From our Roving Reporter (Part 2)

We set off on a lovely sunny crisp autumn morning heading towards the sunrise in our little red 1972 Triumph Spitfire MK IV. With leaves on the ground we arrived at the Ryhope Engines Museum and filtered our way aroundthrough the trees guided by the marshalls to park next to a bright orange tractor. Leaving our car in the trees we looked over Ryhope to the sea beyond and admired the many ships moored off the coast commenting to each other that the sky was so blue and clear thankful that no rain was forecast. We started to wander around the site and noticed that there were many different cars including some that have become classic recently such as the white Toyota MR2 and the Silver Rover 214. Stephen was interested in the motor bric a brac on show as well as the leather biking jackets.As well as the cars on display there were many classic motorbikes for example BSA, Norton, Triumph and some others that Stephen was reminiscing about. I also saw the bus used in heartbeat and two traction engines that were in excellent condition. After a swift bacon sandwich provided by the scouts we wandered over to the forge to watch the blacksmith produce a metal Flanders poppy, it was lovely to see such craftsmanship. It was soon time to resume our inspection of the cars, this time we were joined by some friends and of course we bumped into other members of the MGclub After some time catching up with things we meandered over to the Morgan's and spent some time deciding which car was the best in the end we chose the blue one called Bertie. To be honest I preferred looking at the MGs but sadly as the day was drawing to an end we had one more thing to do and that was visit the double beam pumping station. Stephen was very enthusiastic when he saw the beams pumping the water up from the well and to be honest I was until I looked through the grate to the well many feet below. Stephen wanted to go up to the top floor to see the beams in action, after climbing the stairs and feeling the whole building shake beneath me I was glad to get out of the building. On the whole it was a lovely varied day spent with friends who have one thing in common.... their love of motors.