12 to 15 July 2021

Day 3 Moors and Coast (205 miles) 14 July 2021

There’s nothing like the promise of a trip to the Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk seaside to get a rally out of bed in the morning and today Mark Appleton had packed his bucket and spade and set a route towards Whitby. Over the green leafy Howardian Hills and the purple fringed, looming mass of the North York Moors.

Today was also the longest day of the Rally so we got to enjoy even more of the fantastic driving roads on offer in Yorkshire. After pulling away from the Yorke Arms the first obstacle the crews had to negotiate was the Aldwark Toll Bridge, where 40p got them over the River Ure and onto the first Regularity at Bogg Hall. A very pleasant run through rolling farmland followed and the first Time Control, in the grounds of Ampleforth Abbey, gave the crews a chance for some coffee and cake. For old Amplefordian, and RtG marshal, Dick Appleton, it was a trip down memory lane. Then we began heading east, towards the coast. Up Clint and Dawn Smith full lock in the 1929 Bentley Speed 6 and over the North York Moors with the brutal climbs of Kirkbymoorside and Rosedale Chimney thrown in for good measure, testing both clutch and brakes in equal measure. There were also two tricky Regularities along the route with no less than five fords to be tackled. Sadly Michael and Wendy Birch’s rally ground to a halt on a viciously steep hill outside of Egerton when their Talbot’s gearbox finally gave up the ghost. It was getting close to lunchtime and, along with Jack Amies and Andy Inskip, Michael decided that this wasn’t the sort of problem that could be fixed at the roadside. With a determined “I’m not missing my fish and chips” he set to arranging recovery of the stricken vehicle and delivery of a hire car to continue with the rally until the very end. It certainly would have been a shame to miss the fine lunch on offer at the Sandsend Fish Cottage Restaurant, which was, again, the ideal place to relax after the morning and prepare for the afternoon’s entertainment. Another bucolic Regularity was first on the post prandial sheet, followed by a fast gravel Test set in what could almost be described as a Mad Max, post apocalypse style quarry. The crews had to navigate their way over deep banks of loose shale, around inky black puddles, and Proudly flying Yorkshire Rose flags on their Bentley Supersports, across derelict industrial infrastructure. There was a fair Graham and Marina Goodwin amount of slipping, lots of sliding, and plenty of grinning.

www.rallytheglobe.com Day 3: Moors and Coast, 14 July 2021 Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk

The afternoon’s Time Control though was in the slightly more refined setting of Castle Howard before the Rally tackled the day’s final Test, another off-road blast with a myriad of changes of direction and surfaces ranging from smooth tarmac to ploughed field and everything in between. All good things come to an end though and soon enough, at Brimham Rocks, the day’s MTC arrived. Amidst the massive boulders, Fred Gallagher and Loren Price had set up an impromptu cocktail bar where the crews were offered an endurance rally sundowner experience more reminiscent of East Africa than East Yorkshire. Sadly, tomorrow is the last day of this event, but tonight the rally was still in full cry and as it sat down to yet another superb Yorke Arms dinner praise for the organising team flowed almost as freely as the wine.

Gerardus Mercator, Dispatch reporter

TOP: 1963 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint of Nigel and Sally Woof MIDDLE: Steve and Jenny Verrall, 1965 Porsche 911 BOTTOM: Ean and Alison Lewin, 1973 Ford Escort Mexico

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