planedriver]

It was probably a company car. You know the story i'm sure.

 

They are not only the fastest cars away from the lights that the manufacturer can produce, but also double as tip trucks to transport bush-rocks, turf rolls and concrete bags when trying to make the garden look pretty on the weekends.

 

Been there, and done that! but if you keep it clean and black the tyre's, the boss will probably never know

 

 

[Phil Perry]

It's about 1300km from Lands End to John OGroats , must have been a really fast car !Dave

Did it in reverse, starting at the top some years ago Dave and Geoff, ( 1994 ). . . we had a four trike gaggle ( or is it "Blight" ) of aircraft, all made by John Hudson's company Mainair Sports in Rochdale, ( he was featured in that rally, and sadly, was killed testing anew trike design called a "Razor" single seater, which never went into production ) regrettably, the trip was marred a little by crap weather, in the middle of August ( ! ) and after being grounded a few times, we finally made it half way through the ninth day ! But it WAS good fun anyway, and there were no major issues with the trikes or engines ( All Rotax 503 ) and all with 2 POB. Five hairy blokes and three nice lasses made up the team. Regrettably, I had a hairy bloke for a backrest, but yer can't have everything.

 

Got a bit chucked about and very wet occasionally, and very ratarsed occasionally as well, on the overnights. . . . great way to see the country, and we landed at NO "Proper" airfields in the entire trip, this was part of the plan in the first place, but took a lot of organising with various landowners !

 

With much slicker, shiny new aircraft, it isn't so easy nowadays, and this is sad, as it really IS a terrific way to see the country.

 

***Edited to add*** It would be possible I'm sure to actually do this again, although there are now lumps of extended controlled airspace which were not there in '94,. . . we deliberately stayed OCTA, as I was the only bloke with a radio. . .but any of the fields we landed in could be used by Foxbats, Savannahs, Lightwings ( none here unfortuanately ) and many other Modern Stol LSA types I'm sure. . . . . .etc. . .etc. . .

 

Although my mate Simon, who operates a Savannah, has metioned that his insurance is invalidated if any claim arises from a landing anywhere which is not currently recognised as a place used for aircraft operations,. . . .now there's nasty for you isn't it ? ? Also, we trailered the aircraft to John O'Groats, and were followed by a mobile workshop and caravan, which in the event was never used.

 

Difficult to do this in a non - trike, ie, taking the wings off and all that, otherwise you'd need a long trip just to START from somewhere else ! ! Ie,. . ."We wanna fly around Australia,. . but we want to start and finish in Darwin". . .bit of a bugger if you're based in Koo wee rup . . .? This was the problem, as we ALL lived in the Midlands. . .

 

 

[Phil Perry]

You might be correct Dazza but it sure as heck ain't as far as the poms think it is either.

Be nice if we had some decent roads with a few straight bits here and there Geoff ! ! ! But if you're not in a hurry, Scotland is absolutely gobsmackingly beautiful. . .

 

If you google Earth the place, it's easy to see how impossible it can be to get from some places to others without doing hundreds of klicks round trips. . .it is so fragmented with lakes oops, sorry LOCHS all over the place that you have to pick routes very carefully. . . .I used to work up there a lot in the late eighties as a seervice engineer. . . . wish we'd had decent satellite nav then mate. . .! no good asking a bloody Jock the way, as soon as he hears your accent, the bloody Sassenach is sent in precisely the wrong direction. . . . .just for fun. . . .

 

Scotland is where I heard one of the best lines ever,. . . ." Och, well now laddie,. . . .if I was goin' there the noo,. . . I wouldnae starrrt from here. . . . . . .

 

 

[facthunter]

You haven't mentioned the MIDGES. IF you told all the potential terrorists about them they wouldn't go there.

 

DARWIN's the same. Sand fly Bites you can't stop scratching. Coastal NZ the same. What about some honesty in advertising?

 

We tell everyone about the spiders crocs sharks scorpions blue ringed octopusses portugese man O wars poisonous snakes, Tasmanian devils, sting rays, real estate agents. Short term moneylenders, Bushfires and still they come. Nev

 

 

[Geoff13]

It seemed that when I toured Scotland in the Mid Eighties, towing my caravan, it never mattered where I was asking directions it always seem as though I ended up down the end of a road facing a gate into a whisky distillery. I didn't have much of a problem with that but it quickly became apparent that before I could go in to ask for further directions it was necessary for me to turn the car and caravan around and point it down the driveway. This avoided the problem of 'er indoors having to turn it around after pouring me into the back seat. I suppose I could have always taught her how to reverse it but I thought that turning it around was small price to pay for the hospitality showed to me by these amazingly friendly people. I am still certain that I never understood a word that was said from the time we crossed the Border into Scotland until well after we had left her beautiful highlands behind again.